"All of us who were on the expedition treasure many memories. We recall the sounds we heard, the people we met, the sights we saw, the things we did, the animals we watched, and those we captured, and those we did not capture. We remember President Tubman. We remember our own pygmy hippopotamuses."
- Nigel Wolff, Maryland Academy of Sciences
In 1967, The Baltimore Zoo – which is today called The
Maryland Zoo in Baltimore – was preparing to open what it intended to be one of
its signature exhibits: the Hippopotamus House.
Back in the 1960’s, zoos were still very concerned with the idea of
completeness and having a full range of species on display. The zoo already had specimens of the Nile
hippo, but to complete the exhibit, they decided that it was essential to
obtain some individuals of its far smaller, far rarer cousin, the pygmy hippopotamus. Unlike its gigantic
cousin, the pygmy hippo is found only in a small corner of West Africa. It is most commonly associated with the
nation of Liberia.
Under the aegis of the Maryland Academy of Science, the zoo
wrote to the Liberian government for permission to obtain pygmy hippos, a
request which, in those pre-CITES days, was a lot easier than it is now. Permission was granted, although the Liberians
informed that Americans that since no pygmy hippos were lying around to be
offered, the animals would have to captured.
This appealed to the sense of adventure of several members of Baltimore’s
scientific community, and in July of that year an expedition was underway to
Liberia to collect pygmy hippos and other specimens for the zoo.
Of course, it’s rather rude to come over as a guest and not
bring a gift, and the gentlemen of the Maryland Academy of Sciences and
Baltimore Zoological Society would have hated to have been thought rude. They were aware that William Tubman, the
President of Liberia (who was, ironically, born in Maryland County) kept a
small zoo of his own in the town of Totota, which served as his farm retreat
(think US President George W. Bush’s Crawford Ranch). The Baltimore expedition decided that there
would be no more appropriate gift than to offer President Tubman some
contributions to his own menagerie.
Many of the animals that were selected for transport were
ones that were surplus to The Baltimore Zoo’s collection – there was a pair of
gibbons, a pair of guanaco, a pair of sika deer, and several pairs of New World
monkeys, presumably because it might have looked silly sending African monkeys
to Africa. Among the animals most
desired by President Tubman was a pair of hybrid bears. The bears proved a little reluctant to enter
their crate for a transcontinental voyage, and were only finally caught up when
Arthur Watson, the Zoo’s director, lured them into their crates with the
promise of ice cream.
Baltimore also sent along a list of other specimens which,
while perfectly sensible when you think about it, are a little amusing to read
about now. There was a pair of
white-tailed deer, of course, which I can’t help but think the Zoo didn’t have
too much trouble collecting. There was a
pair of tundra swans, a pair of groundhogs, a pair of Baltimore orioles
(naturally), and several pairs of North American waterfowl. Included among these was a pair of Canada
geese. It’s a little insensitive, but I find it
really funny to imagine two Canada geese strolling around the Zoo and pooping
all over the paths and chasing kids and doing whatever else geese do all day,
then winding up in a crate and the next thing they know, they are star
attractions of an African zoo. The
animals were escorted to Liberia by the members of the expedition and taken to
the capital city of Monrovia, where they were then shuttled to President Tubman’s
zoo in Totota.
The expedition was a great success, both in terms of
publicity and collections. Three pygmy
hippos were flown back to Baltimore later that summer – two males captured by
the field team and one female donated from President Tubman’s zoo as thanks for
the contributions the Americans made.
The expedition named her “Coo Coo,” the pet name for Tubman’s
daughter. They also brought back
slender-snouted crocodiles, rock pythons, sunbirds, porcupines, and bushbabies,
among other species. Among those were a
mongoose and five giant rats, which port authorities forced them to euthanize
upon their return of the United States due to quarantine fears. Apart from that, the expedition was all they
could have hoped for. The Zoo was
invited back for collecting expeditions in the next few years, and the new
Hippopotamus House, now complete with Nile AND pygmy hippos, was dedicated by
none other the President Tubman himself, who came to Baltimore for the
occasion.
A lot can change over fifty years. The Maryland Zoo didn’t just change its name –
it no longer has hippos (Nile or pygmy), and where the Hippopotamus House once
stood is now the award-winning Penguin
Coast habitat. International
treaties and laws have strictly tightened up the transport of animals, and it’s
no longer simply a matter of rounding up some geese and swapping them for owls
or parrots from another country (though all in all, this probably isn’t for the
worse). The harshest changes of all came
to Liberia. During their visit and after,
members of the expedition gushed over President Tubman, who they saw as a
progressive, wise leader… and he was, for much of the time. Still, towards the end of his rule, he became
increasingly autocratic. After his death
in 1971, the government began to falter, until it was overthrown in 1980 by the
People’s Redemption Council, the start of decades’ worth of violence and civil
war in the once-peaceful nation. As the
fortunes of the Liberian people have fallen, so have those of the pygmy hippo,
as habitat loss and hunting continue to threaten its survival.
The zoo in Totota was yet another accomplishment of
President Tubman. It is deserted now,
with not an animal present, except for maybe the ghosts of a Canada goose…
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