Smithsonian National Zoo The All-American Zebra

[Sarus Crane]

Happy International Zebra Day!

In early 2021 I discovered an abridged history of Dan the National Zoo's first Grevy's Zebra. While researching more about him I came across the unique history of zebras at the Smithsonian and decided to write a script for a really long documentary type video that didn't materialize. So therefore based on that script here is that story....


It was 1904 and the beginnings of a new century. America was on the move. The Panama Canal had begun construction, the Louisiana Purchase Exposition World’s Fair was entertaining visitors in St. Louis and Henry Ford had achieved a land speed record of 91 miles an hour. In the nation’s capital a big surprise headed to the White House. On November 24th, 1904, an unusual gift arrived at the executive mansion. Emperor Menelik of Abyssinia (Ethiopia) had gifted President Theodore Roosevelt several exotic animals.

Emperor Menelik of Ethiopia Source

These were 2 lionesses, two Gelada baboons, two ostriches and a 4-year-old male zebra. However, this wasn’t just any zebra. This was a Grevy’s Zebra and the first one to come to the nation’s capital. Roosevelt was not unfamiliar with exotics. Already in the executive mansion was one of the most extensive menageries of any president with multiple dogs, cats, rabbits, guinea pigs, snakes, and even a Shetland Pony. An avid outdoorsman and equestrian Roosevelt was delighted with the royal gift and instantly the new zebra was named Dan.

Theodore Roosevelt on his horse Bleistein Source

 

[Sarus Crane]

Described by French naturalist Émile Oustalet in 1882 and named for the French president Jules Grevy the Grevy’s Zebra (Equus grevyi) is also known as the Imperial Zebra and is the world’s largest equid. Characterized by its large head, long ears and narrow stripes that do not reach the belly, individuals can weigh up to nearly 1,000 pounds and stand 5 feet at the withers. This is considered a primitive zebra species on account of its bigger body size, slender limbs, smaller hooves, and long skull with a well-developed occipital region.

Grevy's Zebra in Paris's Menagerie du Jardin des Plantes, 1882 Source

These characteristics are also seen in the extinct Hagerman Horse (Equus simplicidens) which is known from the Pliocene epoch of North America 3.5 million years ago. The Hagerman Horse, also known as the American Zebra, was first discovered in Texas in 1892 by noted paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope. Later in 1928 fossils were recovered in Hagerman Idaho which were delivered to the Smithsonian for study.

Hagerman Horse Source

Hagerman Horse Recreation Source

Zebras did not solely evolve in Africa. Equids first evolved in North America, crossed over into Asia via the Bering Land bridge and then spread to Africa. These Eurasian ancestors of zebras entered into Africa about 2.3 million years ago with the arrival of Equus oldowayensis. This species retained many of the physical characteristics of the Hagerman Horse. Current research points toward the possibility that this species was the direct ancestor of the Grevy’s Zebra we know today.


Equus Fossils Source

In the early Pleistocene of Africa when the Grevy’s Zebra emerged, arid and semi-arid grasslands were more prevalent throughout the continent than they are today and this species ranged from northern Africa to the cape. However, during the transition from the Pleistocene to the Holocene, the continent’s climate changed. The arid grasslands that spread from northern to southern Africa dwindled, leaving the remaining populations of the species to survive in northern Africa. With the added factors of Paleolithic human settlement and livestock grazing they competed for food and resources and their population started to dwindle. As of 6,000 years ago the species was still living as far north as Egypt. The zebra soon became known to mankind. In antiquity the species was known as the Hippotigris meaning "horse tiger" and found a home in the amphitheaters of ancient Rome where they captured the public’s imagination by pulling chariots.

Zebra Mosaic from the Villa of the Amazons Source

Centuries later during the Africa’s colonial period zoos across Europe began to obtain the species as well. King Menelik’s gift of Dan in 1904 was the first time an equid of such evolutionary significance had made its way back to the New World since the Hagerman Horse became extinct 10,000 years ago.

 

[Sarus Crane]

President Roosevelt gave the exotics including Dan to the National Zoo. The National Zoo was founded on March 2, 1889 by an act of congress for the advancement of science and the instruction and recreation of the people. In 1890 the zoo became part of the Smithsonian and a year later opened to the public. Designed by Frederick Law Olmstead and headed by William T. Hornaday its early collections featured mostly native species with a couple exotics in the mix.

National Zoo Map 1910 Source

With a rare zebra now in the collection the zoo could attract more visitors. Along with King Menelik, the special commissioner to Abyssinia Robert P. Skinner, and Superintendent of the zoo Frank Baker played a large part in bringing Dan to the nation’s capital. A Congressional representative, Albert. S. Burleson had expressed an interest in the idea of using zebras to produce mules. With Dan’s arrival he was able to convince the USDA’s Bureau of Animal Industry to create a hybridization breeding program.

Albert S. Burleson Source

 

[Sarus Crane]

With the approval of President Roosevelt and the National Zoo the hybridization program began at the zoo in spring 1905 with Dan and six mares. Five were Percherons and one was a large coach horse. These mares were each much larger than 800-pound Dan, each weighing at least 1,200 pounds. It was hoped that Dan would be able to produce hybrids with these mares, but the efforts were fruitless. The following year in August 1906 Dan and the mares were moved to the Bureau’s Experiment Station in Bethesda, Maryland. Smaller mares closer to Dan’s size were purchased and acclimated to his presence. When one mare was paired with him, he became aggressive and had to be put back in his stall for fear of him killing it. Despite Dan’s failure to impregnate the large mares, the Experiment Station tried to use artificial insemination, but without success. All but one insemination were complete losses. The one partial pregnancy resulted in an aborted fetus four months after conception.


Dan the Grevy's Zebra Source

However not every breeding effort was a failure. There were five female donkeys at the Experiment Station and Dan was able to successfully impregnate them. Dan had a unique personality. As long as no human was within sight or sound he felt comfortable enough to mate. When Dan bred with the donkeys the results were more productive. Eleven hybrids were born. Two colts were stillborn. Two colts and one filly were born in a weakened state and survived for at most 48 hours. These foals were donated to the Smithsonian. However, the remainder of the births led to healthy, hardy hybrids. Two colts and four fillies survived to adulthood. Like both their parents they were born with large ears. Two foals’ ears were erect right out of the womb and the remaining four’s ears formed into an erect stature a little over a week after birth. From a birth weight of nearly 50 pounds the foals within one year grew to be 500 pounds and averaged a standing height of 12 hands.


Various hybrids that Dan sired Sources

Although the hybridization experiment wasn’t going as planned another ambitious plan was coming along from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

 

[Sarus Crane]

In March 1909 President Roosevelt had just finished his second term as commander in chief. At only fifty years old he was ambitious to move onto his post presidential life. He decided to organize an expedition on behalf of the Smithsonian to British East Africa to collect specimens for the new National Museum that was being built on the National Mall. In 1903 the Board of Regents had been given permission by Congress to begin a new museum. The new National Museum would house more space for collections and exhibits. Construction on the new building began in June 1904. By the time Roosevelt left the United States in March 1909 the museum was still under construction.

Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History drawing Source

Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History drawing Source

Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History under construction, 1909 Source

 

[Sarus Crane]

Roosevelt planned to procure many examples of East African wildlife including the big five, other game mammals, birds and even insects and plants. The Field Museum in Chicago and the American Museum of Natural History in New York already had sent out expeditions to Africa to build their collections and Roosevelt figured that it was time for the Smithsonian to obtain such a collection as well. After a voyage at sea along with his son Kermit and other naturalists the expedition landed in Africa. They travelled from Mombasa to Khartoum where along the way they collected over 11,000 specimens of flora and fauna of the region.

Map of the Roosevelt-Smithsonian 1909-10 Expedition to British East Africa Source

Of these in Kenya’s Northern Guaso Nyiro District the expedition collected 12 specimens of the Grevy’s Zebra. Roosevelt and his party sighted these along the Guaso Nyiro along with Beisa Oryx and other wildlife including Burchell’s Zebras in September 1909. In Swahili the Grevy's Zebra is known as the kangani.



Mixed herd of Grevy's and Burchell's Zebras Source

Roosevelt remarked:
“The kangani is a fine beast much bigger than its kinsman it is as large as a polo pony. It Is less noisy than the common zebra the "bonte quagga" of the Boers and its cry is totally different. Its gaits are a free slashing trot and gallop. When it stands facing one the huge fringed ears make it instantly recognizable. The stripes are much narrower and more numerous than those on the small zebra, and in consequence cease to be distinguishable at a shorter distance; the animal then looks gray like a wild ass. When the two zebras are together the coloring of the smaller kind is more conspicuous. In scanning a herd with the glasses we often failed to make out the species until we could catch the broad black and white stripes on the rump of the common bonte quagga. There were many young foals with the kangani. I happened not to see any with the Burchell's. I found the kangani even more wary and more difficult to shoot than the oryx. The first one I killed was shot at a range of four hundred yards; the next I wounded at that distance and had to ride it down, at the cost of a hard gallop over very bad country and getting torn by the wait-a-bit thorns.”

Roosevelt In Africa Source

Although it sounds rather harsh today collecting a large number of specimens in the name of science was a common practice at the time. Roosevelt knew that with the encroachment of civilization large herds of Grevy’s zebra and other megafauna would eventually disappear and he felt it was the right thing to collect specimens of these animals as a record for the Smithsonian before there would not be any living ones to study at all.

After heading north to Sudan where he and his party collected several Northern White Rhinos Roosevelt embarked for home, stopping in Europe for a speaking tour before sailing back to the US and landing in New York Harbor in June 1910. Back in Washington…. after 5 years of stud service to the Bureau’s horse hybridization program Dan was retired to the National Zoo.

 

[Sarus Crane]

Just before Roosevelt came back from his African expedition the new National Museum had opened on March 17, 1910. With his specimens back on American soil behind the scenes at the museum they were unpacked and cataloged. Select specimens were prepped for taxidermy and the best practices at the time were used to create lifelike mannikins which resulted in realistic mounts. The museum’s 1st floor layout featured a mammal hall on its west side and it was planned that this was where Roosevelt’s specimens would be displayed.



Floorplan of the National Museum of Natural History, 1936 showing the location of Roosevelt's specimens Source

The mammal hall would feature new animals that the visiting public would have never seen before including Bushbucks, Colobus Monkeys, Dik Diks, as well as Nubian and Reticulated Giraffes which were so tall that they couldn’t fit in glass cases. Of the many animals collected from the expedition, there were only five groupings of mammals that were exhibited in large 12 by 17-foot habitat style cases.


Specimens from Roosevelt's 1909-10 African expedition in the National Museum of Natural History Source

These completed groups were installed in 1913 and composed of the Lion, Coke’s Hartebeest, African Buffalo, Northern White Rhinoceros, and Grevy’s Zebra groups. The Grevy's Zebra group comprised of a male and two females along with a pair of Beisa Oryx which were mounted by George B. Turner the chief taxidermist of the museum. After the groups were installed Roosevelt visited the new mammal hall.


Roosevelt's Grevy's Zebras on exhibit in the National Museum of Natural History Source

 

[Sarus Crane]

In Bethesda, the hybridization program wasn’t progressing well at all. Even with a new zebra named Jerry that had been imported to try and make things better it was deemed a failure and ended on June 30, 1913. Jerry and a mare hybrid named Juno were turned over to the National Zoo. The remaining hybrids were sold to circuses.


Dan in his enclosure at the National Zoo Source


Juno the hybrid at the National Zoo Source

At the zoo Dan, Jerry and Juno’s enclosures were located near the bison and elephant exhibits. This is where the Great Ape House is located today. Dan lived until December 4th, 1919. Shortly after his death his body was donated to the National Museum.

Dan's skin & skeletal remains at the National Museum of Natural History Source

 

[Sarus Crane]

Today at the National Zoo Grevy’s Zebras live on the upper side of the zoo at the Cheetah Conservation Station. The zoo participates in the Grevy’s Zebra Species Survival Plan as a male holding facility where they hold males that are not currently needed by the SSP. Currently a male named Moyo resides there. Zebras may look like horses, but they still possess a wild side and have never been able to be domesticated. In captivity zebras are considered one of the more dangerous large animals to work with and being the largest species Grevy’s can cause life-threatening injuries. A keeper at the zoo unfortunately discovered this harsh reality with a stallion named Gumu on November 18th, 2013.

Gumu's attack at the National Zoo Source

The National Zoo has specific protocols that help keepers work safely around Moyo. This includes working him in protected contact mode, having a barrier between him and keepers at all times. Since equids in general are intelligent ungulates Moyo knows how to shift into his holding area when he hears a specific noise, a cowbell, so keepers can tend to his exhibit without issues. Tourists who visit Moyo at the National Zoo have the pleasure of viewing one of Africa’s signature hoof stock species and Moyo follows in Dan’s hoofprints as an ambassador for his wild cousins which are at high risk of extinction in the wild. Along with keeping Grevy’s Zebras the National Zoo continues with wild equid conservation by housing Przwalski’s Wild Horses and Hartmann’s Mountain Zebras at their sister facility the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal Virginia where they recently had success in breeding this threatened species.

Moyo at the National Zoo Source

Outside of the zoo community, many facilities and private landowners in the US have started to raise exotics for conservation and are doing their part to conserve the Grevy’s Zebra and other species for future generations

 

[Sarus Crane]

Today the land in Bethesda Maryland where the Bureau of Animal Industries conducted the zebra hybridization program is now a public park. In the 1920’s as urbanization surrounded the land where the animals were housed people complained about the odors and by the 1930’s the USDA had moved to another location leaving the area empty. The 32 acres that had been used by the bureau became Norwood Park in 1951.


Bureau of Animal Industries Property, 1931 Source

The only remaining part of the original complex is the Bureau of Animal Industries building which now functions as a recreation center for the community.

Bureau of Animal Industry Building today Source

At the National Museum, the zebras and the other mounts were undisturbed until the 1950’s when the Smithsonian underwent an overhaul of the museum seeking more modern looking displays for its specimens and artifacts. The Smithsonian invested in diorama type displays for a number of their mounted mammal collection like those at other leading natural history museums. Roosevelt's specimens from his African expedition were upgraded and cleaned. The zebras became part of the new Mammals of the World hall which opened in 1959.


Grevy's Zebra specimen undergoing conservation Source

Today the National Museum is now known as the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and still exhibits zebras. The area where Roosevelt’s specimens used to be displayed is now part of the Kenneth E. Behring Hall of Mammals which opened on November 15, 2003 after a hefty multi-year year renovation of the 1959 mammal hall. Over 90 percent of the mammals on display were donated by various zoos and research institutions with several notable exceptions such Roosevelt’s Northern White Rhino and a leaping Bengal Tiger carried over from the old 1959 hall. Of the 274 mounts on display you will find two new Grevy’s Zebras at an artificial watering hole in between a Waterbuck and Giraffe. Today President Roosevelt’s three mounted Grevy’s Zebra specimens and others from his 1909 African expedition remain in storage. Dan also now known as "USNM 221086" resides there as a skin and skeleton in the mammal collection. Scientists and researchers come to the Smithsonian to learn more about these zebras and other specimens about how the natural world has changed over time since the turn of the Century.

One of Roosevelt's Grevy's Zebras in storage at the Smithsonian Source

After returning from Africa in 1910 Roosevelt wrote about the Grevy’s Zebra and other big game species in his memoir African Game Trails and another book co-authored with zoologist Edmund Heller titled Life Histories of African Game Animals. These accounts helped Americans understand the wildlife of Africa that had never been seriously studied and his inclinations about the passing of large herds of African game did come true. In the 1970’s there were an estimated 15,000 Grevy’s zebras living in the wild. Due to habitat loss, hunting and competition with domestic livestock the population dwindled to a small percentage of their former numbers. Currently only about 3,000 individuals remain in the wild and the species remains endangered mainly from loss of habitat by competing with livestock along with poaching. Only time will tell if we can save it from extinction or if museums like the Smithsonian will be the only place to see them as creatures of the past.

 

[Sarus Crane]

Notes, Sources & Further Reading

I wrote this script in January 2021 so some of the information is slightly outdated such as when you see information about the Cheetah Conservation Station and Moyo who now lives at the Bronx Zoo. Much of the information such as Roosevelt's safari and his specimens at the NMNH I found online. President Theodore Roosevelt helps to provide a fascinating glimpse into wildlife and conservation practices during the first 2 decades of the 20th Century. You can discover a lot of old texts and newspapers with Biodiversity Heritage Library, Internet Archive, Google Books and of course the Smithsonian. I had so much fun researching and writing this article. If you're interested in finding some resources to learn more about this story I'd suggest to start with these:

How Dan the Zebra Stopped an Ill-Fated Government Breeding Program in it's Tracks
How Dan the Zebra Stopped an Ill-Fated Government Breeding Program in Its Tracks | At the Smithsonian| Smithsonian Magazine

A Note on Zebra Hybrid Breeding by E.H. Riley
Annual Report

African Game Trails by Theodore Roosevelt
African game trails; : Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Life Histories of African Game Animals by Theodore Roosevelt & Edmund Heller
Volume 1: Life-histories of African game animals v.1 (1914)
Volume 2: Life-histories of African game animals v.2 (1914)

The Smithsonian has a treasure trove of images that spans its entire history.

Images from Roosevelt's 1909-10 safari can be viewed in the Theodore Roosevelt Collection, part of Harvard University's library.

 

[E Maximus]

Very well put together!

 

[PSO]

Thanks for this! Well done

 

[wild boar]

This is one of the most interesting things I've read on ZooChat. Thank you!