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WILD ANIMALS
of the cage and even endure furtive taps and scratches
by way of caress. Probably its fierce appearance and its
voracious hunting and feeding habits have given it the
reputation it bears.
In recent years the Australian authorities have tightened
their restrictions on exporting the rarer of the native
animals-wisely, because some of the most interesting of
all the species are in danger of extermination. We have
exhibited twenty-seven species of Australian marsupials
at various times, including a number of kangaroos, several
phalangers, and in times past even the rare Tasmanian
wolf now approaching extinction and practically unknown
in collections outside of Australia. Of the five specimens
we have had, one lived for seven years and one
month.
While kangaroos normally thrive in zoological gardens,
there is a curious disease called puff mouth, the nature of
which is not very well known, which sometimes creates
havoc in the collection, and which has on several occasions
completely wiped out the kangaroo herds in our zoological
parks.
Not all marsupials are restricted to Australia. One of
the common duties of a zoological park director in this
country is to write letters "thanking you for the kind
offer," but refusing to buy American opossums from nu-
merous captors. This animal is brought in so frequently
and lives so well that zoos are usually well stocked with
them. Besides, they do not make an attractive exhibit.
On the other hand, some of the smaller South American
species are beautiful little animals. Once, in Bolivia, an
Indian brought me a mother of one of the tiny species,
with her family of five young. The mother herself was
no larger than a mouse, and the babies, red in color and
hairless, were grouped about her waist. I put them in a
small Mason jar and tied a piece of cloth over the top.
They lived here for some weeks until an assiduous
servant, in cleaning the house, turned the jar over and
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