At this time of year the curators at the Zoo have the task of stocktaking and valuing the animals. in private persons though they wi probably never be taken awa; Valuation is not easy except that of animals frequently imported and sold to private persons as well as to zoological gardens, Many mammals, birds; reptiles and fishes have 'a market value more or less defined varying for individual species with the sex, age, condition and demand and supply. But there are fluctuations and some beasts worth a lot a few seasons ago and now worth very little. The purchase Price is, often not a safe guide to the present value even of animals which can be imported without muck difficulty, since many of them a susceptible to infection. The pri assigned to a creature too rare to have market value must be arbitrary. Rarity counts for something. The cost of maintenance has to bs weighed, One of the rarest animals, the takin, is valued at £200, while the value of some of the more animals are as follows:
Indian elephants, 2600; African ele-pliants £700; Indian rhinoceros £1,- rhinoceros £550; Am hippopotamus £800; ighly valued and wattled cranes at £75, and at £40, birds of paradise
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.