The First Zoo

Where and when was the first zoo?  Of course, depending on your definition of the word "zoo," different people might have different answers to this question.  The oldest known zoological collection has been excavated at Hierakanopolis in Egypt, dating to around 3500 B.C.  So far, the remains of numerous animals have been uncovered there.  According to one source, 112 different animals have been found, including elephants, wildcats, hippos, cows, hartebeest, baboons, dogs, and an Aurochs, the subject of an Animal Spotlight awhile back!  (Click HERE to check it out!)  Since my source is a few years out of date, it is entirely possible that more discoveries have been made there since then!  Despite all of this, most scientists don't believe this is the first "zoo," at least not by modern definitions, a place where anyone can come and look at these animals.  It is thought that the site at Hierakanopolis is more of a private collection kind of thing.

Most people seem to agree that the first public zoo was created by Queen Hatshepsut, a zoo that people today would define as a zoo.  Not a lot of data (at least not that I can find) exists to tell us what sort of animals Hatshepsut kept in her zoo.  Some of the animals that we do know were imported include rhinos, cattle, giraffes, leopards, monkeys, and hounds.  Presumably, some of the other animals that we mentioned before made it into the zoo, as well.

What other animals could have made it into the zoo?  A lot of this is speculation on my part, but based on the animals of the surrounding area, here are some animals that I think likely made it into these zoos:

• Dromedary camels
• Jackals
• Hyenas
• Crocodiles
• Cheetahs
• Lions
• Jungle cats

There are many reports of other important Ancient Egyptians possessing captive lions, and it seems like captive lions would be a pretty impressive display of one's power.  I find it very likely that both cheetahs and jungle cats were members of the zoos, as well, as cheetahs (generally fairly docile around humans, especially compared to other large African cats like lions and leopards) have been domesticated a number of times throughout history.  These domestic cheetahs were used by many people, including Akbar the Great of India (who was thought to have around 9,000 cheetahs: not to be confused with Admiral Ackbar), for hunting, both for sport and for sustenance.  Jungle cats, too are reported to have been domesticated by the Ancient Egyptians in order to hunt water birds.  Mummified remains of the jungle cat are sometimes found in ancient tombs, put there by the burial people.  (I don't actually know if they have a special name or something).  

This was the birthday post of Grace Albers! Happy birthday, Grace! If you have a birthday coming up, just email me the date at cuyvaldar123946@gmail.com with the date and your favorite animals, and I will do my best to get a post in! And if you like what you are reading, please feel free to follow us here or via Facebook!

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The Function of Cheek Pouches

A possible ancestor of Diprotodon (the largest mammal known from anytime in Australia, as well as the largest known marsupial known from anywhere in the world, and a relative of the wombat), the skull of Euryzygoma dunense, another extinct, megafaunal, eight foot long, quadrupedal herbivorous marsupial, is quite interesting: it has two extended cheekbones.  This gives Euryzygoma the unusual mammalian property of its skull being wider than it is long.  Although to most this probably doesn’t actually seem all that exciting, the extended cheekbones have led to two interesting theories regarding their function in the living animal.  One we will look at in a few weeks (the week of August 3rd to be more precise), but the other one we will look at now.

The hypothesis came about when the skull of Euryzygoma was first described.  The scientists who first described Euryzygoma thought that the lateral extensions of the zygomatic arch resembled those seen in squirrels, gophers and various types of Old World Monkeys, like the macaque and the baboon. 

 In the living animals just described, these lateral extensions function as cheek pouches, which make it so that the animals that possess them can store food in them.  That is why you so often see a squirrel running around with its cheeks puffed out.   

Some scientists think that Euryzygoma might have used its cheek pouches to store water; thus, it would not need to spend so much time near waterholes that were most likely infested with large crocodiles.  This would also help Euryzygoma travel longer distances during a drought, enabling it to move greater distances to reach waterholes that other animals would simply unable to reach, having a much more limited range.

Predators of Baby Leopards: You Might Be Surprised

One of my favorite TV shows is BBC's Big Cat Diary, which I believe I have already mentioned once or twice.  It has been called by critics as "The soap opera of the Serengeti," and has played for a number of seasons, under various other titles.  Essentially, the shows premise is a log of what two prides of lions (the Marsh and Ridge Prides) are doing, as well as my two favorites, the leopards and the cheetahs.

This is neither a leopard nor a cheetah, but a baboon skeleton.  It's probably poor planning on my part to not put a picture of what I've already talked about so far, but you're going to have to deal with it.  Or just pretend that's a cheetah, baboons and cheetahs are practically the same animal anyways.

In one episode I was recently watching, one of the co-hosts, Saba Douglas-Hamilton, said something that I thought was very interesting about leopard cubs.  She said that the top three animal threats to African leopards (besides humans, forcing the IUCN to label the African leopard as "Near Threatened,") are lions, hyenas....and baboons.  Check out the baboon skeleton (above) and mounted stuffed specimen from the American Museum of Natural History below!

I was actually completely kidding before, baboons and cheetahs are not really that closely related at all, and very few people have an excuse to confuse the two.

I knew baboons were an issue to leopards as one of the leopard stars of the earlier series, dubbed Half-Tail, was missing half her tail, hence her name.  The two hosts at the time, Jonathan Scott and Simon King, said that they thought the missing half of her tail was due to either a lion attack or, more likely, baboons.

Chilling like a villain: a leopard takes a break after staring out the window all day and stressing out about those stupid robins in that stupid birdbath.  Those robins better consider themselves lucky that there's glass between them, you mark my words.  Photo Credit: Ted and Gail Neher

I had never really thought about it before, but when I heard Saba mention it, I thought that was kind of strange.  Well, I looked up "baboon skulls" on Google Images, and I think I get it now; their canines can grow up to two inches long.  As a good comparison, the average lion typically possesses two inch long canines.  Now that is some serious dental hardware; I'm glad I'm not a baboon dentist!  (That, and I'm guessing that you don't get paid very much).

A baboon skull mounted at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, New York.  Check out those nasty canines, they're frickin' huge!!

Baboons, like many primates (actually I believe all except for tarsiers), are omnivores, so theoretically they could use their canines to subdue and consume their prey.  However, it seems that male vs. male competition is the primary reason why baboons have such enormous canines.  Check out the "mandrill" webpage on the website for Bone Clones (for the lazy amongst you, HERE is a link), and you can see that the male has enormous teeth, while the female has a dentition that is much less impressive.  This seems to support the idea that baboons (at least the males) primarily use their teeth in interspecific intimidation, in order to frighten off other males and secure breeding rights to the females.

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