WORLD'S FIRST ZOO BIOLOGIST

[Guest guest]

First Zoo Biologist of the World -- Ram Brahma Sanyal

 

The first Superintendent of the Calcutta Zoo distinguished the Calcutta zoo all

right but also the whole Indian nation -- he was Shri Ram Brahma Sanyal. Sanyal

was the first Superintendent of Calcutta Zoo and author of the first true work

of zoo management, the " Handbook of the Management of Wild Animal in Captivity

in Lower Bengal. " The prestigious journal Nature Magazine of Great Britain

acknowledged the book as the " first of its genre " in 1892 at the time of

publication.

 

This section on Sanyal, but for the comments of Loisel and Flower and what is

taken directly from the Handbook, is the work of his biographer, Dr. D. K.

Mitra, to whom we are indebted for literally all historical information about R.

B. Sanyal and much about the Calcutta Zoo itself. Dr. Mitra, who was Deputy

Librarian of the National Library in Belvadere for many years until his

retirement and a tireless researcher of Sanyal and the Calcutta Zoo, has written

a definitive biography of Sanyal, which was published in Bengali some years ago.

An English translation has been undertaken as well as a detailed history of

Calcutta Zoo. The information given here is taken from his article published in

1988 as well as an unpublished monograph entitled R. B. Sanyal, Calcutta

& #8209; & #8209; Indian Naturalist and Zoo Biologist, written as introductory

material for the reprinting of Sanyal's Handbook.

 

The Managing Committee wanted to engage a Scientific Director to guide

activities in the zoo. After some years of searching they could not find a

suitable person either from India or from England. One of the members of the

Managing Committee, Dr. George King, Professor of Botany in the Medical College

(who was responsible for landscaping the zoo) had engaged a young Bengali

medical student who had been unable to continue his studies due to problems with

his eyesight, as an ordinary worker. Ram Brahma Sanyal, like Francis Buchanan

before him, seems to have been destined to make an extraordinary contribution in

natural history rather than medicine.

 

According to Mitra, the history of Calcutta Zoo centres around Sanyal (1876-

1908), because in the absence of a European Director with a scientific

background, ultimately the Committee had to depend solely on an Indian, R. B.

Sanyal, " whom they trained up according to their need. "

 

Sanyal's first duty when he was engaged as an ordinary worker in 1876 was to

supervise the Indian laborers taken on the do the horticultural and landscaping

work and " to monitor everything that took place within the Gardens. " He worked

hard and rose swiftly. In a few months he was promoted and given more

supervisory responsibilities including the nutrition and medical care of the

growing number of animals. He exhibited such a facility for management and

documentation that he was made Acting Superintendent and then Superintendent by

default, as no more suitable person could be found.

 

If we consider Dr. Heini Hedigger the father of zoo biology, then R. B. Sanyal

might well be considered great grandfather of the science. He contributed

significantly to the development of a professional identity and was probably the

first to practice zoo management as a holistic inter & #8209;disciplinary

scientific endeavor. He was certainly the first to write about it as such.

 

Sanyal's success as a zoologist might be " credited " in some measure to his

bosses who did not have confidence in his ability. The British Managing

committee & #8209; & #8209; either from their characteristic bureaucratic

inclination or a basic mistrust of Sanyal's administration & #8209; & #8209;

demanded a voluminous amount of records and reports. It is possible that without

these demands, he might not have recorded virtually everything that occurred in

the zoo, which later facilitated the writing of the Handbook and other

scientific articles and sharpened his observational and analytical skills. Also

having Anderson as a mentor and the example of his 181 pages visitors guide

would have been no less an influence. Dr. Mitra has noted that that Sanyal met

John Anderson and Carl Louis Schwendler in the beginning of his career and they

were responsible for shaping him into a " zoo man of distinction. "

 

Sanyal began his scientific observations into the biology and behaviour of

captive wild animals in 1877 recording his experiences in the `Daily Register’

of the Zoological Gardens, Calcutta. It was from this detailed register that he

took the material for the Handbook.

 

Sanyal probably was the first person in the world to write specifically about

zoo enclosure designs, including even dimensions and furniture or props required

for their general welfare and biological requirements. Some typical entries are:

 

For Clouded Leopards: " As the animal is essentially arboreal in its habits it

ought to have branches of trees in its cage and there ought to be a box for

retirement. Like the caracal, it requires to be kept apart from the other,

smaller carnivorous animals as it evidently dislikes the smell. "

 

For Sumatran Rhinos: " For the health, growth, and comfort of a rhinoceros it

must have water and mud to bathe and wallow in, ample shade to protect it from

sun and a large piece of dry ground as a promenade. An enclosure 230 feet long

by 116 feet broad with a tank 160 feet in length and 50 feet in breadth well

shaded by clumps of bamboos had been found to answer for a pair of rhinoceros.

 

 

 

For Indian Fruit Bats: " Housing: Their cage must be high, shady, cool as they

are in the habit of roosting in a retired place during the day and cannot bear

light or much heat. The flying fox hangs head downward and prefer to claw their

hind feet on to the wire netting of the cage, disregarding the sticks, which are

placed across the cage for its use.

 

 

 

For pigmy hog. " Housing " ... (they) should have a sleeping chamber and an other

enclosure. The latter should be lined with planks for about three feet from the

ground to prevent their injuring themselves, as they are apt to dash against

fencing at the slightest alarm.

 

For polar bears: " A polar bear is one of those animals which should never be

acquired for exhibition in this climate. "

 

Sanyal, so sensitive to the welfare of the animals under his care, was also

sensitive to the educational needs of visitors and the research potential of the

zoo. He wrote books on nature for children and coordinated research on snake

venom and pathology of other animals. It would be noted that Sanyal did not

include Reptiles in the Handbook. This is probably because he planned to give a

special treatment in another book as a result of his extensive research into the

subject of reptiles and antivenom. [** Note: Much material by Sanyal seems to

have been lost. The presumed notes on reptiles is nowhere to be found, nor is

the manuscript described in some of his letters and notes relating the latter

half of his tenure at the Calcutta Zoo available despite repeated searches by

his biographer.]

 

 

 

Under the heading of " Treatment in health " , suggestions based upon experiences

gained in the Gardens are given & #8209; & #8209; on the best way of housing,

breeding, feeding and transporting of animals in captivity.

 

Regarding nutrition, Sanyal gives details of food, including quantity and also

occasional changes in their food habits. He has also pointed out the food habits

of some exotic animals under Indian conditions as well, distinguishing between

their natural diet and what might be fed in captivity that is readily available

in India.

 

Breeding of animals in general and conditions prevailing in the Gardens for this

vital factor in zoo management has been dealt in detail giving therein the

reason of failure in breeding. In considering this, it is important to remember

that those were the days of Menageries, when most of the people managing captive

animal collections were not particularly concerned about breeding. Sanyal was

the first to deal with breeding as a serious subject and seemingly an objective

of the institution.

 

Under the heading of " Animals in Sickness " , diseases, injuries or wounds of the

animals have been analysed with examples, including detailed accounts of

successes and failures in treatment.

 

Anecdotes of a lioness killed by a tiger, various animal escapes, unusual

deaths, and other interesting incidents are liberally included which give

aspiring or working zoo managers an idea of the kind of unanticipated incidents

which could sometimes occur in zoological facilities keeping live animals.

 

The present Director of the Calcutta Zoo, Mr. A. K. Das refers to Sanyal's book

even today and finds help for an occasional problem. Once when Mr. Das was

preparing for a pair of giraffes to be imported for the Calcutta Zoo, he

referred to Sanyal's comments on giraffes, which were exhibited in the zoo even

then. He noted a reference to the death of a giraffe by a freak accident in

which the long & #8209;necked animal reached up into some trees to nibble at

leaves. This particular tree had an y & #8209; shaped branch so placed that the

animal was forced to stretch through the " y " to grasp the leaves. In bringing

its head down for chewing, the animal was caught in the narrow part of the

branches and strangled. Mr. Das immediately went to the giraffe kraal and was

amazed to find the same or a similar branch in the enclosure. The offending

branches and any others suspected to cause an accident was immediately sawed

off. [*3 Handbook] [*3 personal comment]

 

Dr. Mitra writes eloquently of the tremendous versatility of Sanyal and the

challenges given him by the Managing Committee, who quite took him for granted.

" Due to his medical background he was a good pathologist who carried out

treatment of the animals in the zoo. He was also a thorough sanitarian attending

assiduously to the hygiene of the zoo enclosures and grounds. He was an

efficient gardener as well which inclination he had imbibed from Dr. King. In

addition to the discharge of his legitimate duties he played a very important

part in establishing the Garden and in maintaining its reputation both with the

local public as well as scientific institutions. His personal influence among

the Indian gentlemen gained the zoo numerous donations and benefactions.

 

Sanyal assisted the Committee in their weekly meetings by supplying detailed

information about the animals of the Garden. He looked after the general

administration as well as acting on what often seem to be whims and fancies of

the Committee members. Whenever the Committee was faced with a difficult problem

they passed on the responsibility to Sanyal.

 

For example, in 1879, faced with an extreme financial crisis, the Managing

Committee introduced the novel idea of raising funds by holding a " Moonlight

Fete " and Fancy Fair to be held in the Gardens during the night from January

1880 without thinking, apparently, of the effect on the animals. Instances of

abnormal behaviour among the animals as a result of the disturbance gave Sanyal

many hard days' work and much grief.

 

The Committee likewise opened a Dairy Farm in June 1882, seemingly without

assessing the possible implications. Sanyal, expert though he was in animal

management seems to have had no say but must have been relieved when the farm

was closed down due to an outbreak of rinderpest. It is not recorded if this

affected the zoo animals.

 

When, during August 1884, unsocial elements had made their meeting ground in the

Zoological Gardens, the Committee made Sanyal a Police Inspector by the order of

the Deputy Commissioner of Police and expected him to fight out the situation as

well as manage the animals. [*3 Mitra unpublished]

 

Unlike our Buchanan of Barrackpore, Sanyal's efforts did not go unrecognised in

his own lifetime at least. Soon after the publication of the handbook, immense

appreciation came from Sir Charles Alfred Elliot Lieutenant & #8209;Governor of

Bengal (1890 & #8209;1895). The book was praised by W.T. Blanford and Dr. John

Anderson, Vice & #8209;Presidents of the Zoological Society of London as well as

the leading

 

As a result of the marvelous production of the Handbook, which helped in general

for the advancement of scientific knowledge, the Zoological Society of London

made Sanyal a " Corresponding Member " (CMZS) in 1893. Sanyal later visited London

and other European countries to see the zoological gardens there.

 

In 1899 Sanyal was awarded the title of `Rai Bahadur' by the Government of

India. He was made an Associate Member of the Asiatic Society of Bengal in the

same year. He made several presentations in the monthly meetings before a large

gathering of naturalists and other scientists, some of which were published in

the Journal and Proceedings of this Society. He was given a special honour by

the Committee of Management of the zoo when they requested the Government of

India to include Sanyal as a Member of the Committee in 1902. He was invited to

Bombay in 1894 and Rangoon where his help in planning the zoos was much

appreciated.

 

The book continued to be held in much regard. In 1907, Gustave Loisel the French

historian mentioned earlier was impressed by the Superintendent, " a Hindu, Ram

Bramha Sanyal who published a Handbook which is still admired today by Zoos. " [*3 aa]

 

In 1912 Capt. S. S. Flower in his Report on a Zoological mission to India cites

the Handbook along with Dr. John Anderson's Guide to the Calcutta Zoological

Gardens. In 1917 Frank Finn, B.A., F.Z.S. commented in an article entitled

Calcutta Zoo in the Nineties for Menagerie Magazine, that Sanyal's book

reflected credit on the practical zoological attainments of the writer.

 

Very little appeared about Sanyal until, as pointed out by William Conway in a

recent letter to this writer, Dr. Lee Crandall cited the Handbook seventeen

times in his seminal work of a similar title published in 1960.

 

Copies of the Handbook were almost unobtainable for many years. The Calcutta Zoo

itself had only one copy, and that too found by sheer chance in a used bookstore

by Mr. Bannerjee, a Member of the zoo's Managing Committee. Several old zoos

abroad all over the world have the book and a few collectors. In 1987 excerpts

from Sanyal began appearing in ZOOS' PRINT, an Indian zoo magazine. Finally the

book was reprinted in 1995 by the Central Zoo Authority of the Ministry of

Environment and Forests, Government of India and now it is beginning to be

appreciated by modern zoo personnel.

 

Sanyal was unquestionably the first truly modern zoo man, -- and the last for

many decades.