THE BEST ZOO IN THE WORLD._
It is probably true to say that not half a person per cent. expected the new Zoo opened on Whit Saturday, at Whipsnade, to be as good as it was. The bluebells were thicker, the birds more tuneful, the view wider (you can see over eighty miles), the paddocks bigger and the trees more various. The trans- formation scene has been a work of real genius. As yet there is only one enclosure for dangerous animals modelled on the' Hagenbeek principle, though others are in the making. This is an acre or so reserved for the bears. . Even the bears on the natural outcrop of granite in the Bronx did not look so happy as these black and brown bears, some bathing, some sitting up on platforms in trees. An elevated roadway separates them from a delightfully natural open forest where Indian deer reclined in the sun, looking as natural as in the jungle. One paddock, though not so big or beautiful as some others, is worth particular attention. Its chief denizens are elands, who look in perfect condition. Now these attractive antelopes are one of the few wild animals that is on the way to become domestic. They would already have ousted the cow in parts of Africa if they had been a little more prolific ; and it is probable that they will soon be bred domestically, as cows are bred, over areas of rougher country where they can put up a good living and cows cannot. This new Zoo is to be essentially a breeding Zoo;. and in the sequel is not unlikely to earn a very fair income from the sale of birds and mammals. Its beneficent effect on the health of town-tired animals is
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