Published by

Friends of the National Zoo

National Zoological Park

Washington, D.C. 20009

Phones:

Executive Director and membership:

232-4500

Educational and Editorial offices:

232-5500

Guided tours: 332-9322

Window Shop: 232-4555

~ FONZ Board of Directors 1972-1973

Peter C. Andrews, President

Theodore Babbitt, Ist Vice President

Emanuel Boasberg, Treasurer

Susan K. Semple, Secretary

Arthur W. Arundel

Mrs. Huntington Block

Montgomery S. Bradley

John S. Brown

Mary H. L. Clark

Timothy V. A. Dillon

Donna K. Grosvenor

Stephen Hosmer

Joan L. Jewett

Robert Mason

Isabel J}. McDonnell

Shirley J. McNair

Lavelle Merritt

Ruth N. Nelson

John B. Oliver

Mary Poole

Nancy Porter

Gerald G. Wagner

Rosa M. Walker

Richardson White, Jr.

Executive Director

Warren J. Iliff

Editor: Austin Hughes

Design and Production by Tom Jones

Cover photograph and photographs on

pages 3 and 4 by Donna Grosvenor; photograph

on page 5 by Theodore H. Reed,

Director, National Zoological Park;

other photographs by Mark Gordon.

THE ZOOGOER is published bi-monthly

and copyrighted © by Friends of the National

Zoo, c/o National Zoological Park, Washington,

D.C. 20009. second-class mailing permit

approved at Washington, D.C. Rate

in the United States $3 a year. Vol. 1, No, 2.

Giant Pandas

at the National Zoo

Zoo News—Mammals

Zoo News-—Birds

Map

Zoo News—Reptiles and Amphibians

The Cheetah, Laura Kent

LOO

THE ZOOGOER is a new bi-monthly publication

of the Friends of the National Zoo and replaces

the quarterly publication, Spots and Stripes. With

THE ZOOGOER, the Friends hopes to provide

for its membership an up-to-date report on new

animals and exhibits at the National Zoological

Park and in-depth articles on the natural history —_—

and behavior of animals at the Zoo. All of the text

and photographs will be keyed to the centerfold i

map in hopes of making a trip to the Zoo a more 4

interesting, educational, and enjoyable adventure, ;

THE ZOOGOER will also be on sale at the Friends?

Window Shop and kiosk as a current guide to :

points of interest at the Zoo.

Cover: Ling-Ling; the female of the two giant

pandas at the National Zoo.

he: membership a ihe

FRIENDS supports and |

provides volunteer ser-- |

vices to the public and ie eee

the Zoo through such eo

activities as Tour Guid- | ;

‘ing for public school

NDS to Moe you classes, freeinformation = iat

D hedetit that will | “booths onthe Zoo or

| Ra: plea i : Cte

watches for pregnant _ |

Zoo animals and Finan- |

cial support for wild- ie |

life conservation and ae | ;

Scientiiioteseareh

from the profits

of its Window Shop, | |

Kiosk, Balloon Bante, 3

and Trackless Train Op: oe Se eee

erations. ee ae uh aot. aaptins Peal

8 t Z00- ce

Your

Membership

in the Friends of the

National Zoo Gives you:

a year’s subscription to

the bi-monthly maga-

zine, “THE ZOOGOER’,

a news and animal fea-

ture guide to the Na-

tional Zoo with a cur-

rent centerfold map that

is keyed to all the text

material for orienting

your next ZOo-going

trip.

an Invitation to the

Spring Annual Meeting

in the Eleohant House

and the Annual ZOO

NIGHT on the Zoo

grounds for picnicing,

free beverages, baby an-

imal exhibits, free

trackless train rides,

music, special attract-

ions and fun.

discounted tickets to

the annual Winter Lec-

ture Series.

free admission to the

annual Fall Film Series.

discounts at the Friend's

Window Shop and

Kiosk.

an opportunity to bea

volunteer Tour Guide

leading students through

the Zoo; to be a preg-

watcher monitoring Zoo

animals that are about

to give birth; to assist

the Friends at their

Window Shop or in

their office with mail-

ings, typing, etc.

As everybody knows by now, Hsing-Hsing

(pronounced “‘Shing-Shing’’) and Ling-Ling,

the giant pandas presented to the people of

the United States by the people of the

People’s Republic of China, have arrived at

the National Zoological Park. Both are

adjusting well to their new home (number 8

on map), which was prepared for their arrival

virtually overnight and is still being worked on

as the pandas occupy it. Ling-Ling, the

female, threw something of a tantrum on her

third day at the Zoo, before the pair were put

on exhibit; when she slipped and fell off the

pile of oak logs given each panda to climb and

play on, she decided to retaliate against her

new surroundings. She proceeded to tear up

the place, smashing the potted bamboo

plants that had been set up around her

enclosure. But the next day, when the pair

were officially presented by members of the

Peking Revolutionary Committee and accep-

ted on behalf of our people by the First

Lady, Ling-Ling was on her best behavior

and aroused a good deal of amusement by

consuming her meal of special panda por-

ridge with obvious if untidy relish, licking

the dish clean inside and out, and placing the

empty dish on her head.

At present each panda has 1,250 square feet

of indoor cage space and a private sleeping

den 150 square feet in area equipped with

a sleeping platform raised a few inches from

the floor. When remodeling is completed,

each panda’s indoor area will be doubled;

and the former white rhino enclosure,

currently displaying the crates in which the

pair were brought from China, will be con-

verted for use by the pandas. Temporary

outdoor yards have also been completed;

eventually each of these will cover half an

acre and will be planted with various types

of bamboo, tufted grasses, and shade trees.

The temperature in the glass-fronted Panda

House enclosures is kept at about 50 degrees

Farenheit, reproducing the cool climate of

the high altitudes — 10,000 to 15,000 feet

— to which the giant panda is native, where

snow is on the ground until June and the

thermometer rarely registers any higher than

this temperature even in midsummer. The

pandas are able to retreat to their cooler

indoor quarters whenever their outdoor

yards become too hot for them. In cooler

weather they will doubtless spend more

Hsing-Hsing is smaller and shyer than his mate-to-be

and probably about six months younger.

time in their outdoor enclosures and should

enjoy being outdoors even on the coldest

days; other zoo pandas have been photo-

graphed playing or relaxing in the snow.

Both pandas are fed at 10:00 a.m. and

4:00 p.m. besides having constant access to

potted bamboo in their indoor enclosures

and the bamboo plants growing in their

outdoor yards. The morning feeding con-

sists of a specially prepared panda porridge

or gruel consisting of rice, reconstituted

powdered milk, vitamin supplements,

sugar, and a dash of salt. In the afternoon

they are given the same mixture, along

with fruits and vegetables — including

carrots, apples, and kale — and freshly cut

bamboo stalks. In addition, bone meal is

included in the gruel at the morning feeding

and calcium in the afternoon.

It is at and around their feeding times that

the pandas are most active. In the wild this

‘species is reported to be crepuscular in its

habits; in other words, rather than being

strictly nocturnal or strictly diurnal, giant

pandas are active around dawn and dusk and

sleep during the middle of the day and the

middle of the night. The Zoo’s pandas, too,

usually sleep during the middle of the day.

Before the morning feeding each panda

usually emerges from its den for the first

time. The male, Hsing-Hsing, makes the

rounds of his enclosure at this time, marking

his territory by means of urine and the

scent-glands each giant panda has located

under its tail; he does this for reasons

analogous to those for which a domestic

dog marks his path when emerging for a

walk. He deposits scent on such stationary

objects as the pile of logs in the center of

the cage and the enclosure walls. After

eating, the pandas are still more active and

often playful, particularly the female. They

were given red-white-and-blue basketballs to

play: with and seemed to enjoy batting and

pursuing the balls much as a housecat would,

until both of them managed to puncture

them with their powerful teeth.

Bamboo is eaten in the panda’s remarkably

human-looking manner, held up to the mouth

by means of the specially adapted forepaws.

The paws can grasp like hands because of the

so-called ‘‘sixth claw,” which is actually an

elongated wristbone covered with a pad of

Ling-Ling on board the

Air Force cargo plane

that brought the pandas

from Peking.

tough, hairless flesh. This structure aids in

grasping somewhat as a human thumb does.

The palm of the hand is opposable to it, and

the bamboo stem is held in a furrow that

appears between it and the hairless palm pad

when the hand is flexed. One author compares

the giant panda’s method of grasping to that

of a human being wearing a “‘thumbless

mitten,’’ but he adds that the panda is

capable of a good deal more dexterity than

the comparison might suggest. Indeed,

Hsing-Hsing and Ling-Ling are able to pick

up small pieces of food with the forepaws

and to lift their gruel dishes by the edge.

In order to have at least one forepaw free to

hold the bamboo, while eating this food the

panda stands on three legs, sits in a slouching

posture with his hind legs stretched out in

front, or lies on its back. The Zoo’s pandas

seem to prefer the leaves of the bamboo.

When the leaves have been stripped off, the

panda may bite the stalk in half and apparent-

ly suck juice from the break. The panda may

likewise use the forepaws to grasp fruit and

vegetables or may pick them up with the

mouth while standing on all four legs. Hsing-

Hsing and Ling-Ling at first stand on all fours

when eating their gruel; then, as the dish

begins to empty, the panda may sit down and

raise it with its forepaws so as to be able to

lick out the corners.

The female is the larger of the two pandas;

she weighed 136 pounds on her arrival at the

National Zoo, while Hsing-Hsing weighed 74

pounds. By now she is believed to weigh over

150 pounds, and the male’s weight has in

creased comparably. Eventually Ling-Ling

should reach an adult weight of 275 to 300

pounds, while the male will eventually weigh

as much as 325 to 350 pounds. The Peking

Zoo officials that accompanied the pandas

on their trip to America and gave National

Zoo personnel invaluable advice concerning

their care, expressed the opinion, often

repeated by the press in this country, that

both of the pandas were about a year and a

half old at the time of their arrival. Both

pandas were captured in the native habitat

of this species in Szechuan and Kansu

provinces in Western China, the female in

June, 1971, and the male the following

December. Chinese officials attributed the

substantial weight and size difference

between the two animals not to an age

difference but to Hsing-Hsing’s more recent

date of capture and their belief that he con-

sequently has not yet had time to adjust

fully to his captive diet. National Zoo

officials, however, are inclined to believe it

more likely that Hsing-Hsing was only

about a year old on arrival here and was

born in the spring of 1971, while they agree

with their Chinese colleagues that Ling-Ling

was about eighteen months old at that time

and was born in the fall of 1970. In support

of this theory, they point out that Hsing-

Hsing seems to be a smaller animal in the

size of his bones and not simply a less well-

nourished one, although males of this

species are ordinarily larger than females

of the same age.

This interpretation fits well with the admit-

tedly scanty evidence available concerning

growth rates of giant pandas — for almost all

of which, ironically, we are indebted to the

Peking Zoo staff, since it is based primarily

on the growth charts they kept of the first

two pandas to be born and raised there. The

panda weighs as little as 4 to 5 ounces at

birth, and its bulk increases at a fantastic

rate for the first couple of years. According

to the Peking figures, at twelve months a

panda should weigh about eighty pounds and

at eighteen months somewhere between 130

and 150 pounds. Moreover, it is known that

the giant panda ordinarily has a breeding

season in the spring, resulting in births in

the winter and fall like Ling-Ling’s, but

that if a female does not become pregnant

in the spring breeding season, she has a

second breeding season in the fall, the young

from which are born in spring as Hsing-Hsing

is presumed to have been.

In the matter of determining the pandas’

sexes, National Zoo officials bow to Chinese

expertise. Externally the sexes are notorious-

ly difficult to tell apart in this species, par-

ticularly in young animals, as zoo pandas so

often have been. Of the fifteen pandas

exhibited in Europe and America prior to

Hsing-Hsing and Ling-Ling, a full third have

been incorrectly sexed during their lifetime.

Since anatomy provides so little certainty,

the Chinese have come to rely on behavioral

criteria. Perhaps the most significant of these

that the National Zoo visitor can observe is

Hsing-Hsing’s scent-marking of his territory.

In Ling-Ling, as has been the case with other

captive females, scent marking occurs far

less often. When in sexual heat the female

is known to mark intensively — in the wild

this serves the obvious function of attracting

a mate — but Ling-Ling will not come into

heat until she is about three years old. The

fact that Ling-Ling is in general more playful

and extroverted is another sign; though there

have been exceptions, young female pandas |

in the past have proven to be the clowns of

the species, playful like Ling-Ling but also

equally given to sudden outbursts of temper.

Males, on the other hand, are reported to be

shyer and more introverted.

Though they were on exhibit simultaneously

for several months at the Peking Zoo, Hsing-

Hsing and Ling-Ling have never met. In the

wild, giant pandas are solitary and adults

meet only to mate, thus the National Zoo

has provided its pandas with separate en-

closures and intends to keep them apart

except in mating season when they are of

age. Between their temporary outdoor

yards, there are open panels through

which they can see and smell each

other. Their permanent indoor and outdoor

enclosures will be separated by walls with

barred moongates through which the pandas

will also be able to see and smell. They will

thus be able to familiarize themselves with

each other gradually, so that when they are

ready to breed at the age of about three

years, they will not be total strangers.

ZOONES

Mammals

Sable Antelope Born

The frisky calf in the foreground is the lastest

addition to the Zoo’s sable antelope herd

(number 3e on map),

A sable antelope (Hippotragus niger) was

born in April, and the Zoo now has six of

this exceptionally beautiful species. Sharing

the same enclosure with the calf and its

mother (number 3e on map) are two juveniles

born here last year, one of them to the same

mother, and one young adult female of about

two years. The father of the recent offspring

is kept in a separate enclosure to the right

(number 3d on map) except at breeding time.

As in all antelope, the calf was born quickly

and was able to stand soon after birth; in

this species the calf is usually able to do so

within ten minutes. In the wild sable antelope

inhabit woodlands and woodland meadows,

and the mother takes her newborn calf to a

hiding-place in thick cover where it spends

its first two or three weeks of life. Meanwhile

she continues to travel and feed with the

herd, and only visits the calf under cover of

darkness to feed it. One interesting adapta-

tion for this method of rearing the young is

that during this time the calf is unable to

urinate or defecate without the stimulus

of licking by the mother. This prevents

odors that might reveal the hiding-place to a

predator. The Zoo’s mother likewise found

a hiding-place between two large logs in the

antelope’s enclosure where her offspring re-

mained hidden for the first two weeks of its

life, and she returned to feed it only once or

twice a day. By two weeks the calf began to

spend most of its time with the Zoo’s small

herd; by three weeks it was with the herd all

the time.

Observers of this species in the wild have often

reported that the bond between mother and

young seems looser than in many other mem-

bers of the Bovidae, the family that includes

not only antelope but also sheep, goats, and

catle. Except when nursing, the young

associate not with their mothers but

with the other young members of the herd.

The calves play together when the herd is

resting and, when the herd moves, travel in a

group together, usually at the rear of the

herd. This is a surprising position for the

calves to take, since one would expect them

to be most vulnerable to predation there; but

perhaps it is indicative of the confidence these

formidable antelope have in their ability to

defeat any predator by fighting back with

their powerful horns. In any event, this

year’s Zoo-born calf is true to pattern in

associating most often with the two year-

lings and with the young adult female.

The calf, a female, is pale brown; and the

black coloration for which this species is

named is present only on the short mane of

darker hair along the neck and back. The

Zoo’s yearlings illustrate the process of

gradual color change she will undergo; their

fur has become a deep chestnut-brown, with

black beginning to appear on the back and

forequarters. The process is still more ad-

vanced in the young adult female. She is

about two years old and is probably sexually

mature or very close to sexual maturity,

although she will not reach full adult size and

horn length until she is two-and-a-half or

three years old. The adults’ fur, it should be

noted, though it looks black in most lights,

has chestnut highlights and sometimes

appears quite reddish.

The calf’s horns first appear as tiny buds at

the age of about two months; this is com-

paratively late for antelope, many of which

have noticeable buds at birth and horns

several inches long within a month or two.

The yearlings’ horns are now about eight

inches long and are just beginning to show

the backward curve that is so marked in

those of the adults of this species. The

record length for the sable antelope’s horns

is nearly 65 inches; this occurred in a rare

subspecies known as the giant sable antelope.

In other races the maximum is about 52

inches.

Two-toed Sloth Infant

at the Lion House

On March 9th, a two-toed sloth (Cho/oepus

didactylus) was born at the Lion House

(number 23 on map), the first birth in the

Zoo’s group since 1965. The infant, whose

velvety fur is much shorter than an adult’s

and pale brown in color, is not always easy

to see. Clinging to its mother’s breast, its

claws hooked in her long fur, it is often

completely hidden as she hangs upside down

from a branch or the wire top of the cage.

Those who do catch a glimpse of the young

sloth will find it sprawled “‘right-side-up”’

across the chest of its upside-down mother,

with its head facing toward her head. Not

surprisingly, since the infant is so often

hidden from view, its sex has not been

determined; in fact, it is difficult to tell the

sex of two-toed sloths even on close

examination.

Although this birth was unobserved, a

zoologist present at a previous Lion House

birth has described in some detail what took

place on that occasion: ‘“‘The infant emerged

head-first, facing upwards. The embryonic

membranes were torn easily in the birth

process. The mother was in normal adult

(upside-down) hanging position and made

attempts with the foreleg to pull the infant

between the hind legs onto her abdomen.

The infant hooked onto the mother with its

forelegs as soon as these were free and

wriggled extensively to free the rest of its

body from the birth canal. Other sloths

(number not determined) assisted by pre-

venting the infant from falling and by

cleaning the mother and infant by licking.”

In spite of this report of cooperation among

adults at a birth, the adults, including the

mother, show surprising indifference towards

the young sloth during the rest of its infancy.

It is up to the youngster itself to hold on

tightly to its mother, since she makes no

particular effort to ensure that it remains

attached to her. When she goes into one of

the barrels in which the Zoo’s sloths sleep,

for instance, she does not assist the infant,

and it must manage to clamber in alongside

her on its own. The other adult females in

the group likewise seem to show no interest;

but, like the mother’s, theirs is a tolerant

indifference. When, as often happens, one

or both of the two other females are

hanging close to the mother, their heads

together and their noses touching, the

youngster may sometimes climb — apparently

by mistake — onto one of the other females.

She will allow the young sloth to cling there

without protest. The young sloth may be

apart from its mother for as long as three or

four hours but will find her again when it is

time to nurse, probably by means of smell;

and when the cluster of adults finally

separates, the infant will have always have

returned to its mother. The father (the

darkest brown of the four adults) seems to

have no knowledge of his relationship to

the infant and pays no attention to it.

The young sloth will continue to cling to its

mother until it is approximately two-thirds

grown; at the age of about six months it

will begin to be semi-independent and will

sometimes be found hanging by itself. When

and how it learns to assume the normal adult

posture is not known. It is equally uncertain

exactly when the young sloth begins to eat

solid food; but young born at the Lion House

have sometimes been seen reaching out to

steal a piece of food from the mother as she

feeds on the lettuce, kale, oranges, apples,

and bananas that are provided for the Zoo’s

sloths.

In spring and summer the cats are outdoors in

the morning, and the Lion House is closed

until 1:00 p.m. Since the sloths do not have

an outdoor enclosure, they are off exhibit

at this time. The sloths can be seen between

1:00 and 2:30 p.m. every day, when the cats

are feeding indoors; also, on cooler spring and

summer days, the building may remain open

between 2:30 and 6:00 p.m.

A mother barbary ape clutches her infant

(number 22h on map). Her open mouth is a

common primate social signal, indicating a

threat or warning towards another individual

coupled with a certain amount of fear on the

part of the threatening animal. Often this

facial expression, which may be accompanied

by sharp ‘‘barks’’, is directed towards a stranger

of the same species approaching the barbary ape

group; in this case it is elicited by the presence of

the photographer.

The first Barbary ape (Macaca sy/vanas)

births of the spring took place in the first

half of May, when four tiny black-furred

infants were born to grayish-brown mothers

in two enclosures (numbers 22g and 22h on

map). Pending more births in what has

become an annual population explosion,

the Zoo now has 23 of these tail-less monkeys

on exhibit in these cages and in two others,

also located behind the Lion House (numbers

22b and 22d on map). The old quip that

there are more Barbary apes at the National

Zoological Park than in the famous colony on

the Rock of Gibraltar is probably not literally

true at this moment; but certainly this species

has bred well here over the years, and the

National Zoo’s colony has provided barbary

apes for many other zoos.

Not only do the four Barbary ape groups

illustrate the remarkable success the Zoo has

had with this species, but the observant

visitor will find each of them a fascinating

society in miniature. In both of the cages

in which young have been born this spring,

there are a number of adult females and the

young born to them last year. These monkeys

interact in a variety of amicable and hostile

ways, with conflicts resolved and justice

meted out by the authority of a dominant

adult male. Once, one of the recent mothers

was seen grooming the fur of one of the

year-old juveniles while the infant clinged

to her breast, and the adult male climbed up

and chased the juvenile away. Evidently the

juvenile was receiving more attention than

was his due. At other times, however, a

juvenile has been seen grooming one of the

infants with the mother’s apparent approval.

The infants are involved in another interesting

behavior pattern. Often an adult male will

approach one of the mothers, take hold of

the infant’s lower legs, and examine its bot-

tom while it still clings to its mother’s chest

fur with its hands. Like similar behavior

towards subordinate adults, this is the

father’s way of asserting his dominance

over both the mother and her offspring.

Puma Cubs °

In early May, a pair of puma cubs (Fe/is

concolor) were born in the den at the rear of

their parents’ cage (number 22a on map).

Soon afterwards, the father was removed

from the enclosure and placed in the Lion

House (number 23 on map). \n this species,

as in most members of the cat family, the

adults are ordinarily solitary; they meet only

to mate and separate soon afterwards. Thus,

in the wild the female alone raises the young;

and a captive father’s reactions to a newborn

litter were thought to be too unpredictable

to risk his presence in the same enclosure.

The young have dark brown spots, and their

tails are ringed. These markings will gradually

disappear, and by the time the cubs are six

months old they will have uniform tawny

coats like their parents. At that time they

will weigh between 30 and 45 pounds, Born

blind, they were able to see after two weeks

and at that time began to emerge from their

den. They will be weaned some time after

the fifth week of life, and after that they

should appear outside much more frequently,

playing energetically and practicing the

hunting skills on which these predators

depend for their survival in the wild.

New Muntjac Yard

A new enclosure (number 3c on map) has

been built to house Indian muntjac (Muntiacus

muntjak), The Zoo has six of these tiny

deer, three males and three females. Of the

males one is an adult, distinguished by the

fact that he grows antlers and by his tusklike

elongated upper canines; one was born here

in May, 1971; and one is a young fawn, born

on April 14, 1972.

The enclosure previously occupied by the

muntjac (number 9d on map) will now be

used for some even smaller hoofed mammals,

Kirk’s dik-dik (Madogua kirkii), a species of

antelope. Adults of this species weigh less

than a dozen pounds, as opposed to about

38 pounds in the muntjak. Kirk’s dik-dik is

also remarkable for its unusual proboscis-

like snout. Currently the Zoo has only one

of these antelope, a male sharing the red

kangaroos’ yard (number 9i on map); but in

July two females are expected to arrive,

forming the nucleus of a breeding herd.

Gorilla Birth

After several weeks of the Friends of the

Zoo’s ‘round-the-clock ‘‘preg-watch,”’ on May

29 Femelle, the female gorilla, gave birth to a

male infant, her first offspring. She is about

ten years old and has been at the National

Zoo since 1965. The infant was removed for

hand rearing at the home of Headkeeper

Bernie Gallagher and his wife, Louise, and

will be put on exhibit in about six months.

Birds

Satin Bowerbird

Building a Courtship Bower

Early in April, the male satin bowerbird

(Ptilonorhynchus violaceus) at the Bird

House (number 5 on map) began to build

one of the courtship ‘‘bowers’’ for which

this species is famous. On the floor of cage

2 (to the right of the front door) the glossy

blueish-black male constructed an arch of

stiff grasses — or rather two sides of an arch,

not quite coming together at the top.

Knowing that the satin bowerbird likes to

decorate his bower with blue objects,

keepers provided hyacinth petals and pieces

of blue string, which the male promptly

carried over to his power and strewed about

it. As a further means of enhancing the

bower, the male satin bowerbird is reported

to “‘paint”’ its sides sometimes, using a piece

of soft bark as a brush and earth, charcoal, or

ashes moistened by saliva as paint; but the

Zoo’s male has not as yeet been seen doing so.

When the bower had begun to take shape, the

male started to court the pale-green and brown

female by walking up and down through the

center of his archway with his closed wings

lifted slightly, occasionally adding a new

piece of grass to the bower, picking up one

of the blue petals with his bill, or calling

from a nearby branch. Eventually the

female began to show signs of responding.

By the middle of April, although she would

not go near the bower, she frequently

perched next to the male when he was

perching on a tree a yard or two from the

bower. By the end of the month, she was

often visibly excited. She would spend long

periods flying back and forth the length of

the cage, landing gracefully, slowed by her

spread wings, and pausing less than a minute

at each end. Sometimes she would approach

the male, her bill wide open and her throat

working. At first he often seemed shy and

would sometimes withdraw at her approach;

if she flew off, he would seem about to

follow her, then stop and fly back down to

his bower. But soon, when she flew towards

the far end of the cage, he would sometimes

follow right after her and land next to her.

Meanwhile his courtship display at the bower

was becoming more intense, and he began to

reveal the exceptional mimetic abilities of

this species, which have to be heard to be

believed.

The male satin bowerbird is capable of mimic-

ry only during the part of the year when he is

engaged in courtship, and experiments have

shown that castration inhibits mimicry in

this species, while male hormone injections

re-establish it. It would take an expert on

Australian birdsong to tell what species the

Zoo’s male is mimicking — if, in fact, he is

always reproducing the calls of other actual

species. But it is readily evident that he is

capable of producing a considerable variety

of sounds.

Most common, perhaps, is a soft cawing call,

but there are also louder squawks, whistles,

a sparrow-like twitter, a somewhat chicken-

like cluck, and a repetitive cricket chirp.

- Still other sounds recall no other living

thing; one can only be described as the sound

_ of an alarm clock being wound up. Occasion-

ally, the bowerbird will produce what seems

to be the sound of a whole grove-full of

twittering passerine birds; when he does so,

the observer finds it almost impossible to

believe that such a variety of apparently

simultaneous sounds are coming from one

bird. This ventriloqual effect may continue

for about a minute, when it is terminated by

a somewhat louder, but equally distant-

sounding scream. Moreover, the bowerbird

does not usually produce these different

sounds at separate times but runs through

almost the entire repertory in quick succession.

The female satin bowerbird is able and willing

to breed for a much shorter period than the

male. In the wild the female will wait as long

as several months in the area of the male’s

bower while he continues to display and add

to his structure in various ways. During this

time she will gradually become more and more

excited and more and more responsive to

his courtship, just as the Zoo’s female has

been doing. Finally, when the insects on

which the wild female’s young will be fed

become plentiful in the forests of Eastern

Australia to which this species is native, the

wild female becomes ready to mate and

actively solicits the male. Copulation has

been observed to take place within the

bower. After that, the bower goes to no

further use, and the female departs to

build her nest and raise her young alone.

In the first weeks of May, the Zoo’s female

was seen walking into the bower, where she

had never ventured before and even pulling

at one of its straws with her bill; the male,

on the ground nearby, would open one wing

and raise it, vibrate his tail for about thirty

seconds, then open and raise the other

wing, giving a loud whistle. At this time

the cage was partially screened off around

the bower, so that the birds would not be

unduly disturbed; but it is still possible for

visitors to see the bower and the male’s

continuing courtship activities.

As we go to press, we do not know when to

expect mating. If the pair do mate success-

fully, the female should eventually build a

cup-shaped nest of thin twigs partly lined

with dry leaves, probably in a fork of one of

the trees in the birds’ cage. The usual number

of eggs for this species is reported to be two,

although clutches of one or three are some-

times found. The incubation period is

nineteen to twenty-three days.

Two New Toucan Species

on Exhibit

The two new keel-billed toucans in cage 11 at the

Bird House (number 5 on map).

Many new species have been placed on

exhibit at the Bird House this spring. Two of

these — the keel-billed toucans (Ramphastos

sulfuratus) in cage 11 and the curl-crested

toucanets or curl-crested aragaris (Ptero-

glossus beauharniaesii) on the other side of

the building in cage 6 — belong to the remark-

able toucan family, members of which are

well known for the improbable size of their

bills. The keel-billed toucan is typical of

the larger species in this family, while the

smaller curl crested toucanet not only has a

large bill, though actually a relatively moder-

ate-sized one for a toucan, but also has some

of the most distinctive head plumage found

in any bird. |

The curl-crested toucanet’s head is covered

with black ‘‘pin curls ”’ actually curled and

greatly broadened feather shafts. What, if

any, special functions these highly specialized

feathers have is unknown. But the Zoo’s

curl-crested toucanets have been seen appar-

ently grooming each other’s head plumage

with their bills, thus involving these myster-

ious feathers in one behavior pattern with

the equally unusual oversized bill.

A XOMAP

Connecticut Avenue pedestrian entrance

Connecticut Avenue vehicular entrance

Deer and antelope areas (a-j)

Great Flight Cage

Bird House

Pheasant and crane line (a-r)

Raptor cages (a-d)

Delicate-hoofed stock building (a-c)

Hardy-hoofed stock complex (a-i)

Panda House (a-c)

Seen Se ee YS

eed

. Elephant House

. Water birds (a-e)

. Hawks and owls (a-c)

. Goat mountain areas (a-e)

. Small Mammal Building

. Lesser Pandas

. Prarie dogs

. Bears and monkeys (a-m)

. Reptile House

. Tortoise yard

. Monkey House

. Hardy Animals (a-o)

. Lion House

. Komodo Dragon

. Bears (a-})

. Water animals (a-e)

. Sea Lion pool

. Wolves, foxes, and wild dogs (a-1)

. Lesser Cats

. Waterfowl ponds (a-d)

. Police Station—Restrooms—First Aid

. Restaurant

. Picnic Area

. Window Shop

. Rock Creek Parkway entrance

. Friends of the National Zoo Offices

. FONZ Education, Editorial, and Tour

Guide Offices

XS)

Telephone

Restrooms

Trackless Train Stops

Parking

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A SOMAP

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. Connecticut Avenue pedestrian entrance

. Connecticut Avenue vehicular entrance

. Deer and antelope areas (a-j)

Great Flight Cage

‘Bird House

Pheasant and crane line (a-r)

Raptor cages (a-d)

Delicate-hoofed stock building (a-c)

Hardy-hoofed stock complex (a-i)

Panda House (a-c)

. Elephant House

. Water birds (a-e)

. Hawks and owls (a-c)

. Goat mountain areas (a-e)

. Small Mammal Building

. Lesser Pandas

. Prarie dogs

. Bears and monkeys (a-m)

. Reptile House

. Tortoise yard

. Monkey House

. Hardy Animals (a-o)

. Lion House

. Komodo Dragon

. Bears (a-})

. Water animals (a-e)

. 9ea Lion pool

. Wolves, foxes, and wild dogs (a-l)

. Lesser Cats

. Waterfowl ponds (a-d)

. Police Station—Restrooms—First Aid

. Restaurant

. Picnic Area

. Window Shop

. Rock Creek Parkway entrance

. Friends of the National Zoo Offices

. FONZ Education, Editorial, and Tour

Guide Offices

Telephone

Restrooms

Trackless Train Stops

Parking

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Toucans are known to use their bills to reach since toucans are rarely bred successfully in

out from branches to obtain fruit and berries; | captivity. Part of the reason for this may lie

the toucan bites off a berry or a chunk of in the fact that the young are hatched com-

fruit with the tip of its sharp-edged bill and pletely blind and featherless and develop

throws its head back so that the food slides extremely slowly for birds. Their eyes do

down the bill into the throat. A large piece not begin to open until they are three weeks

of fruit is first chewed in the tip of the bill; old, at which time the young are still feather-

and the tongue, which is nearly as long as less, and in some species of these cavity-

the bill and fringed with bristles on both nesting birds the nesting period is longer

sides, aids in mashing the pulp. Similarly, than six weeks. At birth, the lower half of

in drinking, water is taken in the tip of the the bill is broader and larger than the upper

bill and flows down into the gullet when the half, which is an obvious adaptation for re-

head is reared back. ceiving food from the parent; and it takes

over a month for the bill to assume its adult

But many scientists do not believe that these :

shape and coloration.

uses totally account for the spectacular form

the bill has taken. To some of these its size,

along with its brilliant coloration in many

species, suggests that it plays a role in

courtship display and in helping the toucan

recognize members of its own species, just as

distinctive plumage is known to do in many

other birds. Supporters of this theory point

out that many of the species with the most

gaily colored bills have black bodies. The

keel-billed toucan is one of these; its body is

entirely black, except for a deep red rump

patch and a yellow throat, but its bill is a

gaudy yellow with a green stripe. As yet, :

however, there seems to be little CORENSTE One of the three new giant pittas in the indoor

evidence to support such conjectures. And flight room at the Bird House (number 5 on map);

the curl-crested toucanet further complicates this is the smaller of the two males.

matters by having a comparatively dull-

colored bill and comparatively distinctive

plumage, with a pale yellow breast divided by

a bright orange band.

Giant Pittas

in the Indoor Flight Room

Three giant pittas or great blue bittas (Pitta

caerulea) have been added to the ranks of

ground-feeding species in the indoor flight

room at the Bird House. These plump,

stumpy-tailed birds are usually to be found

to the left of the front entrance to the room,

hopping along in search of food and some-

times pausing to snap up earthworms in their

broad, slightly downcurved bills. Two are

males; they are quite conspicuous, with

bright turquoise wings and backs and

The size of the toucan’s bill necessitates some

unusual sleeping arrangements. The neck is

twisted backwards, and the head and bill are

laid sideways across the back. The tail is then

spread like a fan and folded up over the back

covering the head and bill. The sleeping

toucan has been described as looking like

nothing but a ball of feathers. This habit is brownish-white undersides. The single

doubtless associated with the fact that many female is less noticeable; her back and wings

toucan species are known to spend their are brown and only her tail feathers show the

nights in communal roosting cavities, where male’s turquoise color. Both sexes, with

space is at a premium and any method of their long-legged hops and their manner of

getting the birds’ bills and tails out of the way pausing alertly with the bill raised high in

is a definite advantage. the air, seem invariably to strike human

It is with some excitement that the Bird observers as comic.

House officials report that the curl-crested The pittas (family Pittidae) — also known as

toucanet pair are showing interest in the nest —_jewel-thrushes because of their bright colors,

box provided for them in their new home, although they are not true thrushes — are all

characterized by the same stout body and

short tail. The hooded pitta (Pitta sordida)

in cage 5 is another member of this family on

exhibit at the Bird House; its small size is

more typical of the pittas, and compared

with it the giant pitta is truly a giant. All

pittas inhabit the Old World tropics, searching

damp forest floors for large insects, other in-

vertebrates, and small vertebrates. Although

they usually rely on hopping quickly through

the underbrush to escape danger and their

rounded wings are surprisingly small, pittas

are capable of strong flight. Some species

migrate for great distances. Others, including

the giant pitta, make shorter migrations; this

species is reported to alternate winter and

summer ranges in its native lowland forests

in Malaya, Sumatra, and Borneo.

All of the pittas return to trees to roost at

night, and all build their large, globelike

nests of twigs, moss, bark, and leaves in trees

and bushes. In spring, the male departs from

his usually terrestrial daytime habits to spend

some time defending a breeding territory from

other males by making loud whistling calls

from an elevated perch. In some species, he

may also advertise his possession of the

territory and his readiness to breed by making

short, looping flights from such a perch.

The larger of the two giant pitta males in the

indoor flight room seems to have assumed a

dominant position relative to the smaller

male, and the smaller male hops away when

the larger one approaches. In addition, the

smaller male seems never to be allowed to

approach the female closely, while the female

and the larger male can sometimes be sighted

foraging alongside each other, as pairs of these

ordinary solitary birds do during their

breeding season in the wild. A few times the

larger male has been seen apparently warding

off the smaller male with an interesting

threat display. The smaller male will be

feeding or standing still, and the larger male

will approach him from behind. The smaller

male will turn his head to look back and

freeze in an alerted position. Then the

larger male will display towards him by

slowly expanding and contracting his round

belly. On one occasion the larger male was

seen chasing the smaller one; after the latter

had scurried off ignominiously, the larger

male displayed in the same way and erected

some of his blue back feathers.

Black-necked Screamers —

Unusual Waterfowl

The black-necked screamer (number 6d on map)

is an unusual distant relative of ducks, geese, and

swans.

Other recent arrivals in the Bird Division in-

clude a pair of black-necked screamers

(Chauna chavaria), \ocated in an outdoor

enclosure behind the Bird House (number 6d

on map). These birds inhabit marshes, wet

grasslands, and forest lakes in tropical and

subtropical South America, where the harsh

cries for which they are named can be heard

for as much as two miles. They separate in

pairs during the breeding season; but, during

the rest of the year, they congregate in large

groups, sometimes numbering in the thou-

sands, and the “‘concert’’ of sound such a

group can produce is said to be truly

deafening.

There are three species of screamer, placed by

ornithologists in a family of their own

(Anhimidae), which is included in the same

order, the Anseriformes or waterfowl, as

ducks, geese, and swans (family Anatidae).

Unlike those of ducks, geese, or swans,

screamers’ feet are only very slightly webbed,

and their long toes are adapted for stalking

across mats of floating vegetation. Screamers

have many other unusual characteristics.

Pelicans and some other sea birds have a

layer of tiny air bubbles between the skin

and the body to increase bouyancy, but in

the screamers this sort of flotation system

reaches its greatest development, extending

down over the legs as far as the toes. Re-

portedly these bubbles cause a screamer’s

skin to crackle audibly when pressed by a

finger; and, by distending these air cells, the

screamer itself is able to produce a low

rumbling sound.

In most birds feathers grow only on certain

parts of the skin surface; in screamers — as

in the primitive penguins and ostriches — the

feathers are distributed almost continuously

over the body. But perhaps the most notice-

able peculiarity of the screamers is a sharp

spur that grows on the forward edge of each

wing; present even in newly hatched chicks,

these spurs are formidable defensive weapons.

As if all of this were not enough, one species

of screamer, the horned screamer, has a

long, curved “horn’’ of skin-covered cartilege

growing from its forehead, the function of

which is unknown, .

In the wild screamers are believed to mate for

life. Their large, untidy nests are island-like

piles of sticks and rushes built in shallow

marsh water reaching several feet above the

surface. The four to six young, like duck-

lings and goslings, leave the nest after a few

days and follow the mother. The black-necked

screamer is said to feed exclusively on vege-

table matter in the wild, particularly on

grasses and the seeds of water plants.

Three Young Double-wattled

Cassowaries Acquired

One of three juvenile double-wattled cassowaries

recently acquired by the Bird Division (number 6h on

map). The ‘‘wattles” for which this species is named

are the two small fleshy growths visible on this

young male’s neck; they will eventually become

much larger and assume a bright red color. Notice

also the long sharp quills on the wings at the lower

lefthand corner of the picture; these protect the bird

as it travels through thick underbrush.

Three juvenile double-wattled cassowaries

(Casuarius bicarunculatus) have recently been

acquired and are on exhibit behind the Bird

House (number 6h on map). Previously the

Zoo had only one member of this flightless

species, an adult male, now located in a hold-

ing pen at the rear of the young cassowaries’

enclosure. Less than a yard tall at present, the

young birds will grow to the same nearly five

foot height; meanwhile, their long, drooping

feathers, now light brown, will gradually as-

sume the black coloration of the adult’s. In

one of the three this process has already

begun, and the plumage has a marked blackish

cast, especially on the back. The wattles for

which this species is named — the fleshy

growth hanging from the throat — will

increase in size as the birds mature and

assume the bright red color that in the adult

contrasts so vividly with the blue skin around

the eyes.

Unlike their closest living relatives, the emus

(number 6f on map), which inhabit grasslands,

and the superficially similar but much more

distantly related rheas and ostriches, casso-

waries and forest birds and possess several

notable adaptations for a life in thick under-

brush. One is the hard bony casque on the

forehead, which is used to ward off thorny

vines and branches; this structure has not yet

developed in the Zoo’s young birds, but a

bony plate is present where it will later grow.

Their rudimentary wings carry several long

quills, which further protect the body from

such obstructions. They are swift runners,

and like the emus and rheas, they have only

three toes, as opposed to the four toes usual

in birds. As in hoofed mammals, the reduced

number of toes is an adaptation for speed and

a terrestrial existence. The middle toe bears a

long spike-like claw which can inflict great

damage when the bird is cornered by an

adversary.

As in emus, rheas, and ostriches, the male

alone incubates the eggs, which are laid ina

clearing on the forest floor. He too is charged

with feeding the young. Two of the Zoo’s

new cassowaries are males; the one whose

plumage is black on the back is a female. It

is hoped that it will eventually be possible to

mate her with the older male or with one of

the younger ones.

Reptiles and

Amphibians

Komodo Dragons

Moved to Summer Quarters

The Zoo’s male Komodo monitor of Komodo dragon

(number 24 on map). As in other lizards and snakes

the long, flickering tongue functions as an auxiliary

to the sense of smell, conveying scents dissolved in

the saliva to two pits in the mouth known as

Jacobson’s organs. This extra sense of smell is

valuable since reptiles’ breath rate depends on

their temperature—which in turn depends on the

temperature of their surroundings—and thus some-

times is not able to provide needed information to

the ordinary nasal channels of smell.

In early June, the Zoo’s Komodo dragons or

komodo monitors (Varanus Romodoensis)

were placed in their outdoor summer enclo-

sure (number 24 on map), this enclosure has

been used for Komodo dragons since 1964, at

which time the Zoo had only the female

(“‘Rini’’) of the current pair. At that time the

house in the yard was built and heat coils in-

stalled in the floor for the colder nights. When

the male (‘‘Kelana’’) arrived in June, 1970, he

was first introduced to the female in this same

enclosure.

Both lizards seem to enjoy their summer

home, and many interesting aspects of this

little-known species’ behavior have been ob-

served there. Though they could not by any

means be said to frequent the pond provided

for them, they do sometimes enter the water;

and, when they do so, they prove like the

other members of the monitor family to be

excellent swimmers. Like the other monitors

they swim in a manner reminiscent of that

of the crocodilians, propelling themselves by

a side-to-side motion of the tail, with both

front and back legs tucked in close to the

body.

More often they are likely to use the pool as a

source of drinking water, although they seem

to prefer to get their water in other ways.

Both usually drink soon after eating. The

male has often done so from a hose or a

keeper’s cupped hand. Both dragons will

frequently drink from puddles left in the

grass after a rainstorm or after their enclosure

has been watered by keepers; this preference

may reflect the arid conditions in their

natural habitat on Komodo, Flores, and

other islands in the Lesser Sunda Group east

of Java, where water may only be available

after rainfall. When they do drink from the

pond, the dragons take a large number of

successive gulps, after each of which the

tongue is extended several inches. The

nostrils remain submerged for as many as

forty gulps before the lizard pauses for a

few seconds to breathe.

The Zoo’s Komodo dragons are fed a varied

diet, including rabbits; ground horse meat,

horse liver, and horse hearts; and the meat and

intestines of deer, sheep, and goat. The food

is generally given in large pieces weighing

approximately two pounds. On several

occasions, the female has been seen stalking

live prey that has happened into the outdoor

enclosure; she has caught and eaten a

squirrel, a pigeon, and a number of mallards.

A keeper who has worked with the National

Zoo’s Komodo dragons for years considers

this largest of the world’s lizards the most

intelligent reptile he has worked with; he

ranks the king cobra (Ophiophagus hannah)

second. He demonstrated the lizard’s intelli-

gence by teaching the female to respond to a

distinctive whistle he used to call her when

she was living alone in the summer enclosure.

At first she showed no sign of recognition;

then she learned to jerk her head up, if lying

down, and try to ascertain the direction from

which the sound was coming. At times she

would be asleep in the house and would

respond to the whistle by running over to the

fence to locate her keeper. It was the sound

rather than the keeper himself that elicited

her response; she reacted in the same way to a

tape recording of the keeper’s whistle. Most

surprisingly of all, she remembers the whistle

when she is outdoors summer after summer;

but she shows no recognition of it in the

dragons’ winter quarters inside the Reptile

House, where it evidently does not sound the

same to her. The male, too, has learned to

respond to the same call; he began to do so

after having been at the Zoo only two months.

The Zoo’s male weighed 238 pounds on his

arrival in 1970; at that time the female, who

had lost weight after recently laying a number

of infertile eggs, weighed only 52 pounds.

Because of this size difference, they were

watched carefully when first put together,

and the female was kept locked in the house

at night. For a while the female seemed to

pay no attention to the male and did not

even go near him. Finally, however, she

approached him, investigated most of his

body with her tongue, and nuzzled his under-

side. The male responded by expanding his

One of the National Zoo’s pair of cheetahs

(number 22f on map).

The Cheetah

Laura Kent

The best known and, to many people, the

most impressive fact about the cheetah

(Acinonyx jubatus) is its remarkable speed.

The most reliable estimates place the maxi-

mum at 60 miles per hour, on open ground

and for the relatively short distance of about

100 yards, although a speed of 70 miles per

hour has been reported from Florida. It was

in Florida, too, that an attempt was made to

introduce cheetah racing, patterned along the

lines of greyhound racing. The failure of that

throat, then rapidly expelling the air to

produce a hissing sound. Since then, the

pair have lived together with mutual

tolerance, the female often resting one of

her forefeet or her head on the male’s back.

Last summer, the male was observed attempt-

ing to mate with the female for the first time;

she seemed afraid and ran away from him to

the other side of the cage. Later the same

day, she returned to the male and lay down

next to him, but he showed no interest in

her. About a week later, he was observed

pursuing her around the enclosure, but she

managed to escape whenever he got too

close. No further mating activity was

observed all summer; but it is hoped that this

year the female will prove less skittish, and

1972 will see a successful breeding of these

unique reptiles at the National Zoo.

attempt provides certain clues to the character

of the cheetah. If the mechanical rabbit was

set too slow, the cheetahs quickly overtook it

and ripped it to shreds. If it was set too fast,

they declined to chase it at all. They showed

no interest in racing against one another; and,

when raced against the dogs, they stood for a

few seconds watching them, then burst into a

sprint (they can accelerate to top speed in

two or three strides), overtook their oppo-

nents, and leaped easily over their backs —

leaving behind, one imagines, some very

startled greyhounds,

What is less widely recognized about the

record-breaking ability of this fastest of all

mammals — unless one has been fortunate

enough to view a slow-motion film sequence

of a cheetah pursuing its prey at top speed

— is the extraordinary efficiency and beauty

of the sprint. All the physical features that

combine to make the cheetah in repose or

walking seem somewhat rangy and ungainly

are suddenly seen in relation to their func-

tion. The small and rather low-slung head,

the long, thin legs, the flexible and undu-

lating spine, all work together to reveal the

cheetah as a highly specialized machine

shaped for speed.

Often referred to as the most doglike of the

cats, the cheetah occupies its own generic

niche in the feline family, being classified

neither as Panthera (which comprises the

lion, tiger, leopard, and jaguar) nor as Felis

(which is made up of the puma and a vast

variety of smaller cats such as the serval, the

jaguarundi, and the housecat itself). Its

unique attributes — particularly certain

peculiarities in the formation of the skull

— have led taxonomists to place it in its own

genus, Acinonyx, of which jubatus is the

single species. During the twenties, a few

specimens found in North Central Rhodesia

were tentatively tagged as another species,

rex, because instead of spots, they had

stripes running lengthwise down the back

and diagonally on the flanks. Further con-

sideration, however, led most zoologists to

conclude that these were merely color

variations of jubatus. At one time, cheetahs

lived free in India, Egypt, Libya, Morocco,

and Rio do Oro, but the Asian and North

African populations have been virtually

extinct since 1935, except in Iran; the

remaining cheetahs south of the Sahara are

confined more and more to limited areas in

East, Central, and South Africa.

At a first casual glance, the cheetah might be

taken for a thin leopard — indeed, one of its

popular names is “hunting leopard” — since it

has the same basic ground color of a tawny gold,

with sometimes a reddish and sometimes a

greyish cast, and black spots. The spots are,

however, more evenly spaced, more alike in

size, and more regular in form; and they are

solid rather than rosette-patterned like the

leopard’s. In addition, the coat is somewhat

coarser.

Other differences become apparent on closer

inspection. Though about the same in total

length as the leopard, the head and body being

from 4% to 5 feet and the tail another 2/2

feet, the cheetah stands slightly higher at the

shoulder: about 3 feet compared with the

leopard’s 2 feet or slightly more. But the

cheetah is considerably lighter, ranging in *

leopard weighs from 120 to 180 pounds. This —

difference is accounted for by the cheetah’s

being lighter-boned and less heavily muscled

than the leopard. Its most distinctive facial

characteristic — and one that gives it an

expression which has long intrigued human

beings and led them to describe the cheetah as

aloof, dignified, and mournful — is the form

taken by the ‘‘tear marks.” These dark lines

are present in all cats, but in the cheetah they

are especially spectacular, running from the

inner corner of each eye, curving out around

the muzzle, and ending at the outer corners of

the mouth.

Still other distinctive characteristics may not

be so obvious. The head is small, the muzzle is

short, the eyes are set high in the skull to allow

better vision over tall grass. Broad nostrils

and a highly expandable chest and large lungs

permit the rapid oxygen intake needed for

quick energy in the sprint. The cheetah’s

feet also set it apart from other cats ;

the toes are long, for extra leverage,

and the pads are thick and tough, with rounded

edges that provide a gripping surface for split-

second changes in direction while pursuing

prey. The rather thick tail serves much the

same function, acting as a kind of rudder.

Contrary to popular belief, the cheetah’s

claws are not totally non-retractile, as a

dog’s are. But they have no protective

sheath and so become blunted with use.

Though the cheetah cub is an excellent

climber — reportedly able to cling upside:

down to the top of a wire cage — it loses its

climbing ability as the claws are worn down,

rendering it more vulnerable than are other

members of the cat family.

All these aspects of its structure make the

cheetah a living object lesson of the principles

of natural selection — and of the dangers of

overspecialization as well. For the cheetah’s

physical characteristics suit it admirably to

its mode of living but at the same time impose

limitations upon its adaptability to disruption

of its environment by man and therefore its

survival as a species.

Cheetahs hunt by day, usually at dawn and at

dusk, and by sight rather than smell. They

prefer the open grasslands but often hunt in

denser savannas. The favored terrain seems to

be one with grass and short acacia trees, with

dirt mounds and bluffs suitable for an over-

view of the area, and with a plentiful supply

of water.

Unlike lions — which usually hunt in groups,

some individuals moving upwind of the in-

tended prey and stampeding them into the

waiting jaws and claws of other individuals —

and unlike leopards, which use a solitary am-

bush technique, the cheetah is a courser. Its

hunting method may consist of a stalk, until

it is within a few hundred yards of its prey,

then an attack, a burst of speed in which it

attempts to overtake and kill the prey. The

particular hunting method used depends upon

the type of habitat. In heavy grasslands,

cheetahs usually stalk the victim, belly to

ground; their coloration provides excellent

camouflage, and often the cheetah can be

detected only as a pair of rounded ears of

the white tip of a tail above the grass. In

more open country, the cheetah may not

attempt a preliminary stalk at all but use,

instead, what has been called a “‘diagonal

open approach,’”’ in which it moves in profile

to the herd; apparently the prey animal does

not perceive the cheetah in profile as a

threat and is not aware of danger until the

cheetah actually turns and charges.

If it cannot overtake the intended prey within

a few hundred yards, the cheetah usually

gives up the chase but rapidly recovers its

energy and begins the hunt again. If it does

overtake the prey, it moves alongside and

tries to knock the animal off balance with

out-thrust forelegs. The actual method of

the kill, once the victim has been downed, is

disputed; most authorities say that the

cheetah severs the jugular or the windpipe.

Observations have been made of the propor-

tion of kills to hunts under various condi-

tions in Nairobi National Park. Overall, 157

hunts, resulting in 30 kills, were recorded. In

acacia-grasslands, where over half the hunts

were Carried out, 13 out of 83 (16 percent)

were successful. In open grasslands, the tally

was 23 percent. In heavy bush, four in twelve

hunts ended in kills; in marshy country, only

one out of a total of ten hunts was successful.

Moreover, when the intended prey showed

signs of being aware that an attack was

about to take place, the cheetah was success-

ful only six percent of the time; then the

prey remained unaware, the cheetah had a

fifty-fifty chance of bring it down. The size

of the herd is also related to hunting success;

smaller herds, with less efficient warning

systems, are more vulnerable than are large

herds.

The species that the cheetah preys upon

number around 25, all the way from birds

and small mammals such as hares or young

warthogs up to wildebeest and zebras. In

Nairobi National Park, the preference was for

impala, Grant’s gazelle, and waterbuck.

Thomson’s gazelle and kongoni were fre-

quently hunted but rarely killed.

Several factors probably determine which

species are selected for prey, the most impor-

tant being their availability in a given area.

The cheetah may also have certain taste

preferences as a result of its early experiences.

The cheetah cub is taught to hunt by its

mother; though she may kill a particular prey

mainly because of its abundance, the cubs

then tend to seek out that species as a matter

of choice. Evidence indicates that cheetahs

are selective in that they are able to single out

the weak, the immature, and the females over

the healthy, adult males in a herd.

What is the relative efficiency of the cheetah’s

various hunting techniques? The stalk-attack

method is more likely to result in a kill, since

the intended prey Is less likely to be aware of

an impending attack than if the straight pur-

suit is used. On the other hand, the stalk-

attack is more time-consuming. The solitary

hunter — whether a female killing for her

cubs or a lone adult male — is probably ata

disadvantage over cheetahs that hunt in

groups, though the size of the group seems to

bear little relation to its efficiency asa

hunting unit, the most successful of the four

groups in the observations made in Nairobi

National Park being composed of two adult

males,

Predators have not only distinctive hunting

patterns but also distinctive feeding patterns

— so much so that an experienced observer

can often identify the killer from the remains

of its victims. In this matter, the cheetah has

the dubious distinction of being one of the

sloppiest of feeders, probably because it does

not hold the prey in its claws while eating but

simply gouges out chunks with its teeth. In

addition, cheetahs eat the prey at the spot

where they kill it (probably because they

lack the powerful muscles needed to drag it

off), and they usually make only one meal

off a kill. They will not eat carrion, as lions

and leopards will. These habits make the

cheetah a rather wasteful eater and increase

the necessity of frequent hunting.

In their social life, cheetahs are neither as

gregarious as lions (who usually live in prides,

based on a loose association of families, num-

bering from three to four up to twenty or

thirty individuals) nor as solitary as leopards

(who usually associate only for mating or in

groups of a mother and her cubs). In areas

where the population is generally sparse, adult

male cheetahs are often solitary or move

around in pairs. In Nairobi National Park,

where the cheetah population is unusually

dense (one for every two square miles, as

opposed to one for every 50 square miles in

other parts of Africa where cheetahs are

found), adult males associate in hunting

groups which average three members, almost

certainly litter mates. One male is dominant

— a position that he assumes without having

to do battle with his siblings — and he deter-

mines the direction to be taken and the time

and place of the hunt. He also exhibits more

alertness than the others. The hunting

groups are highly cohesive; strangers are not

admitted, and hunting groups do not mix

with each other. At the same time, aggressive

attacks between individual cheetahs or

between hunting groups are rare. When two

groups pass in sight of one another, they

go through a threat display, laying back

their ears, lowering their heads, and exposing

their teeth; but the groups keep their distance.

The same is true when two solitary males

pass one another; again, they have been

observed to do a fair amount of snarling and

urinating, but no actual attack results.

Given these facts of cheetah life, can one

speak of territorial behavior in the cheetah?

How do hunting groups avoid sudden face-to-

face encounters that would almost certainly

lead to direct aggression? How do groups ina

given area space themselves in competing for

food? Since cheetahs must roam over fairly

large areas (probably about 20 square miles)

to be assured of a plentiful supply of prey,

how do they go about defending territories

when so much of their time and energy must

be spent on the hunt? Evidence suggests that

the answer to these questions is that cheetahs

have a spacing mechanism that has been

labeled a ‘‘time-plan” system. They have no

rigidly fixed territory which they defend

against intruders of their own species but

rather a “‘moving”’ territory within time

boundaries.

Scent marking is the specific device em-

ployed to keep other hunting groups out of

the area at a given time, thus preventing

interference with the hunt and lessening the

chance of unexpected encounters at close

range. The adult male can urinate direction-

ally; this he does frequently throughout the

day, choosing as his marking places such out-

standing objects in a landscape as trees,

bushes, and dirt mounds, or — in fairly open

areas — rare plants anong more common ones,

A given hunting group has its own favorite

marking places (identified by early writers as

“scratching posts”), and the group will often

follow a roundabout rather than a straight

path in order to visit and mark these

favorite sites. Another group coming across

such a marking place within 24 hours after

the first, can easily locate it; for though

cheetahs do not use smell in hunting, they

spend much time in sniffing for signs of

other cheetahs. Once such a spot has been

found, the members of the group, moving

slowly and deliberately, sniff out other

objects in the immediate vicinity until one

of them has located a second spot, at which

point he kneels down, thus signaling to the

other members of the group, each of which

then inspects the spot for himself. Having

discovered the route taken by the first group,

the second moves off in a different direction.

The scent markings, though they apparently

linger on for several days, lose their power as

a warning device after 24 hours. A second

group coming across the markings of the first

after a longer time period, though they show

awareness of the markings, have no hesitation

about following in the same direction.

Adult females do not form such hunting

groups, though a female hunts with the male

for a short time after mating and a mother

may sometimes be seen hunting with her

grown cubs. Nor do they scent-mark in the

same way the males do, but the female does

heed the warning signals left by adult males

and does not take the same route. When in

heat, however, she leaves a characteristic

scent wherever she sits or urinates, and this

scent alerts interested males, which then

follow her. Unlike the other big cats, cheetahs

do not use vocalizations to attract mates.

Cheetahs do make a variety of sounds that can

be recognized, to some extent, by the human

beings who associate with them. They are not

“roarers” like the other big cats — lions, tigers,

leopards, and jaguars — since they lack the

necessary elastic ligaments between the hy-

oid bones that connect the larynx and skull.

Their most distinctive vocalization is usually

described as a ‘‘birdlike” or “metallic” chirp.

Some authorities regard this sound as a dis-

tress signal, but the more common view is

that it is simply a means by which cheetahs

“‘converse’’ with one another. In addition,

they snarl and spit practically from birth in

response to unfamiliar smells; they give a

gurgling squeal or snuffle when tussling with

one another over food; and they purr heavily

to indicate contentment. Even as day-old

cubs, they are capable of a shrill purr.

Unfortunately little is known about the

breeding habits of cheetahs in the wild, as Is

attested by the lack of success that zoos have

had in setting up ideal conditions for their

reproduction. As was mentioned, the female

cheetah gives off a scent when in estrus that

attracts the male, or more probably a number

of males, who may fight among themselves for

her favor. The mating pair spend a brief

“honeymoon” period hunting together.

The precise role of the male in raising the

family is not known, although Joy Adamson,

who raised an orphaned female cheetah to

adulthood, says that this female’s mate con-

tinued to visit her periodically during her

pregnancy and after she had given birth.

Apparently, however, he did not help out to

the extent of providing meat for the cubs, and

the female had to do her own hunting. It

seems likely, from this and other evidence,

that the female does indeed carry the

primary responsibility; if so, this would help

to explain why the female cheetah needs no

scent-warning system to avoid encounters

with other groups; as in other carnivore

species in which the female takes care of the

young by herself, she is probably quite

aggressive when with cubs and is thus accorded

considerable respect by others.

The female cheetah probably first mates when

she leaves the family group at around age 2;

Adamson’s cheetah was 26 months old when

she had her first litter. The gestation period

is around three months, and the average litter

numbers from two to five. In one instance

recorded of a captive birth, it took only 1%

hours from the first signs of labor to the

birth of the third and last cub. Each cub was

about 10 inches long and weighed close to

nine or ten ounces at birth.

Anyone getting his first look at a newborn or

very young cheetah might be hard put to

identify it, since it is covered with thick,

silvery-brown fur that runs down the length

of the back, though its flanks and underparts

are heavily spotted, and its face has the

characteristic cheetah markings. By the time

the cub is 7% weeks old, this mantle has

disappeared except around the shoulders, It

is represented in the adult by a short neck

mane or ruff.

From the beginning, cheetah cubs are active;

three born in a private zoo in Rome were

moving while still in the fetal sack and began

nursing immediately after they were released

from it. By the second or third day, the cubs

were crawling about; by the ninth or tenth,

they could stand somewhat shakily on all

fours; by the sixteenth day they could walk. :

Generally, the eyes begin to open on the

tenth or eleventh day, though they are at

first covered by a blue film; by the fifteenth

day, they are fully open, and by the end of

the fourth week, the cubs can focus. With

eyes open, the face loses its helpless infant ap-

pearance; it has been variously described as

being like “‘the deeply lined, wrinkled face on

an old person” and as looking “fierce and

comically pugnacious.” By the end of the

fourth week, the canine teeth break through

the gums; and the cubs begin to eat meat

during the fourth or fifth week and are fully

weaned by the time they are five months old.

In the wild, the mother moves the cubs from |

den to den frequently, probably to lessen the

likelihood of their being found by predators.

Adamson’s cheetah transferred her litter to

new nests over twenty times during the first

six weeks of their lives. Though they played

freely when the mother was with them, even

venturing out a bit on their own, they re-

mained rigidly motionless when she was gone.

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When they were seven and a half weeks old,

the one male in the litter, though smaller

than his sisters, established himself as domi-

nant, acting in an almost protective manner

toward his mother. By ten weeks, the cubs

were starting to climb trees. By the time it

is ten months old, the cheetah cub is almost

as large as the mother and has turned from a

rather stumpy-legged and plump creature

into a leggy and awkward adolescent. The

family group begins to break up when the

cubs have demonstrated their ability to live

independently by making kills on their own

and going off for ever increasing periods by

themselves. One of the cubs born to Adam-

son’s cheetah made her first kill at 14 months

and, 2% months later was leaving the group

for several days at a time, an absence that the

mother seemed to accept without apprehen-

sion. At this proof of the cubs’ approaching

maturity, the mother herself went off and

became pregnant. She returned periodically

to her three remaining cubs, gradually widen-

ing their territory until it covered close to

60 square miles and staying with the cubs for

about ten days while they familiarized them-

selves with new areas. She left them definite-

ly, to seek out a birthplace for her approach-

ing litter, when they were 17% months old.

The three remaining female cubs stayed

together for a while, making no attempt to

search for their mother and showing no

nervousness at being on their own, and then

they too split up. One went off by herself to

become a solitary hunter, the other two

hunted together until such time as they,

presumably, mated and became fully inde-

pendent. The territories adopted by each

did not overlap, and — as far as could be

ascertained — the mother had no chance

encounters with her now-grown cubs.

The mortality rate among cheetah cubs is

high; they suffer heavily from predation by

lions (animals that the cheetah shows signs

of fearing greatly), hyenas, leopards, and

even eagles. Of the 11 cubs that Adamson’s

cheetah bore in a two year period, three

survived to maturity and one of these made

it only through the intervention of human

beings. Two litters simply vanished, pre-

sumably falling victim to predators, and the

male cub of the second litter died of feline

enteritis, one of the several diseases that may

kill off young cheetahs in the wild. Another

observer reports that, in Nairobi National

Park, of five litters averaging five cubs each,

half died during the first eight months after

birth. When a female cheetah loses a litter,

she comes into estrus again almost immediately.

In the wild, then, cheetahs live, at best, a

precarious existence, under pressure of

predation, disease, and a short food supply.

Their hunting and feeding habits make it

necessary for them to expend much time and

energy simply seeking food; their relative

scarcity in most areas means that they may

have difficulty in finding a mate; their limited

gregariousness makes them almost entirely

dependent on their own abilities and re-

sources; and the mother’s responsibilities as

breadwinner restrict her capacity to protect

the helpless cubs at all times.

Man has done little to help the situation.

Though the cheetah has been tamed for

centuries (carvings on Egyptian tombs from

1500 B.C. show leashed and collared chee-

tahs), it has been exploited chiefly as a hunt-

ing animal. Indian maharajahs devastated the

numbers of Asian cheetahs to the point of

extinction; by the end of the 19th century,

they had become so scarce in India that

deputies of the rajahs had to go to Africa

for fresh specimens.

Today the African cheetah stands in danger of

being wiped out entirely. In 1964, Armand

Denis, writing for the World Wildlife Fund and

the International Union for the Conservation

of Nature, placed the cheetah in category D,

which comprises the most heavily endangered

species. Despite the long association between

cheetah and man, almost nothing is known about

its breeding habits. Those who used cheetahs

for hunting were content to go off and capture

new ones when those in their establishment

died. More recently, cheetahs have been

hunted to satisfy the avarice of the fur trade

and the vanity of human beings. Though

they are now better protected in Africa’s

national parks, their dwindling numbers and

the continued destruction of their habitat

and decimation of their prey species may

work their downfall, as is true for so many of

Africa’s wild predators. @