Published by

Friends of the National Zoo

National Zoological Park

Washington, D.C. 20009

Phones:

Executive Director and membership:

232-7700

Education and Volunteer Offices:

232-7703

Guided tours: 232-7703

Train tours: 232-7704

Window Shop: 232-7705

FONZ Board of Directors 1973-1974

Arthur Arundel, President

Montgomery S. Bradley, First Vice President

Lavell Merritt, Second Vice President

Stephen Hosmer, Treasurer

Joan L. Jewett, Secretary

Peter C. Andrews

Theodore Babbitt

John S. Brown

Timothy V.A. Dillon

Ronald Field

Donna K. Grosvenor

Robert Mason

Isabel J. McDonnell

Shirley J. McNair

Ruth N. Nelson

William N. Olinger

John B. Oliver

Nancy Porter

Whayne S. Quin

Gerald G. Wagner

Rosa M. Walker

Executive Director

Sabin Robbins

Editor: Austin Hughes

All photographs by Ray Faass; drawings

pages 20 and 21 by Susan Genovesi.

Production: Monica Johansen

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 (of annual dues).

CONTENIS

New Cheetah Yard

: Zoo News Mammals

12 Zoo Map

14 Zoo News Birds

16 Zoo News Reptiles & Amphibians

17 Cranes

Zoo Staff

r. Theodore H. Reed, Director

i Edward Kohn, Deputy Director

Mr. Warren J. Iliff, Assistant Director

Mr, John Perry, Assistant Director

Mr, Jaren Horsley, General Curator

Mr, Harold Egoscue, Curator (Mammals)

Mr. William Xanten, Curator (Mammals)

Mr, Guy Greenwell, Curator (Birds)

Mr. Larry Collins, Associate Curator (Mammals)

Mr. Miles Roberts, Assistant Curator (Mammals)

Mr. Michael Davenport, Assistant Curator

(Reptiles)

Dr. Clinton Gray, Veterinarian

Dr. Mitchell Bush, Veterinarian

Dr. Robert Sauer, Pathologist

Dr. John Eisenberg, Resident Scientist

Dr. Helmut Buechner, Senior Ecologist

Dr. Devra Kleiman, Reproductive Zoologist

Mr. Norm Melun, Architect

Mr. Emanuel Petrella, Chief, Buildings & Grounds

For information concerning the collection call

381-7283 or 381-7284,

For general visitor information call 381-7235.

Friends

the

National

The Friends of the National Zoo is a non-profit

organization of individuals and families who

frequently visit the National Zoo and who are

interested in supporting its growth and develop-

ment, particularly in the areas of education,

conservation, and scientific research.

As members of the Friends, you and your family

will be given benefits that will make your zoo-

going more enjoyable and educational.

For more information and a membership appli-

cation, please call 232-7700.

The cheetah remains an enigma. Though we

have learned a good deal in recent years about

this atypical cat that is the fastest of land

animals, the cheetah is still, in Joy Adamson’s

memorable phrase, a ‘‘spotted sphinx.”

Today, the cheetah is an endangered species.

Unless we act quickly, he may be gone before

we have had the opportunity to know him

well.

The cheetah was once widespread in Asia

from Palestine and Arabia to Russian

Turkestan and southern India. Now remnant

adults

populations survive only in Saudi Arabia,

Oman, Iran, and perhaps the Asiatic U.S.S.R.

Of these only a small population in northeast

Iran can be considered likely to survive longer

than a few more years. In Africa the species

appeared to be in little danger until quite

recently. Now there is reason to fear that

habitat destruction, destruction of prey

species, and continued poaching for the fur

trade will soon duplicate the Asian situation.

The cheetah has great tenacity of life, in spite

of its deceptively delicate appearance. But no

wild animal can indefinitely survive assaults of

the sort to which man has been subjecting the

cheetah.

At least as early as the Egyptian pharaohs,

men have captured cheetahs and trained them

for hunting. Hunting with cheetahs was a

sport of European kings in the Middle Ages

and has survived into our own times in India.

Uncounted thousands of cheetahs have been

taken from the wild for this purpose over the

centuries. Curiously, princely hunters never

took the trouble to learn how to breed

cheetahs in captivity. As far as is known, the

first time in the thousands of years that men

have kept cheetahs that a litter was born in

captivity was in 1956 at the Philadelphia Zoo.

It was not until 1966 that a captive female

raised her own cubs to maturity.

Throughout the past decade zoo births have

remained rare in comparison to the number of

pairs in captivity. The first consistently

successful breeding program has been that

initiated in 1970 at the San Diego Zoo’s Wild

Animal Park. All of San Diego’s breeding

have been animals very recently

imported from Southwest Africa. But the

great majority of cheetahs in zoos were taken

from the wild when quite young and have

lived in captivity a number of years. Such

animals have rarely bred. No one is really sure

why; but it is certain that if most of the

cheetahs now in captivity die without

breeding, it will be a terrific loss for the

world-wide cheetah population. There will be

a demand for more captive cheetahs, and still

more will thus be removed from a wild

population that is already in danger. But if

cheetahs can.be bred in substantial numbers in

captivity, the demand for zoo exhibit

speciments can be met with captive-bred

animals, and the wild population will be

spared.

A new cheetah exhibit has recently been

completed at the National Zoological Park

This picture excellently illustrates the powerful shoulder muscles and flexible backbone that adapt the cheetah

for speed.

Bomber: 25 on map). This exnion

considerably more spacious than the former

cheetah enclosure behind the old Lion House,

and it is specifically designed to facilitate

breeding. The National Zoo is undertaking a

major cheetah breeding program, involving

not only the single pair that has been here

since 1967 but also two other pairs of

cheetahs. One of these pairs is on loan from

the Baltimore Zoo, and the other has been

acquired from Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in

Colorado Springs, Colorado. All six cheetahs

were captured as young animals and have lived

in captivity over six years. None has bred. The

National Zoo is hoping to achieve a major

breakthrough in cheetah management by

breeding animals with backgrounds of this

sort.

The cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) stands apart

from the other members of the cat family. It

is the only cat that has adapted to running

down its prey, making use of a relatively short

burst of great speed to overtake it. Cheetahs

can run up to 70 miles per hour for a distance

of about one hundred yards, and the cheetah’s

greyhound-like body is superbly designed for

speed. Its backbone is highly flexible. Its

highly expansible chest and large lungs make

possible the rapid oxygen intake it needs for

quick energy in sprinting. Its claws are not

retractible like those of other cats but become

blunted like a dog’s to provide the traction

needed for rapid turns.

In its social life, too, the cheetah differs from

the other cats, standing midway between the

typical solitary feline and the highly social

lion. Ordinarily adult male cheetahs form

small nomadic bands, averaging three

members. The members of such a band are

litter-mates that have grown up together. One

male is usually conspicuously dominant,

directing the group’s movements. Bands do

not appear to defend territories, but each

band usually manages to avoid direct contact

with other bands. Male cheetahs scent-mark

by urinating horizontally backward against

objects. A band indicates the direction it has

moved by marking at various points along its

path; other males will take care to move in

another direction.

Unlike most males, adult female cheetahs are

solitary except when with cubs. The cubs

remain with the mother until they are a year

to 15 months old. They form a hunting group

with her when they are nearly full grown.

When a female is in estrus, she no longer

avoids the company of males but seeks out a

male band. There may be competition among

the males for the female, but the dominant

male usually takes precedence with little

struggle.

One reason for the lack of success most zoos

have experienced in breeding cheetahs has

been that the cheetah’s highly specialized

social organization was not known until quite

recently. Often a male and a female were kept

together in the same enclosure. The members

of such a pair become habituated to each

other’s proximity in an unnatural way and

seldom breed. It appears that for a male to

breed he must be kept separate from females

except when they are in estrus. The male and

female cheetah were kept together in the

Zoo’s old cheetah yard, and the pair from

Baltimore were also kept together. It is

believed unlikely that the members of these

pairs will ever breed with each other, but they

may breed with some of the other cheetahs

that are comparative strangers to them. In

addition, the male evidently _ needs time

stimulus of competition with others of his sex

before he breeds. The National Zoo’s cheetah

breeding program is designed to take these

facts into account.

Male cheetah sniffing the ground, perhaps for scent left by another male.

The new exhibit is divided into two yards,

connected by a gate that is ordinarily kept

locked. The yard on the left of the visitor

facing the exhibit is reserved for males, while

the yard on the visitor’s right is reserved for

females. Every day two of the three males are

released in the males’ yard, and two of the

three females are released in the females’ yard.

The individuals released are rotated, so that

every animal has its turn outside and so that

males and females are placed outside together

in every possible combination. The remaining

male and female stay locked inside the house

that is located at the front of the exhibit

between the two yards.

Outside, each animal has the choice of

interacting with or avoiding the other sharing

es pyard. Sinces-ins Adnicas they cheetala ds

typically found in open savannah, it cannot be

said that the wooded hillside the Zoo offers is

a close replica of the species’ most common

Aatucal- habitat. Bus the. rather agdense

vegetation serves a purpose, It enables each

cheetah to avoid the other cheetah in its yard

when it wishes to do so. The vegetation thus

accomplishes what in the wild would be

accomplished by distance.

Daily rotation of the cheetahs was made

possible by an ingenious method of training.

When the cats were first moved to the new

exhibit, they were kept inside the house for

about three weeks, each in a separate cage. A

bell was rung at feeding time each day during

that period. Thus the cheetahs learned to

associate the sound of the bell with feeding.

Now, when the cheetahs are outside, the bell

can be used to call them back to their cages in

the house for feeding. Then they can be

locked inside if necessary.

Cheetahs are seasonal breeders. At least in

captivity, there appear to be two seasons each

year when females enter breeding condition.

During each of these mating seasons, the

female comes into brief estrus a number of

mimes. Im captivity. in the . Northern

Hemisphere, there is a primary mating season

between about mid-June or mid-July and

mid-September and a secondary mating season

fn january afd February. The females

behavior makes her estrus condition apparent.

She frequently rubs on tree trunks or logs,

rolls on the ground, and flops down on her

side. Her appetite decreases, and she becomes

more sociable than usual toward other

females. In the Zoo’s enclosure a female in

estrus can be expected to try to solicit the

atreRtioOn OF ja@aimdale “throusn, the fence,

Evidently the female gives off some olfactory

clue that informs males of estrus condition;

probably the chemical composition of her

urine changes. The Zoo’s males are expected

to respond by increased aggression among

themselves. When a female is in apparent

estrus, the gate connecting the male and

female yards will be opened. However, the

males and females’ that have become

habituated to each other will be allowed

together as little as possible. Such a male and

female tend to show little interest in breeding

but instead band together and become

aggressive toward other cheetahs.

At this writing the Zoo’s cheetah breeding

program Is just beginning, but the females are

expected to enter breeding condition soon.

Hopefully, breeding will take place this fall or

winter. If it does, it will be one step in the

ongoing effort to understand and to preserve

this unique species we have abused and

persecuted for so long.

Many of the most interesting mammals are

nocturnal and rarely seen by man. Few of us

have the chance to catch more than a glimpse

of a nocturnal mammal in the wild; the best

we can do is to see a raccoon or opposum, for

instance, scurrying across the road. Even in the

zoo it too often happens that all we see is a

ball of fur curled up in a nest-box. The new

bushbaby exhibit at the National Zoo’s Small

Mammal House (number 715 on map) is an

exception. This large cage in the nocturnal

room gives visitors an unusual opportunity to

Observe the behavior of a fascinating

nocturnal cousin of our own.

The wide-eyed bushbaby is a lower primate cousin of man.

Zoos obtained their first successes in

effectively exhibiting nocturnal mammals by

reversing the animals’ day-night cycles,

darkening their cages during the day, in the

hope that they would then be active and

visible to the public, and lighting them at

night. It was found that if the cage was lit

with red light during the day the animal

would often react the same as if in darkness,

while its visibility to the public was increased.

Later it was discovered that a dim blue-white

light is even better. The new exhibit, which is

located in a planted cage fronted with glass on

three sides, uses blue-white light to excellent

effect; and the bushbabies are remarkably

active during certain hours of the day.

The species exhibited — the Senegal galago or

bushbaby (Ga/ago senegalensis) — is one of the

more primitive members of the order

Primates, the order of mammals to which man

belongs. Most of the primates are arboreal;

and several of the features that characterize

man were originally evolved by earlier

primates as adaptations to life in the trees.

Among these are the flattened face and

forward-directed eyes, which give the primate

binocular vision — the ability to focus on a

relatively wide visual field with both eyes at

once. Binocular vision greatly enhances depth

perception, and depth perception is of vital

importance for an animal that must gauge

distances in climbing or jumping from branch

to branch. Bushbabies are skilled jumpers;

those in the Zoo’s group frequently spring up

from one branch to land with precision on

another several feet away.

A further important primate adaptation for

arboreal life is the development of opposable

thumbs and big toes for holding onto

branches. The fact that primates had already

evolved opposable thumbs enabled the

ancestors of man to develop the manual

dexterity necessary for making and using

tools. The highly arboreal bushbaby has wide

pads on the digits of both its hands and feet

to prevent slipping.

The bushbaby shows a number of special

adaptations for its nocturnal life. Its eyes are

enlarged to make optimum use of a small

amount of light. Its neck is very flexible, and

its head can be rotated almost 180 degrees

like that of an owl. Its large ear pinnae can be

folded over the ear openings during the day to

shut out sound and unfold when _ the

bushbaby is active. The bushbaby’s hearing is

acute; and it turns its ear pinnae to pick up

the slightest sound, responding even to the

buzzing of a fly.

There are six species in the genus Ga/ago to

which the bushbaby belongs, all of them

native to Africa. The smallest is the tiny

Demidoff’s galago (Ga/ago demidovii), and the

largest is the greater galago or thick-tailed

galago (Galago crassicaudatus). Both of these

species are also on exhibit at the Small

Mammal House. All six species are

omnivorous, feeding on insects, snails, fruit,

nuts, and other vegetable matter.

Binturong Cubs

This past May 11th, a female binturong

(Arctictis binturong) gave birth to a litter of

three cubs at the Small Mammal House

(number 15 on map). The birth was a first for

this species at the National Zoological Park

and one of only a small number bred in

captivity anywhere. The young were blind at

birth and remained inside the nest box

provided for them, their time divided between

sleeping and nursing. To ensure a feeling of

security for the mother, the front of the cage

was covered. Now the cubs have left the nest

box, and the cage has been uncovered. For

such a proverbially lethargic species as the

binturong, the cubs appear quite active and

playful.

Binturongs are like no other mammals.

Belonging to the family known as the viverrids

— the civet and mongoose family — the

bineurons iS an €xception= to most

generalizations that can be made about the

family or about the order to which it belongs,

the Carnivora or carnivores. Binturongs are

among the least carnivouous carnivores,

feeding mainly on fruit in the wild. They also

take carrion and probably capture some small

vertebrate prey; but as adults they are

extraordinarily slow-moving and appear

incapable of capturing most prey.

The play of most young carnivores — familiar

to us from the frisking, pouncing, and tussling

of young domestic cats and dogs — has a

serious purpose. The young animals are

practicing and refining motor patterns they

will need to use in capturing and killing prey

when they are adults. But in the case of those

carnivores that have, like the binturong,

largely abandoned a predacious way of life for

a vegetarian existence, there are no such

complex hunting skills that the young need to

learn. The tendency to play has persisted, but

play has degenerated a good deal. Watching

the Zoo’s young binturongs, the visitor will

see little of the fierce energy or marvelous

coordination displayed by a litter of housecats

of comparable age — to say nothing of a litter

of wild cats. But the very degeneracy of play

in some of the less carnivorous carnivores

often makes it more appealing to human

sensibilities. The giant panda is another

mainly vegetarian member of the carnivore

order, and the poorly coordinated play

movements of the young giant panda seem to

have an irresistable appeal for human

audiences.

Binturongs are highly arboreal in the wild,

climbing carefully through the great forest

trees of their native Southeast Asia, Sumatra,

Java, and Borneo. The long, shaggy tail Is

semi-prehensile and can take hold of a branch

to steady the animal. An adult binturong

cannot support its entire weight hanging by

One of the Zoo’s three rare binturong cubs, photographed at the age of about three months.

the tail alone, but it is interesting to note that

the Zoo’s cubs occasionally do so. Thus,

binturong cubs are the only Old World

mammals able to support their entire weight

by their tails — something a variety of New

World mammals are able to do.

Tree-shrews

In the forests of Asia a group of small

mammals are living a way of life that may be

very similar to the way our own very distant

ancestors lived millions of years ago. These

mammals — one species of which is on display

in a new exhibit directly to the right of the

front door of the Small Mammal House

(number 15 on map) — are known as

tree-shrews. With their bushy tails, rapid

movements, and climbing ability they may

remind us of squirrels. But they are definitely

not related to squirrels. In fact, scientists are

uncertain what other group of mammals

contains their nearest living relatives.

Some taxonomists place the tree-shrews

among the insectivores (order Insectivora).

Others consider them the most primitive living

members of our own order, the primates. The

insectivores are the most primitive living

placental mammals and _ have changed

remarkably little in over 50 million years.

They include the moles, hedgehogs, shrews,

and a number of other small, little noticed

mammals. The placental mammals themselves,

of course, are the dominant animal group on

earth today; their development of the

placenta, supplying nourishment and oxygen

from the mother to her developing embryo,

represents a major advance over the

reproductive systems of the earlier egg-laying

and marsupial mammals.

At some point in the long history of the

insectivores, the first primates began to

diverge from the insectivore stock. Their

divergences began as adaptations to an

arboreal life, and the earliest primates must

have resembled tree-shrews. Tree-shrews do

not however, appear to represent a “missing

link” between the insectivores and the

primates. They are probably not on the direct

line of descent that led to the present-day

primates, but seem to have branched off from

the insectivores independently to fill a niche

similar to that the first primates must have

filled.

The species of tree-shrew at the National Zoo

is the Malayan tree-shrew (Tupaia glis). This

species actually spends much of its time on

the ground and in low bushes but climbs trees

well. It feeds mainly on insects but also takes

other invertebrates, fruit, seeds, and leaves. A

glandular region on the chest secretes an oily

scented substance that is used to mark

selected spots in the animal’s territory.

Racoon Dogs

A new exhibit between the tapir yard and the

new cheetah yard (number 26c on map)

houses a pair of raccoon dogs (Nyctereutes

procyonides). The raccoon dog is a wild

member of the dog family, named for the

“mask” of black fur on its face similar to the

facial markings of the raccoon. This species is

native to the eastern U.S.S.R., Japan, China,

and northern Indochina. Because its fur is

highly valued, it has been introduced into

European Russia, Poland, and Finland. It has

thrived in these countries and has spread into

other parts of eastern and central Europe and

Scandinavia.

As is typical with wild dogs, the raccoon dog

eats both vegetable food and meat. In spring

in the eastern. U7S.S.R., raccoon.dogs feed

largely on small rodents and frogs. When fish

make their spring spawning runs up streams,

raccoon dogs gather on the banks to catch

them. Then, as insects become more plentiful

and the growth of taller grasses makes it more

difficult for the raccoon dogs to capture

rodents, insects become the staple of their

diet, supplemented by the eggs and young of

ground-nesting birds. Finally, in late summer

and autumn, the raccoon dogs fatten up for

winter on berries and nuts. In the more

northerly parts of its range, the raccoon dog

becomes dormant in winter like a_ bear,

emerging from its den only on the warmest

days.

Mating takes place in the spring, and its onset

is marked by whining vocalizations of the

males. Pairs form; and each pair defends a

joint territory, marking it with urine in the

manner of domestic dogs. Gestation takes

about two months, and the pair remain

together to raise the six to eight pups.

Members of a raccoon dog family often groom

each other, particularly by licking each other’s

facial fur. The species’ facial markings appear

to function as social signals, stimulating facial

grooming by other raccoon dogs.

The raccoon dog is a wild member of the dog family

with facial markings that resemble the raccoon’s.

C1OMIAP

=OODONOOTPWH—

Connecticut Avenue pedestrian entrance

. Connecticut Avenue vehicular entrance

. Deer and antelope areas (a-j)

. Great Flight Cage

Bird House

. Pheasant and crane line (a-u)

. 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

. Prairie dogs

. Small carnivores

. Reptile House

. Tortoise yard

. Monkey House (under construction)

. Lion and Tiger Exhibit (under construction)

. Komodo Dragon

. Bears (a-j)

. Cheetah yard

. Water animals (a-c)

. Jaguars and Siamang gibbons (a-b)

. Waterfowl ponds (a-d)

. Police Station—Restrooms—First Aid

. Restaurant

. Picnic Area

. Window Shop

. Souvenir Kiosk

. Rock Creek Parkway entrance

. Friends of the National Zoo Education Office

. FONZ Membership and Editorial Offices

ant Telephone

} ? Restrooms

te Trackless Train Stops

aaa Parking

~~~ Walking Tour Route

(From the Trackless Train

Stations)

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COMIAP

=DODNOOPWHN =

. Connecticut Avenue pedestrian entrance

. Connecticut Avenue vehicular entrance

Deer and antelope areas (a-j)

. Great Flight Cage

Bird House

. Pheasant and crane line (a-u)

. 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

. Prairie dogs

. Small carnivores

. Reptile House

. Tortoise yard

. Monkey House (under construction) |

. Lion and Tiger Exhibit (under construction)

Komodo Dragon | ‘

. Bears (a-}) | |

. Cheetah yard —

. Water animals (a-c) , |

. Jaguars and Siamang gibbons (a-b)

. Waterfowl! ponds (a-d)

. Police Station—Restrooms—First Aid

. Restaurant

. Picnic Area

. Window Shop

. Souvenir Kiosk

Rock Creek Parkway entrance

. Friends of the National Zoo Education Office

. FONZ Membership and Editorial Offices

Telephone

Restrooms

Trackless Train Stops

Parking

pees)

~——~ ~~ Walking Tour Route

(From the Trackless Train

Stations)

Cayenne Wood Rails

Two Cayenne wood rails (Aramides cajenea)

recently added to the large shore- and

marsh-bird exhibit on the east wall of the Bird

House (number 5 on map) may pass

unnoticed beside the numerous large and

spectacular birds there. But as members of a

very interesting family of birds — the rails

(Rallidae) — they are worth stopping and

looking for. Although almost ubiquitous in

the marshes of the world, rails are for the

most part so secretive that they are rarely

seen. Even experienced ornithologists that set

out with the express purpose of sighting a rail

more often than not are disappointed.

Rails typically inhabit dense reeds. Their

bodies are laterally compressed, and their

vertebrae have great sideways flexibility. Thus

they are able to wiggle through surprisingly

tight passages among the reeds. One species of

rail at the Zoo’s Bird House — the African

black crake or yellow-billed crake (Limnocrax

flavirostra) — frequently demonstrates the

ability to get through small openings. The

crakes pass from the Flight Room to several

other cages in the building at will, passing

through the wire fronts of the cages. Larger

rails in the collection such as the Cayenne

wood rails, are not able to pass through the

Wires.

The Cayenne wood rail’s plumage is subdued

but attractive. Its head, neck, and thighs are

gray; its throat is bluish; its breast and the

sides of its body are reddish buff; and its

lower back and tail are black. Its bill is

reddish-yellow at the base and green at the

tip, while its legs and feet are a bright

coral-red. The species is native to mangrove

swamps and the banks of tropical forest

streams in Central and South America.

Parrot Collection Growing

Recent additions to the circular outdoor cage

on the west wall of the Bird House (number 5

on map) are two species of parrot new to the

collection. These are the barred parakeet

(Bolborhynchys lineola), represented by 15

specimens, and the jenday conure or

yellow-headed conure (Aratinga jandaya),

represented by a pair. The former species, also

known as the Catherine parakeet, is native to

Jenday conures.

high mountain forests in Central and South

America. This small, entirely green parrot has

the habit of hanging, head downwards, froma

branch when sleeping. The jenday conure is a

larger bird with a deep orange-yellow head

“and neck. It is native to eastern Brazil.

The collection of parrots at the Bird House

has increased considerably within the past

year or so; there are now approximately 20

species of this family on exhibit. This is still

only a small percentage of the 326 living

species in this family, which is found on every

continent but Antarctica and Europe. The

layman would have no difficulty recognizing

any one of these as a parrot. Despite their

numbers and their considerable variation and

size and coloration, the parrots are all quite

similar in structure.

The most readily identifiable parrot charac-

teristic is the strong, hooked bill. With few

exceptions parrots bills are adapted for shel-

ling nuts and cracking seeds. They are able to

do so because the lower half of the bill can

slide backward and forward to press a nut or

seed against the upper half. Most parrots also

regularly use the bill as a third limb to aid in

climbing.

All of the parrots have an unusual arrange-

ment of the digits on the feet. The typical

bird has three toes that are directed forward

and one that is directed backward. In song-

birds, this arrangement has proved ideal for

walking along the gound and for perching on

branches. A parrot also has four toes, but two

point forward and two point backward. This

is fine for perching but makes most parrots

clumsy on the ground. However, it does make

the parrot one of the few birds able to do any

kind of grasping and manipulating with the

feet. Frequently a parrot can be seen picking

up a piece of fruit or seed with its bill and

raising it to its mouth.

Man has kept parrots in captivity for many

centuries because of their beauty and their

remarkable talent for imitating human speech.

Interestingly, there seems to be no evidence

that parrots make use of their mimicking

abilities in the wild—unlike some birds of

other families like our mockingbirds. Pet

owners often keep parrots alone without

companions of the same species; such parrots

“talk”? more but lead frustrated lives. Parrots

are extremely gregarious in nature, and it is

cruel to deprive them of the companionship

of their fellows.

Reptiles and

Amphibians

Basilisk Lizards

Recent additions to the reptile collection

include two male and three female green

basilisk lizards (Basiliscus plumbifrons). This

is one of several species in an interesting

Central and South American genus of lizards,

named after a mythical monster, the basilisk.

According to the Medieval bestiaries, the

basilisk was a crested serpent whose glance

alone was lethal. The only resemblance the

real lizard bears to the basilisk is that male

basilisk lizards have prominent crests.

The basilisks are best known for a skill as

amazing as any ever attributed to a mythical

reptile — the ability to run over the surface of

water for short distances. The hind legs are

much longer than the forelegs, and the hind

toes are flattened and elongated. With its toes

spread wide to distribute its weight, the lizard

can move fast enough for a few seconds to

keep from breaking through the surface

tension of the water. Basilisk lizards use this

form of locomotion to escape in an

emergency. When threatened, they also may

run bipedally on the ground or along tree

branches, or drop into the water and swim.

The basilisk lizards belong to the family

Iguanidae, the dominant family of lizards in

the New World. Males of this family are

usually territorial, advertising possession of a

territory by head-bobbing movements. The

creast of the basilisk lizard has apparently

evolved as a means of enhancing the territorial

male’s display.

The cranes. are birds of unsurpassed

magnificence. Some of the larger species stand

nearly as tall as a man and are among the

largest flying birds; and the cranes as a group

are among the most powerful flyers of all

birds. The long migrations made by many of

these great birds every year are alone

sufficient to arouse human admiration. Other

aspects of crane behavior appear equally

admirable, such as their stately dances and the

unforgettable trumpeting. calls that

accompany them.

There are fifteen living species of cranes,

comprising the family Gruidae. Six of these

are on exhibit at the National Zoological Park.

(See box, page ). The family is an ancient

one that has been represented on earth for

over 40 million years. One still-living species —

the sandhill crane (Grus canadensis) of North

America — has existed virtually without

change for nine million years. Cranes are

found on every continent but South America

and Antarctica and on such larger islands as

Cuba, New Guinea, and Hokkaido, Japan.

Despite its extensive distribution, however,

this long-established family is struggling for

survival in our time. The precarious position

of the whooping crane (Grus americana) has

been widely publicized; and at least one other

species, the Japanese crane (Grus japonensis),

is also endangered. The same pressures of

habitat destruction and hunting by man that

have driven these two species to the brink of

extinction have affected all cranes and have

caused concern for the survival of the entire

family.

Most of the cranes that breed in the Northern

Hemisphere winter in warmer regions to the

south. The last remaining population of

whooping cranes, for instance, breeds in

Wood-Buffalo Park, Northwest Territories,

Canada, and winters mainly at Aransas

Lesser sandhill crane, the northernmost and smallest of our North American cranes.

National Wildlife Refuge on the Gulf Coast of

Texas. They cover some 2,500 miles in fall

and spring migrations. Three of the six

subspecies of the other New World crane, the

sandhill crane, are also migratory. The greatest

distances are traveled by the lesser sandhill

crane (Grus canadensis canadensis), which

breeds north of the Arctic Circle in a spring

and summer of 24-hour daylight and winters

as far south as northern Mexico. The other

three subspecies are non-migratory, residing

year-round in Mississippi, Florida, and Cuba.

Cranes migrate in flocks, usually in a

V-formation pointed in the direction of flight.

Sometimes they fly in a straight or a diagonal

line. European cranes, which travel 1600 to

2400 miles in spring migration from Africa to

Europe, have been clocked at speeds of 29 to

35 miles per hour. They can sustain this speed

up to 21 hours without resting. Migrating

cranes often fly over a mile high. At this

height they cannot be seen from the earth,

but betray their passing by loud, almost

continuous calling. Airplane pilots have seen

European cranes migrating over the North Sea

at an altitude of over 14,000 feet. Climbers in

the Himalayas 20,000 feet above sea level

heard the calls of southbound cranes that

must have been flying over a mile above them.

Cranes are very long-lived birds. While

age-records for wild cranes are scarce, a

number of species commonly live twenty,

thirty, or even forty years in captivity. A

Siberian white crane (Grus /eucogeranus) that

arrived at the National Zoological Park as an

adult of undetermined age lived here 61 years.

It is believed that cranes usually mate for life,

and in a number of cases the same pair has been

known to return year after year to nest in the

Same marsh.

Nesting pairs of cranes are strongly territorial,

defending a wide area around the nest against

intrusion by others of their species. On this

territory, courtship and copulation occur, and

the nest is built. The territory also provides

most of the food consumed by the pair and

their young throughout the spring and

summer. Animals’ territories — rather like

human habitations — can often be subdivided

into different regions set apart for different

activities. A crane territory contains a suitable

area for building a nest, a roosting spot for the

parent that is not on the nest at night to sleep

in, and one or more feeding areas. The typical

crane nest is a large pile of vegetation placed

in shallow water. Most cranes prefer to roost

at night in shallow water. Thus the nesting

and roosting regions. of a crane territory are

usually located in a marsh or wetland. The

feeding areas are on higher ground, often in

meadows or cultivated fields. the size of a

crane’s territory varies with the density of the

crane population and the availability of

suitable nesting, roosting, and feeding habitat.

Among greater sandhill cranes (Grus

canadensis tabida) in Michigan only one crane

pair may occupy a small marsh, miles from

other cranes. But in a larger marsh, there may

be several pairs crowded onto much smaller

territories that average about 40 acres.

Both members of a pair defend the territory,

Indian Sarus crane.

Sarus crane pair calling in unison, the male at left.

but the male is by far the more aggressive.

When an intruder lands on the territory, he

responds immediately, pointing his bill

straight down, arching his neck, raising the

inner feathers of his wing over his back, and

strutting toward the trespasser. Usually such a

display is sufficient to chase off the intruder,

though the resident male may follow him

some distance in flight, calling loudly. If the

intruder does not leave, there may be a short

battle in which the birds fight with their feet,

bills, and wings. Deaths have been recorded

when one crane’s bill pierced the other’s skull,

but they are rare.

Almost all birds that defend territories

advertise their possession by means of

vocalizations. In songbirds territorial

advertising is the major function of those

vocalizations we know as song. When crane

pairs are nesting near each other, they

regularly use loud calls to remind other pairs

of their presence on territory. One pair begins

calling soon after waking and all or nearly all

other pairs within hearing soon respond. All

cranes but the crowned cranes have a very

long and convoluted windpipe or trachea,

which enables them to produce calls that can

be heard for over two miles. The windpipe of

a whooping crane, if straightened out, would

meansure over five feet. In most cranes

species, when the members of a pair call in

unison, each of them adopts a stereotyped

posture. The female raises her head, her bill

pointing upward and slightly forward; her

wings are kept folded against her sides. The

male bends his neck backward so that his bill

is pointing upward and sometimes even

slightly backward. Meanwhile he positions his

wings in a characteristic way, lowering the

outer flight feathers of each wing (primaries)

and raising the inner flight feathers

(secondaries) over his back.

The courtship of all cranes involves behavior

that is commonly known — from its nearest

human analogue—as ‘“‘dancing.’’ The dancing

crane jumps high in the air, at times eight or

ten feet up, its wings slightly spread. It may

bow low between jumps, and a series of jumps

may throw the bird ina circle. Dancing cranes

often pick up sticks or other objects with

their bills and throw them in the air. One

member of a pair may dance facing the other,

or both may dance together.

The dance occurs at all seasons of the year

and not only among paired birds. It is almost

as if dancing is to a crane what speech or

laughter is to man -— an_ inevitable

concomitant to daily life, whatever the

circumstances. In fall, for instance, migratory

cranes abandon their territories and form large

flocks prior to migrating, and in these flocks

dancing is frequent. One bird may

spontaneously begin to dance, and _ this

stimulation is frequently sufficient to set the

entire flock dancing. A crane starts dancing

very early in life; one captive sandhill crane

only six days old danced all over its yard

when released there in the morning. As young

Cranes approach the age of ten months when

they first leave their parents, they begin to

dance with increased frequency.

The dance is only one of a number of

behavior patterns that occur in courtship. The

courtship of the Stanley crane (Anthropoides

paridisea) provides an illustration. In this

Species each spring’s courtship is a slow

process, lasting over two weeks. Since the

birds pair for life and pairs are apparently

established before the birds are old enough to

breed, courtship functions not to establish a

new pair-bond but to bring both birds of an

existing pair into a state of reproductive

readiness. The male Stanley crane initiates

courtship by chasing the female in circles; he

does not attempt to overtake her, however,

but always remains about ten feet behind her.

From time to time the chasing stops abruptly,

and the two birds call in unison. Next, both

birds dance and run in circles, picking up

bunches of grass and throwing’ them.

Sometimes the dancing crane may kick the

grass it has thrown as it drops down again; or

one bird may catch grass thrown by the other

and throw it up in turn. The pair may also run

across the plains side by side as if racing.

A crane pair’s clutch almost always consists of

two eggs. Both parents incubate. Though the

eggs are laid two days apart, they hatch on

successive days. The chick can be heard

peeping inside the egg about two hours before

it first breaks the shell, and the parents answer

it with a low call. After the first break in the

shell — or ‘“‘pipping’’ as it is called — the chick

works at the opening the shell, periods of rest

interspersed, for 12 to 24 hours until hatching

Sarus crane pair ‘“‘dancing.”

is completed. The chick opens the shell by

rotating inside the egg to make a complete

circle of holes around the end of the egg.

Finally it stretches its neck and legs to push

off the perforated end of the egg with its

head.

In the sandhill crane and probably in most or

all other crane species, when two young

hatch, more often than not only one of them

survives infancy. There is usually a great deal

of aggression between the chicks. The stronger

chick may prevent the weaker one from

feeding adequately, may drive it off, or may

even seriously injure it. Such extreme

aggressiveness may appear surprising, even

biologically injurious to the species. Certainly

it runs counter to the folk wisdom that “‘little

birds in their nest agree.’’ But there are good

reasons why natural selection has permitted

inter-chick aggression to evolve in cranes.

If there is abundant food for two chicks, the

parents are often able to raise both. But

inter-chick aggression assures that, if there is

not enough food for both chicks, the stronger

alone survives. Thus a food supply that would

A Stanley crane preening.

only be sufficient for one chick is not wasted

by being divided among two — neither of

which would then survive. In years when the

population has reached a saturation point

relative to resources, few pairs will be able to

raise two chicks. Thus, inter-chick aggression

provides a built-in check on crane numbers.

Young cranes are able to walk and swim soon

after hatching. Adult cranes do not swim; but,

since the water in which the nest is placed is

usually too deep for a newly hatched chick to

wade through, the chick must be able to swim

to leave the nest. Sandhill crane parents lead

the young from the nest almost immediately

after the second one hatches and take them to

higher ground nearby. They begin to teach the

chicks to eat by offering food to them,

sometimes dropping it in front of them. They

do this until the young begin to take food on

their own. Usually an adult crane’s diet

consists mainly of vegetable matter,

supplemented with insects and other small

animal life such as snails and frogs. But the

young at first seem to feed largely on insects.

One captive two-month old greater sandhill

crane consumed 254 insects and 10

earthworms in 75 minutes.

Crane chicks remain with their parents until

the onset of the next breeding season. If the

parents migrate, the young follow; and the

family remains a unit on the winter grounds.

After the parents return to the breeding

grounds, the young form non-breeding flocks

with other young cranes. It is in these flocks

that life-long pair-bonds are gradually

established. The young birds usually do not

begin to breed until they are five years old.

Within historic times the range of almost

every crane species has decreased in size, and

cranes have disappeared from vast areas where

they formerly lived. Man has destroyed much

crane habitat, particularly by draining

marshes. And many cranes have been shot,

particularly those belonging to white species

like the whooping crane. Because human

populations have long lived near the breeding

grounds of the European crane, the history of

its gradual decline is well known; it

disappeared as a breeding bird in England

about 1600, in Hungary after 1892, and in

Spain about 1954. The whooping crane once

bred throughout the plains regions of central

North America; and in colonial times sandhill

cranes wintered and perhaps nested on the created to ensure that cranes can nest without

Atlantic seaboard. disturbance. Moreover public attitudes in the

areas where it lives have changed from

The greater sandhill crane reached its all-time hostility or indifference to pride and concern.

low in population and geographical extent The success of this once-endangered

during the 1920’s and 1930’s. Since then its subspecies holds out hope for all of the

population has recovered dramatically. world’s cranes.

Hunting has been outlawed on both its winter

and summer grounds and reserves have been

SPECIES AND SUBSPECIES OF CRANE AT THE NATIONAL ZOOLOGICAL PARK

SPECIES OR SUBSPECIES MAP LOCATION RANGE

European crane (Grus number 6d Breeds in Russia, Finland,

grus grus) Norway, Sweden, northwestern

Poland, and eastern Germany;

winters in Spain, Portugal,

Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Algeria,

Ethiopia, and the Sudan

Lesser sandhill crane number 1 2c Breeds in northeastern

(Grus canadensis candensis) Siberia, northern Canada,

and Alaska; winters in

southern California, Baja

California, eastern New

Mexico, Texas, and northern

and central Mexico

Greater sandhill crane number 6h Breeds in British Columbia,

(Grus canadensis tabida) (rear yard) Washington, Oregon, northern

California, Idaho, Wyoming,

Nevada, Wisconsin, and

Michigan; winters in

southern California, central

Florida

Indian sarus crane number 6e Resident year-round in

(Grus antigone) (adult pair) north and central India

and Nepal

number 6d

(juvenile)

Demoiselle crane number 12a Breeds in North Africa,

(Anthropoides virgo) southeastern Europe, Siberia,

and Mongolia; winters in

Sudan, Nigeria, Ethiopia,

India, Burma, and China

Stanley crane or blue number 6p-r Resident year-round in

crane (Anthropoides South Africa

paradisea)

East African gray number 6p-g Resident year-round in

crowned crane Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania,

(Balearica pavonina) and eastern Zaire