23-05-16 Chapter 11 Consider the case of the female black leopard that escaped from the Zurich Zoo in the winter of 1933. She was new to the zoo and seemed to get along with the male leopard. But various paw injuries hinted at matrimonial strife. Before any...
23-05-16 Chapter 10 Yet there will always be animals that seek to escape from zoos. Animals that are kept in unsuitable enclosures are the most obvious example. Every animal has particular habitat needs that must be met. If its enclosure is too sunny or too...
23-05-16 Chapter 9 Getting animals used to the presence of humans is at the heart of the art and science of zookeeping. The key aim is to diminish an animals flight distance, which is the minimum distance at which an animal wants to keep a perceived enemy. A...
23-05-16 Chapter 8 We commonly say in the trade that the most dangerous animal in a zoo is Man. In a general way we mean how our species excessive predatoriness has made the entire planet our prey. More specifically, we have in mind the people who feed fishh...
23-05-16 Chapter 7 It was my luck to have a few good teachers in my youth, men and women who came into my dark head and lit a match. One of these was Mr. Satish Kumar, my biology teacher at Petit Seminaire and an active Communist who was always hoping Tamil...
23-05-16 Chapter 5 My name isnt the end of the story about my name. When your name is Bob no one asks you, How do you spell that? Not so with Piscine Molitor Patel. Some thought it was P. Singh and that I was a Sikh, and they wondered why I wasnt wearing a t...
23-05-16 Chapter 4 Our good old nation was just seven years old as a republic when it became bigger by a small territory. Pondicherry entered the Union of India on November 1, 1954. One civic achievement called for another. A portion of the grounds of the Po...
23-05-16 Chapter 3 I was named after a swimming pool. Quite peculiar considering my parents never took to water. One of my fathers earliest business contacts was Francis Adirubasamy. He became a good friend of the family. I called him Mamaji, mama being the...
23-05-16 Chapter 2 He lives in Scarborough. Hes a small, slim man - no more than five foot five. Dark hair, dark eyes. Hair greying at the temples. Cant be older than forty. Pleasing coffee-coloured complexion. Mild fall weather, yet puts on a big winter par...
23-05-16 Chapter 1 My suffering left me sad and gloomy. Academic study and the steady, mindful practice of religion slowly wrought me back to life. I have kept up with what some people would consider my strange religious practices. After one year of high sch...