Animals: White Seals

The discovery of a white animal belong-ing to a species whose members are usually dark in color, calls forth a religious ceremony in savage countries, a news story in civilized countries. Last week, members of the San Diego Zoological Society ex-pedition to hunt the rare Townsend fur seal, told newsgatherers that they had seen white seals on Guadalupe Island, off the coast of Mexico. They had not been able to get a specimen since the animals were lying on inaccessible rocks. When he read press accounts of the white seals, John Barrymore, cinemactor who has twice chased the white whale, Moby Dick, on the screen, set off at once for the island in his yacht, Infante, accompanied by his wife, baby and scientists.

Scientists have seen the white seals of Guadalupe Island before, have reported that the animals are really tawny in color, not white. Best zoological opinion insists that there are no true albino seals. The Guadalupe animals have been bleached to their present yellow by much basking in the semitropical sun.

Bringing Them Back

When the curator of a zoo needs an unusually large cobra for his snake collection or when a circus man wants a small elephant to do balancing tricks, he tells a professional animal catcher about it. The animal catcher takes a trip to the native habitat, brings back one which is the exact size and shape required. For 18 years, Frank Buck has been going to Asia on such missions, has been furnishing U. S. cities with prize exhibits, “firsts,” only animals of their kind in captivity, etc., etc. Fortnight ago he published a book telling what an animal catcher ex-periences.— Animal Man Buck’s headquarters in Asia are at Singapore where he has one of the largest collections in the world. There he stores his animals while he goes in search for more. If he cannot buy the one he wants from a native who has already captured it, he turns shikari

(hunter) and goes into the jungle to get the specimen himself. In this way he obtained the only veritable man-eating tiger to reach the U. S. alive. The Sultan of Johore, himself one of the greatest living shikari, told him about a tiger who had killed and eaten a coolie on one of the rubber plantations. Man-eating is an acquired taste among tigers. Usually the animals find the smell of a man unpleasant. Animalcatcher Buck dug a ditch, caught the animal which nearly scrambled out because it was too big for the ditch. It had to be lassoed like a Texas steer, pulled up to the mouth of the hole while a box was slipped under it. This specimen is now in Longfellow Zoological Park, Minneapolis.

Besides the danger of hunting the animals, there is the difficulty of transporting them by rail, boat and truck to their proper destination. Any animal which dies en route is a money loss to the animalcatcher. He only gets paid on delivery of a healthy specimen. The only two Indian rhinoceroses in the U. S. (now in New York and Philadelphia) necessitated a hazardous trip to Nepal where no white man is allowed. Since they were to be had only by a cash payment to the government, Frank Buck traveled through a country full of bandits with $12,500, which he tied around his neck when he took a bath. On the journey back, the animals had to be guarded continually from robbers who tried to steal the rhino horns, in Asia considered an efficient aphrodisiac. Even with the most careful watching, the rhino which is now in the Bronx Zoo, New York, had a piece gouged out of its horn.

Born in Gainesville, Tex., Frank Buck early became interested in animals around local frogponds and streams. As a young man he took several trips to South America, collected rare birds for himself. When someone offered to buy his specimens for a good price, he concluded that bringing them back alive was the most exciting, most pleasant way for him to earn a living. Prospering in his business, he has presented the city of Dallas with a complete zoo.

Swedish Nightingale

One evening two years ago, the radio public of Great Britain was asked to dial carefully, listen closely, and it would hear the song of a nightingale. Last week’s news included accounts of a similar treat for the radio public of Sweden. After a nation-wide hunt, a shady corner had been found in a park in Malmo where nightingales lived in abundance, sang frequently. A microphone was fastened up in a tree. When a nightingale perched near it and began whistling, the sound was cut in on a nation-wide hookup. The bird was still performing when the radio stations cut out to go on with their regular programs.

Nightingales have often whistled for Victrola recording. They have even given duets with canaries. In the spring and early summer the nightingale has a long song. The tones are rich, pulsating, more like those of a flute than of any other instrument. In late summer and autumn they whistle whispering songs in soft undertones. Nightingales are not found in North America.

— BRING ‘Exi BACK ALIVE—Simon & Schuster ($3-50).