Ear on Chicago; A Day at the Zoo: Brookfield Zoo; Part 2

This is Brookfield Zoo revisited. A month ago, we took a visit to Brookfield Zoo on this program, and now we go back to tour the second half of the zoo. We will meet the zoo director, Robert Bean. To open up our second show, we have taken another trip to Brookfield Zoo and we've come into the house of aquatic birds. You may have heard in the background some sounds of the birds inside of the cage. Again, we're going to talk to Mr. Bean, and I think the best thing we ought to do is to start listening to that. Silvergulls, Australia. Is that what that is? They bid you welcome. I do too. It doesn't seem like a month ago that you're here. We're glad you're back again. Well, thank you very much, Mr. Bean, and I think this is a good place to start. There's a large crowd of people in here, and certainly this is one of the most amazing exhibits that you have at the Brookfield Zoo. Suppose we talk a little bit about it. I can talk a little bit about it, but I want one much learned in the care of birds and the painting

of birds, a man who's been here since you might say the day the zoo opened. Even before then, kept birds privately. I introduced you, Mr. Hilda, Mr. Karl Plath, curator at Birds at the Zoo at Brookfield. Karl, nice to know you. Nice to know you. Could you tell us a little bit about some of the birds in here? For example, over there are some beautiful pink feathered friends. What are they? Those are the flamingos, and you'll see many more out in the pool in front. And there are over 60 varieties in this cage, almost 220 birds. What is this in front of it? Well, that's the big shoe bill. He's one of the rarest birds we have. Certainly one of the most valuable. He comes from the central part of Africa, tropical part. His wing expands his about seven or eight feet. He weighs about 18 pounds. Is that what we call a stalk? Well, it's a stalk, all right, but not the typical stalk, which you'll see in here. This bird is all gray, and he has a huge beak shaped much like a shoe. That's why he's called a shoe bill. And he's very deliberate

in his movements. Is this the bird you call bubbles? Yes, we call him bubbles, and he seems to know his name. Sometimes he's very responsive, but he always answers questions, not in the affirmative. He answers no. No. Even if he asks him if he likes candy, he'll say no. No, he'll answer no to everything. What if we could hear him? What if we'd make any noise for us? Well, hello, Bob. Hello, bubbles. Come on, what do you got to say? Usually Larry, our keeper in here is the one who can make him say something. Is this Larry? Larry, come here a minute, will you? See if you can make bubbles say something. We want to listen to Chris. Bubble, do you want to go outside? Bubble, do you want to go outside? Do you want some more fish, bubbles? Do you want some more fish? Bubbles. Do you want some more fish? Bubbles saying no, shaking your head, no. Is it a her or a he? Well, we don't know. They're exactly alike in appearance. Bubbles does like to have his chin stroke, but otherwise we can't touch him. He objects very

strongly, and you see what an enormous carful beak he has. Well, if you don't know if it's a male or a female, why do you call it a he? Well, we speak of things either he or she. It doesn't matter too much. What about some of the other birds down here? There's a big black one on with its wings spreading. It was flying around here a little while ago. Well, that's the black star back there. And there's the white star, the typical star that brings the babies. Well, that's the star that brings the babies. He's white with black wings and a red bell and red legs. And so many people are a little bit disappointed when they see bubbles as a star. Say, I wonder, Carl, if you could walk up here with me. I saw in a cage up here some penguins. Yes. These particular ones were very proud of our penguins. I think we have one of the best collection. We have seven varieties. And from the little Adele from Antarctica to the biggest of all, the Emperor, which came from the Tokyo Zoo. Which one is

the Emperor? Those great big colors there. They weigh about 80 pounds. Oh, they are big. It's like pushing a sack of sand to get them to move. Now, the front of the penguin I always thought was pure white, but it's not quite white, is it? Well, it's a creamy color. And up towards the neck it's yellow. Yes. Well, these right here, these are the king penguins. They're the next in size. And you see this one down here. Well, that's an achievement, we think. Because this bird is actually sitting on an egg. You notice that swelling down below? It's holding one egg on its feet. And there's a loose flap of skin on the lower part of the body, feathered, that holds it in place. So the bird actually can move around a little bit, but he doesn't try to climb the rocks. Well, when's that bird going to hatch that egg? Well, almost any time now. Is that right? Yes. We don't know exactly, but it takes it. How long did he sit on the egg? Well, it takes quite a while. Let me see about 47 days to hatch it.

Has he sat there himself all the time? Well, he or she. Well, that's another thing. One of these days, we're going to mock these birds. And see which one is the one that's relieving it, if any do. They'll sometimes be all four of them down here, standing around. And in nature, that's a fact. They do alternate in sitting. So actually, the young baby isn't apt to know its parents when it finally does. You mean to tell me it may be a mother and a father, then maybe the aunt and the uncle? Well, that's right. According to the books and the people that have observed these things down in Antarctica. Do you have any American birds at all, Carl? Oh, yes, there are lots of American birds. There's the blue jays and the morning dove and grackles. But of course, we have Orioles. We have a number of other things mixed up in this cage. Just the Baltimore Orioles? Yes. No, the Baltimore Orioles isn't here. Not the baseball team. No. Sorry. But we also have the biggest bird, the ostrich, you

know, and the smallest, the hummingbird. But of course, he wouldn't be in here. He'd be eating that guy. Carl, we've got to move along. We've got a long way to go yet. And I want to thank you for talking to us about it. Mr. Bean, there's one thing that I was wondering about. And that's what happens to the animals at night when you close down the zoo. Who watches them then? There are two keepers, two of our very best keepers. Men who have been here the longest. They were here long before the park opened. They are Otto Holdick, who comes on second watch and Max Hersberg, who is here with us. You keep an ear on Chicago. Max keeps an ear on the zoo at Brookfield. It's a tremendous responsibility. It takes a man with courage, all kinds of energy, all kinds of perception. And before we close the gates on you, I'd like to introduce Max Hersberg to you. Max, it's a pleasure to know you. It sounds like an interesting job watching the zoo at night. Well, it is very interesting, but it's a very responsible job. You have to be under a feet all the time. Make a different what time it is and things like always something

happened at night. But what does happen at night, for example? Well, animals get sick. Out in Brookfield, there's quite a few animals here. Some get tangled up in some kinds of instruments in a pan or something like that. Following the water. Oh, yeah, we have to feed them at night. We've got a lot of babies on the battles. There's a lot of little animals coming here in Brookfield. We've got more and more here every day coming. You've got to keep the animals some of them on the battles. We have to feed them here and make a difference. And we've got a lot of fun in battle ones. We've got humans and lions and deer. What about those lions and the dangerous animals? Oh, no, they're getting to know you. So they don't have... No, no, no. They don't know you. You call them. They purge just like a little kitten. But you have to be on a decent to them. Not to chase them around and things like that. And now the wrecked out here is very strict about that. You can fool around with animals and use the bars or something like that in other zoos. You can do that here. No,

that's right. Well, what about accidents? Have you ever had any? No, I don't have an answer. I've got what you're pretty long. Except that a... Jim's come up once and why I take a pack of glasses off when you... But that is just... The Jim's... Terrier glasses, huh? Yeah, they grab you, Jim's, and... Givens, you know, well, you play Ramirez the most I missed to keep it for. Because he used to close. If he wasn't close, I wouldn't lose him. Well, you probably have more fun than anybody. You're with the animal. Well, I'm alone here. Except that our director lives right in the park and of some misstays. He's right there on the job. He had to call him at night, but when something is, we have to call him. He's right there. You must enjoy animals, Max. Yeah, I do. You know, I was... I mean, my father, he was trading animals with horses and cows. And when I started here, I watched on a construction in 1930. Mr. Beer hired me. But your late Mr. Bean and... Mr. Robert Bean took over. He was good enough to keep me here too. And I do my best. So... It's a lot of fun, though, isn't it? A lot of

fun. It can kick about it. Well, thank you very much, Max, for talking to us. We owe a lot to the nightkeepers. The night is twice as long as the day. There's almost a hundred of us here doing the work by day. But Max is alone for an eight -hour watch. Otto is alone for an eight -hour watch. It's in good hands, Mr. Hill. I can see that. Well, now where will we go next, Mr. Bean? What's our next stop? We're going to pass the stellar sea lions. We're going to show you two of the snarks in the zoo. The beautiful reticulated giraffes. And a very rarer copy. All right, let's go. We'll have to go quickly. We've come into another building now. I'm not sure the name of this one. I'll ask Mr. Bean in a minute. But we're standing in front of a cage containing the strangest looking animal I think that anybody could ever see. It looks like a cross between, well, if you can believe this, a rhinoceros, a horse, and a zebra. It's got a rhinoceros head, zebra legs, and the body of a horse.

Zebra legs, by that I mean, that they are striped. They're brown and white. This animal is called an ocopy. What is this? This is an ocopy. But I mean, what is it really? Is it a cross between them? There's no alchemy as you have just thought there is in nature. They're just species. Animals are not made up of three or four kinds of species. Occasionally animals hybridize and you have a cross. But it's not as fantastic as animals so remotely related as you believe, Mr. Hill. Quite a famous animal list. It's the last of the large animals in the world to be discovered by a man. To be seen and be discovered by him. In English natures in 1991, you got a little piece of skin of this animal off a native drum and he knew it was off of something new. He wondered if it was as you presume. He had the leg portions, some new kind of zebra. And it was then some years after that that they decided that the whole animal was found. The little pigmies in the Tury forest in the Belgian Congo brought in a whole body to Johnson. Some few years

after he saw the skin on the drum. Well, how did you come by this live one? This one that's walking around here. They're protected in the Belgian Congo and strictly protected. American friends of ours, Ringling Brothers, Barnum Bailey Circus, the North Brothers of that owner of that show, had placed him here on deposit. It was a very generous and kind thing of them to do. Mr. Bean, where are the giraffes? I see a sign over here quiet. Giraffes are nervous and excitable, but there are no giraffes in there. We see the old copying indoors. We'll have to walk over the giraffes. He's indoors because he loves the shade. He comes in this deep tropical forest. The giraffes come from more open lands, the belt, a prairie -like sort of landscape. They love the sun. As Mr. Bean and I are talking, we're walking outside and we're going to take a look at the giraffes, which are in a large sandy plot of ground caged in on one side by steel bars on the other side by a cement retaining wall. I can see one of the giraffes over there kind of taking it easy right now. It's just laying there. They're at rest and

I've just noticed that Dr. Weaver Williamson stepped up. He makes a tour of the zoo every day. The dress has been much concerned to him, not because they've been ill, but because he doesn't want them to come ill. They're often heavily infested with certain tropical worms. And these worms have to be controlled and you do not know if you have them under control, unless certain specimens examine when they first come once a week, a little later every two weeks, later once a month. And Dr. Williamson, I'm sure will tell you some things of interest about, is care of these animals and the others in surgery and nutrition and all other factors that fall upon him. Dr. Williamson, I think I heard a little while ago that you have an animal hospital here on the Brookfield Zoo grounds. That's right, sir. Very excellent animal hospital, most of modern equipment. We're very lucky indeed. I think it's one of the finest rivers in the world. Do you have quite a good deal of trouble with the animals here at the zoo having a disease or some kind or having accidents? Well, I think one of the most frequent troubles we have is accidents, fighting and that

sort of thing. Some animals appear to be together for years and then for some unknown reason why they fight. And we have accidents that way. And as far as disease, I think here at Brookfield, the number of diseases are rather small for such a large collection. Quite a few animals, the only thing that we can find are changes due to old age. And the accidents are caused mostly from fighting. Quite a few of them, yes. Thank you very much, Dr. Williamson. We come over now to where the elephants are in a large rock field area. It's a big, fenced -in cage. And one of the caretakers is going to try and talk to the elephant. Everybody knows that an elephant will trump it. And you know what it sounds like. But we're not sure whether we're going to be able to listen to him talk or not. And this is something I never knew, Mr. Bean, that an elephant could talk. Elephants

converse with each other. And when you've got a good elephant man on, like Cliff Jones, they'll talk to him. There's a real conversation goes on. Maybe we can pick it up. Yes, let's give Cliff the microphone and see what Honey's got to say who was an African elephant, mini and baby who were Indian elephants. Cliff is about two or four or five feet away across this moat. So I'm going to hand it over to Dr. Williamson. Would you hand Cliff that microphone? No, let that elephant get it. Many good girl. You many girl. What a matter, honey. What a matter, honey. What a matter, huh? What's a matter? Leave them all now. Fred. Come on, Jason. Come on. Hurry up. Hurry up, honey. Come on. Hurry up. Mini. you're an old bum. You're an old bum.

You're an old bum. Are you an old bum? You're an old bum? You're an old bum. Honey's old bum. Honey. Oh, honey's a bum. one is a bum one is a bum yeah yeah one is a bum what do you want huh what do you want can't you say nothing either huh did you say nothing huh can't you say nothing huh did you say anything you won't say a word yeah well I guess Cliff you couldn't get it to talk but what do they say when they do talk well they make a chirping noise and many thumps on the floor with their trunk or on a rock or something it's more of a chirping noise and if

they get scared well then they'll trumpet right loud if they get real scared and start to run or anything they trumpet but you don't know what they're saying when they do say something no the only thing I know when they trumpet and start to run I know they're going that's the only thing I know that's your cue to get out of the way that's the cue to try to stop them okay Cliff thanks a million before we visit the end -in rhinoceros I'd like for you to hear just a little bit of the monkey cage where the keepers are over there stirring up a little bit of fight for our benefit yeah

What do you think of that chimpanzee? I think it's a little man. What do you think? Pretty funny. What do you think about him? Pretty funny, too. What do you think about that chimpanzee? He's crazy. What do you think? He should get pretty aggravated at times. Do you get sand on you? What? Did you get some sand? Yes. And he's nuts. Are we on the radio? Well, this is a typical day at the zoo. But it's a little more... I don't think it's quite as typical as every day because this particular show was put on specially for this

broadcast. And it was a good show, indeed. We've walked about a block or two away now from the giraffe cage where we were just a moment ago. Mr. Bean and I are going to go to the zoo. We're standing right in front of the great giant Indian hippodes. Is this a rhinoceros? Am I making a mistake again? It's a rhino. It's a rhino. It's a rhino. It's a rhino. It's over here in Phyllishorn. Oh, yeah. Great mass of hair held together by loose -alaginous material. These are random. One horned Indian rhinos. Probably the most valuable pair of animals in any zoo in the world. Now, what's the difference here again? You're going to have to explain it between a rhinoceros and a hippopotamus. Well, one is aquatic. The hippo is. The hippo has a great white mouth, no horns, no rough armored skin such as these rhinos have, or any other rhino.

We'll see the hippos and the difference is apparent. It's a nice surprise to see the man here in this house. I said they probably found the mud hole. They made him a shower today, which I'm sure they appreciate. Ralph Graham can tell you about the rhinos. Ralph Graham went to a psalm beyond India to get them from the game department there. He helped in their capture. He made their crates and he brought them to Brookfield. You mean to tell me that these animals came from the valley of a psalm? Yes. It's right at the foothills below the foothills of the Himalaya mountains. I know exactly where it is. I spent to six months over there during the Second World War in the China Burma India Theater, but I never saw any of these. You might be glad to know that I'm the honorary president of the CBI auxiliary, the lady. Well, is that right? My wife was over there too. She was up in Burman. Well, I never saw anything like this over in India. Well, they just live in three localities, in Assam, in the sanctuary there. Then there are a few up in the foothills

of Nepal, a neighboring province to the west in the north. Then there are nine in the Jaldapara sanctuary in lower Bengal. They are considered a rare animal in nature. They are considered to be somewhere between 200 and 250 living in a wild state. Around 1900, there were 20, I believe. They counted 20 and then the government began to protect them so the herd has come back. This animal looks almost prehistoric. Yes, they have a heavy armor. If you notice the rare am that's with those big tubercles, they just remind you of a tank. He's walking around. Could we... Now, let's see if we can record it. Well, that sound you hear, the nails hitting the wood floor. The major portion of the foot is very soft. Those

feet hold up about 4 ,000 pounds. That's about the weight of these animals. How much? 4 ,000 pounds? About 4 ,000 pounds, yes. It's awful. Tame, it seems. Yes, the week after capture, they just came to you when we'd call and they'd take grass out of your hand. What's this next story, is brother? No, that's the female. We call her Kamla. This one's Kashi. Oh, I see. Okay, Ralph, thank you. Now we better go take a look at the hippopotamus. Ralph, do you have one more? Well, you might be interested in all about the African rhinos. We have a pair of those, also. Hi, did you hear him snort? What's he snorting for? I have a little food here he's getting anxious for. All right, probably won't do it again. We're about ready to feed him and we're trying to

see if you'll do a little snorting again. No, I guess he's not going to make any more noise for us. All right, a little independent. I started to mention about the African rhinos we have a pair from which we've had two young ones born. They're the only recorded ones outside of one in Rio de Janeiro that was born last January, I believe it was. Then over in the children's zoo we have a baby African rhino that's about 12 weeks old now. It stands perhaps 20 inches at the shoulder. Then there are other things over there too that I hope we can get over because I'm sure they'll be of interest. There he goes again snorting. I think we can hear that, couldn't we? All right, let's go see the hippopotamus. Is it hippopotamus? Is that plural? Oh, it's hippopotamus since they're

four of them. It'd be hippopotamus if they were a bit one. We have a wealth in hippos in the zoo and Brookfield. Just across the hallway here from the Indian rhinoceros is what they call the African hippopotamus. It's a great huge animal that you have probably seen pictures of. And if you go to the zoo, you always see a hippopotamus. That's another strange looking animal, Mr. Bean. Oh, why do these things seem strange to you? You must come more often. You know, if I were at the zoo every day, I suppose like you, it wouldn't seem so strange. But this is my first trip since I think I was about, oh, it's high as your kneecap. Well, it was a long time ago. I'm not going to tell you how long ago. There's no business like zoo business. And it's been my privilege to be in the line for you. I consider my privilege. You might say born in a zoo on these hippos now. There are two little ones over here, two big ones. The big ones were born in Memphis. There's a dynasty

of hippos in America. Nearly every hippo you've ever seen in America was born in America. These two hippos, BB and total, had eight calves here in Brookfield. We haven't had that good fortune with the pygmy hippos, which you see to their left. Nile hippos at birth are as big as the pygmy hippo when he's full grown. Well, I was going to say that they're awfully big, and I was going to ask how big they are when they're born. They're quite big, I guess. They weigh about 80, 90 pounds at birth, and a big bowl will weigh 4 ,500. And as in most of the big aquatic mammals, females are larger than males. You notice the bigger one of the two is the female BB. When I'm Mr. Bean, it's time for us to close out our visit. The second visit we've had in the last month to the Brookfield Zoo. But I'm really sorry that we couldn't go to see all of the animals in the zoo, but of course there just isn't time. You'd have to spend almost a week of air time to visit every animal in the Brookfield Zoo. But the least we can do is to have you mention a few of them that we have not

talked about. Oh, I wish you could stay longer. You must the next time. There's a great herd of kangaroos to see in many kinds, bears which certainly are the greatest entertainers of all animals in the zoo. 29 kinds of antelopes and gazelles, the very rare forest horses of which are shown in Brookfield for the first time to cult -born the other day, the Shavowsky horses. Inumerable small mammals, elephants of all sizes of all kinds, everything in birds from hummingbirds to ostriches, you will have to come again. Then the Wiesens too, the very rare European bison. It's an interest in an effort to the society to gather the rare and vanishing animals of the world and reproduce them. Many of them can be seen here in Brookfield, and we do hope you'll come again. Well, I do want to come again and visit your children's zoo, which I've heard so much about. We want to thank you very much for touring the zoo with us and telling us about it. This has been our second program. We call it

Brookfield Zoo Revisited. This is Hugh Hill speaking.