Bottleneck in Giraffes

Because the U.S. is no more self-sufficient in giraffes, kangaroos and tapirs than it is in silk and tin, U.S. zoomen were greatly worried last week. Animal importations from Africa and Asia have dwindled with war's spread, now threaten to stop completely. Even South American animals are held up by lack of cargo space.

From Europe now come no animals at all. Yet Europe was once the foremost animal market. Collectors all over the world sent their catch to German and English firms, and zoos all over the world bought them from there. The biggest animal importing firm in the world was Louis Ruhe, Inc., of Hannover.

Since the average yearly mortality in U.S. zoos is about 20% for mammals, 18% for birds, three or four more years of war will mean many empty cages, bare pens. Says William Bridges of New York City's Bronx Zoo (world's biggest): "Zoos aren't folding up for lack of animals, but we can all see the handwriting on the wall pretty plainly." So last month Director Allyn Jennings of the Bronx Zoo held a think-meeting of eight of the biggest U.S. zoo-men. How could they fill their cages?

One answer is to line up the animal wagons in the parade of international politics. Zoomen plan to send aggressive collectors to Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela, fight for ark space on banana-boat decks, show zoogoers the fauna of their Good Neighbors. Jennings is hoping that British Empire good will will bring in rare koalas from Australia, wingless kiwi birds from New Zealand (both are now legally barred from export).

Another answer is increased swapping among U.S. zoos. Recently Chicago's Brookfield got an orangutan in exchange for two wildebeests and a zebra.

Third answer is increased breeding. Said a curator: "It's about time the animals themselves pitch in and help." Though the St. Louis and Chicago zoos have long been enthusiastic animal breeders, many other U.S. zoos have felt it was somehow indelicate to encourage procreation among their beasts. This spinsterish squeamishness, typified by a New Yorker cartoon in 1936 (see cut), is now gone. When mates are not available, animals are sent on romantic journeys. The Bronx Zoo is sending two male ostrichlike Argentine rheas to the Washington Zoo, which has two females. The offspring will be divided. To their surprise, keepers have found that many animals breed better than they expected: kangaroos, for example, are now multiplying by leaps & bounds.

Over the fate of the great European collections U.S. zoomen can only shake sad heads. In London poisonous snakes have been put to death lest they get loose during an air attack. But conditions are nowhere so bad as during the siege of Paris in 1870. Then the beasts in the splendid Jardin des Plantes were butchered for food. Lion, elephant and hippopotamus meat sold for $5 a pound, was hard to get even at that.

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