Popular Official Guide to the New York Zoological Park (September 1915): Thirteenth EditionHornaday, William T. (William Temple)
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Popular Official Guide to the New York Zoological Park (September 1915): Thirteenth Edition
Hornaday, William T. (William Temple)
New York Zoological Park
The Burmese, or Eld Deer, (_Cervus eldi_), also known as the Brow-Antler
Deer, is one of the rarest species to be seen in captivity. Living
specimens are acquired only through special expeditions to northern
Burma. Its most characteristic feature is the antlers of the male, which
sends forward a very long and almost straight brow tine, while the main
beam sweeps backward in the opposite direction, and describes a full
semicircle. The antlers are both very heavy and long for the size of the
animal. The specimens shown here, which are breeding satisfactorily, are
the gift of Mr. William Rockefeller.
The Barasingha Deer, (_Cervus duvauceli_), also called the Swamp Deer,
is to India what the mule deer is to North America. To my mind, the
antlers of the former always suggests the latter species, and in size
the two species are much alike. In summer the coat of the Barasingha is
of a beautiful golden-yellow color, conspicuous from afar, and the
antlers of old males reach a length of from 35 to 41 inches, with three
bifurcations on each beam. The antlers sometimes are shed and renewed
twice in twelve months. With us this species breeds very regularly, and
the offspring mature well.
The Altai Wapiti, (_Cervus canadensis asiaticus_), is, in all
probability, the parent stock of our American elk, but it happens to be
a fact that our species was the first to be discovered by systematic
zoologists, and described. To all visitors who are interested in deer,
the Altai Wapiti—and also the Tashkent Wapiti—are a constant source of
wonder, because of their well-nigh perfect similarity in all points to
our own wapiti, or American elk. Our Asiatic wapiti are exhibited in
ranges connecting with the western rooms of the Asiatic Deer House,
where they have bred twice, and produced two fine fawns. In the rutting
season the males are very cross and dangerous. They are hardy, and
require no heat in winter.
The Indian Sambar, (_Cervus unicolor_), always suggests a tropical
understudy of the Altai wapiti, clad with thin, coarse, bristly hair,
and with shorter and smaller antlers, and a bristly mane all over the
neck. Each antler possesses three points, only. Of all the Old World
_Cervidae_, this species most nearly approaches the size of the Altai
and Tashkent wapiti. It inhabits the hill forests of India, and in
Burma, Siam and farther south it is replaced by the next species.
The Malay Sambar, (_Cervus equinus_), also called—most
inappropriately—the “Horse-Tailed Deer,” very strongly resembles the
preceding species, except that the bristly mane of the former is
generally absent. The antlers of this species are shorter, also, but
very thick in proportion to their length. The Malay Sambar is confined
to the Malay Peninsula and the countries immediately above, and Borneo
and Sumatra.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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