FrLOOGerls

Volume 1, Number 5 December/January 1972/1973 Price .35

a

Published by the Friends of the National Zoo

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 1972-73

Peter C. Andrews — President

Arthur W. Arundel — Vice President

Emanuel Boasberg — Treasurer

Susan K. Semple — Secretary

Theodore Babbitt

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 ]. 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

Photographs on pages 7, 14, and 15 and on

back cover by Kathy Rasenberger. Cover

photograph and all other photographs by

Tom Jones.

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. 4.

Hand Raising a Baby Gorilla

Zoo News — Mammals

Zoo Map

Zoo News — Birds

Zoo News — Reptiles and Amphibians

The Hoopoe

ine

10 © COnr

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

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

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.

Hand Raising

Bab

When Femelle, the National Zoo’s female

gorilla, gave birth to her first offspring

last May 29th, she appeared confused and

unable to care for the infant; so, rather

than risk its health or safety, Zoo officials

decided to remove the young gorilla for

hand raising. Chosen for the task were

Headkeeper of Small Mammals and Prima-

tes Bernie Gallagher and his wife Louise,

who had previously raised a total of

eight great ape young in their home. The

infant, a male, was given the name “Mgeni-

Mopaya’”’ by officials of the Embassy of

Zayre, but his caretakers usually refer to

him by the nickname “Mopie.’’ Mopie

will be seven months old in January; and

he is expected to return to his birthplace,

the Zoo’s Small Mammal Building

(number 15 on map), soon after the first

of the year.

When Mopie first arrived at the Gallagher’s

house, he slept most of the time. He was

fed a cow’s milk formula from a bottle

every two hours around the clock. His

eyes apparently could not focus for the

first few days, but after the third day

they began to be able to pick out and

follow moving objects in their surroundings.

Like other young gorillas, Mopie often

followed a moving object with his eyes

only but kept his head still. At rest his

eyes appeared entirely brown; but when

he moved them along with an object he

was watching, large amounts of white

appeared, giving the eye an appealingly

human appearance.

As do all newborn non-human primates,

gorilla infants have a strong clinging

reflex from birth. Although a newborn

gorilla’s grip is relatively weak compared

to that of a new born chimpanzee of

orangutan, from the first day Mopie could

support his own weight for a few seconds

clinging to one of his human caretakers’

fingers by only one hand. He tended to

cling to his foster mother’s left shoulder

while supported by her left forearm. This

preferred position is reminiscent of the

position in which a wild gorilla infant

clings to its mother when she is sitting

upright.

When the mother gorilla is sitting, the

newborn infant usually clings to her chest

where the nipples are located and is

supported by one of her forearms. As

it does so it may be partially shielded by

one or both of her arms and almost

entirely hidden by the long hair that

covers them. On the other hand, when the

mother is walking in the gorilla’s normal

quadrupedal fashion, for the first month

of life the infant usually clings across her

chest with its hands grasping the hair at

one side of her body and its feet grasp-

ing the hair at the opposite side. At this

age it is evidently unable to support its

own weight long in this position, and the

mother supports it almost constantly with

One arm as she uses the other one in

walking. When it is about a month old,

it often clings with its legs wrapped

around her waist and its feet grasping the

hair at the sides of her abdomen; in this

position, too, it generally requires support

from the mother.

At the age of about six or seven weeks

the wild gorilla infant is able to climb up

onto its mother’s back and ride there

lying prone while she is moving. It often

raises its head to look around and evident-

ly takes some interest in its surroundings.

Soon afterwards it is able to cling for

sometime to her underside without

support, but riding on the mother’s back

continues to be its preferred means of

transportation. By the time it is ten weeks

old it is leaving its mother for short

periods of time and can crawl slowly

behind her as she walks. In this sort of

crawling, the back legs are not straightened

out as they would be in the full quad-

rupedal gait of the adult. It is at the age

of about four months that gorilla infants

in the wild are reported to take their first

steps in the typical gorilla quadrupedal

fashion with both front and back limbs

straight and the hands held in such a way

that the weight rests on the knuckles.

Mopie has shown a comparable gradual |

development of his locomotory abilities.

In fact he was usually somewhat ahead of

the schedule reported for gorillas in the

wild. At the age of about one month, he

was able to move in a prone position by

a kind of swimming motion from one end

of the Gallaghers’ sofa to the other and

to pull himself up over a pillow or other

obstacle in this path. This kind of locomo-

tion probably showed the development

of the same motor abilities that enable

a wild gorilla infant to climb up onto

its mother’s back. By the age of six weeks,

Mopie was able to crawl. He had mastered

the quadrupedal gait by the surprisingly

early age of three months. By contrast the

three other gorillas the Gallaghers have

raised — born to a previous Zoo female —

were unable to walk in this manner until

the age of five months.

One of Mopie’s means of locomotion does

not seem to have been reported before.

In this form of progression, his back legs

are straight as they would be if he was

walking on all fours, but he leans forward

on his elbows. He pushes himself forward

by means of his back legs, but his arms

are held rigid. He moves this way when

he is playing, and he may be holding a

ball or other play object in his hands as

he does so.

By the age of five months, Mopie was

intensely active in play, climbing on furni-

ture, doing somersaults, and biting objects.

When exceptionally happy and excited he

would run on all fours. It was in similar

states of pleased excitement that Mopie

first showed one well-known gorilla behav-

ior pattern. Moving quadrupedally, he

stopped, raised one hand, and beat his

chest vigorously.

Mopie’s first milk tooth appeared at the

age of six weeks. In the case of Tomoka,

the first National-Zoo-born gorilla and the

first gorilla the Gallaghers raised, the first

milk tooth appeared even earlier, at the

age of 20 days. In human infants, by

contrast, the first milk tooth appears

between the third and sixteenth months,

with the average appearance between the

sixth and eighth months. At the age of

five months, Mopie already had ten teeth, —

six upper and four lower, and two more

lower molars were expected to appear

soon. Like a human baby, the young

gorilla would sometimes put his finger into

5

his mouth to rub his gum while teething.

Mopie was using his ten teeth to eat a

considerable amount of solid food. He was

often given apples and grapes, and un-

cooked stringbeans were a special favorite.

In addition, since he had been one month

old, he had been eating semi-solid baby

foods, including applesauce, strained vege-

tables, custard, and cereal. He was still

being bottle-fed formula, but the Galla-

ghers were gradually trying to increase the

number of hours he could go without

a bottle at night. At the age of five

months, he was able to go about seven

hours without crying for his bottle; but

when he returns to the Small Mammal

House, a bottle left with him at 4:30 p.m.

when the keepers leave will last

him until they return at 8:00 the next

morning.

It has been said that, except for the much

slower rate of brain growth, a gorilla infant

develops at approximately twice the rate

at which a human infant develops; and

the records kept of Mopie and other

National-Zoo-born gorillas have indicated

that this generalization holds for a variety

of aspects of the young gorilla’s develop-

ment, both physical and behavioral. Mopie,

who weighed five pounds ten ounces at

birth is the largest and fastest-growing

gorilla the Gallaghers have raised. At five

months he weighed fifteen pounds, five

ounces—almost three times his birth weight.

Human babies, which of course usually

weigh several pounds more at birth than

Mopie did, triple their birth weight only

by the age of one year. Interestingly,

at the age of five months even Mopie’s

sleep pattern closely resembled that of a

year-old human infant; at that time he

slept about eight hours at night and took

one-hour nap both in the morning and

in the afternoon.

In addition, gorillas reach sexual maturity

approximately twice as early as human

beings do, at the age of six or seven, and

full maturity at the age of about twelve

years. However, in many respects — includ-

ing the eruption of the milk teeth and |

the development of physical coordination

and motor abilities — the gorilla’s growth

is even more than twice as fast as a

human’s. And the seven-month-old Mgeni-

Mopaya that visitors will see at the Small

Mammal House in January will be

considerably more active, independent,

and self-assured than a human infant of

twice that age.

6

Greater Kudu Calves

All three of the Zoo’s female greater kudus

gave birth within one week of each other

at the beginning of October. One of the

calves is a male, and two are females; all

of them were sired by the Zoo’s one

magnificent spiral-horned adult male. Soon

afterwards the male was moved to a new

enclosure (number 9f on map) where he

has now been joined by the rest of the

greater kudu herd. These births bring to

13 the number of calves of this species

(Tragelaphus strepsicerus) born at the

National Zoo since 1968.

In the wild, a mother of this African

species keeps her newborn offspring hidden

night and day in a safe place for the first

several weeks of its life. The mother

approaches the hiding place only to nurse

her offspring, and at least for the first

week or two of its life the calf never

strays from where he has been left by the

mother. Similar behavior occurs in a great

many other species of antelope and in

many other hoofed mammals. Doubtless

it serves not only to safeguard the

helpless young from predators but also to

ensure the mother’s safety, since she is

One of the Zoo’s three new greater kudu calves

(number 9f on map).

freed from the necessity of staying in one

place with her young at all times, which

might endanger her as well. In keeping

with these habits, each of the Zoo’s greater

kudu mothers chose a hiding place for

her calf. One was placed in the moat at

the lower end of the kudus’ former enclo-

sure, while the other two were hidden

behind the large logs that lie at the upper

end of the enclosure.

For the first week of life, if a keeper app-

roached one of these hiding places, the

calf did not budge. After that, the young

would get up and run away if its hiding

place was approached. For this reason, the

adult male was kept in a holding pen away

from the females and their offspring

during the first week of each calf’s life;

for if he happened to stumble on one of

the calves’ hiding places before the calf

was able to protect itself by running away

he might injure one of his offspring. After

the first week, the calves still remained in

their hiding places much of the time, but

they also frequently left to frisk around and

explore the enclosure.

Since only one of the recent calves is a

male, he was the only one born with the

7

“buttons” that will later grow into horns.

At birth these ‘‘buttons” are bones that

have developed below the skin of the

forehead that are not connected with the

rest of the skeleton. Soon after birth

these bones fuse with the frontal — or

‘forehead’? — bones of the skull. Then,

very gradually, they begin to grow; and

the skin above them begins to produce

a horny outer sheath to cover them as

they grow. The growth of the male

greater kudu’s horns is very slow compared

to horn-growth in some other antelope

such as the scimitar-horned oryx (Oryx tao).

There are no noticeable horns in the male

greater kudu until he is eight or nine

months old; and when he is sexually

mature at the age of a year and a half,

his horns are only six or eight inches long.

They continue to grow slowly throughout

the animal’s life, reaching a length of

about 40 inches in a straight line or 52

inches measured along the curves. The

horns of one greater kudu measured

72 inches in a straight line.

Like the horns of other members of the

family Bovidae, which includes not only

antelope but also sheep, goats, oxen, and

bison, the greater kudu’s horns find their

primary function in combats between

males of the same species over herds of

females at the onset of mating season.

But in this species, in which the horns

have achieved perhaps their greatest

elaboration in any of the Bovidae, they

also play an important role as social

signals, particularly in courtship. A male

greater kudu initiates his courtship of the

female by stepping in her path and tilting

his head back and away from her, in effect

displaying his horns to her. Since the

horns grow gradually throughout life, it is

possible that a male who is fully mature

and therefore a better breeder than a

younger male can indicate this fact to the

female by displaying his horns to her and

thus enhance the effect his courtship has

on her.

Oryx Pair Sent to Haibar, Israel

The National Zoological Park has had consi-

derable success in recent years in breeding

the scimitar-horned oryx (Oryx tao), a

rare and endangered species of African

antelope. Nine offspring have been born

here since 1967, when an adult male and

two adult females were acquired for the

oepning of the new Delicate Hoofed Stock

Building (number 8c on map). The most

The rare and endangered scimitar-horned oryx

(number 8c on map).

recent was a male born in September.

Now Zoo officials are happy to report

that these breeding successes have begun

to bring some real returns. In October a

pair of National-Zoo-born scimitar-horned

oryx were sent to the Haibar Reserve in

Israel, where this species and other rare

mammals native to the Middle Eastern and

North African deserts and desert fringes

have been released to live and propagate

in a suitable environment. Other hoofed

mammals being bred at Haibar include

the dorcas gazelle, the addax, the Nubian

ibex, and the Persian wild ass or onager;

and it was to the same reserve that the

National Zoo recently sent all of its Syrian

brown bears.

In historic times, the scimitar-horned oryx

was abundant on the fringes of deserts

throughout Northern Africa; but by 1850

it was extinct in Egypt, and soon afterwards,

it had disappeared from Morocco, Tunisia,

and Algeria. It is still found in a narrow

band across the southern edge of the Sahara

from Mauritania to the Red Sea. Its numbers

are declining rapidly, however, and the great

herds numbering up to 1,000 which these

8

animals once formed can now no longer be

seen. Only in one small area in northern

Chad is it present in numbers sufficient to

survive long, and even there it is in urgent

need of protection.

The major reason for the decline of the

scimitar-horned oryx throughout its range

has been the destruction of its highly

specialized desert-fringe habitat. This has

been a consequence of overstocking such

regions with domestic animals, which have

destroyed the available vegetation and

thus in effect added whole areas to the

desert. In addition, uncontrolled hunting

has taken a considerable toll.

The remaining scimitar-horned oryx share

their inhospitable homeland with scattered

bands of hardy human nomads. Some of

these have depended on them for centuries

in a manner similar to the way the Indians

of the North American plains depended on

the bixon. They have used the oryx’s meat

for food and obtained a great variety of

other products from it, from spear tips

made from its horns to leather made from

its hide. In the past, such tribes seem to

have performed the function of natural pre-

dators, eliminating the less fit members of

the herds but never overexploiting this

resource on which they depended.

More recently the hunting has begun to

have harmful effects; nomadic tribesmen

have begun to hunt the oryx not only to

meet their own needs but for the profit to

be obtained from the sale of their dried

meat throughout Africa. Moreover, un-

controlled shooting of scimitar-horned oryx

by oil surveyors and military personnel

is believed to be taking a heavy toll.

In a situation such as this, the establish-

ment of protected populations like that

at Haibar is essential, and captive breeding

can provide a valuable source of animals

for reintroduction into the wild in such

reserves when they are established. The

Arabian oryx (Oryx /leucoryx), an even

more endangered relative of the scimitar-

horned oryx, was saved from imminent ex-

tinction only a decade ago by similar methods. -

With the wild population bery small and un-

protected, several captive breeding herds were

established, including one at the Phoenix Zoo

in Arizona. The existence of these captive

herds guarantees the survival of the Arabian

oryx until adequate reserves are established in

its native habitat. In the case of the scimi-

tar-horned oryx, this second step — the

return to the wild — is already beginning,

and the National Zoo is proud to contri-

bute the young male and female “Eric”

and “Margaret’’ that have recently been

sent to Israel.

Dik-Dik Herd Established

The male dik-dik, in foreground, with one of the

four new females (number 9i on map). Notice that

the female’s forehead crest is erected.

For the past several years there has been

another occupant in the Zoo’s red kanga-

roo yard (number 9i on map) besides the

kangaroos — a seldom. noticed male Kirk’s

dik-dik (Rhynchotragus kirkii). Kirk’s dik-

dik is a tiny species of antelope, which

weighs less than a dozen pounds full

grown. A comparison of its size with the

size of some of the larger horned ungulates

(family Bovidae) — for instance the greater

kudu (number 8a on map) or the Cape

buffalo (number 9h on map) — illustrates -

the considerable range of variation with

respect to size among members of this

family.

Last summer the National Zoo placed an

order for two female dik-diks to join its

single male, to be shipped from their

native East Africa. While the two waited

in quarantine in the port of Mombassa,

Kenya, both of them gave birth; and their

calves also proved to be females. Thus,

9

when the new dik-diks arrived in October,

the Zoo’s male acquired a ‘“‘harem”’ of

four. Hopefully with a herd of this size

and new offspring to come, the Zoo’s

dik-diks will not now be as frequently

overlooked by visitors as the shy and incon-

spicuous male was by himself. However,

since these natives of the forest fringes

are mainly nocturnal in the wild, it is

best to look for them in the early morn-

ing or late afternoon.

Adult female dik-diks are frequently

larger than adult males, and one of the

Zoo’s new adult females is larger than the

male, while the other is just about his

size. On arrival, one of the young females

was about the size of the smaller adult

female, while the other was considerably

smaller. It was this smallest female that

emerged first when the dik-dik’s shipping

crate was opened in their new home. The

male came over towards her, and both

were extremely excited. Kirk’s dik-diks

have a crest of reddish fur on the forehead

which they erect when excited, and both

dik-diks erected their crests. The male

marked grasses with special scent glands

located in front of his eyes and attempted

to mate with the young female. Later,

the three other females also emerged from

the crate and scurried around the corner

with their crests erected.

In Kirk’s dik-dik the snout is estended

into a kind of trunk that can be twisted

in any direction to pick up scents. The

diminutive horns appear only in the male.

There are two widely separated popula-

tions of this species in the wild, one in

Angola on the west coast of Africa and

one in Kenya and Tanzania on the east

coast. Both populations are presently endan-

gered in much of their range because of

excessive human predation.

Pygmy Hippo Births

More than 50 pygmy hippos (Choeropsis

liberiensis) have been born at the National

Zoo’s Elephant House (number 17 on map)

since 1925. In addition, in some of these

cases the mothers themselves have been

born at the Zoo. Recently, one more calf

has been added to this number — born to a

Zoo-born mother (‘‘Millie’’) in October.

It’s father was ‘‘Totota,”’ who has sired

approximately half of the pygmy hippos

born here. As has been the custom with

Totota’s offspring, the calf was named for

Pigmy hippo mother and young at the Elephant

House (number 8a on map).

a Greek letter, ‘Psi’, but, since there is only

one more letter left in the Greek alphabet,

it is apparent that Zoo officials will soon

have to adopt a new naming convention.

Millie was born at the National Zoo in 1947

and has given birth to a dozen calves.

Black Rhino Yard Under Construction

The former goat mountain and camel areas

(number 14 on map) are being remodeled

as a new and spacious black rhinoceros

exhibit. The existing stone buildings are

to be retained, but the enclosed areas have

been consolidated and enlarged somewhat

to accomodate up to five black rhinos.

The Zoo’s current pair of adult black.

rhinos (Diceros bicornis) are to share the

new enclosure with the young female born.

to them in 1970, and future offspring

will remain with them. The goat mountain

will also be retained, and African pygmy

goats (Capra hircus) will live there and

share the rhinos’ enclosure.

10

At this writing it is not yet certain when

the rhinos will be moved to their new

home. The construction is expected to be

finished by the first of the year; but,

since it Is considered inadvisable to move

the rhinos in cold weather, moving will

have to wait until a prolonged warm spell

and possibly until spring. The newly avail-

able space at the Elephant House (number

17 on map) will be used for expanded

Indian rhinoceros and African elephant

quarters.

Woolly Monkey Born

Woolly monkey baby clinging to its mother’s back

(number 21 on map).

On September 22, a wooly monkey (Lago-

thrix lagothrica) was born at the Monkey

House (number 27 on map). This birth is

a notable event because, like all too many

New World monkeys, this species has rarely

done well in captivity in the past and has

seldom bred. The Zoo’s breeding pair have

thrived, however; the male has been here

since 1969, and the female since 1964.

They have produced three offspring alto-

gether; but one of these was stillborn, and

one died in an unfortunate accident. Thus

the latest infant, which is to all appearan-

ces a model young primate, represents the

first real breeding success with this species

at the National Zoo and one of a small

number in the world’s zoos.

Although the latest National Zoo birth

was not observed, previous observations

of captive births have given a picture of

woolly monkey birth procedure. The

mother is reported to stand on all fours,

looking around from time to time and

occasionally reaching back to touch the

infant with her hand during the fifteen

minutes of delivery. As soon as it is born,

the infant clings instinctively to its mother’s

fur. She brings it around to the front of

her body and cleans it thoroughly. She

removes the umbilical cord with her teeth,

apparently within few hours after birth.

Little is known of the natural history of

this species, which is found in the densest

forest of the central and upper Amazon

basin and up to altitudes of 7,000 feet in

the Andes. Living in small groups, they

are almost wholly arboreal and make

frequent use of the strongly prehensile

tail in their methodical progress through

the treetops. The spiralled tip of the tail

has a patch of naked skin on its underside

which gives it the sensitivity and grip of

a ‘fifth hand” in taking hold of branches,

and the tail alone can support the entire

weight of the woolly monkey’s body.

Interestingly, the Zoo’s newborn woolly

monkey’s tail is short and sparsely furred

in comparison to the long, woolly tails

of the adults. It is nonetheless an effec-

tive grasping organ, as can be seen when

the baby wraps it tightly around one of

its mother’s thighs as it clings to her

abdomen where her two nipples are located.

At this writing, the infant, whose sex

has not yet been determined, is just begin-

ning to take an interest in its surroundings,

which expresses itself mainly in explora-

tion of the mother’s body. The young

monkey frequently climbs onto her chest,

back, or hip from its usual clinging place

on her abdomen; as yet its interest in the

world beyond its mother seems to be

confined to an occasional reaching out

from her to grasp one of the cage bars.

11

11. Elephant House

12. Water birds (a-e)

13. Hawks and owls (a-c)

1

4. Black Rhinoceros yard

1. Connecticut Avenue pedestrian entrance 15. Small Mammal Building

2. Connecticut Avenue vehicular entrance 16. Lesser Pandas

3. Deer and antelope areas (a-j) 17. Prarie dogs

4. Great Flight Cage 18. Bears and monkeys (a-m)

5. Bird House 19. Reptile House

6. Pheasant and crane line (a-r) 20. Tortoise yard

7. Raptor cages (a-d) 21. Monkey House

8. Delicate-hoofed stock building (a-c) 22. Hardy Animals (a-o)

9. Hardy-hoofed stock complex (a-i) 23. Lion House

10. Panda House (a-c) 24. Komodo Dragon

25. Bears (a-j)

26. Water animals (a-e)

27. Sea Lion pool Telephone

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

29. Lesser Cats Restrooms

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30. Waterfowl ponds (a-d)

31. Police Station—Restrooms—First Aid

32. Restaurant

33. Picnic Area

34. Window Shop

35. Rock Creek Parkway entrance

36. Friends of the National Zoo Offices

37. FONZ Education, Editorial, and Tour

| Guide Offices

Trackless Train Stops

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. Connecticut Avenue pedestrian entrance

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Connecticut Avenue vehicular entrance

Deer and antelope areas (a-})

. 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)

. Black Rhinoceros yard

. 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-j)

. Water animals (a-e)

. sea Lion pool

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

. Lesser Cats

. Waterfowl ponds (a-d)

. Police Station—Restrooms—F irst Aid

. Restaurant

. Picnic Area

. Window Shop

. Rock Creek Parkway entrance

. Friends of the National Zoo Offices

. FONZ Education, Editorial, and Tour

Guide Offices

yore)

Telephone

Restrooms

Trackless Train Stops

Parking

Male Tiger on Breeding Loan

Visitors to the Lion House (number 23 on

map) will notice a new tiger (Panthera

tigris) on exhibit there. This normally

colored male is here on a six-month breed-

ing loan, during which time Zoo officials

hope to breed him both with Mohini, the

National Zoo’s famous white tigress, and

i

Scarlet Ibis Chick Hatched

On September 26th a single egg was hatched

by a pair of scarlet ibis in their spacious cage

at Bird House (number 5 on map). At first

the hatchling was almost constantly brooded

by one of its parents and could rarely be

seen by Zoo visitors. But after it reached the

age of about a week, it was frequently visible,

standing up in the nest and cheeping strenu-

ously or soliciting food from a parent by

tapping vigorously near the tip of the adult

bird’s long, curved bill. When the nestling

persisted in its begging, the adult would open

its bill wide, and the nestling would reach

deep into its throat pouch where the food

was stored.

In appearance the scarlet ibis chick was very

different from its graceful, brilliantly

colored parents. Its downy plumage was

with her normally colored daughter,

Kesari. It is hoped that by siring off-

spring here the new tiger will add fresh

genes to the National Zoo’s Bengal tiger

gene pool. The new male (nicknamed _

“Poona’’) was born at the Seattle Zoo in

1962 and has lived at Chicago’s Brook-

field Zoo since 1963.

The Zoo's scarlet ibis breeding pair on their nest

at the Bird House (number 5 on map).

black over most of its body and dirty-white

on the underside. Its bill was much shorter

in comparison to its body size than the

adult’s and was striped with yellow.

The young ibis will change in appearance

very gradually, reaching fully adult plumage

only after three or four years. After its

first plumage change, which is expected to

take place when the chick is about two

months old, it will be grayish brown on its

wings and back and white on its underside.

14

At the age of six months, it will begin to

show a few pale orange feathers on the wings;

and its underparts, lower back, and thighs

will have a reddish wash.

Scarlet ibises are native to the northeast

coast of South America from Venezuela to

eastern Brazil, though occasional birds may

wander as far away as Jamaica and, according

to some reports from the last century, Georgia

and Florida. They nest along the seacoast in

the tops of trees, bushes, or canebrake in

colonies that may number in the thousands.

One observer reported that in such a colony

Prehensile-Tailed Skinks

Four prehensile-tailed skinks are new on

exhibit at the Reptile House (number 19 on

map). These unusual lizards, which are

native to the Solomon Islands in the South

Pacific, are the largest of the world’s more

than 600 species of skinks. Some specimens

have measured as much as two feet in length.

Many members of the skink family—which is

represented on every continent and on many

“the bended tops of the canes were covered

by half-grown birds in their black plumage,

interspersed with many in all the brilliance of

age.’’ After breeding season, the young birds

have been reported to form separate flocks

that travel and feed apart from the adults.

But a little later the flocks that are seen

searching for small fish, mollusks, and crus-

taceans on beaches or exposed mudflats often

include birds in full adult plumage, birds in

the brown juvenile plumage, and birds in

every transitional stage between the two.

nsile-tailed skinks.

oceanic islands—can readily climb trees and

bushes, but the prehensile-tailed skink is the

only one that has evolved a really notable

adaptation for arboreal life. This is its strong

tail, which can be wrapped around a branch

to aid the lizard when it is climbing.

15

Madagascan Day Geckos

Four members of another arboreal lizard

species, the Madagascan day gecko (Phe/suma

madagensis) have also recently been acquired.

These small lizards are attractively colored,

with bright green backs and red spots near

the head. As in other arboreal geckos, the

wide circular pads on their toes have an

amazing adhesive power that enables the

lizards to cling to surfaces as smooth as a

sheet of glass.

The nature of the gecko’s grip was a mystery

for a long time, but recently electron micro-

scopes have revealed that the gecko’s toes

are covered with tiny hairlike bristles each of

which has a suction cup on its tip. These

bristles are arranged in ridges along the gecko’s

toes, and the toes can be bent backwards to

release them from a surface.

The Madagascan day gecko is named for the

fact that, unlike most geckos, it is active

during the day. The tokay gecko (Gekko

gecko) of Malaysia in cage C-11 is a nocturnal

gecko also on exhibit at the Reptile House. A

third gecko species at the National Zoo is the

leopard gecko (Eublepharis macularis); the

pair of these geckos that are on exhibit in

cage A-1 have bred, and several of their eggs

were hatched this past autumn. Of the new

day geckos, two are males, and two are

females; so Reptile House officials hope to

be able to repeat their breeding success with

the new species as well.

Amphiumas—Unusual Salamanders

A recent addition to the collection of amphi-

bians at the Reptile House (number 19 on

map) is a pair of two-toed amphiumas

(Amphiuma means) in section F. Known

popularly as congo eels or ‘‘conger eels,”

these aquatic salamanders are not true eels

(which are fish) but members of an ancient

family of amphibians that has existed at

least since the Cretaceous Period some 120

million years ago. With their long, cylindrical

black bodies, amphiumas are somewhat eel-

like in appearance, but their tiny, useless

front and back legs and their possession of

lungs reveal their amphibian ancestry.

Amphiumas are found only in the south-

eastern United States as far west as Louisiana

and Missouri. Typically they inhabit still or

slow-moving water in ponds, swamps, ditches,

and streams, but they sometimes move over-

land from one body of water to another,

particularly on rainy nights. They frequently

burrow into mud or heaps of debris at the

bottom or side of a pool and wait in ambush

there for a crayfish, worm, small fish, or

other suitable prey item to pass.

Amphiumas breed in the water. In most

salamanders the male actively courts the

female; but in the amphiuma, a number of

females will compete for the attentions of

one male by rubbing his body with their

snouts. The eggs, which form a long string

numbering about 150 eggs, are laid beneath

logs in shallow water. They are apparently

guarded by the female. Frequently the

shallow water in which the eggs are laid dries

up before they hatch; so the two-and-a-half

to three-inch-long larvae, which are brown

with white dots and have white gills, must

find their way to the water by themselves.

16

17

Visitors to the indoor flight room at the Bird

House (number 5 on map) will have noticed

the active and elegant birds known as hoopoes;

with their prominent crests, their rich fawn-

colored heads and shoulders, and their black-

and-white-striped wings, the eight hoopoes

there are not easily overlooked. Particularly

in the fall and winter months, when human

traffic through the room Is reduced, they can

often be found walking along the floor,

probing for food with their long, thin, down-

curved bills in the crevices of the retaining

wall that surrounds the planted parts of the

room. At other times they can often be seen

feeding in the soil, frantically flicking up dirt

with the tip of the bill or thrusting it almost

full-length into the soft earth.

As the hoopoe feeds, the fan-like crest that

forms its most distinctive feature is frequently

in motion. When the bird is unexcited, the

crest is usually flattened against the head;

the feathers at the front of the crest are

shorter than those at the back of the crest, so

that when it is collapsed the black dots near

the top of each feather coalesce to form three

irregular bands of black across the top of the

flattened crest. The hoopoe opens out its

crest in response to any stimulus that excites

its alarm or interest. When one of the hoopoes

in the indoor flight room expands its crest

fully, it may be a sign that the bird is suffi-

ciently alarmed to abandon its search for

food temporarily and take off for the protec-

tion of the trees or cliffs.

Hoopoes are Old World birds, found in much

of Europe, Asia, and Africa. The single species,

which is divided into about eight geographic

races or subspecies, has no close relatives and

is usually placed by ornithologists in a family

all by itself. But this unique species has suc-

ceeded in adapting to a great variety of

climates and habitats, from the steppes of

Central Asia to the forests of Ceylon in the

east and from the evergreen forests of France

and Germany to the South African veldt in

the west.

Since it inhabits so many different parts of

the world, including many where the human

population is dense and has been relatively

dense for a long time, it is not surprising that

the hoopoe has come to play a role in the

folklore of many of the peoples with whom

it has come in contact. The ancient Egyptians

held the hoopoe sacred, as they did so many

animal species; the hoopoe appears in Egyptian

art as early as 1900 B.C. and was apparently

the basis for the hieroglyph for “gratitude.” .

Centuries later, Medieval European preachers

and religious writers expanded on this latter

fact, inventing many edifying tales of the

hoopoe’s supposed filial gratitude. The

ancient Greeks were likewise fascinated by

hoopoes, and one of them appears as a

character in the comedy The Birds by the

Fifth Century B.C. Athenian Aristophanes.

In that play, Aristophanes makes what seems

to be the first known attempt to reproduce

a bird song by phonetic means, when he

elaborately renders the male hoopoe’s

territorial advertising call: “Epopoi—popoi—

epopopoi—popoi—io—io—io.”

It is this unforgettable call, of course, that

has given the hoopoe its name in English

and in virtually every other language that has

a term for it. The Romans called it upupa,

and the Greeks epops; and both of these

terms seem to be imitative of the male’s

call. Nowadays, these two ancient names

taken together form the hoopoe’s scientific

name, Upupa epops.

As those in the indoor flight room illustrate,

hoopoes do most of their feeding on the

ground. The hoopoe’s feet are excellently

adapted for terrestrial travel, although they

serve equally well for perching in trees; but

the long bill is the most obvious adaptation

for this bird’s feeding habits. Open slightly at

the tip, the bill is used to probe into the

ground for insects and insect larvae dwelling

just below the surface of the soil. (This

methodical probing is doubtless the source

of the belief current among Arab peoples

that the hoopoe can divine for water under-

ground.) Hoopoes also catch any insects they

come across on the surface of the soil or

around the roots of the grasses that are

usually found in the open areas where the

birds feed. Occasionally, too, a hoopoe will

fly up from the ground a short distance to

capture a particularly enticing insect on the

wing.

On catching a prey item, the hoopoe first

seizes It firmly in the tip of its bill, killing the

insect. Then it tosses the insect back, opening

its bill wide at the same time so that the

insect lands in its mouth. Sometimes when it

has captured a larger than ordinary insect, the

hoopoe will actually toss the morsel up into

the air a short distance and open its gape wide

in order to swallow it. In such cases there

can be unexpected complications. A South

African naturalist noticed that a group of

large, crow-like scavenging birds known as

fork-tailed drongos (Dicrurus adsimilis) often

waited on a fence beside a field while hoopoes

fed there; sometimes a drongo would swoop

down and steal an insect from a hoopoe just

18

as the hoopoe was tossing it back into its

mouth.

The hoopoe’s feeding habits have influenced

its choice of habitat throughout its vast

range; it needs patches of open country in

which to forage. Hoopoes also prefer to

nest in holes in trees and in the non-breeding

season to roost at night in trees, and these

requirements usually limit their numbers in

areas where trees are absent or nearly absent.

Typically, hoopoes are found in sunny forest

with open glades, on the edges of forests, or

in areas under human cultivation where trees

are present in small groves or at roadsides.

Their readiness to dwell in proximity to man,

benefiting him considerably by providing a

check on insect populations, has doubtless

been one of the reasons why they have played

such a prominent role in his folklore over the

The distribution of the hoopoe (Upupa epops).

centuries. Now, unfortunately they are

becoming scarce in agricultural regions in

Western Europe and are withdrawing to the

few remaining forests. Folklorists have

already begun to notice that the hoopoe is

dying out of folk belief there or that stories

once told of the hoopoe are now attributed

to other birds; too few people even in

agricultural regions know what a hoopoe

looks like.

The hoopoes of Europe and those that inhabit

similar northerly latitudes in the Asiatic

U.S.S.R., China, and Korea are migratory in

winter. The majority of those migrating from

Europe cross the Mediterranean and pass

through Egypt, following the fertile Nile

Valley to Subsaharan Africa. Northern

Asiatic hoopoes winter in the Southern parts

of the continent from India to Malaya. In

19

both of these areas they share their range with

resident hoopoe populations. Some of these

southerly hoopoes may engage in brief

migrations outside of the breeding season;

hoopoes of the Ceylonese race in Kerala in

southern India, for instance, are reported to

make an annual altitudinal migration, moving

up mountain sides to a height of about 5,000

feet during the hot weather.

With these annual shifts in population, it is

to be expected that hoopoes breed at different

times of the year in different parts of the

world. European and North Asian hoopoes

return in March and April, and evidently the

first breeding activities—occupation of terri-

tories by males and their courtship of females

—begin soon afterwards. The male’s “‘hoop-

hoop”’ call which he uses to warn other males

away from his territory during breeding

season Is heard night and day until late June

and early July, when eggs are laid. In Egypt,

the resident hoopoes are already nesting in

February and March when the European

hoopoes pass by on their migratory flights

to the North.

In South Africa, where hoopoes are also

resident year-round, nesting begins in August

and September and continues until December;

though this is much later in the year than their

relatives nest further north, these Southern

Hemisphere hoopoes have not so completely

altered their breeding cycle that they breed in

their own summer from December to March.

Interestingly, the Ceylonese hoopoe’s breeding

season differs from that of more northerly

populations by being earlier in the year—

from February to April—rather than later

like the South African hoopoe’s.

It has been in South Africa that the best field

work to date on hoopoes has been done.

There the beginning of the breeding season

is marked by an interesting sequence of

behavior. Around middle or late March

hoopoes, which have been solitary for the

preceding two-and-a-half months, begin

feeding in groups numbering as many as

nine birds. Both sexes are represented in

these feeding parties, and all of the birds

are at first quite tolerant of each other,

although at night when they retire to their

roosting trees, there is never more than one

hoopoe per tree. By the middle of April,

however, males begin to show occasional

outbursts of aggression towards each other

and towards females; this is the beginning of

a gradual process leading to the formation

of breeding pairs and the eventual break-up

of the flock.

As the flock is feeding silently and peacefully

on the ground together, one male will suddenly

ruffle his feathers, open his wings, and rush at

another male, making a distinctive harsh

whimpering sound as he does so. The other

male, remaining silent, will run away, and

the first male will continue to pursue him.

The pursued male may take flight, and his

pursuer may then either abandon the chase

or continue to pursue him in the air. If the

second male lands in a tree, the pursuer may

follow and chase him from bough to bough.

Eventually, however, the aggressor seems to

tire of the chase, and the two birds resume

feeding with the others as if nothing had

happened.

Later, in June and July, the pattern of these

aggressive episodes alters, and a male that is

being attacked by another will resist. When

this happens, the males face off, erecting

their crests and bobbing their heads, and

then grab hold of each other’s beaks. Beaks

locked, they flutter up into the air eight or

ten feet before letting go and falling back to

the ground. This ritualized combat may be

repeated two or three times, while the other

members of the flock continue feeding with

apparent indifference. Similar bill-to-bill

combats may occasionally take place among

females during the same period.

Males begin to chase females at the same

time that they begin to chase other males,

but the male’s behavior when pursuing a

female is different and markedly less aggres-

sive. Often he will pause, making a rattling

noise and then two or three very melodious,

woodwind-like notes. These notes seem to be

very subdued versions of the loud whoops

which the male makes later when the breeding

season is in full swing and he is defending a

territory. By June a male and female can

often be seen feeding together apart from the

main flock. As they do so, the male will

sometimes catch an insect and run over and

present it to the female.

The feeding of the female by the male plays

an important role in hoopoe courtship, as

analogous rituals do in many other avian

species. It seems to function both to help

form and, later, to cement the pair bond

between the two birds. The male’s first

attempts at courtship feeding occur before

pairs have begun to separate from the flock.

At this time the female’s response to his

offers of food indicates to him whether or

not she is ready to form a pair bond.

Like other birds, hoopoes undergo an annual

cycle of hormonal changes corresponding to

their annual breeding cycle. While this cycle

seems to be at least partly influenced by

20

external factors such as temperature and day-

length, it does not proceed at exactly the

same rate in any two birds. Thus, as breeding

season approaches, one bird may be ready to

breed somewhat earlier than another. In the

South African Hoopoe and probably in all

hoopoes, males generally enter breeding con-

dition before females. They show aggression

towards each other and towards females before

females begin to quarrel among themselves or

to be responsive to the attentions of males.

In addition, different females come into

breeding condition at different rates. Thus

the female’s response to an attempt at court-

ship feeding can indicate to the male her

state of breeding readiness. Then, if she is

unresponsive, he may take his insect and

offer it to another female; if she accepts, it

is a sign that she has entered the stage of her

annual cycle where she is ready to begin to

form a pair bond.

After the formation of the pair bond, con-

tinued courtship feeding and other courtship

activities can function to synchronize the

breeding rhythms of the two birds and ensure

that both are ready to establish a territory,

copulate, and build a nest at the same time.

Also, since in courtship feeding the female is

placed in the same dependent relation towards

the male as she once had towards her parents,

it serves to enhance his dominance over her.

Still more important, perhaps, in the case of

the hoopoe is the fact that courtship feeding

is a prelude to the time when the female is

incubating the eggs and brooding the young;

for at that time she will depend to a great

extent on food brought her by the male.

Eventually the South African hoopoe’s pre-

breeding flock is broken apart by the increas-

ing aggressiveness of the males, and each pair

takes up residence at a nest site, evidently

chosen by the male. This happens soon after

the males begin to make the famous “hoop-

hoop’’ call. At first one male will fly up into

a tree, begin giving this call, and then return

to the ground and furiously attack other

males in the flock. Finally, the feeding

ground on which the flock has gathered day

after day is divided up into private territories

by a few of the males, each of which defends

his portion by giving the “hoop-hoop”’ call

from a prominent perch. Any surplus males

must go elsewhere in search of territories of

their own.

The territory that the male hoopoe defends

is an open grassy area suitable for feeding. It

is near the site of his nest but not necessarily

right next to it. It is this feeding area that he

uses his territorial calling to defend and not

the area around the nest; by contrast in some

other avian species breeding males defend

their nests and the areas around them but

intermingle freely on feeding grounds. The

importance of the feeding ground to the male

hoopoe is doubtless based on the fact that he

will need a nearby and steady source of insect

food to feed the female while she is incubating

the eggs and to feed the young when they

hatch.

It has apparently not yet been determined

how closely pair formation in migratory

hoopoe populations follows the pattern that

has been described for the South African

race. It is not known, for instance, whether

migratory hoopoes returning to Europe and

northern Asia ever feed together in flocks

before they pair up for breeding season. It

is usually said that hoopoes return to Europe

singly or in pairs, but they are known to

sometimes return in groups of eight to ten

birds and groups of as many as four have

been seen soon after the hoopoes have

returned and before they have started

breeding. It is quite possible, however, that

migratory hoopoes feed together in flocks

in their winter homes before migrating and

that pair-formation takes place there in a

manner similar to the way in which it takes

place in the flocks of the South African

hoopoe. This would perhaps explain the

many reports of migratory hoopoes returning

in pairs, which in turn seem to be the basis

for the common but unproved assertion that

in Europe—as does not seem to be the case

in South Africa—hoopoes mate for life.

The Zoo’s hoopoes are from India, perhaps

from a non-migratory population; and it is a

matter of great interest that they have been

observed this past fall engaging in behavior

similar to that described for South African

hoopoes in the pre-breeding flock. (That the

Zoo’s hoopoes do not belong to the South

African race can easily be determined, since

they possess a white band across the pri-

maries, the large front feathers of the wing,

which is lacking in the South African form.)

On repeated occasions one hoopoe was seen

chasing another in the way males chase males

and other females in pre-breeding flocks in

South Africa. A few times, too, the pursuing

bird showed behavior exactly like that

described for a male pursuing a female when,

either silent or making a harsh whimpering

sound as he chased her, he paused to cackle

and then produce two or three soft ‘‘hoop”’

notes.

The typical hoopoe nesting site is a hollow

tree, but hoopoes may occasionally employ

21

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a variety of other hollows, both natural and

man-made. In Egypt, they have been seen

nesting in crevices in the stone faces of the

pyramids, while on the almost treeless

steppes of the central U.S.S.R. they nest in

the eaves of buildings and even in sandy

depressions in the ground or in the abandoned

burrows of other animals. The nest holes in

the faces of the artificial cliffs in the National

Zoo’s Indoor Flight Room have provided

ideal hoopoe nesting sites in the past.

Some hoopoes place a simple pile of grasses

or leaves in the nesting cavity, while others

lay their four to seven eggs on the bare floor

of the nest hole. The mother hoopoe does all

the incubating, remaining continually on the

nest except for brief periods of about half an

hour in the morning or evening when she

emerges to feed on her own. Off and on

during the rest of the day the male brings her

food. This pattern continues after the eggs

hatch, and the female apparently eats some

of the food the male brings and passes some

on to her young. In the nestling hoopoe,

which has fluffy pinkish-red plumage, the

bill is relatively shorter than it is in the adult.

The bill opening is lined with white, while the

inside of the mouth is red; thus the nestling’s

wide-open mouth forms an excellent ‘‘target”’

for the mother directing her bill towards it

in the darkness of the nest hole.

When the nest is disturbed, both the mother

and her young make a violent hiss, which,

issuing from a darkened cavity, must fre-

quently be taken for the sound of a snake.

The nestling’s preen gland secretes a strong-

smelling substance when frightened that

functions as an additional deterrent against

mammalian predators. How effective it Is

can be illustrated by the success it has had in

deceiving the most dangerous of all mam-

malian predators, man. Men have advanced

many different theories for thousands of

years to explain the odor they encountered

on disturbing hoopoes’ nests, although they

do not seem to have arrived at the correct

explanation before our own century. The

explanations they have invented, however,

have succeeded in so repelling their own

human inventors that they have by and see

left hoopoes’ nests alone.

The most common belief has been that hoopoe

parents are extremely negligent about nest

sanitation. Thus Aristophanes’ hoopoe makes.

Sanitation than some other cavity-nesting

birds, the source of the odor intruders on

hoopoes’ nests find is not uncleanliness but

the nestlings’ protective secretion. But its

supposed filthy habits were probably the

reason why the hoopoe—mistranslated “‘lap-

wing” in the Authorized Version—was among

the animals listed as forbidden foods in the

Bible. And even today it is said that in Europe

hoopoes are never eaten in areas where they

nest, whereas in areas where they only pass as

migrants they are frequently killed for food.

Between August of 1970 and March of 1972,

a single pair of hoopoes in the National Zoo’s

indoor flight room hatched and raised five

clutches. Unfortunately, one member of the

pair was later killed by an unexpected preda-

tor, a bald-headed rock-fowl (Picathartes

gymnocephalus), all members of that species

were immediately moved from the indoor

flight room and placed in cage 8 with large

birds they cannot harm. However, since

hoopoes are reportedly able to breed in the

next breeding season after they hatch and

since there are abundant Zoo-born hoopoes

in the indoor flight room, it is possible that

there will be breeding again this winter or, if

not then, by next summer.

Hopeful signs have been observed repeatedly

this fall, apparently indicating that there is

at least one male approaching breeding con-

dition among the Zoo’s eight hoopoes. It is

possible that not only one male but also one

or two others could form breeding pairs and

nest in the indoor flight room during the next

few months. Since territoriality in this species

seems to be largely dependent on food supply

and there is abundant food for all, as many as

two or even three individual feeding terri-

tories could conceivably be established and

defended there. So, if all goes well this

winter, visitors can look for increased activity

on the part of both males and females—

including bill-to-bill combats and courtship

feeding—leading up to a time when the

hoopoe’s famous call is heard in the Bird

House once again.

a point of apologizing for the condition of his » 1

home. This sort of explanation took another

form according to which the hoopoe was the

original ‘“‘ill bird that fouls its own nest.” In

fact, while the hoopoe is less fastidious about

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