Friends

of the

National

is anon-profit organization of individuals and families who are

interested in supporting Zoo programs in education, research,

and conservation.

As members of FONZ, you and your family receive many

benefits—publications, discount privileges, and invitations to

special programs and activities—to make your zoo-going more

enjoyable and educational.

ZooGoer is published bi-monthly by the Friends of the

National Zoo, c/o The National Zoological Park, Washington,

D.C. 20008. Third class mailing permit 44282. Subscription as

percentage of full membership dues is $4 a year. Subscription-

only membership is $5 a year (extra cost covers processing,

handling, and related expenses) and is available only to institu-

tions or those residing outside of the Washington, D.C. metro-

politan area.

ISSN: 0163-416X

FONZ Board of Directors, 1978-1979

Stephen T. Hosmer, President; John S. Brown, First Vice President;

Whayne S. Quin, Second Vice President; M. Anthony Gould,

Treasurer; Victor Delano, Secretary; Samuel Biddle; Edward G.

Boehm; Janice A. Booker; Montgomery S. Bradley; William C.

Bryant; Al Hackl; Julie P. Hubbard: A. José Jones; Nella Manes;

Stanley R. Mayes; Cecil McLelland; Sheila D. Minor; Monica J.

Morgan; Robert L. Nelson; John B. Oliver; Joseph Y. Ruth; Ross

Simons; Julia Vadala Taft; Sally S. Tongren.

FONZ Staff

Sabin Robbins, Executive Director; Dennis Baker, Associate Director;

Donna Schlegel, Volunteer & Educational Services; Mary W.

Matthews, Publications; Fran Bernstein, Membership; Tom Frame,

Food Service; Lonnie Wornom, Merchandising; Kevin Polen,

Transportation.

Zoo Staff

Dr. Theodore H. Reed, Director; Dr. John Eisenberg, Assistant

Director for Animal Programs.

Office Chiefs

Mr. Jaren Horsley, Administrative Management for Animal Programs;

Ms. Judith Block, Registrar; Dr. Christen Wemmer, Conservation

and Research Center; Dr. Devra Kleiman, Zoological Research; Dr.

Mitchell Bush, Animal Health; Dr. Richard Montali, Pathology;

Ms. Judy White, Education; Mr. Robert Mulcahy, Graphics &

Exhibits; Mr. Emanuel Petrella, Facilities Management; Mr. Samuel

Middleton, Protective Services.

Change of address notices and membership inquiries should be

sent to the FONZ Membership Office, c/o The National Zoo,

Washington, D.C. 20008.

Volume 8, Number 3

May-June, 1979

4 How to Take a

Child to the Zoo

by Sally Tongren

Q A Tale of

Two Lizards

by Bela Demeter

13 The Scimitar.

Homed Oryx

by Karl Kranz and Katherine Ralls

Editor:

Mary W. Matthews

Consulting Editor:

Mary C. Massey

Illustration Credits: Front and back covers

by Betty White; pp. 2, 6, 8, 13, 14, and 18

by Mary W. Matthews; pp. 4 and 16 by

Geoffrey Stein; p. 5 by Ilene Berg, NZP

Office of Public Affairs; pp. 7 and 23 by

Sabin Robbins; p. 9 courtesy of the NZP

Education Office; pp. 10, 11, and 12 by

Nancy Slaughter; p. 15 by Francie

Schroeder; p. 19 courtesy Cuban Tourist

Commission and American Motorist; p. 20

courtesy Japan Air Lines News Bureau.

1G ZOONEWS

18 FONZNEWS

21 BOOKNEWS

22 Calendar

FRONT COVER: Seeing wild animals on

television is one thing. Meeting them

face to face at the Zoo is quite another!

Who would have thought a giraffe was

that BIG?!

PAGE TWO: An oryx calf, like a human

baby, is born after a gestation of nine

months. Both sexes have horns. This two-

week old female calf is already sprouting

buds.

Zoo babies are a special delight to human young. In this drawing, the child is

looking at a Nile hippo calf and her mother.

How to

Take a Child |

to the Zoo

Sally Tongren

Parents often ask FONZ how to

make family trips to the Zoo more

meaningful. Naturally, nothing ruins a

good family outing faster than trying

to make it an “Educational Experience.”

But if you plan ahead, you can some-

times slip in an idea or two when your

child isn’t looking!

Here are a few general guidelines

that the FONZ volunteers have de-

veloped while taking thousands of

children through the Zoo each year.

We've had a lot of fun doing this, and

we hope we can help you and your

child share the excitement and laughter

we have known.

First, come in the “off” season! Fall

weekends are lovely, and winter days

surprisingly nice. Or come on week-

days if you can. You won't be hurried

or pushed, small children can see

better, and you can watch a favorite

animal to your hearts’ content. The

only day the Zoo is closed is Christmas.

Don’t make it too long a trip. Select

one area, such as birds or lions or

monkeys; and finish with a picnic. You

might want to decide what you're

going to look at in advance and talk

over what you'll be seeing before you

come. This is a very effective approach,

SALLY TONGREN has been a FONZ guide since

1971. She is an expert on birds, ecology—and children.

though not necessarily the best for

you—you will be the best judge of

your interests and your child’s. Trust

yourself.

A warning, though—if you try to see

the whole Zoo at once, you'll find that

suddenly there is twice as much walk-

ing to do uphill as down! You'll have

sore feet, and your child will remember

nothing but being tired. If you have

come some distance and feel that you

must make a day of it, at least take

frequent breaks.

What should you try to teach? Or

should you try to teach factual material

at all? Again, this is an individual

decision and depends on the extent of

your knowledge and your child’s inter-

ests. Facts, however interesting, do

seem to slide right by excited children.

You might do better to follow up your

trip with reading from some of the

excellent books in your local public

library, rather than trying to compete

with the animals for your child’s at-

tention.

What you can only do at the Zoo is

to help your child learn to see. If you

polled the experts, from the Zoo’s

director down to the individual

keepers, one message would be clear:

the most important thing that your child can

learn is to look at and really see what is

before her or him. Such observation, of

course, isn’t limited to sight—help

your child not only to look, but also

to listen and even smell.

Children tend to rush from one

animal to the next, but they are also

extremely observant and not hampered

by preconceived ideas. Try to slow

them down with special animals that

catch their eye or yours. You are going

to have to be more observant, too. Ask

questions. What is the animal doing?

Why do they suppose it’s doing that?

Why does this animal have stripes

when a similar animal doesn’t? Look at

what the animal is eating. Why does

one animal eat meat and another only

grass?

Don’t worry if you don’t know the

answers yourself. Speculate on them

with your child. It’s fun, and you'll

be surprised at what good answers you

get: even those that sound silly are

sometimes startlingly close to the mark.

Remember that almost every way an

At Zoolab, children and adults can

learn—and have fun!—together.

That’s a real (though stuffed) armadillo

these visitors are touching. Zoolab is

animal is shaped and everything an

animal does has a good reason behind

it. Also remember that the whole basis

of scientific thinking is to pose ques-

tions for which you don’t have answers

and then look for possible explana-

tions. Children who are encouraged

to do this learn to think creatively, not

just memorize.

I suspect that many of us as parents

and grandparents had more contact

with country life than our children do.

We don't realize how strange the

full of animal touchables and also has

books, learning boxes, and other educa-

tional materials.

animal world and its sounds and smells

are to them. This is why FONZ guides

stress adaptations and behavior —the

ways in which animals meet their

needs for food, shelter, protection from

enemies, and contact with their own

kind. Children often don’t even realize

that animals have these needs. These

wonderful adaptations are what a Zoo

tour is all about; your questions can

start your child thinking just as well as

ours can.

If you see a group of animals in

action, stop and watch. Monkey

groups are often active, and

you can point out that thev

are doing definite things:

grooming, eating, playing,

caring for their young. See

if you can spot how

members of the group

communicate with each

other, and even with you.

If children see that

animals have activities

and needs like their own,

they are likely to under-

stand and appreciate

them better.

Zoo people don’t like to be

anthropomorphic about animals:

the little-people-in-fur-suits ap-

proach is usually incorrect and always

insulting to an animal’s dignity. But

young children in particular relate best

to what they know, and there’s nothing

wrong with presenting animals in

familiar terms— that is the mother,

this is the father, etc.

It is important for children to

realize that animals have feelings.

Moreover, for children to realize that

an animal's sense of fear or love or

anger is different from theirs is less

important than for them to know that

animals do feel these emotions. This

understanding can go far in preventing

unintentional cruelty.

Even explaining the Zoo’s regula-

tions can be used to present these con-

cepts. For example, you can explain to

your child that visitors to the Zoo are

The magic and mystery of a zoo are

nowhere so apparent as in the rapt eyes

of a spellbound child.

asked not to feed the animals because

they eat different foods than we do.

Each animal eats the food best suited

to it. Popcorn or candy might actually

hurt the animal. You can slip in this

lesson while playing “Let’s guess what

this one would eat.” If you are in the

Bird House at feeding time, about mid-

morning, it’s a wonderful chance to

see how many different things

birds eat.

Along the same lines, you can ex-

plain that humans aren't allowed inside

guard rails because an animal’s en-

closure is its home and the animal

would be frightened by uninvited

guests. Children shouldn’t think of

animals as a kind of people—but they

should get the sense that animals are

living, breathing, feeling indivi-

duals with the same kinds of

rights that people have.

You want to keep it

light, of course; you are out

for fun, after all. Young

children may enjoy seeing

they’ve read about in

their favorite books.

Rikki-tikki-tavi is here at

the Zoo; so are Mowgli’s

wolves. (Don’t forget to

mention to your children

that wolves aren’t wicked;

they have the worst press in

the animal world.) The European

¥y brown bear is one of the characters

from the Goldilocks story. At the

Zoo you can find a goose that might

lay a golden egg, and the swans often

have “ugly ducklings.” There are

Kangas and Tiggers and sometimes a

Roo, and everyone wants to see

Smokey Junior.

On the other side of the coin,

though, is the care you must take to

distinguish between fact and fantasy,

wildness and tameness. Children who

are strongly attracted to animals are

often misled by the friendly bears,

in person the animal friends

If your youngster is a budding expert on animals, let him take you to the Zoo. You'll be amazed at how much you

learn—and how much you enjoy yourselves!

tamed lions, and amiable monkeys

that they see on television. They feel

that they could go and pat a bear, and

the bear would react the way Yogi

Bear would react—that all lions are

related to the Cowardly Lion.

You can help your child understand

that wild animals are dangerous—not

in the sense that they are biding their

time waiting for the chance to attack,

but that almost all wild animals have

a strong and very necessary fear of

human beings that keeps them always

on the defensive. Tell your child that

to each animal, “manners” mean some-

thing different—that what to us is a

friendly gesture may to an animal be a

threat that it has to defend itself

against. This is especially important

with bears, which your child might

well encounter when your family is on

a vacation. The tame bears on tele-

vision are not the animals one will

encounter in the wild. “Tame” bears

like Gentle Ben are either tall stories

or the result of long and patient work

by exceptional people under unusual

circumstances. Helping your child

learn the difference between human

and animal “manners” may help him or

her appreciate the work of the people

who study animal behavior —perhaps

even inspire a career.

If your child is a real zoo buff,

perhaps a budding herpetologist, let the

child take you around the Zoo. You may

be amazed at the knowledge children

can absorb on their own. Many chil-

dren around ten or twelve have a

terrific knowledge of turtles or birds.

All you'll need to do is make encourag-

ing noises—and learn!

Above all, you, better than anyone

else, can show your children that ani-

mals should be treated with respect for

their true capabilities. The children

who learn today to admire and under-

stand animals, to know that each has a

place in the natural world and specific

needs, will be better equipped to eval-

uate some of the decisions on con-

servation that will be part of their life-

time. It is important that you explain

what “extinction” is; a great many chil-

dren confuse it with “endangered.”

They need to know that extinct means

dead, gone, lost, totally and forever.

Ended.

Children are great fun to go to zoos

with—so perceptive and so fresh in

their insights that your trip will be

a joy to all concerned.

Getting the Most from the Zoo

Resources and Information to Make Your Trip More Enjoyable

Zoolab—Family oriented, hands-on

learning. Books and recent happenings.

In the Education/Administration Build-

ing. Open Tuesday through Sunday,

12:00-3:00 p.m.

Birdlab—Similar resources. In the

Bird House. Open in summer, Tuesday

through Sunday, 12:00-3:00 p.m., in

winter Friday through Sunday, same

hours.

Brochures—Informational and family

game material are available free at

both Zoolab and Birdlab.

ZooGoer and PawPrints—Good

sources of information as well as en-

tertainment. Keep your back issues to

consult before coming to see some-

thing special.

Animal Demonstrations—

Beaver Valley: Usually in the early

afternoons.

Elephants: First thing in the morning

and in the early afternoon.

“Mingle with the Monkeys”: Usually

around 3:00 p.m.

“Meet a Reptile”: 10:30 a.m. and

3.50 pi. |

House Guides and Roving Guides—Trained

FONZ volunteers are available in the

Park throughout the year. Look for the

black FONZ badge that says “GUIDE.”

Feeding Times (all times approximate) —

Giant pandas: 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.

Elephant House: 3-3:15 p.m.

Monkeys: 10 a.m. and 3:30 p.m.

Birds: Usually in the morning.

Strollers—May be rented at stations

near the giant panda exhibit and Lion-

Tiger Hill.

First Aid—Available at the Police

Station next to the Mane Restaurant.

If you think your child's class would enjoy

a guided tour of the Zoo, be sure that his

or her teachers are aware of the educa-

tional programs offered by FONZ and

the Zoo. All of the schools in the

Washington, D.C., area receive FONZ

tour information, but it sometimes

doesn’t reach all the teachers. Scout

troops and other non-school groups

can also be accommodated with

enough notice. Late fall and winter

are especially good times for tours.

Call (202) 232-7703 for information

and reservations. UJ

A Tale of Two Lizards

Bela Demeter

When you visit the Reptile House,

what is the first thing you look for?

Chances are you head first for the

giant tortoises, the crocodilians, or

the snakes. If snakes are your inter-

est, then it’s'a good bet you'll be most

fascinated by the venomous ones or

the larger varieties, like pythons and

boa constrictors. You may have heard

of the Komodo dragon and would,

understandably, like to see one. The

National Zoo hasn’t had Komodos for a

few years, but their relatives, the large

monitor lizards, are almost as impres-

sive, reminding visitors of what dino-

saurs may have looked like.

Like many people, you may pass

over the rest of the reptiles because

BELA DEMETER is a keeper at the Reptile House.

He has been in charge of lizards for the six years

he has been at the National Zoo.

you don't realize that there’s anything

very interesting about them. Take the

average small lizard, for example: it’s

got a body, tail, two eyes, four legs.

Once you've seen one, you've seen ‘em

all, right?

Wrong! As with most things, if you

know what to look for with lizards,

you'll discover a whole new set of per-

spectives. Let’s compare a few of the

more obvious characteristics of two

lizards in the Reptile House, and

you'll see what I mean.

The lizards we're looking at are in

adjoining cages, A-1 and A-2, just to

the right of the main entrance to the

Reptile House. Both are small, active,

and highly visible. Both are in the

family Iguanidae. The crevice spiny

lizard, Sceloporus poinseth, in A-1 isa

perfect counterpart to the two species

of anoles in A-2, the green anole

(Anolis carolinensis) and the brown

anole (Anolis sagrei).

Sceloporus is a genus of iguanids

with a very wide distribution in the

western hemisphere, particularly in

Mexico. The crevice spiny lizard comes

from Mexico and the American South-

west. It is a desert dweller and is

generally terrestrial, although it spends

a lot of time in trees and low shrubs.

Anolis is a tropical and subtropical

genus, also found in the western hemi-

sphere; but unlike Sceloporus, it is

almost completely arboreal.

Several characteristics, such as

their diet, eyes, and tails, are common

to both lizards. Because they are both

small, they both live primarily on

insects. Although in the wild each

has a varied diet, at the Zoo both

species are mainly fed live crickets

that have been powdered over with a

The brown anole is one of several lizard species that, like chameleons, can change color. There are 165 species of anoles.

Both the crevice spiny lizard (left) and the

brown anole (right) are small, active,

vitamin-mineral supplement. Anoles

will also lick the juices from fruits

and berries, so their diet is supple-

mented with a honey-flavored vitamin

liquid. You can watch these lizards

being fed on Monday and Thursday

afternoons.

If you look at them closely, you

can see that the pupils of both the

crevice spiny lizards’ and the anoles’

eyes are round, like ours. This is

typical for diurnal animals. Many

reptiles, though, are primarily noctur-

nal. Such reptiles have developed an

elliptical pupil, like a cat’s, which

can close more tightly in bright light.

Both the crevice spiny lizard and

the anole have tails that can break off

at any number of points and re-

generate. Many other small lizards

and highly visible. The crevice spiny

lizard comes from deserts, while anoles

have similar tails; these help them

avoid predation. The tail’s separation

points lie through the vertebrae. The

cleavage planes extend to the skin,

fat layers, and muscle tissues, so that

the break is complete and does as

little harm as possible. For example,

thick-walled areas in the tail’s artery act

as sphincters to keep bleeding to a

minimum in case of a break.

You can quickly tell which of the

lizards on display at the Zoo have

had their tails broken at one time or

another. The new tail has a different

scale pattern, since a regenerated

tail never grows back to be exactly

like the original.

Notice, too, how the greens and

browns of the anoles’ skin blend in

with the foliage in their cage. Imagine

how much more difficult it would be

may be found in the tropics and sub-

tropics.

to see them in the denser leaf cover

they have in the wild!

Anoles are one of several species

of lizard that, chameleon-like, can

alter their body color to match the

surface on which they rest. In fact,

the green anole is more commonly

known as the American chameleon.

Blending in with its environment is

not the only reason for a lizard to

change colors. The color change may

be activated by such conditions as

temperature, stress, interactions with

other lizards, and the state of the

lizard’s health.

The crevice spiny lizard, unlike the

anole, cannot change color. However,

the browns, reds, and tans of its skin

form a pattern that camouflages it

nicely in its desert environment. Cam-

ouflage is an important part of any

reptile’s defense strategy —which is

one reason you won't often see a rep-

tile “blowing its cover” when it doesn’t

have to.

The crevice spiny lizard has some

other adaptations that help it survive

in the harsh climate of the desert.

Notice the keeled, pointed scales that

give this lizard its name. These scales

disperse the rays of the sun, refracting

rather than absorbing the heat—an

obvious advantage. Not as noticeable

are its toes, which are slightly fringed

underneath. This enables the lizard

to scurry over loose sand without

sinking.

The crevice spiny lizard’s reproduc-

tive behavior is also geared to desert

life. Eggs are laid in clutches of six

to twelve and buried in moistish sand,

secluded from the direct rays of the

sun, where the probability of hatching

will be high. During periods of severe

drought or curtailed food supply, the

male’s sex organs will not develop

fully enough for reproduction. This

prevents fertilization during a time

Left to right, the brown anole, the crevice spiny lizard, and the green anole.

yyy

when the young might not survive.

Because of the tropic’s more favor-

able climate, young anoles may have

somewhat better odds of reaching

adulthood than young crevice spiny

lizards do. Consequently, anoles lay an

average of only two eggs—one per

adult female ovary. Nor are they both

laid at once; the second egg follows the

first after about two weeks. The eggs

are generally deposited aboveground

in some sheltered spot, such as a clump

of vegetation, in the cracks between

tree bark, or among the leaves of a

bromeliad plant such as the ones you

see in cage A-2. (Bromeliads, for

example pineapple trees, are tropical-

type plants whose leaves hold water

well.) In fact, most of the eggs that

have been retrieved from the anoles’

cage have been found stuck to the

inner leaves of these bromeliads, just

above the water line.

The anole is as well adapted to

living in the trees as the crevice spiny

lizard is to running around desert

rocks and shrubs. Note the anole’s

lighter body and its relatively longer

tail, both of which give it greater

stability in tree branches. The anole’s

most interesting adaptation, of course,

is its feet. Its toes are flared to form

a pad under which are rows of thin,

flat membranes like scales or gills,

called lamellae. These lamellae in

turn are studded with rows of micro-

scopic projections that act like little

barbs to catch the irregularities of

what seem to us smooth surfaces.

This allows the lizards to walk up and

down smooth tree trunks, walls, and

even glass.

If you're lucky, you might have a

chance to see these lizards communi-

cating with each other. Both the crevice

spiny lizard and the anole use a system

of head bobs and body “pushups” to

convey any number of messages con-

cerning territoriality, aggression, or

courtship. The duration, combination,

and sequence of these movements are

usually stereotypical and different

for each lizard species. For example,

the arrangement and rhythm of the

series of head bobs that two lizards

exchange might determine whether

they will mate or go their separate

ways. An incorrect response to a

The dewlap, a brightly-colored fan of

skin at the throat, is generally well

male’s advances would indicate to

him that the other lizard either isn’t

a female or isn’t a female of his species.

The anole also has a brightly-

colored fan at its throat, called a

dewlap, which you wouldn't notice

unless it were extended. The dewlap is

generally well developed only on

males; it is another way males can com-

municate to other males and to females.

The dewlap is usually red or orange,

and is conspicuous among the greens

and browns of the lizard’s habitat. It

is a very important cue for a reptile as

visually oriented as the anole is.

developed only on male anoles. It is used

in aggressive or amorous displays.

As you walk through the Reptile

House, keep some of these char-

acteristics in mind and see how they

appear on other lizards. Each variation

is that lizard’s adaptation to its own

environment. Now that you know

some of the things to look for, you

will be able to see more; and, seeing

more, you will take much more

pleasure in the infinite adaptability of

nature. You're sure to leave witha

greater appreciation for lizards than

you may have had when you

walked in. O

The Scimitar-Horned Oryx

Karl Kranz and Katherine Ralls

The scimitar-horned oryx is native

to a semi-desert fringe of the Sahara

called the Sahel that covers several

North African countries. It has not

been studied as intensively as the

antelopes of East Africa, so of the

three species of oryx, it is the least

known.

The most common species, Oryx

gazella, is the oryx usually seen by

visitors to Africa; it includes such sub-

species as the beisa and fringe-eared

oryx and the gemsbok. The rarest

species is the Arabian oryx, Oryx

leucoryx, which was once hunted almost

to extinction but has been breeding

very successfully in captivity. The

scimitar-horned oryx, Oryx dammah, is

on display at the National Zoo. Oryx

dammah is the only species of oryx

with curved horns; both sexes have

them.

Scimitar-horned oryx are found in

herds of varying sizes, depending on

the season. The basic social unit seems

to be a herd of twenty or less, although

herds may have been larger when

oryx were more common. Smaller

herds may join together into large

droves (travelers formerly reported

bands of up to several thousand) at

times, particularly during migrations.

KARL KRANZ has been a FONZ curatorial intern

for one and a half of his two years with the Zoo, and is

studying antelopes, in particular dik-diks, in mother-

baby relationships. KATHERINE RALLS has been

a research zoologist at the Zoo for three years, and is

studying mammalian social behavior and morphology.

The species is known to be migra-

tory, though different populations may

have different migratory patterns. One

common pattern seems to be for the

animals to go north after the summer

rains, then south beginning in about

March. The scimitar-horned oryx is

not adapted for life in the true desert,

so it migrates during times of drought

as well. A recent drought in the Sahel

forced the oryx to migrate south of

their normal limits, where they were

subjected to competition with local

livestock for food and to poaching

both by nomads all over the Sahel and

by soldiers stationed in Chad.

According to anecdotal accounts,

each small herd of scimitar-horned

The National Zoo’s two newest oryx babies—born in July—get constant care

from their attentive mothers.

The oryx, a species accustomed to a semi-

desert climate, instinctively seems to

prefer to sleep in the heat of the day.

oryx consists of both males and

females, usually led by one adult male.

Because this is not a common form of

social organization in antelopes, one

would be tempted to dismiss such

accounts as misinterpretations by un-

trained observers, were it not for the

fact that a similar herd organization

has recently been reported in Oryx

gazella in Tanzania. Dr. Fritz Walther,

an experienced antelope observer, saw

a male oryx rounding up both males

and females in a herd, controlling the

direction of movement of the group,

and breaking up sparring matches

between other males.

Oryx prefer to graze in the early

morning and late afternoon. During the

hottest part of the day they usually

rest in whatever shade is available.

Like many antelopes from arid regions,

oryx do not need to drink every day,

but get water from the plants they eat.

In the wild, scimitar-horned oryx

favor the tender green shoots of grasses

and legumes, though they are known

to eat wild bitter melons and the seed

pods of acacia trees for moisture during

the dry season. The National Zoo’s

oryx are fed a balanced diet of grain,

alfalfa pellets, and hay.

In the wild, oryx usually breed in

October and November; after a nine-

month gestation, each female gives

birth to a single calf. In captivity,

however, breeding may occur through-

out the year, so at the Zoo and its Con-

servation and Research Center, males

are allowed access to females only in

the late summer and early fall to ensure

that calves will be born during warm

weather. Scimitar-horned oryx calves

are solid fawn in color at birth, and

gradually acquire the chestnut and

white markings of the adults as they

mature.

Although the scimitar-horned oryx

is not as rare as the Arabian oryx, its

populations have declined drastically.

The International Union for the Con-

servation of Nature and Natural Re-

sources Officially classifies it as a

“vulnerable” species. The “vulnerable”

category includes species that are “be-

lieved likely to move into the endan-

gered category in the near future if

the causal factors now at work con-

tinue operating.”

The scimitar-horned oryx once

ranged throughout the Sahelian zone

both north and south of the Sahara.

Today it is extinct in the north, and in

the south is reasonably abundant

only in Chad. In 1936 a French

naturalist reported seeing a herd of

about 10,000 oryx in one part of Chad.

Today the estimate for the entire

country is less than 5,500 animals, and

many of these are within a protected

reserve.

The two most pressing dangers to

the scimitar-horned oryx are the

shrinking of its environment and

poaching. The Sahel has been heavily

grazed by livestock for centuries, and

many authorities believe that this led

to the increase of the Sahara to its

present size. Recently both drought

and increased numbers of people and

livestock have intensified this trend.

According to one estimate, the Sahara

is increasing by about 250,000 acres a

year. Many of the Sahelian countries

have dug permanent wells for their

nomadic populations to water their

livestock. These wells have been placed

in grasslands previously inhabited

only by wildlife. As a result, the oryx

have had to move to poorer pastures.

Poaching is a very serious problem.

Oryx meat has an excellent flavor, and

can be dried and used in trading. When

tanned, the hide can be fashioned into

leather bags and durable shoe soles.

The nomads of the Sahel attribute

magical virtues to the oryx’s curved

horns.

Thus it is not surprising that the

nomads hunt the scimitar-horned oryx.

Worse, the poaching is difficult to

control because of the lack of money

and equipment and the large areas that

have to be patrolled. John Newby, a

British ecologist, believes that unless

present efforts to protect the scimi-

tar-horned oryx are intensified

immediately, it will be gone from Chad

within ten years.

The only real hope for the scimitar-

horned oryx is the 77,950-square kilo-

meter Ouadi Rimé-Ouadi Achim

Faunal Reserve. However, this reserve

can at best be considered only a stop-

gap to the draining away of the oryx

population. A faunal reserve is not a

national park; it is managed for en-

tirely different purposes. At Ouadi

Rimé-Ouadi Achim, there are, in

addition to small herds of oryx, large

herds of livestock that belong to the

nomads—who feel no compunction

about hunting the oryx in the process

of caring for their own animals.

The scimitar-horned oryx breeds

well in captivity, so it should be

possible to maintain the species in-

definitely in zoos, wild animal parks,

and game ranches.

The National Zoo obtained three

scimitar-horned oryx in 1967, two fe-

males and a male. Because these ani-

mals have been so successful in breed-

ing—both females produced calves this

summer, just as they have for the past

twelve years—there is not enough

room at the Zoo to accommodate

them all. Some have been sent to other

zoos or to the Zoo’s Conservation and

Research Center at Front Royal,

The scimitar-horned oryx is the only oryx species whose horns curve. It is

white, and has reddish markings on head and neck that may extend back over its body.

Virginia, where they inhabit a grassy

30-acre enclosure. The Front Royal

herd now consists of seven males and

17 females, including eight calves

born this year.

The National Zoo’s breeding pro-

gram is making an important contribu-

tion in the effort to establish a self-

sustaining captive population of the

scimitar-horned oryx. It is sad that

its future in the wild remains uncertain.

New Gorilla

in Town

name is M’wasi, and she is here on

Melanie Bond loan from the New York Zoological

Society, better known as the Bronx

For the first time since M’geni Zoo.

Mopaya (Mopie) was born in 1972, All new animals are quarantined,

the National Zoo has a new gorilla. Her usually for about 30 days, when

they arrive at a zoo, so their health

may be checked and ensured. Great

apes, though, arrive at the National

Zoo so seldom that there are no

special quarantine facilities for them.

So M'wasi was kept isolated at one

end of the ape line with an empty

cage between her and the other apes

until the veterinarians gave her a clean

My Wn 8 bill of health. As further precautions,

| iNet " ASSN) : keepers cleaned and fed M’wasi last

Hts: SS and wore special protective clothing,

including masks and gloves, when

they were around her. Again, this was

as much for her health as for theirs.

Although she is somewhat shorter

and more rotund than the Zoo’s

Femelle, M’wasi is a very attractive

gorilla. Humans see her facial expres-

sion as “sweet.” The bony ridge up the

middle of her head, called a sagittal

crest, is impressive.

M’wasi is very interested in her

new surroundings. She enjoys ex-

ploring her cage, peeping through the

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MELANIE BOND is a keeper at the Small Mammal/

Great Ape House. She has been with the Zoo for six

years, and worked with great apes for four. She was

the first woman assigned to work with great apes at

M’wasi, the Zoo’s newest gorilla, has Society to keep Tomoka (opposite) the National Zoo,

come from the New York Zoological company.

crack in the door, and playing with

her rubber tub, her burlap sack, and the

hay piled in her cage. Her disposition

matches her expression; she has proven

to be a gentle and cooperative animal,

always eager for attention—par-

ticularly at feeding time. Her meals

include kale, celery, apples, oranges,

bananas, monkey chow, and—her

favorite—green beans.

M’wasi was purchased from P,J.

Zeehandelaar, a well-known animal

dealer, in 1965, along with five other

gorillas of about her age. Of these

other five, four survive, one on

breeding loan in Los Angeles and the

others still at the Bronx Zoo.

M’wasi herself led an uneventful

life until 1973, when she became preg-

nant. Unfortunate complications

forced the Bronx Zoo to deliver the

infant by Caesarian section, and it did

not survive. |

Although she still has a typical

monthly estrous cycle, M’wasi has not

conceived since her surgery. The Zoo

is hoping for some breeding activity,

but the main reason we got M’wasi was

so that she could keep our 18-year-old

male, Tomoka, company.

Tomoka was one of the first gorillas

born in captivity in the United States.

He has suffered from rheumatoid

arthritis for most of his life. Because

Zoo people are still not sure whether

or not rheumatoid arthritis in gorillas

is infectious, Tomoka has been kept

separated from other gorillas for

many years.

Thanks, though, to the continued

cooperation between the NZP’s

veterinary staff and Dr. Thomas M.

Brown and his associates at the

National Orthopedic Hospital in

Arlington, Tomoka has shown no

symptoms of his affliction for several

years. In fact, he seems better, more

active and interested in interacting

socially with his keepers. We’re hoping

he'll feel the same way about M’wasi!

When M'wasi was released from

quarantine, she was moved to a large

cage adjoining Tomoka’s. They will be

separated by a barred door while they

get acquainted. When they appear to

have established a friendly rapport,

they will be allowed to meet—and

perhaps they will found anew

generation of NZP gorillas. 0

FONZ

NEWS

Beastly

Pottery

Where can you put a rhino around

your neck or find an elephant to sit

on your casserole? At a unique FONZ

art exhibit, “The Potter and the Beast,”

which will take place August 30 to

October 5 in the lobby of the National

Zoo’s Education/Administration

Building.

The exhibit of one-of-a-kind ceramic

animal miniatures, which are fashioned

as distinctive jewelry or adorn such

functional art objects as jars and pots,

will be open daily, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The artist whose work is featured

in “The Potter and the Beast” is Susan

Greenleaf, a renowned sculptor and

miniaturist who studied in San

Antonio, Boston, and Switzerland be-

fore coming to Washington.

Large platters, small jars, casseroles,

teapots, and plates, as well as jewelry,

are the focus of Greenleaf’s art.

“Pottery has become the bones of

my creative life,” she says.” A pot at its

simplest is just a vessel, but it can be

much more—a sculpture or a painting

or both.... And the animals; graceful,

noble, elegant. ... Since my childhood

my life has largely been spent studying

animals and representing what I’ve

seen in clay.”

For more information about the

opening of “The Potter and the Beast”

and details about this unique FONZ

exhibit, call 232-4047. O

New FONZ

By-Laws

At a special meeting on May 23,

1979, FONZ members unanimously

approved revisions to some of FONZ’s

by-laws.

The revisions were designed to in-

crease the participation of members

in the election of FONZ Directors.

Drafts of the proposed revisions

were mailed to all FONZ members in

April 1979, with members invited

either to attend the special by-laws

This one-of-a-kind swan creamer is

among the many hand-crafted objects

on display and for sale in a new exhibit

meeting or to return their proxies to

one of the members of our Executive

Committee.

The revised by-laws establish new

election procedures for Board member-

ship, encourage nominations from the

membership at large, provide for

election of Board members by written

ballot, and clarify the functions of the

Board. Other amendments require that

criteria for membership in the Board be

published and permit write-in candi-

dates.

The proposed revisions had been

under review by the FONZ Board of

Directors for two years before they

were submitted to the membership for

its approval. The new by-laws are

consistent with the provisions of the

D.C. Non-Profit Corporation Act.

FONZ members wishing to receive

copies of the new by-laws should call

FONZ at 232-7700. C

in the Zoo’s Education/Administration

Building.

EVENTS

Cuban

Adventure

Closed to American travellers for

nearly two decades, Cuba is open

again, and a special invitation to tour

this lovely island has been extended to

the members of FONZ.

The ten-day visit, scheduled for

January 18-27, 1980, will include

behind-the-scenes tours of the Havana

Zoo and Cuban crocodile breeding

farm; overnights in Cienfuegos and in

Trinidad, the oldest (1514) city in

Cuba; two relaxing days at the world-

famous Varadero Beach (said to be the

best in the Caribbean) for snorkeling

and birdwatching; and one night and

day in an unusual Indian village built

over a beautiful lake.

Five days will be spent in Cuba’s

capital city, Havana, with visits to

all major museums and sights, including

the rarely-seen Hemingway Museum.

Cuban officials are planning both a

welcoming reception and a farewell

party at the fabulous Tropicana

nightclub.

The cost for this first-ever FONZ

tour of Cuba will be $990. The fee

includes everything from air fare and

first-class hotels to all meals, special

receptions, admissions, local guides,

Havana’s Morro Castle, relic of the

days when Cuba was part of Spain,

sports the more modern addition of a

nightclub performances, and much

more!

Space is limited on this exciting

tour, so interested members should

lighthouse. Headlines about Cuba’s

politics have obscured its other face—

that of a beautiful tropical island.

call the office of the Executive Director

at 232-7700 as soon as possible. O

Sprne 1fi

Mongolia

Remote and rarely visited Mongolia

will be an unusual part of a three-week

FONZ tour of China in June 1980.

This travel adventure will start and

end in the capital city of Peking with

special visits to the Great Wall, the

Imperial Palace (Forbidden City), the

Ming Tombs, the Summer Palace, and,

of course, the famous Peking Zoo with

its breeding giant pandas.

At Huhehot—Inner Mongolia—the

FONZ group will see what few Ameri-

cans ever have—descendants of

Genghis Khan demonstrating their

prowess as horsemen in the colorful

Mongolian Rodeo. There will be visits

to nomadic Mongols in their yurts

(animal-hide tents) and to Mongol

communes and centers of industry.

Other once-in-a-lifetime sights

will be Taiyuan, the 1,700-year-old

capital of Shangxi Province; Tatong,

where the Hua Yen Monastery

houses the greatest Buddhist sculpture

in the world; and the 21 caves of the

Yunkang Grotto.

Optional side trips to other coun-

tries will be available as part of

this tour.

Space is very limited on this unique

expedition through Mongolia and

China, so interested participants

should act as soon as possible by con-

tacting the office of FONZ’s Executive

Director at 232-7700. O

Fast African

Satari

Explore one of Africa’s great game

areas on this FONZ safari to Tanzania

in August 1980.

The three-week safari will provide

an in-depth look at some of Africa’s

remarkable flora, fauna, and tribes.

Its highlights will include game drives

and overnights in the fabled Seren-

geti, which teems with millions of

plains animals; a close-up look at

herds of elephants and at the lions

that sleep in trees at Lake Manyara;

a picnic and all-day game drive in

the spectacularly beautiful Ngorongoro

The Great Wall of China is the only

human structure that is visible from the

moon. A few lucky FONZ members

Crater; and a visit to the “Garden of

Eden,” Olduvai Gorge, where the first

apes may have become human. —

Participants will be entertained at

private receptions, talk with game

wardens and noted wildlife experts,

experience the thrill of night game

drives, and stay at luxury tent camps

and lodges. One site overlooks snow-

capped Mt. Kilimanjaro!

The all-inclusive price of $2,900

includes overnight stopovers and a

tour of London, special briefings

throughout, and a FONZ or Zoo leader

assisted by a professional safari

guide and wildlife expert.

To know Hemingway’s Africa, you

must see Tanzania. It really is still

“on the wild side”!

will be able to stroll the top of the Great

Wall on a special tour in June 1980.

NEWS

A Natural

Selection

Loren Eiseley, Darwin and the Myster-

ious Mr. X, edited by Kenneth Heuer

(NY: E.P. Dutton Company), 1979.

The popular imagination likes to

conceive of great scientific break-

throughs springing to life complete and

fully fleshed, as Athena sprang a grown

woman from the cracked skull of Zeus.

There is something both pleasurable

and romantic in thinking about

Aristotle suddenly differentiating

between weight and mass as he lowers

himself naked into his bath, or Sir

Isaac Newton producing the theory of

gravitation, full-blown, after an apple

falls on his head.

The truth is, of course, that great

discoveries do not occur in a vacuum.

They are almost invariably based on

years of patient work built on a found-

ation of other people’s thought.

Darwin and the theory of natural

selection are no exception. The roman-

tic imagination likes to conceive of

Darwin sailing off in the Beagle, and

voila! In fact, Darwin set out on his

four-year voyage on December 27,

1831, and did not publish Origin of

Species until late in 1859.

During those 28 years he worked

steadily and secretively, accumulating

great masses of data. His dream was to

present his theory in a book “so large

that it would certainly have fallen

dead and unreadable from the press.”

Indeed, the only reason Origin of

Species reached publication was that in

1858 Alfred Russell Wallace, a young

and rather naive naturalist, sent Darwin

an article on evolution of his own and

asked for a critique of it before pub-

lication. .

Darwin and Wallace announced their

theory together before the Linnean

Society, and Darwin published Origin

of Species the next year. Now Darwin is

remembered and the generous Wallace

all but forgotten.

Loren Eiseley’s Darwin and the

Mysterious Mr. X is a posthumous col-

lection of essays on what might be

called the evolution of Darwinism. The

first section of the book, “The Dancers

in the Ring,” sets Darwin’s achievement

into its proper historical context.

The most startling essay is the fourth,

“Charles Darwin, Edward Blyth, and

the Theory of Natural Selection.” In

it, Eiseley points out that between’

1835 and 1837, Edward Blyth, “the

mysterious Mr. X,” published articles

on both natural and sexual selection—

predating Darwin by more than twenty

years! Eiseley demonstrates that

Darwin knew about the articles, read

them, and used them as references—

but that in neither Origin of Species nor

The Descent of Man did Darwin credit

Blyth for his ideas.

The mystery deepens even further

when one learns that Darwin and Blyth

were good friends, and admired each

other’s work.

Both Blyth and Darwin worked in an

atmosphere in which the biblical

account of creation was accepted as

fact. Unlike Darwin, Blyth could not

make himself realize that natural selec-

tion was not confined to the dim mists

of the far past, but is ongoing. Blyth

used the idea of natural selection “as

a conservative teleological device for

maintaining the stability of the natural

world.” It took Darwin to make the

mental leap to the deduction that no

life form is fixed or immutable, that

all species either evolve or die.

The real mystery is why Darwin

gave Blyth no credit. In “Darwin,

Coleridge, and the Theory of Uncon-

scious Creation,” Eiseley attempts to

explain this by ascribing Darwin’s

thinking to “the dark domain of

demonic creation.” This is not as con-

vincing, though, as a sentence he

quotes from Darwin’s autobiography:

‘It is clear that I failed to impress my

readers; and he who succeeds in doing

so deserves, in my opinion, all the

credit.” In other words, Darwin may

have reasoned that since in 1837

Blyth “failed to impress” his readers,

Darwin deserved “all the credit”

when he did impress his readers in

1859—the entire first edition of

Origin of Species was sold out in

one

The three first essays of Darwin

and the Mysterious Mr. X set the stage

for the central two about Blyth.

“Charles Darwin” outlines Darwin’s

character and traces the development

of his work. “Alfred Russell Wallace”

discusses the shy, frail naturalist who

came so close to beating Darwin to

the punch in 1858. “Charles Lyell” is a

biographical sketch about the founder

of modern geology and his influence

on Darwin.

The next section of the book con-

tains reprints of those of Blyth’s essays

on which Darwin must have based his

work. As Heuer says, “Blyth’s

articles. .. enable a reader to delve into

the documentary evidence Eiseley

uncovered; without them, [Eiseley’s]

conclusions would be almost in-

credible.”

The third section, a biographical

memoir of Blyth by his friend Arthur

Grote, testifies to Blyth’s brilliance

and shows how it was forced under a

bushel by poverty and hampered by

both ill health and the cavalier treat-

ment he had from his employers.

Poor Mr. X! It seems to show that

genius, like any flowering plant, needs

the right soil, light, and nourishment

to survive. If Blyth, like Darwin, had

been born and reared a “gentleman

idler,” how different might history

have been!

The final section of Darwin and the

Mysterious Mr. X is entitled “The

Evolution of Man,” and deals only

peripherally with Darwin—Eiseley

comments, “An honest biographer

must record the fact that man was not

Darwin’s best subject. ..no man

afflicted with a weak stomach and

insomnia has any business investigating

his own kind.” The three essays of

this section, each fascinating, are

“Neanderthal Man and the Dawn of

Human Paleontology,” “The In-

tellectual Antecedents of The Descent

of Man,” and “The Time of Man.”

If Eiseley had not been a scientist,

he would have had to be a poet. Even

writing as he was with these essays for

scientific and scholarly audiences, he

was incapable of pomposity.

Here is Eiseley on human evolution:

If the record of the rocks had never been...

still man would have wondered. .. .It is a

troubling thing to be a man, with a very

special and assured position in the cosmos,

and still to feel those amused little [simian]

eyes in the bush. .. eyes so maddeningly

like our own.

And defining a human being:

You are really an illusion, one of in-

numerable shadows in the dying fires of a

mysterious universe.

Darwin and the Mysterious Mr. X is,

like all Eiseley’s work, engrossing, il-

luminating, and elegantly written. For

those readers interested in the historical

context of Darwinism or in evolution

in general, this is a book to be kept,

reread, and pondered. O

OPPOSITE, left to right: SuperZoodle,

Julie Washburn, The Hippopotamus,

and Julian Gooding were four of the many

stars in the 1979 junior zoo aide pro-

gram. The animal-themed puppet shows

were staged by junior members of FONZ.

BACK COVER: Flamingoes eat with their

heads upside-down, and their rest

position, like the stork’s, is standing on

one leg. Humans eat right-side-up, but

have been known to stand on one leg

while watching Zoo flamingoes.

CALENDAR

30 (Thursday)

Bookstore/Gallery art exhibit

opens.

“The Potter and the Beast”

SEPTEMBER

15 (Saturday)

Front Royal Trip

22 (Saturday)

Osa and Martin Johnson Film

Retrospective

24 (Monday)

Audubon Lecture

“Bats—Myth and Reality”

29 (Saturday)

Fall classes begin.

OCTOBER

5 (Friday)

Assateague Trip

13 (Saturday)

Prince William Forest Park

Hike

15 (Monday)

Audubon Lecture

“Orangutans—Indonesia's People

of the Forest”

20 (Saturday)

FONZ Tour of the Zoo

25 (Thursday)

Annual Meeting

27 (Saturday)

Overnight Chesapeake Bay

Canoe Trip

NOVEMBER

3 (Saturday)

Blackwater Wildlife Refuge

Trip

19 (Monday)

Audubon Lecture

“The Secret Life of Some Sea

Urchins”

For more information call

FONZ at 232-7700.