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Show - J THZ O GDEN ; STANDARD-EXAMINE- 14 V THURSDAY EVENING DECEMBER 22, 1921, R - V DR. DITMARS' FAMILY- - BRXNGS-U- BABY ANIMALS P These pictures, never printed before, were Ukenin the home of Raymond L. Ditmars of the New York Zoological Gardens. The chameleon being fed by "a spoon was little trouble but often disappeared. at Scarsdale of Director of New York's Greab Zoological Park Often Wrecked by Mischievous Wards Mrs. Ditmars and Her Two Daughters, Gladys and Beatrice, Enthusiastic in jGaring for Weak Homier .. .. ........ y,-- ,. rT'7reswijwMy' wuj and Sickly Monkeys, Opossums, Kangaroos, Chameleons, &c. " . ', . - .jjc.'M r :vr.'.'. r animals at the Ditmars home took, on tha extent and variety of a Noah's ark, neighbors waked up in the middle of the nisrht by hearing: an astounding concatenation 'o sounds, would remonstrate, gently or with decided vehemence, depending upon tho status of their nervous systems. There was a time, when Mr. Ditmars was working on some giant tree toads, that the atmosphere of r protest threatened to envelop several neighboring communities in Westchester county. The .tree toads, it seems, workmg in concert, were able to give a fair Imitat'on or a succession of blasts from the Hcaradalo fire whistle. Also the worst night evor experienced 'cy Iho tenants of a Bronx apartment house Is one for which Mr. Ditmars must shoulder i ho blame. I was several years aso, bef'.r-- By DONALD ADAMS. New York, Saturday ' tell not so much about the making of thp TT TlllUB Raymond D. Ditmars was pictures as of the animals that have lived in A occupying himself - particularly' Scarsdale. f f with monkeys "and making: themf Some of the world's queerest creatures the subject of motion picture study the . have found temporary domicile In the Dit- Ditmars family whenever, absent from their mars home. One of them, and perhaps the home in Scarsdale never quite knew whether strangest of all, has found his 'permanent or. no they would find the house standing home there. "Red. a strange little monkev .... -- X wwtsimi! .fcv, y i 9C s. jr ?? - y , 3 ''('SI" X- - -- I t - - - ' V - " ' -- ' ' - "... . - . .. . ." v i . I'm i y . V ,1 vttt; lf v , - - y - ; - , 4 y y x r ? i Here - is a : macaque, one of the wreckers of the Ditmars home in Scarsdale. " Monkey of a House As she neared the house she heard a wild A pounding upon the piano. Not the sort of sound a child might make when he play3 with the keys, but a terrific scrambling back and forth across the keyboard. She knew ai once .what had happened, but Ehe wasn't prepared for what she saw when she went inside.' If somebody working on a bet. had under' taken to prove that he could take every movable thing in the house and put it somewhere else, as far as possible from Its regular resting place, he couldn't have won the "wager more handily than the monkeys. The clock that timed tho eggs in the kitchen was found, ' ticking ' in the' attic; cljairs that belonged In the dining room had teen dragged to the bedrooms; the floors were carpeted with books. Every bureau drawer, every closet had been ransacked. As a finishing touch, the monkeys had opened the drawer of Mrs..Ditmars's sewing machine and pulled out the spools of colored silk. These were unwound and the thread carried upstairs and downstairs. In and out , of rooms, wound about the furniture. The interior of the house was like a faintly colored mist. r It speaks for the Interest of tho Ditmars family in the work that Mr.- Ditmars was doing, and is still carrying on. that r.o family counsel followed the putUng of the houso In order. What the monkeys had done was just one of the things that would happen if you went in for quartering quadrupeds, snakes, insects and monkeys in your home or.near .it.. It was necessary to keep them there because they were being observed under all manner of conditions. They were the subjects of study during the day and at night. What Mr. Ditmars . undertook, and has already in large measure- - accomplished,. Is the recording through motion pictures of the life histories and habits. of insects, reptiles and mammals and of various forms" of sea life. He alms to "make eventually "a comlibrary ."of everything in plete movie' . zoology." Making a Movie Library Of All the Animals TPTien the idea first came to hmi, a little more than ten years ago, he talked it over with Col. Roosevelt, and John Burro ugh.-Both were enthusiastic and gave whatever help they could. Some of the pictures, especially those dealing with Insect life, frogs, snakes 'and other reptiles, have already been hown to the public, and. this article is intended to . -- v 82 ' from British Guiana, of a "variety known as the red howler, more than makes his home there. The Ditmars have made him one or the family. He eats at the tab.e with them. Whenever they go off on an automobile trip and usually its objective i a snake hunt, in which Mrs. Ditmars and her daughters Join as vigorously as the man who knows more about reptiles than anybody in the world "Red" goes too. He has been the occasion for endless bribing of Pullman porters and hotel bell boys. So much is "Red" a member of the family that he utters a cry of outraged sensiDiUty if he' is not tucked in his bed at night If his wants are not promptly "attended ro at table he wrings his hands and turns so piteous a face to Mrs. Ditmars that be is fed immediately. He wakes them all every morning by tugging at the bedclothes, and observes a strict regularity. x Although he wants his food when ho wants it, "Red has very few prejudices In the matter of diet and will try anything once. He has been known to combine this was "on a day at the seashore sauerkraut and meringue pie, and then to follow that mixture up with half a hot 'dog. spread lavishly with mustard. When He accepts a bath philosophically. water has the he is taken from his tub-thcolor a red dye solution. After each bath he emerges slightly paler. When the Ditmars first got him his hair was a robustious red. but he Is steadily lapsing into yellow. Physically the most . interesting thing about this monkey is the sound box construction of his throat, from, which he derives the name of red howler. He's a very little fellow and might be expected to express himself shrilly, but whenever he grows emphatic about anything the sound box in his throat swells prodigiously and he sdves vent to a hoarse bass roar, nearer the sourd cf an angry lion than anything else. The effect is no less startling than the one your pet canary would produce if he suddenly. let, rendition loose with a rumbling, cellar-tone- d of "Rocked In the Cradle of the Deep." Retf Thrives on Diet' That Would Kill a Man The red howler has proved to be the most difficult animal in the world to rear successfully in captivity. The London Zoo obtained one specimen after the other for many years, only to have each new arrival die within six months at most. Mr. Ditmars has had "Red" for a little more than a year, and tho ' monkey is thriving., He attributes his success to a. theory e has concerning the keeping In captivity cf monkeys, particularly of orang outangs. Zoological park3 have always pund them the most difficult of their pensioners to keep in good health. Orangs have been known" to die with no tangible physical reason for tho Inception of their Illness. Every material comfort and 'care, every precaution abjut temperatures and diet often proved unavailing. Mr. Ditmars holds that is because the mental needs of the orang were overlooked or slighted. He considers the orang and the higher apes the most sensitive of aninjals. not excepting the dog. '"I am convinced,"- - Mr. Ditmars will tell you." "that John Daniel died because when the circus acquired him he was taken away from persons whtf spent much time with him and looked after him as they would care for a child. The circus people did not mistreat him, but he missed .the companionship he had grown up in" and could not ' stand the lack of it." When the New York Zoological Park acquired two new orangs last summer Mr. Ditmars and his wife went out to San take them ofT the steamer, together with 'some huge pythons which were in Us same collection. There was a baby ora.tg which would have died before they' got him on the train had not Mrs. Ditmars sat him night after night In the Hotel St. 'Francis feeding him milk and rice and nursing. him until he was able to hold up hla head again. , More than' once,' when the collection of r h youngandchimvain. 0 .4 ..2"' 1 - ".T i -- - An v because the parasite that stingj their egss. the back rolling wonder, which scientist call Eupalmus mirabllis, had been unusually plentiful. At last a friend who had been vacationing In Sullivan county brought back several katydids and gavo them to the curator, informing him that there was a farmer up that way whose place was thickly populated with the quarrelsome Insects. Mr. Ditmars cents obtained sixty-fou- r at twenty-fiv- e The apiece. day they arrived at the t 7.o they were unwontedly quiet. He decidt-c- to take home a few of them in a cage to show ' the children. Mrs. Ditmars was giving a dinner party. There wasn't time to explain what was in the box, and he left it In a room adjoining the dining room. Midway through "dinner, during a pause in the conversation, a sharp argument arose in the adjoining room, thi point of which appeared tO.be whether JCaty did or Katy didn't. One by one tho ten katydids in the cage each favored now oe version of the story, now another. It broke the nartv un that urnimurt rlM and it also caused a sleepeS3 nignt for tIiC'. Ditmars'familv and for evrrv nthr.r .n tho apartment house. In the morning tiio Ditmars door bell rang with insistent frequency. As for the katydids, they continued the argument in Bronx Park. And then there are animals that possess ways of ' making themselves personae non, gratae other than through- - their vocal accomplishments. When Mr. Ditmars was photographing turtles, he brought up to Scarsdale a big turtle from tho Amazon ( Y v -- v. , Here's a South American Opossum, a rare specimen seldom seen in captivity. It is gentle to the point of fearfulness, but knows the Ditmars family and is most' tractable. , River, which 13 known as the rnata matal' This variety, like many creatures that Mr. Ditmars brought to his laboratory, had never before been photographed alive. The mata mata qffered material for exceptionally interesting under-watepictures, .because of. his faculty for drawing fishes into his mouth by means of the swirl' of water he could' start beyond it, rushing down his gullet and carrying his victims with it. One got the Impression that the fish were rushing pell mell down his throat. It- - wasn't this, feature that made the turtle an undesirable guest at Scarsdale. however. '.If-wahs scent gland, probably ;ui organ devised by- nature for his protec- s - tion, and which he threw into action whenever excited ."or annoyed. He emitted an odor which quickly filled any. room, and was sweet to tho point of causing. nauseatlon. It is a smell less endurable than that the skunk ' produces. Mr! Ditmars hore it mut be told how oiicp got him a skunk, a fine, frisky one. r . . . Sense of Direction in Animals Is Keen that are dox-man-t. " ; ; " . - " '-- y . ; ' . and-perplexin- . , 4 . -- - . - . " . n . .' ;'.'. - . , , . - T Is well known saw his master, enter.;-Froany of our domestic in fclcc-- all the senses there he trusts equally The case has been submitted of a dog to his eyes and noae, keeping close upon animals can. find their wayhome from . a distance .of many miles, even after taken by rail a distance of two hundred ; his master's trail. miles a in' course down and set circuitous. a If the had dog special sense of direc-fift- y the lapse of some time. This faculty is permiles- from home. He disappears, and ti0n he would notfco easily be thrown off the haps oftenest seen In the dog. the horse, and the next day Is found at his old haunts. Ho pursuit of a deef or a fox byK the animal which taking to the water. the cat, but is known to be aipaost or. qulta could not have ' followed the rail-b. he came, hlm ;. for this would take cases longer The most as fully developed in the ox." The faculty he must have struck across country. ' are those ininteresting which animals that have been has been supposed by some naturalists to time;. The question is, 'did he take a direct line taken some distance from ; home In closed depend upon a sixth sense, Independent of for home, or did he shape his general course-cag- es have yet. found their. way back with-s- o as smell. to or come Such an some a familiar out involves spot out aifflculty. This shows a highly developed upon sight theory miles, it may be, from his home and from sensitiveness to every change of direction. organ of sense by which the needed observapomt f0u ow remembered paths? Hunt-'- facUlty of perception ; is low in man. tions may be carried to the brain; an organ that ers say that the latter is most frequently but it may be developed and , trained. . There . which must be distinct from eye, ear and the case. i ,. . are persons ' who sleep best with the head nostril. . Physiologists have noV a yet, Suppose in the dog's absence, ..the. old: toward the north. Let' such a person when found any such organ in the constitution of home has been burned down and his master's travelling on a sleeDln 6ar make it a nolnt family have moved five miles to the, right or) "to decitle upon the course the train, is any animal nor have they found any nerves left, but areat the game distance from the going as soon as he wakes from sleep. In the different from those which belong to our own point at; which he was set down; lie will and he. will find himself rapidly nervous system. This is almost conclusive go .back o the old epot, and from there will night," new power to determine directions.;-- trace the family by scent, if he traces them evidence that animals possess no sense difDarwin's experiment is'an interesting on. all. ,He has no sense" to inform him of the. He 'put some bees in dark paper at boxes and ferent from ours. the family, nor. of any-- ,, carried them by a circuitous route a dischanged position pf we watch the conduct of a dog when he" thing more than would be known to a man tance from the hive.-- - When If theywere set is thrown upon his own resources to find his under the same circumstances. . free they all returned in a straight line to way home, we shall see that he has made But the case is made "clearer by. supposing their home. . ' good use of his five senses up to this time, that the dog's master 'has left home,-gua them took 'similar" 'overhe roiitd, Again and that he purposes to .make good use of in hand, while the dog has been detained for but oruthe way he ' spun the boxes rapidly them in the immediate future. It Is always a time. The man goes straight to the woods, Around. This time only two of the bees assumed thatthe dog has not slept during but after getting out of sight, makes a turn reached the hive, and perhaps. these got back the time that he has teen carried from so as to bring him to the opposite side of only by accident. ' While spinning around In home. If he were to sleep, he would lose all . the' house. If now the dog is let. loose he. ,the boxes. they lost perception of . the direcclue, whether be had a sixth sense or not, for takes to the woods at the point where he tion in which they-werbeing carried. . The Copyright. 1921, br " -- g. 4 . . rf-ste- d . ' I that had Just been caught in a trap up near Valhalla, and brought him home to be The black and white photographed. beauties at the zoo were- too old and chastened to provide effective picture material, and so when Mr.- Ditmars heard that one had been freshly caught by he drove to Valhalla with a specially constructed, a very specially constructed, box, and brought the pussy to Scarsdale. Then, having burned the box behind him, he spent three days getting on friendly terms with his HtUe wood nymph. And v.' hen yqu stop to confidcr it," that r.:ust have been a rather difficult process in itself. One wonders .lust how it Is done. on a sufficiently Finally their relations rmicable basis for Mr.. Ditmars to bring his cr.mera into the stucHy with hi.s handsome y;i''st. The pictures were taken, and then to do with the fame the question-wh- at !kunk, after he had been trapped again. Assuming .an. air cf. nonchalance, and uttering warm words of gratitude, Mr. Ditmars went back to th,o farmer, and remarked casually that he had no furthor use for the skunk. The farmer; replied distinctly that he had still less. lie washed his hands of the whole .'affair, he Riding home, the curator did some thini;-h.The animal was not a desirable specimen for th e zoo, inasmuch as' he was so paIn his prime,; so admirably blooming tently with the.r'Zon vital, o'r whatever It is that rises In the bosom of the young skunk and cuu?es' him to frisk'and be. merry, it ended In Mr. Ditmars presenting r the skunk to .JL'ut chess county. The ceremonies attendant upon the presentations It 'might be added, were conducted very quietly, with no hint of ostentation whatever. To be blunt, 'Mr. Ditmars stopped one day along a Dutchess county road, and observing it to be clear, dropped the skunk over a stone wall. The sTtunk.made a , name for himself In the ' countryside right away, It, is. of course, as a herpotologirt, and the author of the most authoritative work on reptiles, that Mr. Ditmars Is best known to the scientific world. Some of the' things he has done with snakea "have attracted wide public notice also. His operation bn the lancehead viper, several years ago, by means of which he obtained, at the risk of his life a fifty years' supply of the snake's, venom, .which Is the sole source of an extremely val- u'able. serum, .was one of these. The very recent operatlons'on the'deadly king cobra, was another. This creature, the deadliest thing in the' jungle, the only snake that will chase and attack a man, has also been represented among the guests at Scarsdale. The problem of photographing him was one of .the. most difficult Mr. Ditmars encountered, for the. pictures had to show the snake, not securely In a cage, but - romping round against a background made to simulate his : ; natural habitat. For this work It : was necessary for Mr. Ditmars to get- somebody else to do the photographing, for he had to be free to give all his own attention to the snake. The photographer , was only, partially reassured when Mr. Ditmars devised for him a cylindrical Iron, drum, such as is placed before a big. stove, and. told him that he could ma k his exposures from behind It. tim the cobra reared his head, whichEvery was Just the - time for a . picture, the , photographer ducked behind the drum. Tom probably .would , taking into consideration certain ofyourself, the cobra's peculiarities. As for Instance, the fact that he strikes withra speed no boxer ever had, or ever will, and that his bite operates to remove the vexations of this world in the space of approximately two minutes. But the photographer's nerve grew steadier, and these pictures, too, were takem Just now the red howler lords it over the Ditmars household, and. enjoys a monopoly -of interest, but when spring, comes round, there will be newcomers in the ark. - " . ,up-wit- r :rif 7 he took the house in Scarsdale, and at a time when he and 'Director Hornaday ware trying their best to collect some katydids. These argumentative insects had been strangely scarce for a season or two, perlxap e--f y 4 some panzee especial care. e , : . mischief surely, is this ; Miss Ditmars curt- dling a baby kangaroo brought home by her father for - Fran-cisco- to --' ' 5 He up to fdp - They had reason for 'doubt. When little Archibald is found swinging on the living room ur tains and his mother calls him a "little monkey" she speaks more aptly than she thinks. Monkeys have more mischief In their makeup than anything on two legs or on four. During the period we speak of tho Ditmars family was given a fair idea' of just how much mischief two monkeys can accomplish in the space of a summer afternoon. Tbes? two were quartered in small cages, the doors of which were ordinarily padlocked when the cages were occupied, but there came a day when they were left unfastened. Early in the morning the. house was left deserts3 except for the two monkeys. Toward evening Beatrice Ditmars,. one of the two daughters, reached home, the first of the family , to arrive. Two Monkey? Can Make " ,p 7 4 Upon their return. . vr . - a.-- . ', ; ". . ; - . . - ; . |