| Bronx Zoo [New York]:
The Bronx Zoo in New
York City exhibited a total of four thylacines between 1902 and 1919, with
a fifth that died transit. |
.
.
| Thylacines
displayed at the Bronx Zoo [New York, NY] (1902 - 1919) |
.
| N |
Date
of arrival |
A/J/P |
Sex |
Captured
by |
Source |
Capture
locality |
Sold
/ exchanged |
Date
of death |
Ref |
FN |
| . |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 1 |
17/12/1902 |
A |
M |
Unknown captor |
Carl Hagenbeck
[Hamburg]
(dealer) |
Unknown locality |
N/A |
17/8/1908 |
|
|
| 2 |
26/1/1912 |
A |
M |
George Wainwright |
Beaumaris Zoo
[SB] (transit via London Zoo) |
Woolnorth |
N/A |
20/11/1912 |
|
|
| 3 |
7/11/1916 |
A |
M |
Bob Wainwright |
E.
S. Joseph [Sydney]
(dealer) |
Unknown locality |
N/A |
13/11/1916 |
|
1 |
|
Died in transit |
A |
F |
Bob Wainwright |
E. S. Joseph
[Sydney]
(dealer) |
Unknown locality |
|
Died in transit |
|
2 |
| 4 |
14/7/1917 |
A |
F |
Mr. Bourke |
Beaumaris Zoo
[SB] transit via E. S. Joseph [Sydney]
(dealer) |
Near Wynyard |
N/A |
13/9/1919 |
|
|
.
| A/J/P |
Adult
/ Juvenile / Pup |
|
Dead
on arrival / died in transit |
| Short
dates are formatted Day/Month/Year. |
| Footnotes:
1. Probably those acquired by E. S. Joseph for the Bronx Zoo; 2. Arrived
alive aboard SS Niagara in Canada on route to New York, but died in transit
between Victoria (British Colombia) and New York. |
. |
.
| The first of the Bronx
Zoo's four thylacines were obtained from Carl Hagenbeck, the famous German
animal dealer, arriving at the zoo on the 17th December 1902. A photograph
of the young male taken shortly after its arrival is shown below. |
.
.
|
Male thylacine exhibited
at the Bronx Zoo, 1903. Courtesy: Zoological Society of New York.
|
.
.
|
Another photo of the
same male, 1903. Courtesy: Zoological Society of New York.
|
.
| The zoo's second thylacine,
also a male, was transited through London before its arrival in New York
on the 26th January 1912. This thylacine was one of a litter of three
pups together with their mother displayed at the Beaumaris Zoo (Sandy Bay)
from July 1909. The family group was photographed by Williamson in
January of 1910, with the Bronx male at the far left of the photograph. |
.
.
|
Thylacine family group
at Beaumaris Zoo (Sandy Bay) with Bronx Zoo male at far left. A
photo of this same group when somewhat younger can be seen here.
Photo:
Williamson - January 1910.
|
The zoo's third thylacine, a male, arrived at the zoo on the 7th November
1916 in poor condition, and died seven days later on the 13th November.
This thylacine, together with a female, arrived safely in North America
from Sydney aboard the S.S. Niagara. The ship docked in Victoria
(British Columbia) carrying a consignment of marsupials, birds and reptiles
for the animal dealer Ellis Joseph. Unfortunately, the female thylacine
died in transit on her journey between Canada and New York. The arrival
of Joseph's consignment in Canada is noted in an article entitled "Interesting
Animals at Victoria, British Columbia, Canada" by James G. French in
Hamlyn's
Menagerie Magazine [Dec 1916 (Vol. 2; No. 8)]:
|
"On the 24th of August of this year, the s.s. "Niagara," of the New Zealand
Steamship Co., brought over a large and varied collection of specimens
from Sydney, Australia, consisting of ninety three species of mammals,
birds and reptiles, the property of Mr. Ellis S. Joseph, a cosmopolitan
collector of wide experience and much ability. As this collection
arrived from Australia, we naturally give the Marsupials our first consideration,
and their boxes contained not only many specimens, but were rich in species
of great interest rarely represented in our public Zoos. Taking the
polyprotodonts first we have two fine examples of that now almost extinct
animal, the |
.
Map of Bronx Zoo, 1907.
Place your pointer over
the map to magnify.
|
|
Thylacine,
or marsupial wolf of Tasmania, male and female,
and ten specimens of the Black Dasyure, commonly known as the Tasmanian
Devil. In Diprotodonts the collection contained some really fine
specimens of Kangaroos, eighteen large greys and seven reds, also Wallaroos,
of which there are ten examples. Two Black Kangaroos from Kangaroo
Island are looking remarkably well after their long journey, and the fifty-two
Wallabies are made up by the following specimens: - two Parrys Wallaby,
two rufus necked, two Parmas, two Rufus bellied, four Agiles, four Black
Swamps, two Nail Tails, eight Bennetts, and twenty-six Rock Wallabies.
Mr. Joseph also has two male specimens of the Queensland Tree Kangaroo,
which appear well kept hardy animals, and are standing- confinement well.
Wombats are very seldom brought to any part of America, but we can now
boast of ten specimens of which three show melanistic tendencies, one large
female, who carries a big- baby in her pouch, being almost jet black.
The young one is also very dark coloured. The Phalangers brought
over in |
| this shipment
would appear to offer a favourable opportunity to some enterprising American
fur farmer who wants to start a 'possum ranch, there being nineteen grey
Australian opossums, one Albino, and ten of the dark form from Tasmania.
Also seven Squirrel flying Phalangers, a pretty and interesting little
animal, which few menagerie owners have included in their collections.
Of the other peculiarly Australian class, the Monotremes, two animals left
Sydney, one Duck- billed Platypus and one Echidna, or porcupine anteater,
but only the latter arrived alive." |
The last of the Bronx Zoo's thylacines, a female, was purchased by Ellis
Joseph from the Beaumaris Zoo (SB) on the 14th April 1917 for the sum of
£25. The animal was then resold to the Bronx Zoo, arriving
on the 14th July 1917. It died on the 13th September 1919.
William
Hornaday, the zoo's director, noted that when Mr. Le Souëf (director
of the Melbourne Zoo) stood before the cage of the thylacine on a visit
to New York, he expressed surprise at the sight of the animal and then
said:
"I advise you to take excellent care of that specimen; for when it is gone,
you never will get another. The species soon will be extinct."
The Bronx Zoo's thylacines were housed in the fox dens, marked number 23
(in red) on the map of the zoo above.
Asia:
Madras Zoo
[Vandalur, India]:
.
| Thylacines
displayed at the Madras Zoo (1886 - ?) |
.
| N |
Date
of arrival |
A/J/P |
Sex |
Captured
by |
Source |
Capture
locality |
Sold
/ exchanged |
Date
of death |
Ref |
FN |
| . |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 1 |
1886 |
A |
? |
Unknown captor |
Adelaide Zoo |
Bridport |
N/A |
? |
1 |
|
| 2 |
1886 |
A |
? |
Unknown captor |
Adelaide Zoo |
Unknown locality |
N/A |
? |
1 |
|
.
| A/J/P |
Adult
/ Juvenile / Pup |
| Short
dates are formatted Day/Month/Year. |
| References:
1. Originally sourced from the City Park Zoo in Launceston (Paddle, 2012). |
. |
. |
Madras
Zoo, now referred to as the Arignar Anna Zoological Park or Vandalur Zoo,
is the largest zoological garden in India. It first opened to the
public in 1855. Dr. Bob Paddle (2012) states that the zoo obtained
2 thylacines from the Adelaide Zoo in 1886 in exchange for stock animals.
Unfortunately, records no longer exist to determine the length of the zoo's
thylacine display. |
