Wednesday, August 25, 2010

1948 RBBB (Set 3) #5


48 RBBB 3-5fix, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Posted by Buckles at 8/25/2010 05:56:00 AM

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

The automatic dishwashing machine?

25 August, 2010 12:00
Richard said...

This is a what the taxonomists call a khama hartebeest, one of several subspecies of those remarkable antelopes.

The black markings on the legs, like in this animal, are typical of the khama. In captivity they tend to be rather high strung and often aggressive.

This animal first turns up in the RBBB menagerie in 1944. It is a male and was probably purchased from the Brookfield zoo which produced a number of males from 1938 to 1945. I figure this was one of them

There were hartebeests in menageries around the turn of the 20th century but this is the only one ever on RBBB, as far as I can ascertain. In fact it is the only one on any circus menagerie in my lifetime (i.e. 1934 onwards).

I saw this animal in Atlanta with the show in November 1945. It may have toured in 1946 as well, but it was not in the 1947 menagerie, nor was it in that of 1948. I made copious notes in both years and it was not there. So assigning this picture to 1948 is wrong. I’d say it is from about 1945.

RBBB records show that it died in 1948, likely at Sarasota quarters where it had lived since 1946.

Hartebeests are now hard to find in America. The ISIS inventory lists them at only three locations: San Antonio zoo, San Diego Wild Animal Park and St Catherine’s Island, GA. The last named is a preserve once operated by the Bronx zoo but that relationship was ended. It now seems to be run by others.

25 August, 2010 20:16
Steve said...

Richard, please correct me if I am wrong but this particular animal appears to be in tip-top condition - particularly for a highly strung species kept in a small travelling cage.
In our current "enlightened" times it is mandatory to keep ungulates such as this in social groups with enormous spatial availabilty.
Yet, back in the 1940s, circus people had enough savvy to keep them in conditions that today's experts would decry as primitive and even cruel.
Go figure.

26 August, 2010 03:17
Wade G. Burck said...

Steve,
We don't know how long the animal survived, and it would have been replaced easily enough with another of it's kind or a different species.
Wade

26 August, 2010 08:20
Chic Silber said...

Yeah Wade I guess "Ungulates"

would have been a dime a dozen

Now there was a missed opportunity

"Live Inside - Killer Ungulates"

I learn something new each day

26 August, 2010 10:16
Chic Silber said...

Also learned today that Ungulates

are divided into either "odd toed"

or "cloven hoofed" how clever

Thanks Steve

26 August, 2010 11:45

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