A DIRGE FOR THE POLAR-BEAR.
Except the Arctic foxes (three of which have this year already assumed the pure white colour of wint•er), the two polar-bears are the only purely Arctic animals in the Society's Gardens. Though the sick bear is the elder by some eighteen years, the pair are excellent friends, and when standing face to face in their den, looked like the originals of the portraits of ursa manor and ursa minor on the old-fashioned celestial globes, in which the northern constellations were always con- scientiously represented as polar-bears.
In all stories of Arctic travel, the extreme of cold appeals so strongly to the imagination, that the heat of the nightless summer, in which the Eskimoes strip themselves naked in their snow-houses, is often forgotten. The good ,health and long life of the polar-bears in confinement in this country is less surprising than it at first appears, when this extra- ordinary range of Arctic temperature is remembered. More• over, the white bears are absolutely indifferent to fog and wet. Creatures that live and thrive on islands like Nova Zembla, where half their life is spent in frozen fog and semi-darkness, are little troubled by the London fog and damp of Regent's Park. Mr. Weller's remark that it " was pleasant weather for those as were well wropped up, as the polar-bear re marked ven he was apractising his skating," applies to damp and wet, as well as cold, in the case of these semi-aquatic bears. They will plunge and roll in their bath with as much pleasure in pouring rain, or when the tank is full of clinking ice, as on a hot summer day, and the only weather which seems to cause them discomfort is a hot August afternoon, when they pant and loll out their tongues like Newfoundland dogs. The predecessor of the "big bear" at the Zoo lived thirty-six years in Regent's Park, an age which is very seldom reached by any creature in cap- tivity, except the half.domesticated elephant and the Indian rhinoceros. Size and longevity seem closely related in the conditions of animal existence; and the polar-bear is far the largest of the great carnivore, and by consequence lives to a much greater age than the lion or tiger. When in its prime, the Urea major of the Zoo must have weighed at least three- quarters of a ton, and its companion, though a female, grows at a rate which promises before long to bring it to nearly the same bulk. This is about the weight of a large English dray- horse. Possibly the regular food-supply and warm climate which the captive bears enjoy may increase their size ; but Captain Lyon mentions that he shot one which measured 8 ft. 7 in. in length, and weighed no less them 1,650 lb.
The body of this bear, unlike the felidx, is rounded like a barrel, and though its limbs are long, and it stands high, its bulk is more in proportion to that of the ox or the elephant than to the more slender forms of the true carnivore,. As the average weight of a large lion is 500 lb., and of a large tiger 4501b., the offensive power of the polar-bear must greatly exceed that of either, if its muscular strength and activity are in proportion to its size. In some respects, its powers of movement exceed those of the great cats. It can maintain a gallop at a pace equal to that of a fast horse, leap wide gulfs with ease, swim fast enough to catch a salmon, and dive like a seal or an otter. The old bear at the Zoo has for some time rarely entered its bath ; but the aquatic feats of its younger partner are thus described in a chapter on " London Bears," in Mr. C. J. Cornish's recently published work, "Life at the Zoo."40 " Fresh water is let into their bath two or three times a week, and as soon as the bottom is covered, the younger bear rolls in and " outs capers," to use the keeper's phrase. She always prefers to take a "header," but not after the orthodox fashion; for when her nose touches the bottom, she turns a somersault slowly, and then floats to the surface on her back. Then she climbs out, shakes herself, and gallops round the edge of the bath. In spite of her bulk, this bear is as active as a cat, and can go at speed round the circle without pausing or missing a step. Her next object is to find something to play with in the water. Anything will do ; but if nothing else is handy, she usually produces a nasty bit of stale fish, which she seems to keep hidden in some handy place, and dives for it, coming up to the surface with the fish balanced on her nose, or on all four paws. If the water is still running in, she will lie under the spout and let it run through her jaws. But the most amusing game which the writer has seen, was played with a large round stone. After knocking it into the water, and jumping in to fish it out, she took it in her month, and tried to push it into the hole from which the water was still running. This was a difficult matter, for the stone was as large as a tennis-ball, and the pipe was not much wider. Several times the stone dropped out, though the bear held it delicately between her lips, and tried to push it in with her tongue. At last she sat up, and holding the stone between her fore-paws, put it up to the pipe, and pushed it in with her nose. This was a great triumph, and she retired and contemplated the result with much satisfaction. Later, being apparently tired of this achieve- ment, she threw water at it with her head, and failing to wash it down, picked it out with her claws, and went on diving for it in the bath."
For all this hearty enjoyment of play, the Arctic bears of the Zoo are dangerous animals. No creatures are more care- s lIly kept at arm's length by their keepers. Men who will ant
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rub their hands over a lion's face and eyes, or pat the neck of a tiger, shift a bison-bull across its stall like a bullock, or handle a python like a length of rope, would think it rash to put hand or limb within reach of these bears. Their out- door den is partly cut away from a mound at the back, and at the top of the scarp a railing runs, behind which is a path. This railing had to be double-barred with steel wire, because the younger bear had discovered that by hiding below the wall, and then suddenly springing up, there was just a chance of clawing a visitor's legs. Yet she has a boisterous sense of humour, and will not only splash visitors on purpose by sousing herself into her bath, but has often been seen to got up, and dash the water at them with her broad paws. The fierceness of the polar-bear is probably due to its en- forced carnivorous diet. Every other bear is largely a fruit, vegetable, and insect feeder. But in the frozen north the polar-hear lives by necessity mainly on fish, carrion, seals, walruses, and birds. Its notion of an "egg for breakfast" is rather amusing. It will clear an islet of eider-ducks' eggs in a few hours. It not only plays in the water, but is so fine a swimmer that it deserves the• name of sea-bear, or water-bear. To judge by the performances of the different animals in their bath in the Zoo, it swims faster than a seal, and almost as fast as the sea-lion. It regularly stalks basking seals from the water, swimming below- the surface, and only just rising to breathe and note the right direction. Not unnaturally it sometimes mistakes the seal- skin-clad Eskimo, watching motionless beside the seals', blowhole, for a seal. "I have known several men," writes Dr. R. Brown, in " The Arctic Manual," "who have had its rough hand laid on their shoulder while sitting watching or skinning seals. Their only chance then has been to feign being dead, and. to shoot it while the bear was sitting at a distance to which it bad retired to watch its intended victim." Yet even in lands where man. is never or rarely seen, curiosity rather than aggression seems the first impulse of the polar-bear. Herr- Nordenskiold found himself unarmed face to face with one on Scoresby Island. It came up and inspected the explorer, until he drove it away by hitting it on the paw• with a stone. Another bear, which ransacked a beat full of stores, took fright at the sound of a pile of biscuits falling from a bag it had opened, and ran off in a panic, Polar-bears do not seem to breed in captivity, and there is no male successor waiting to take the place of the veteran now in extremis. But it is remembered that a cross-bred cub between a polar and an American black bear was once born in the Gardens. The sight of a polar-bear with her cub taking a bath would be one of the greatest attractions ever provided at the Zoo.
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