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A Visit to Hogle Zoo
November 16, 1996
The morning which had been scheduled for the Zoo trip greeted us with heavy
wet snow. As I came back from making copies of handouts for the field trip,
I slipped and slid on the road. I decided to call those who were going,
and postpone the outing for a few hours ... but some of them had already
left. Trying desperately to get notice to the Zoo, I had
absolutely no luck, as all I could get were "Canned Voices" and an answering
service which would probably not be heard until Monday morning!! I headed
for the zoo and found ten stalwart UNSS members waiting. We had a great
time, and learned a bit more about animals we do not usually see in our
area.
Starting in the old Elephant Building, we saw baby marmosets which had been
born on September 26th, and the black and white colobus monkeys from Africa.
These are very interesting, as they have no thumbs! Their generic name
means "mutilated one". Gerald Durrell, in his marvelous book "How To Catch
a Colobus", tells of catching them in Africa, then trying to find what they
could eat. They eat leaves in the tops of the trees, but in a zoo situation
they must be fed. So they must be taught how to pick up food --- you try
picking up things without your thumbs, and you can understand the situation.
Zoos also must find available food, and that may mean many trials. Durrell
has tried to sustain animals in danger of extinction. His books are always
a delight. With humor and great knowledge he tells of his acquaintance with
many animals. Durrell's book, "The Amateur Naturalist", is excellent to
help with anything you wish to do in nature with a family or otherwise.
In the Great Ape Building we enjoyed the antics of the chimpanzees, perhaps
because they remind us of ourselves! Gorgeous, the lowland gorilla, may be
the oldest gorilla on earth. In the wild they live from 20 to 30 years ---
Gorgeous is 46 years old! You may remember that she had cataracts removed
from her eyes. She has a special friend, a black cat, N'jina. Though we
did not get to see the cat, I had seen her previously as I studied for the
trip.
Because of the cold, we went inside to see the elephants and rhinos.
Rhinos are all endangered, especially the white species. Ours is the black
rhinoceros. All have huge heads with one or two horns --- so we tried to
count horns.
We have both African and Asian elephants at the zoo, and they are always
interesting to watch. Elephants eat about 16 hours a day. The female
matures in about 15 years. The male takes up to 25 years. Gestation
is 22 months, and the baby suckles for about 4 years.
The African elephant is the larger of the two species. The male, up to
11 feet tall at the shoulder, can weigh 6 tons. His tusks may be 11 feet
long, and weigh 200 pounds. The female also has tusks, but they are much
smaller. The back is concave, and the forehead flattened. The trunk ends
in two finger-like projections with which they can pick a single leaf.
The Asian elephant has been used as a work animal for centuries in
Southeast Asia. You may remember, in "The King and I", the king wanted to
send some to President Lincoln. The Asian is smaller, and has smaller ears
and tusks. The male is not over 10 feet tall. His tusks sometimes reach
9 feet long, and weigh 10 pounds. The female rarely has tusks. Asians
have only one finger-like extension on the end of the trunk. The back is
convex, and the forehead is bulbous with a trough between two bulges.
The Cape hyrax in the Small Animals building is actually the closest
relative of the elephant, which seems hard to believe!
The Polar Bear, native to our far north, eats fish, seabirds, arctic
hares, caribou, and especially seals. There is some concern, as lethal
doses of insecticide accumulate in seals, and may eventually affect the
bears.
In the Feline Building, we were greeted with the roar of the Bengal Tiger,
another of our many endangered animals. The native cougar, also a feline,
has many names --- mountain lion, panther, puma, painter, and catamount.
The interesting two-toed sloth from South America is probably the slowest
moving mammal on earth. They can rotate their heads 270 degrees. Their
hair is hollow and gets algae in it, causing it to look greenish. The hair
growth is opposite from other mammals --- it grows from the stomach up,
instead of down, as it spends its time hanging upside down.
That is only the beginning of the wonders of the Zoo. As many more animals
become endangered, zoos become ever more important. We have had an
excellent Zoo Director, LaMar Farnsworth, who soon will retire. There have
been many great improvements and additions during his sojourn as director.
We want him to know that we wish him well, and shall miss him.
Those attending were Stacey Dukes and children, Richie, Brad and Randy,
Dian Ryan, Patrick Leary, June Ryburn, Carol and Dixon Paul, Maxine Martz,
and leader Dot Platt.
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