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Reluctant Taxidermist

Movie editor Bonn retired 27 years ago to enjoy his hobby but now he’s back in business.

By Peter Hill Gannet

TWENTY-SEVEN years ago John H. Bonn, then living in Portchester, N. Y., was a successful motion picture production editor with Paramount Pictures.

Taxidermy was only his hobby and at that time he was rather new at it. He’d been a fan only three years. It had always fascinated him, perhaps because of his love of animals and his appreciation of their beauty. It would be natural for him to try to duplicate nature’s handiwork.
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Radiophone to Rid Siberia of Wolves

RADIO telephones placed at intervals throughout the wolf-infested regions of Siberia so that the whereabouts of these dangerous pests can be easily discovered is the latest means proposed by Soviet officials to rid the vast plains of the country of the wolf menace, long an obstacle to settlement and safe travel. Read the rest of this entry »

HEN BRAVES FLOOD
ONE of the refugees in the recent Mississippi flood was an old Plymouth Rock hen who floated around on her box-board raft until she was rescued. The photograph shows biddy registering joy as her owner approaches in a canoe. The hen may be seen to be wearing a complacent, self-satisfied expression, but it must be explained in extenuation that it’s a rare chick which grows up to become captain, first mate, and roustabout of her own Mississippi steamer!

DOG SHOWS MUSICAL TALENT
EVERY now and then a dog is seen on the stage that seems to almost have human intelligence. This dog shows exceptional musical ability when he sits on the bench of an automatic piano and pats the keys, as the piano plays. That he has a musical sense of rhythm is shown by the fact that he pats the keys in time with the piece that is being, played. He is owned by a Berlin vaudeville performer.

TRAMP-METER

TOBY the elephant, despite all his lumbering 10,500 lbs., can stalk his prey more stealthily than any other four-footed creature in the circus. The “tramp-meter” proves it.

With the one exception of the snake charmer’s python, the only other circus member who matches the elephant in lightness of step is the 500-lb. fat lady.

On GE’s electronic vibration meter, Toby rings up only three mils per second vibration. The lion measures 12 mils per second, the hippo 14, the tiger 9, the polar bear 6 and the llama 7.5. Read the rest of this entry »

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When Wildlife Fights Back…

. . . the rabbit can become as dangerous as a raging lion, even a bird can commit mayhem and old Mother Nature turns all her fury upon the hapless hunter molesting her wards.

By Raymond R. Camp

tod and Gun Editor, N. Y. Times THE big brave hunter who arms himself with his trusty gun and journeys forth in search of prey, large and small, all too frequently winds up on the losing end of the game. Every once in a while Mother Nature gets fed up with having her wildlife become the target for scatter shot and copper-jacketed bullets and does a little table-turning. The Happy Hunting Ground is chock-full of nimrods who, if asked, would attribute their sudden demise to such harmless little critters as squirrels.
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How Circus Elephants are TRAINED

by M. W.MEIER
Who wintered with the circus at Peru, Indiana, headquarters.

How do they train elephants to walk a tight rope and stand on two legs? Mr. Meier, intimately associated with the circus business, tells you all about the tricks of the trade in this fascinating elephant story, and incidentally disproves some favorite legends such as ah elephant’s ability to remember an injury for many years.
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Exterminating Rats With Deadly Automobile Exhaust Gas

“IF THE fumes from an automobile exhaust can kill humans, they should have the same effect on rats,” said the head of the Department of Health of Highland Park, Michigan. And so onto the exhaust pipe of a dilapidated Model T Ford discarded by the police officials, the health officers rigged up a rubber hose and established themselves as modern pied pipers.

The “hunters” first seal all the holes of the building to be operated upon, leaving just two openings. The hose is then inserted into one of these, the engine of the Ford coaxed to wheeze a bit, and the carbon monoxide does the rest.

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They Grub for a Living

A few wheat beetles in a sack of chicken feed grew into a booming bait business.

By Shep Shepherd

BUGS can be big business. Just ask Marlyn A. Palmer and Ray Wiseman; they’re up to here in them—80 million of them every year.

Palmer and Wiseman raise golden grubs and sell them to fishermen throughout the United States, Mexico and Canada, shipping as many as a quarter-million grubs a day in busy seasons.

The golden grub is the larva of the black wheat beetle. It hatches from an egg, remains a grub for a short time, then goes into the pupa stage from which it gradually changes into a mature beetle. The complete transformation takes about six months. It is the larva, or grub, that drives fish frantic and sends anglers flocking to the bait shops. Read the rest of this entry »

Gas Guns to Battle Wild Beasts on Galapagos Expedition

EQUIPPED with gas guns effective at 150 yards, a scientific expedition in search of new specimens will give battle to the animals abounding on the Galapagos Islands. Located about 500 miles west of Ecuador, these islands have been a magnet for scientists since Charles Darwin first obtained valuable data for his “Origin of Species” from study of its animal inhabitants. Read the rest of this entry »

STRANGE in SCIENCE

Simian Lipstick is applied by Leon Walters, taxidermist of the Chicago Museum of Natural History, to a figure of Bushman, famous Chicago Zoo gorilla. In life the ape stood 6 feet, 2 inches tall and weighed 550 pounds. Age at death was 23.

Battle Casualties are Spot, the pup and Tiger, the kitten who are comparing their simulated injuries. The ASPCA says that hysterical animals can be quite a problem should an attack come and holds courses in pet first aid and control in N. Y.
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Bull Blinkers keep Joe the Hereford from charging through fences in response to amorous glances from cows in the next pasture. Clifford Houp of Hagerstown, Md., who owns Joe, came up with the idea. Now his bull can look down to eat, but can’t see those fluttering bovine eyelashes nearby.