1 00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:04,279 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,360 --> 00:00:13,480 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,520 --> 00:00:16,880 Speaker 1: I'm Holly Fry, I'm Tracy V. Wilson. Tracy. I have 4 00:00:16,960 --> 00:00:20,439 Speaker 1: wanted to do this episode for a long time. I know, 5 00:00:22,560 --> 00:00:24,400 Speaker 1: I think I've mentioned it to you like four times 6 00:00:24,440 --> 00:00:27,600 Speaker 1: over the last several years at least. UM. So, if 7 00:00:27,680 --> 00:00:31,240 Speaker 1: you visit any zoo or facility that has a copy 8 00:00:31,280 --> 00:00:34,199 Speaker 1: in their collection, you will often hear or see the 9 00:00:34,240 --> 00:00:38,120 Speaker 1: information that this animal was discovered by the Western world 10 00:00:38,120 --> 00:00:40,680 Speaker 1: in the early twentieth century. And we have two very 11 00:00:40,840 --> 00:00:45,240 Speaker 1: hard air quote that discovery, because of course indigenous populations 12 00:00:45,240 --> 00:00:47,599 Speaker 1: have known about them for a long time. We will 13 00:00:47,640 --> 00:00:50,800 Speaker 1: talk about how important this animal is to the area 14 00:00:50,880 --> 00:00:55,320 Speaker 1: where it naturally lives. Um. And every time I hear that, 15 00:00:55,400 --> 00:00:57,320 Speaker 1: I kind of want to stand up and tell everyone 16 00:00:57,320 --> 00:00:59,160 Speaker 1: they're like all of the other tourists that there were 17 00:00:59,200 --> 00:01:02,440 Speaker 1: certainly people who lived in Africa who knew about the copy, 18 00:01:02,480 --> 00:01:04,440 Speaker 1: But I also don't want to be that disruptive. They 19 00:01:04,440 --> 00:01:07,520 Speaker 1: probably wouldn't welcome that on the little Safari ride. Um. 20 00:01:07,560 --> 00:01:09,960 Speaker 1: And most of the time there will have actually been 21 00:01:10,040 --> 00:01:12,840 Speaker 1: some mention or phrase that indicates that no no, that 22 00:01:12,880 --> 00:01:14,679 Speaker 1: was just to the Western world. But I also know 23 00:01:14,760 --> 00:01:17,880 Speaker 1: that in scenarios like that, people miss nuance and I worry. 24 00:01:18,640 --> 00:01:21,959 Speaker 1: So today we will talk about how a series of 25 00:01:22,000 --> 00:01:25,280 Speaker 1: efforts on the parts of various European explorers brought this 26 00:01:25,360 --> 00:01:29,520 Speaker 1: animal to the attention of the European naturalist community. Again 27 00:01:30,400 --> 00:01:36,560 Speaker 1: not a discovery. UM, this is one where I, you know, 28 00:01:36,640 --> 00:01:38,920 Speaker 1: often will do ones where it's like, oh, acute animal. 29 00:01:39,040 --> 00:01:42,280 Speaker 1: Oh no, horrible things. UM. I knew the horrible things 30 00:01:42,280 --> 00:01:44,720 Speaker 1: were there, So there were no surprises in that regard. 31 00:01:45,120 --> 00:01:49,680 Speaker 1: But we should of course let people know that. Um, 32 00:01:49,720 --> 00:01:53,800 Speaker 1: sometimes in the quest to collect animal specimens, particularly when 33 00:01:53,840 --> 00:01:56,360 Speaker 1: you don't know anything about that animal, people are ding 34 00:01:56,440 --> 00:01:59,640 Speaker 1: dongs and so there is some sad animal stuff in 35 00:01:59,680 --> 00:02:04,160 Speaker 1: this and yeah, so just know that going in it 36 00:02:04,240 --> 00:02:10,080 Speaker 1: was also happening concurrently with some horrific things imposed onto 37 00:02:10,160 --> 00:02:14,560 Speaker 1: the people of the region by Europeans. That's totally outside 38 00:02:14,600 --> 00:02:17,480 Speaker 1: the scope of this episode. Yes, I mean, we kind 39 00:02:17,480 --> 00:02:19,760 Speaker 1: of hint at it to give the shape of what 40 00:02:19,800 --> 00:02:23,400 Speaker 1: was going on, right, but we don't we don't get 41 00:02:23,440 --> 00:02:26,520 Speaker 1: deep into all of the politicking that was going on 42 00:02:26,600 --> 00:02:29,080 Speaker 1: in the We mentioned the land grabbing, but we're not 43 00:02:29,160 --> 00:02:31,720 Speaker 1: going super deep into all of that. You see the 44 00:02:31,800 --> 00:02:35,200 Speaker 1: rails of it. As we're telling the story O copy 45 00:02:35,280 --> 00:02:37,360 Speaker 1: of John Stoney, we'll talk about that name. And a 46 00:02:37,360 --> 00:02:40,880 Speaker 1: bit is a mammal. It has a primarily russet red 47 00:02:40,960 --> 00:02:45,000 Speaker 1: body with striped flanks, and because of those distinctive stripes, 48 00:02:45,080 --> 00:02:48,960 Speaker 1: people often assume, particularly lay people, that this must be 49 00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:52,320 Speaker 1: related to the zebra. It's actually in the same family 50 00:02:52,400 --> 00:02:56,160 Speaker 1: as the giraffe. It's roughly the same size as a horse, 51 00:02:56,400 --> 00:02:59,040 Speaker 1: standing about five ft at the shoulder and six ft 52 00:02:59,080 --> 00:03:01,239 Speaker 1: at the head, so it's at the under two ms. 53 00:03:01,880 --> 00:03:05,600 Speaker 1: The main natural habitat for the okapi is the Autouri forest, 54 00:03:05,680 --> 00:03:08,960 Speaker 1: which is a tropical rainforest in what is the Democratic 55 00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:12,600 Speaker 1: Republic of Congo today, and this forest area is in 56 00:03:12,840 --> 00:03:15,720 Speaker 1: a northeastern section of the Congo River basin in the 57 00:03:15,800 --> 00:03:18,799 Speaker 1: equatorial region, kind of right in the middle of Africa. 58 00:03:19,520 --> 00:03:22,959 Speaker 1: The climate in this area is actually pretty consistent throughout 59 00:03:23,000 --> 00:03:26,200 Speaker 1: the year, with two rainy seasons, and the temperature is 60 00:03:26,280 --> 00:03:29,960 Speaker 1: likely much milder than you may expect. The average temperature 61 00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:33,080 Speaker 1: is seventy five point nine degrees fahrenheit, with highs and 62 00:03:33,160 --> 00:03:36,760 Speaker 1: lows of seventy degrees and ninety degrees. If you do 63 00:03:36,880 --> 00:03:39,560 Speaker 1: your temperature and celsius, that's an average of twenty four 64 00:03:39,600 --> 00:03:42,440 Speaker 1: point four degrees, a low of twenty one point one, 65 00:03:42,480 --> 00:03:44,840 Speaker 1: and a high of thirty two point two. That sounds 66 00:03:44,840 --> 00:03:49,520 Speaker 1: pretty lovely to me. Um The Atouri Forest is home 67 00:03:49,600 --> 00:03:52,440 Speaker 1: to all kinds of animals, of course, in addition to 68 00:03:52,520 --> 00:03:58,520 Speaker 1: the Okapi, including birds, monkeys, chimpanzees, bush babies, bongos, pangolins, elephants, 69 00:03:58,560 --> 00:04:03,440 Speaker 1: all kinds of insects, a mix of diurnal and nocturnal species. 70 00:04:03,600 --> 00:04:07,640 Speaker 1: It is the most bio diverse area of Africa. The 71 00:04:07,880 --> 00:04:10,800 Speaker 1: copy are believed to have existed for six or seven 72 00:04:10,840 --> 00:04:14,320 Speaker 1: million years. This animal is also the symbol of the 73 00:04:14,320 --> 00:04:18,000 Speaker 1: Congo and images of a copy appear on the country's 74 00:04:18,040 --> 00:04:23,480 Speaker 1: bank notes, even on their military uniforms and talk. John Lucas, 75 00:04:23,560 --> 00:04:27,640 Speaker 1: founder and president of the O Copy Conservation Project, said, quote, 76 00:04:27,720 --> 00:04:30,400 Speaker 1: you don't have to go up to anybody in Congo 77 00:04:30,680 --> 00:04:34,320 Speaker 1: and explain what an O copy is. No everywhere else 78 00:04:34,400 --> 00:04:37,760 Speaker 1: but not there, which is an indicator too of how 79 00:04:37,800 --> 00:04:39,840 Speaker 1: long it has just been part of the culture there. 80 00:04:40,320 --> 00:04:42,640 Speaker 1: But to tell the story of how the Western world 81 00:04:42,760 --> 00:04:44,680 Speaker 1: learned of the O copy, we have to start with 82 00:04:44,720 --> 00:04:47,760 Speaker 1: a pretty familiar name, and that is Dr David Livingstone. 83 00:04:48,480 --> 00:04:51,320 Speaker 1: There is an entire episode in the archives about him 84 00:04:51,360 --> 00:04:54,320 Speaker 1: from previous host Sarah and Deblinus, so we won't rehash 85 00:04:54,400 --> 00:04:57,800 Speaker 1: his entire story. The important thing here is that he 86 00:04:57,839 --> 00:05:01,760 Speaker 1: went to Africa, and because he got himself lost UH, 87 00:05:01,920 --> 00:05:05,120 Speaker 1: he becomes the first, although very minor, link in the 88 00:05:05,200 --> 00:05:08,279 Speaker 1: chain of how the Western world learned about this animal. 89 00:05:09,160 --> 00:05:11,840 Speaker 1: How's you'll recall if you've listened to that episode or 90 00:05:11,880 --> 00:05:14,919 Speaker 1: if you're just familiar with the story. Sir Henry Morton 91 00:05:15,040 --> 00:05:18,359 Speaker 1: Stanley was dispatched to Africa to look for the missing 92 00:05:18,600 --> 00:05:23,240 Speaker 1: missionary and he was successful in finding Livingstone, and as 93 00:05:23,279 --> 00:05:26,960 Speaker 1: a reward for that success, he was commissioned by Belgium's 94 00:05:27,040 --> 00:05:31,239 Speaker 1: King Leopold the Seconds, one of the most notorious names 95 00:05:31,279 --> 00:05:35,479 Speaker 1: associated with this region in this era. UH was sent 96 00:05:35,680 --> 00:05:38,520 Speaker 1: to return to Africa in eighteen seventy one. He had 97 00:05:38,560 --> 00:05:42,479 Speaker 1: a directive of exploring the Congo and while he was there, 98 00:05:42,640 --> 00:05:45,760 Speaker 1: he and his men spotted some glimpses, but never got 99 00:05:45,800 --> 00:05:49,560 Speaker 1: a really good look at a unique creature Yea. At 100 00:05:49,600 --> 00:05:53,599 Speaker 1: this point Belgium had a very stronghold on this area, 101 00:05:53,720 --> 00:05:57,359 Speaker 1: and so you'll hear Belgium and the Belgian military mentioned 102 00:05:57,360 --> 00:06:01,239 Speaker 1: throughout this episode. So a decade and before Sir Henry 103 00:06:01,240 --> 00:06:05,120 Speaker 1: Morton Stanley thought he had seen this interesting creature, Philip 104 00:06:05,160 --> 00:06:08,760 Speaker 1: Goss had published The Romance of Natural History, in which 105 00:06:08,800 --> 00:06:12,159 Speaker 1: the author put forth the idea that Central Africa was 106 00:06:12,200 --> 00:06:16,640 Speaker 1: the place where the world's undiscovered species were likely most concentrated. 107 00:06:17,560 --> 00:06:21,240 Speaker 1: For European naturalists and explorers, this had given this area 108 00:06:21,320 --> 00:06:24,760 Speaker 1: an incredible appeal, and, as the book title suggested, a 109 00:06:24,760 --> 00:06:28,760 Speaker 1: degree of romance it is not really a long walk 110 00:06:28,800 --> 00:06:31,800 Speaker 1: to suspect that many of them imagine the glory of 111 00:06:31,839 --> 00:06:35,719 Speaker 1: traveling to the African continent and discovering again Air quotes 112 00:06:35,760 --> 00:06:40,560 Speaker 1: new species and to dovetail on our recent episode on unicorns, 113 00:06:40,600 --> 00:06:43,200 Speaker 1: that was one of the animals that Goss had speculated 114 00:06:43,680 --> 00:06:47,720 Speaker 1: could be found in Central Africa. It doesn't seem like 115 00:06:47,839 --> 00:06:51,480 Speaker 1: Stanley thought he had seen unicorn, but he was curious 116 00:06:51,520 --> 00:06:55,160 Speaker 1: about the animal he could never quite see. Stanley would 117 00:06:55,240 --> 00:06:57,800 Speaker 1: later write of it in eighteen ninety when he published 118 00:06:57,800 --> 00:07:02,799 Speaker 1: a book about his travels titled Darkest Africa. In this book, 119 00:07:02,880 --> 00:07:08,680 Speaker 1: he incorrectly identifies the indigenous Booty people as Wombooty but 120 00:07:08,960 --> 00:07:11,600 Speaker 1: it's from them that he learned that they were familiar 121 00:07:11,640 --> 00:07:16,040 Speaker 1: with these this difficult to spot mammal, writing that they 122 00:07:16,160 --> 00:07:21,080 Speaker 1: quote knew a donkey and called it atti. Stanley writes 123 00:07:21,160 --> 00:07:25,280 Speaker 1: that the booty would trap these animals, which were herbivores, 124 00:07:25,360 --> 00:07:29,120 Speaker 1: in pits on occasion. He also told colleagues that the 125 00:07:29,240 --> 00:07:32,280 Speaker 1: near sightings that he had of the atti were in 126 00:07:32,360 --> 00:07:36,640 Speaker 1: the area to the west of the Sumliki River. The 127 00:07:36,680 --> 00:07:39,800 Speaker 1: next person to enter this story is Wilhelm Yunker. And 128 00:07:39,880 --> 00:07:43,320 Speaker 1: Yunker was born in Moscow on April six, eighteen forty 129 00:07:43,360 --> 00:07:48,000 Speaker 1: into a German family. His education took him through various cities, 130 00:07:48,520 --> 00:07:52,520 Speaker 1: gooding in St. Petersburg, Berlin, and Prague, and then in 131 00:07:52,600 --> 00:07:55,760 Speaker 1: eighteen seventy four he traveled to Tunis and followed that 132 00:07:55,800 --> 00:07:58,360 Speaker 1: trip up with a trip to Egypt, during which he 133 00:07:58,440 --> 00:08:01,080 Speaker 1: made a study of the areas rounding the Nile River 134 00:08:01,160 --> 00:08:04,840 Speaker 1: and its tributaries. According to an obituary for Younker that 135 00:08:04,880 --> 00:08:07,880 Speaker 1: appeared in the Journal of the American Geographical Society of 136 00:08:07,880 --> 00:08:10,960 Speaker 1: New York, quote, it was doctor Yunker's method to make 137 00:08:11,040 --> 00:08:13,800 Speaker 1: his way into the region. He wanted to explore and 138 00:08:13,880 --> 00:08:16,240 Speaker 1: take up residence among the people for a length of 139 00:08:16,280 --> 00:08:20,680 Speaker 1: time learning their language and studying under these exceptional conditions 140 00:08:20,720 --> 00:08:24,920 Speaker 1: the ethnology and the natural history of the district. From 141 00:08:24,960 --> 00:08:27,760 Speaker 1: eighteen eighty two to eighteen eighty six, Younger was in 142 00:08:27,800 --> 00:08:31,160 Speaker 1: the Congo and the indigenous people of the region gave 143 00:08:31,280 --> 00:08:35,480 Speaker 1: him a piece of animal skin. It was striped, and 144 00:08:35,520 --> 00:08:38,280 Speaker 1: the tribe who gave him this skin called the animal 145 00:08:38,400 --> 00:08:42,920 Speaker 1: that it came from Makapi. Younker surprisingly didn't think this 146 00:08:43,000 --> 00:08:46,280 Speaker 1: was a particularly interesting find. He just thought he had 147 00:08:46,320 --> 00:08:50,200 Speaker 1: a piece of a hide from a musk deer. Incidentally, 148 00:08:50,600 --> 00:08:53,960 Speaker 1: Younker's trip that he got that hide on lasted much 149 00:08:54,000 --> 00:08:57,080 Speaker 1: longer than intended. He had not planned to stay there 150 00:08:57,120 --> 00:09:00,240 Speaker 1: for four years, but the Islamic population of su Dan 151 00:09:00,720 --> 00:09:03,959 Speaker 1: revolted against the Egyptian led government while he was there, 152 00:09:04,040 --> 00:09:07,280 Speaker 1: and in the fighting and counter attacks that followed, Younger 153 00:09:07,320 --> 00:09:09,880 Speaker 1: got kind of trapped. He was unable to return to 154 00:09:09,920 --> 00:09:12,240 Speaker 1: Europe by just traveling north through the Sudan as he 155 00:09:12,320 --> 00:09:16,520 Speaker 1: normally would, and instead he ended up traveling southeast through 156 00:09:16,760 --> 00:09:20,160 Speaker 1: modern day Tanzania and made his way to Africa's eastern 157 00:09:20,200 --> 00:09:23,520 Speaker 1: coast on the Indian Ocean. That obituary that we just 158 00:09:23,640 --> 00:09:26,679 Speaker 1: quoted from states that quote. In eighteen eighty six, the 159 00:09:26,760 --> 00:09:30,680 Speaker 1: Russian traveler suddenly appeared at Zanzibar like a man returned 160 00:09:30,679 --> 00:09:34,040 Speaker 1: from the dead. He only lived six years after he 161 00:09:34,120 --> 00:09:37,520 Speaker 1: returned home from this trip, so he wasn't around quite 162 00:09:37,559 --> 00:09:40,560 Speaker 1: long enough to have learned that he had a hide 163 00:09:40,640 --> 00:09:44,560 Speaker 1: from an O copy. In eighteen eighty nine, French Army 164 00:09:44,640 --> 00:09:48,959 Speaker 1: Captain Jean Baptiste Martian was in Central Africa and kept 165 00:09:49,000 --> 00:09:52,600 Speaker 1: a journal of his travels there. He described an animal 166 00:09:52,640 --> 00:09:55,280 Speaker 1: that he spotted near the river, and it was, by 167 00:09:55,400 --> 00:09:59,200 Speaker 1: his account, beautiful and timid, and it didn't quite look 168 00:09:59,240 --> 00:10:02,120 Speaker 1: like any whether he had seen or could find in 169 00:10:02,240 --> 00:10:06,480 Speaker 1: existing literature. He thought it was an antelope. So the 170 00:10:06,520 --> 00:10:09,760 Speaker 1: next person that we need to introduce, and really uh 171 00:10:09,920 --> 00:10:12,199 Speaker 1: to most people, probably the most pivotal in the O 172 00:10:12,320 --> 00:10:16,680 Speaker 1: copy story from the Westerner perspective, is Sir Harry Hamilton's Johnston. 173 00:10:17,360 --> 00:10:20,600 Speaker 1: He's actually a little bit difficult to discuss because so 174 00:10:20,720 --> 00:10:24,319 Speaker 1: much writing about him is pretty a brilliant although he 175 00:10:24,400 --> 00:10:28,320 Speaker 1: was a significant player in the expansion of Britain's landholdings 176 00:10:28,360 --> 00:10:31,559 Speaker 1: in the Scramble for Africa, which, of course, in many 177 00:10:31,600 --> 00:10:34,840 Speaker 1: and I would say most cases had devastating and irreversible 178 00:10:34,840 --> 00:10:38,240 Speaker 1: effects for indigenous peoples and cultures. We're going to talk 179 00:10:38,280 --> 00:10:40,920 Speaker 1: about that and both his good and bad impacts when 180 00:10:40,920 --> 00:10:53,320 Speaker 1: we come back from a quick sponsor break. Johnston was 181 00:10:53,360 --> 00:10:57,040 Speaker 1: born in London on June twelft eight and attended Stockwell 182 00:10:57,080 --> 00:11:00,680 Speaker 1: Grammar School as a child. Later in his education he 183 00:11:00,720 --> 00:11:03,280 Speaker 1: studied language at King's College and then he went to 184 00:11:03,320 --> 00:11:07,440 Speaker 1: the Royal Academy to study painting. The obituary for him 185 00:11:07,520 --> 00:11:11,199 Speaker 1: that ran in the periodical Nature in seven reads quote 186 00:11:11,360 --> 00:11:14,360 Speaker 1: Endowed with great natural ability and with a vigorous and 187 00:11:14,440 --> 00:11:18,640 Speaker 1: fearless mind, he soon displayed an amazing versatility which led 188 00:11:18,720 --> 00:11:22,400 Speaker 1: him to success along many different paths. Kind of what 189 00:11:22,440 --> 00:11:24,600 Speaker 1: I mean when I say all of his writing about 190 00:11:24,679 --> 00:11:28,240 Speaker 1: him is pretty crazy. When you see Johnston's list of careers, 191 00:11:28,280 --> 00:11:34,640 Speaker 1: it usually includes naturalist, artist, linguist, anthropologist, colonial administrator, and writer. 192 00:11:35,280 --> 00:11:38,000 Speaker 1: He wrote dozens of books during his lifetime, many of 193 00:11:38,000 --> 00:11:42,320 Speaker 1: which were about Africa. Johnston's first visit to Africa was 194 00:11:42,360 --> 00:11:45,280 Speaker 1: to Tunis in eighteen seventy nine. That means he was 195 00:11:45,320 --> 00:11:48,440 Speaker 1: in his early twenties when that happened. At this point, 196 00:11:48,520 --> 00:11:52,120 Speaker 1: he was gathering specimens painting what he saw and writing 197 00:11:52,160 --> 00:11:55,920 Speaker 1: as a journalist, and because he captured images with his 198 00:11:55,960 --> 00:11:59,160 Speaker 1: sketch pad for explorers, and because he was able to 199 00:11:59,200 --> 00:12:02,320 Speaker 1: communicate with a lot of people with his language skills, 200 00:12:02,720 --> 00:12:06,040 Speaker 1: he was soon seen as an experienced explorer in his 201 00:12:06,120 --> 00:12:09,080 Speaker 1: own right, and he was receiving assignments to go on 202 00:12:09,120 --> 00:12:13,840 Speaker 1: a variety of expeditions. Additionally, of course, that set of skills, 203 00:12:13,880 --> 00:12:18,480 Speaker 1: particularly his ability to uh pick up languages that he encountered, 204 00:12:18,720 --> 00:12:21,280 Speaker 1: meant that he was the perfect emissary for the British 205 00:12:21,320 --> 00:12:24,600 Speaker 1: Empire in the scramble for Africa, and as a colonial 206 00:12:24,600 --> 00:12:28,640 Speaker 1: administrator he negotiated a number of agreements that established Britain's 207 00:12:28,640 --> 00:12:33,480 Speaker 1: footprint there. One obituary credited him with accumulating four hundred 208 00:12:33,480 --> 00:12:37,480 Speaker 1: thousand square miles of territory for the Crown. We mentioned 209 00:12:37,520 --> 00:12:41,520 Speaker 1: a moment ago that Jean Baptiste Martian had spotted an 210 00:12:41,600 --> 00:12:44,480 Speaker 1: animal that was probably what we came to know as 211 00:12:44,480 --> 00:12:48,240 Speaker 1: in a copy. Also in eighteen nine, Johnston was made 212 00:12:48,280 --> 00:12:51,960 Speaker 1: the governor of the British Protectorate of Uganda, which had 213 00:12:52,000 --> 00:12:55,640 Speaker 1: been established in eighteen four after Britain got involved in 214 00:12:55,679 --> 00:13:00,400 Speaker 1: an ongoing battle for control among four religious groups. Three 215 00:13:00,480 --> 00:13:04,520 Speaker 1: of those religions were exogenousts. Islam had arrived in the 216 00:13:04,559 --> 00:13:09,360 Speaker 1: region in the eighteenth century through trade. Catholicism and Protestantism 217 00:13:09,480 --> 00:13:13,400 Speaker 1: spread in the area through missionary expeditions in the nineteenth century, 218 00:13:13,440 --> 00:13:16,440 Speaker 1: and then the other was Uganda's native religion. So when 219 00:13:16,520 --> 00:13:19,319 Speaker 1: Johnston was appointed to his new post, he reached out 220 00:13:19,360 --> 00:13:22,600 Speaker 1: to colleagues with knowledge of the region, including Sir Henry 221 00:13:22,640 --> 00:13:26,319 Speaker 1: Morton Stanley, and when the two men spoke about Stanley's 222 00:13:26,360 --> 00:13:30,520 Speaker 1: experiences there, that's so called Atti was a significant part 223 00:13:30,559 --> 00:13:34,240 Speaker 1: of the conversation. Johnston wanted to learn as much as 224 00:13:34,240 --> 00:13:38,160 Speaker 1: he could about this elusive animal and possible new species. 225 00:13:39,000 --> 00:13:42,240 Speaker 1: Not long after Johnston assumed this new role, a group 226 00:13:42,360 --> 00:13:46,040 Speaker 1: of Bouti were kidnapped by a German or a group 227 00:13:46,120 --> 00:13:49,040 Speaker 1: of Germans, who intended to take them to France and 228 00:13:49,160 --> 00:13:54,040 Speaker 1: exhibit them at the Paris Exposition. The details of this 229 00:13:54,280 --> 00:13:58,080 Speaker 1: entire situation are always a little vague, but the kidnappers 230 00:13:58,200 --> 00:14:02,360 Speaker 1: and their victims fled to Ganda. There they were intercepted 231 00:14:02,360 --> 00:14:06,200 Speaker 1: by Belgian forces, who reached out to Johnston to escort 232 00:14:06,280 --> 00:14:10,040 Speaker 1: the captured men back to the Atturi forest where they lived. 233 00:14:10,840 --> 00:14:13,560 Speaker 1: This is bringing a story to mind of another man 234 00:14:13,720 --> 00:14:17,400 Speaker 1: who was exhibited at a World's fair and whose life 235 00:14:17,520 --> 00:14:22,120 Speaker 1: ended tragically and suicide. That was Ota Benga, who was 236 00:14:22,280 --> 00:14:26,280 Speaker 1: kidnapped and sold to businessman Samuel Phillips Burner in nineteen 237 00:14:26,320 --> 00:14:31,800 Speaker 1: o four. Although Ota Benga was also Booty, his kidnapping 238 00:14:31,840 --> 00:14:35,080 Speaker 1: took place several years after the events were talking about here. 239 00:14:35,960 --> 00:14:39,080 Speaker 1: While Johnston was with them Booty, he took the opportunity 240 00:14:39,160 --> 00:14:42,160 Speaker 1: to ask them about that animal called the Attie that 241 00:14:42,280 --> 00:14:46,000 Speaker 1: Henry Morton Stanley had told him about from them Booty Man. 242 00:14:46,080 --> 00:14:49,000 Speaker 1: He learned that they didn't call it atti but oapi. 243 00:14:49,800 --> 00:14:53,400 Speaker 1: It's like a copy. But there's uh an apostrophe where 244 00:14:53,400 --> 00:14:56,760 Speaker 1: the k would go. Given how far off Stanley was 245 00:14:56,800 --> 00:14:59,160 Speaker 1: on the name of the tribe, this mistake about the 246 00:14:59,240 --> 00:15:02,800 Speaker 1: name is not really very surprising. The Mabooty described it 247 00:15:02,840 --> 00:15:05,760 Speaker 1: as an animal similar to a donkey, but with stripes, 248 00:15:05,960 --> 00:15:09,760 Speaker 1: and this led Johnston, like many people today, to assume 249 00:15:09,800 --> 00:15:12,760 Speaker 1: that it might be a species of forest inhabiting zebra. 250 00:15:13,720 --> 00:15:16,800 Speaker 1: Johnston had stopped on route to his mission to return 251 00:15:16,840 --> 00:15:19,880 Speaker 1: the men home to the fort held by Belgian forces, 252 00:15:19,960 --> 00:15:23,840 Speaker 1: which was called Fort Benny, and he asked the commander 253 00:15:23,840 --> 00:15:26,240 Speaker 1: of the fort if he had seen this animal that 254 00:15:26,320 --> 00:15:29,160 Speaker 1: looked like a striped donkey. It turned out that he had. 255 00:15:29,400 --> 00:15:31,680 Speaker 1: They had a skin of one of them at the fort, 256 00:15:31,800 --> 00:15:35,400 Speaker 1: but it had been cut up to make bandaliers and belts, 257 00:15:35,520 --> 00:15:39,240 Speaker 1: so Johnston couldn't see the hide in its entirety. He 258 00:15:39,320 --> 00:15:42,160 Speaker 1: was given to bandaliers to keep, though, and he also 259 00:15:42,280 --> 00:15:45,240 Speaker 1: learned yet another name for this animal that was used 260 00:15:45,240 --> 00:15:48,840 Speaker 1: by indigenous people to the area, that was a copy. 261 00:15:49,040 --> 00:15:51,640 Speaker 1: Johnston decided that they should have a little side quest 262 00:15:51,800 --> 00:15:55,840 Speaker 1: and mountain expedition immediately to try to find this mysterious animal. 263 00:15:56,640 --> 00:16:00,280 Speaker 1: According to accounts written by white witnesses, the Mabooty served 264 00:16:00,280 --> 00:16:02,320 Speaker 1: as his guides, and they were able to point out 265 00:16:02,320 --> 00:16:05,360 Speaker 1: the places O copy had been in the forest, although 266 00:16:05,360 --> 00:16:09,120 Speaker 1: no sighting happened on this trip. Johnston was surprised to 267 00:16:09,160 --> 00:16:11,280 Speaker 1: see that the tracks that he had been shown by 268 00:16:11,280 --> 00:16:14,400 Speaker 1: them Booty were made by a cloven hoof animal, not 269 00:16:14,640 --> 00:16:16,600 Speaker 1: one with a single hoof like you would see on 270 00:16:16,640 --> 00:16:20,280 Speaker 1: a horse or a zebra, and that made Johnston worried 271 00:16:20,320 --> 00:16:22,520 Speaker 1: that this whole thing may have been some sort of 272 00:16:22,560 --> 00:16:25,320 Speaker 1: deception on the part of his guides, because all of 273 00:16:25,320 --> 00:16:29,040 Speaker 1: the other information that he had seen or read indicated 274 00:16:29,080 --> 00:16:32,200 Speaker 1: that this was some kind of zebra like animal. The 275 00:16:32,280 --> 00:16:36,000 Speaker 1: expedition was cut short when a malaria outbreak started in 276 00:16:36,040 --> 00:16:39,360 Speaker 1: the travel party. They made their way back to Uganda 277 00:16:39,440 --> 00:16:44,240 Speaker 1: thanks to a Belgian military escort, and Johnston was openly disappointed, 278 00:16:44,280 --> 00:16:47,360 Speaker 1: and having not seen in a copy, he sent the 279 00:16:47,400 --> 00:16:50,680 Speaker 1: bandaliers made with the animal's skin to London so an 280 00:16:50,720 --> 00:16:54,640 Speaker 1: expert could analyze them, and that expert was Dr Philip 281 00:16:54,720 --> 00:16:58,560 Speaker 1: Letley Sclater, who was secretary of the Zoological Society of London. 282 00:16:59,400 --> 00:17:02,880 Speaker 1: Sclater's path to zoology had been kind of a zigzagging one. 283 00:17:03,440 --> 00:17:06,200 Speaker 1: He was born in eighteen twenty nine and his academic 284 00:17:06,240 --> 00:17:10,199 Speaker 1: focus at Corpus Christie College, Oxford had been mathematics, in 285 00:17:10,240 --> 00:17:13,879 Speaker 1: which he excelled apparently, but then as a career it 286 00:17:13,920 --> 00:17:16,560 Speaker 1: seemed he was destined for a life in law. He 287 00:17:16,640 --> 00:17:19,480 Speaker 1: became a barrister and member of the Honorable Society of 288 00:17:19,520 --> 00:17:23,119 Speaker 1: Lincoln's Inn in eighteen fifty five, and when Philip was 289 00:17:23,119 --> 00:17:26,320 Speaker 1: in his mid forties, his brother, George Sclater Booth became 290 00:17:26,359 --> 00:17:29,600 Speaker 1: president of the local Government Board and Philip became his 291 00:17:29,640 --> 00:17:33,680 Speaker 1: private secretary. Through all of that, though Philip had been 292 00:17:33,680 --> 00:17:36,879 Speaker 1: interested in zoology and had studied it as sort of 293 00:17:36,880 --> 00:17:41,480 Speaker 1: a serious hobby. He became the Zoological Society's secretary in 294 00:17:41,560 --> 00:17:44,960 Speaker 1: eighteen fifty nine, forty one years before he received the 295 00:17:45,040 --> 00:17:49,560 Speaker 1: parcel containing those copy skin bandaliers, so he had been 296 00:17:49,600 --> 00:17:52,280 Speaker 1: in that post a long time, and yet he was 297 00:17:52,359 --> 00:17:55,959 Speaker 1: as confused as anybody else about these skins. When he 298 00:17:56,040 --> 00:17:59,040 Speaker 1: examined them, he found that the hair on the hide 299 00:17:59,160 --> 00:18:02,000 Speaker 1: was similar to of a zebra or a giraffe, but 300 00:18:02,119 --> 00:18:05,399 Speaker 1: he thought it was too dissimilar from an antelope for 301 00:18:05,480 --> 00:18:09,119 Speaker 1: it to be a relative. Later shared the samples with 302 00:18:09,200 --> 00:18:12,359 Speaker 1: other members of the Zoological Society and a meeting in 303 00:18:12,480 --> 00:18:16,320 Speaker 1: mid December nineteen hundred and soon London was just a 304 00:18:16,359 --> 00:18:20,119 Speaker 1: buzz with the possibility that a new mammal had been discovered, 305 00:18:20,760 --> 00:18:23,879 Speaker 1: and though papers picked up the story, there was still 306 00:18:23,920 --> 00:18:26,240 Speaker 1: not a whole lot to go on. Nobody knew what 307 00:18:26,320 --> 00:18:29,640 Speaker 1: this was, so the write ups were largely quite speculative 308 00:18:29,760 --> 00:18:33,240 Speaker 1: and walked through the possibilities of it being some sort 309 00:18:33,240 --> 00:18:36,879 Speaker 1: of new species of zebra or, despite evidence to the contrary, 310 00:18:37,240 --> 00:18:41,640 Speaker 1: some kind of antelope. Mostly, the journalism coverage of this 311 00:18:41,760 --> 00:18:45,840 Speaker 1: alleged find just emphasized how eager people were to actually 312 00:18:45,880 --> 00:18:49,600 Speaker 1: see whatever it was. Even though there was no specimen 313 00:18:49,640 --> 00:18:53,480 Speaker 1: on hand. The hide samples from the bandaliers were enough 314 00:18:53,520 --> 00:18:57,320 Speaker 1: for the Zoological Society to declare that Johnston had indeed 315 00:18:57,359 --> 00:19:01,360 Speaker 1: found a new species, and on February first, nineteen o one, 316 00:19:01,680 --> 00:19:06,360 Speaker 1: they named it Equist Johnstoney. That equist meant that they 317 00:19:06,359 --> 00:19:10,040 Speaker 1: believed it to be a member of the genus equity, 318 00:19:10,080 --> 00:19:13,760 Speaker 1: that's the same one shared by horses and zebras. Johnston 319 00:19:13,880 --> 00:19:16,320 Speaker 1: was still in Uganda when this happened, and he had 320 00:19:16,359 --> 00:19:19,639 Speaker 1: not seen one of the animals either. I like this 321 00:19:19,720 --> 00:19:22,639 Speaker 1: idea that he discovered a new species without ever having 322 00:19:22,680 --> 00:19:27,000 Speaker 1: seen what it was. Um When Johnston had to cut 323 00:19:27,080 --> 00:19:30,600 Speaker 1: his active search short due to that malaria outbreak, a 324 00:19:30,640 --> 00:19:34,280 Speaker 1: Belgian officer named Merra had promised Johnston that his men 325 00:19:34,600 --> 00:19:37,120 Speaker 1: would capture one of these animals and send him an 326 00:19:37,119 --> 00:19:41,119 Speaker 1: intact high to study. But then that officer Merra died 327 00:19:41,200 --> 00:19:44,480 Speaker 1: from a complication from malaria himself not long after that 328 00:19:44,520 --> 00:19:49,280 Speaker 1: promise was made. However, another officer from Fort mcbenny made 329 00:19:49,320 --> 00:19:53,240 Speaker 1: good on the promise. By April nineteen o one, Johnston 330 00:19:53,320 --> 00:19:56,480 Speaker 1: had a skin and two skulls, as well as a 331 00:19:56,600 --> 00:20:00,439 Speaker 1: very detailed written description of the animal. And was the 332 00:20:00,600 --> 00:20:04,040 Speaker 1: skulls that made Johnston realize that the animal he had 333 00:20:04,080 --> 00:20:06,720 Speaker 1: been pursuing was not a close relative of the horse 334 00:20:06,840 --> 00:20:09,159 Speaker 1: or the zebra as it had been presumed up to 335 00:20:09,200 --> 00:20:12,240 Speaker 1: that point. It was at this point that the connection 336 00:20:12,320 --> 00:20:15,919 Speaker 1: was made to the giraffe family, so Johnston sent the 337 00:20:16,080 --> 00:20:19,879 Speaker 1: new hide and skulls along to the Zoological Society. He 338 00:20:19,960 --> 00:20:24,320 Speaker 1: also provided a watercolor of the animal for additional visual reference. 339 00:20:24,840 --> 00:20:28,840 Speaker 1: That watercolor was still speculative, though, because Johnston still hadn't 340 00:20:28,880 --> 00:20:32,720 Speaker 1: seen a living a copy. He also included a letter 341 00:20:32,960 --> 00:20:36,320 Speaker 1: with all the information he had gathered and his conclusions 342 00:20:36,320 --> 00:20:39,879 Speaker 1: about the animals likely genus. We're going to talk about 343 00:20:39,880 --> 00:20:43,760 Speaker 1: how things unfolded after Johnston's new specimens got to London, 344 00:20:43,920 --> 00:20:46,159 Speaker 1: after we hear from the sponsors that keep stuff you 345 00:20:46,200 --> 00:20:58,399 Speaker 1: missed in history class going. All of the materials that 346 00:20:58,520 --> 00:21:00,960 Speaker 1: Johnston had sent to London were shared at a meeting 347 00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:04,600 Speaker 1: of the Zoological Society on May seventh, n one. And 348 00:21:04,640 --> 00:21:07,520 Speaker 1: while this was a pretty exciting moment for the Society, 349 00:21:07,560 --> 00:21:10,400 Speaker 1: a month later their meeting was even more thrilling because 350 00:21:10,440 --> 00:21:13,320 Speaker 1: Harry Johnson had returned from Africa and he was in 351 00:21:13,359 --> 00:21:17,120 Speaker 1: attendance to lecture on the find himself, and during this 352 00:21:17,240 --> 00:21:20,520 Speaker 1: lecture he proposed that this new species be given the 353 00:21:20,560 --> 00:21:26,680 Speaker 1: scientific name Helidotherium tigrunum. Heleidotherium is an extinct genus related 354 00:21:26,720 --> 00:21:30,399 Speaker 1: to giraffo day and tigerunum means striped like a tiger. 355 00:21:31,119 --> 00:21:34,159 Speaker 1: An article ran in The Times titled a new mammal 356 00:21:34,400 --> 00:21:37,560 Speaker 1: and it opened with the line quote the helodothere in 357 00:21:37,840 --> 00:21:41,720 Speaker 1: is alive in the congo free state. An article about 358 00:21:41,800 --> 00:21:45,960 Speaker 1: Johnston's quote discovery ran in multiple papers throughout the US 359 00:21:46,080 --> 00:21:49,520 Speaker 1: under the headline newly discovered beast of the congo forests, 360 00:21:49,920 --> 00:21:52,879 Speaker 1: and it talked about the quote absolutely new type of 361 00:21:52,920 --> 00:21:56,679 Speaker 1: existing animal that was alleged to be quote a living 362 00:21:56,760 --> 00:22:01,280 Speaker 1: representative of a lost form. All of this press around 363 00:22:01,440 --> 00:22:06,560 Speaker 1: Johnston's new animal set off a frenzy. Everyone has seemed 364 00:22:06,720 --> 00:22:10,000 Speaker 1: wanted to be the first to capture a live o copy, 365 00:22:10,040 --> 00:22:13,320 Speaker 1: and within just a few years, expeditions sent from various 366 00:22:13,359 --> 00:22:17,080 Speaker 1: European and US museums had grown so numerous that the 367 00:22:17,080 --> 00:22:20,280 Speaker 1: Belgian government put a licensing and permit system in place 368 00:22:20,600 --> 00:22:22,880 Speaker 1: to try to control the number of people just prowling 369 00:22:22,960 --> 00:22:26,760 Speaker 1: the Aturi forest looking for a copy. The following year, 370 00:22:26,880 --> 00:22:30,360 Speaker 1: more samples arrived in Europe from the Atturi forest, this 371 00:22:30,480 --> 00:22:34,760 Speaker 1: time sent to Brussels by a Belgian officer. The parcel 372 00:22:34,840 --> 00:22:39,800 Speaker 1: included two skins and a complete skeleton. A zoologist named 373 00:22:39,920 --> 00:22:44,000 Speaker 1: Charles Emmanuel Forsyth Major traveled to Brussels to examine the 374 00:22:44,040 --> 00:22:48,200 Speaker 1: skeleton and the hides and determined that the Belgian officer 375 00:22:48,240 --> 00:22:51,840 Speaker 1: had actually found a different species of animal from the 376 00:22:51,840 --> 00:22:56,760 Speaker 1: one that Johnston's samples had been from. He was incorrect, 377 00:22:56,840 --> 00:22:59,879 Speaker 1: but did not know that, and named this new species 378 00:23:00,080 --> 00:23:06,080 Speaker 1: Ocopia labrecti. Yet another alleged different Ocopy species was discovered 379 00:23:06,080 --> 00:23:10,080 Speaker 1: in n three, again discovered is not really accurate, when 380 00:23:10,160 --> 00:23:13,960 Speaker 1: yet another skin landed in London. This one was named 381 00:23:13,960 --> 00:23:16,639 Speaker 1: in honor of the man who had first obtained the 382 00:23:16,680 --> 00:23:20,520 Speaker 1: full skin and skull samples for Johnston, whose name was Ericsson. 383 00:23:20,680 --> 00:23:24,320 Speaker 1: So this species, again incorrectly identified as different from the 384 00:23:24,359 --> 00:23:28,360 Speaker 1: other two, was called Okapia eric Sony. But as all 385 00:23:28,400 --> 00:23:33,280 Speaker 1: of these samples continued to be examined and analyzed, naturalists 386 00:23:33,280 --> 00:23:37,119 Speaker 1: realized they were not actually different enough to be different species. 387 00:23:37,680 --> 00:23:40,040 Speaker 1: Part of the issue had stemmed from the skins not 388 00:23:40,160 --> 00:23:44,760 Speaker 1: having any evidence of the animals sexes. Intact, different people 389 00:23:44,840 --> 00:23:48,680 Speaker 1: had prepared each skin, and though this work was all 390 00:23:48,840 --> 00:23:53,040 Speaker 1: done by indigenous people's, they didn't all prepare skins in 391 00:23:53,119 --> 00:23:56,640 Speaker 1: the exact same way. So a lot of the variances 392 00:23:56,720 --> 00:23:59,679 Speaker 1: that had been noted as evidence of a different species 393 00:24:00,040 --> 00:24:03,639 Speaker 1: were really just that they were the results of sex 394 00:24:03,800 --> 00:24:07,119 Speaker 1: or age difference. So it s got back to just 395 00:24:07,200 --> 00:24:10,639 Speaker 1: the one species. I love how there was this explosion 396 00:24:10,680 --> 00:24:12,920 Speaker 1: of excitement of three anyway, I don't know, just the one. 397 00:24:12,920 --> 00:24:16,959 Speaker 1: I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Whoops that one was just older 398 00:24:16,960 --> 00:24:19,720 Speaker 1: and male and prepared by a different person. Yes, that 399 00:24:19,800 --> 00:24:24,000 Speaker 1: just had a different tanning situation going on. Meanwhile, there 400 00:24:24,040 --> 00:24:27,240 Speaker 1: were still ongoing efforts just to capture one of these. 401 00:24:27,760 --> 00:24:31,159 Speaker 1: The Belgian government tasked its military post in the Congo 402 00:24:31,240 --> 00:24:35,199 Speaker 1: to prioritize the capture of an O copy. One of 403 00:24:35,240 --> 00:24:38,440 Speaker 1: the first efforts did not go entirely according to plan. 404 00:24:38,640 --> 00:24:41,800 Speaker 1: A Belgian lieutenant named and Zelius was able to get 405 00:24:41,880 --> 00:24:45,320 Speaker 1: six skins, but he also shot an O copy instead 406 00:24:45,359 --> 00:24:47,359 Speaker 1: of bringing it in alive. That made him the first 407 00:24:47,400 --> 00:24:51,120 Speaker 1: European to kill one. By nine O three Belgian officials 408 00:24:51,119 --> 00:24:54,080 Speaker 1: had captured alive a copy, but it escaped before they 409 00:24:54,080 --> 00:24:57,960 Speaker 1: could arrange to transport it to Europe. In nineteen o nine, 410 00:24:58,119 --> 00:25:00,880 Speaker 1: a group from the US, with funding from the American 411 00:25:00,960 --> 00:25:04,560 Speaker 1: Museum of Natural History and the New York Zoological Society, 412 00:25:04,680 --> 00:25:09,280 Speaker 1: started a planned five year expedition to collect specimens from 413 00:25:09,400 --> 00:25:13,920 Speaker 1: the Congo and specifically from the Attori Forest. On their 414 00:25:14,040 --> 00:25:17,040 Speaker 1: very lengthy wish list was on a copy for the 415 00:25:17,160 --> 00:25:21,320 Speaker 1: rules regarding expeditions that the Belgian government had sent. Again, 416 00:25:21,400 --> 00:25:25,520 Speaker 1: Belgium was in control of the area, this team, headed 417 00:25:25,640 --> 00:25:30,440 Speaker 1: by mammalogist Herbert Lang, had to be escorted by Belgian soldiers. 418 00:25:31,160 --> 00:25:35,159 Speaker 1: This group did find an indigenous tribe eating a copy, 419 00:25:35,240 --> 00:25:37,600 Speaker 1: and from them they learned that the animal was highly 420 00:25:37,600 --> 00:25:40,480 Speaker 1: regarded and that were there were a lot of rules 421 00:25:40,520 --> 00:25:43,760 Speaker 1: and social customs regarding the animal's value and how one 422 00:25:43,880 --> 00:25:46,960 Speaker 1: could and could not be killed in accordance with tradition, 423 00:25:47,560 --> 00:25:50,200 Speaker 1: who was worthy in the social structure to even sit 424 00:25:50,280 --> 00:25:53,880 Speaker 1: on a hide, and what powers one might gain according 425 00:25:53,920 --> 00:25:58,040 Speaker 1: to their belief system while wearing the animals skin. There 426 00:25:58,119 --> 00:26:01,320 Speaker 1: is a lot of this story relayed through the accounts 427 00:26:01,320 --> 00:26:04,239 Speaker 1: of the expedition and not the indigenous people's about what 428 00:26:04,320 --> 00:26:07,240 Speaker 1: they learned of the Bantu people they encountered. There they 429 00:26:07,280 --> 00:26:10,560 Speaker 1: are specifically mentioned as Bantu, And keep in mind that 430 00:26:10,640 --> 00:26:13,720 Speaker 1: the word Bantu is an umbrella term that was coined 431 00:26:13,720 --> 00:26:17,679 Speaker 1: by William hi Bleak in the eighteen fifties. It is 432 00:26:17,680 --> 00:26:21,919 Speaker 1: not an identifier that anybody that white people would call 433 00:26:22,000 --> 00:26:25,120 Speaker 1: Bantu would use, and there is no real cultural group 434 00:26:25,160 --> 00:26:28,199 Speaker 1: that it refers to. So keep in mind we are 435 00:26:28,240 --> 00:26:32,000 Speaker 1: working with accounts that use an outdated and fallacious identifier 436 00:26:32,160 --> 00:26:34,480 Speaker 1: for the people being described, So that puts the entire 437 00:26:34,520 --> 00:26:37,600 Speaker 1: account in a bit of a precarious place in terms 438 00:26:37,600 --> 00:26:41,880 Speaker 1: of accepting it at face value. So Lang's account indicates 439 00:26:41,920 --> 00:26:43,879 Speaker 1: that he was able to gain the trust of the 440 00:26:43,920 --> 00:26:47,440 Speaker 1: tribe by sending the Belgian soldiers away to their garrison 441 00:26:48,000 --> 00:26:50,639 Speaker 1: and the negotiating so he could have their help in 442 00:26:50,720 --> 00:26:54,760 Speaker 1: finding on a copy. Lang was humble enough to recognize 443 00:26:54,760 --> 00:26:57,280 Speaker 1: that he did not know what he was doing, writing 444 00:26:57,320 --> 00:26:59,840 Speaker 1: that anyone from outside of the area who had seen 445 00:27:00,119 --> 00:27:02,679 Speaker 1: or shot in a copy had only been very lucky 446 00:27:02,760 --> 00:27:06,879 Speaker 1: and not skilled. A member of the Azande people was 447 00:27:07,000 --> 00:27:10,520 Speaker 1: able to capture an o copy calf for Lang, but 448 00:27:10,760 --> 00:27:15,359 Speaker 1: Lang did not successfully keep it alive. That challenge of 449 00:27:15,480 --> 00:27:19,520 Speaker 1: keeping an O copy in good health would plague numerous 450 00:27:19,560 --> 00:27:23,520 Speaker 1: similar efforts. They just had very poor understanding of the 451 00:27:23,560 --> 00:27:28,000 Speaker 1: animal's nutritional needs. Add to that the peril of shipping 452 00:27:28,080 --> 00:27:32,240 Speaker 1: a live wild animal, which involves traveling by truck and 453 00:27:32,280 --> 00:27:36,520 Speaker 1: by boat, often with inexperienced people handling the animal or 454 00:27:36,560 --> 00:27:39,960 Speaker 1: its crate at various points along the way. It becomes 455 00:27:40,000 --> 00:27:44,600 Speaker 1: clear that only an extremely hearty animal could have survived 456 00:27:44,640 --> 00:27:48,600 Speaker 1: all of this. When Lange's expedition returned to New York 457 00:27:48,920 --> 00:27:51,680 Speaker 1: six and a half years after it left, the men 458 00:27:51,760 --> 00:27:56,359 Speaker 1: brought back literally thousands of specimens of plants and animals, 459 00:27:56,480 --> 00:28:00,320 Speaker 1: but no O copy. It actually took several more years 460 00:28:00,320 --> 00:28:02,760 Speaker 1: for an O copy to make it to Europe alive. 461 00:28:03,520 --> 00:28:05,919 Speaker 1: The first one was a calf named Boutta, who was 462 00:28:05,960 --> 00:28:08,879 Speaker 1: sent to the Antwerp Zoo after being hand raised by 463 00:28:08,920 --> 00:28:13,440 Speaker 1: the wife of the district commissioner of Bozuele Andre Jacques Landegum. 464 00:28:14,080 --> 00:28:17,280 Speaker 1: The animal only survived seven weeks after it got to Europe. 465 00:28:17,720 --> 00:28:20,720 Speaker 1: Another copy, named tele was shipped to the Antwerp Zoo 466 00:28:20,920 --> 00:28:25,199 Speaker 1: nine years later. In nine Taile lived in captivity for 467 00:28:25,240 --> 00:28:28,080 Speaker 1: fifteen years and She might have lived longer, but she 468 00:28:28,160 --> 00:28:31,240 Speaker 1: died of starvation in nineteen forty three. During World War Two, 469 00:28:31,680 --> 00:28:34,840 Speaker 1: when many European zoos were left damaged from bombing or 470 00:28:34,880 --> 00:28:39,680 Speaker 1: poorly attended during Nazi occupation, attempts to capture a copy 471 00:28:39,760 --> 00:28:43,400 Speaker 1: continued as other zoos tried to get their own animals 472 00:28:44,040 --> 00:28:48,400 Speaker 1: and people made so many mistakes. This really quickly evidence 473 00:28:48,600 --> 00:28:53,160 Speaker 1: is how having an animal was prioritized over the welfare 474 00:28:53,440 --> 00:28:58,120 Speaker 1: of those animals. In ninety eight, Camp Putnam was established 475 00:28:58,160 --> 00:29:00,560 Speaker 1: on the Ippulu River and over time time it became 476 00:29:00,560 --> 00:29:04,520 Speaker 1: an O copy capture station. By the late nineteen forties, 477 00:29:04,560 --> 00:29:07,720 Speaker 1: the people who had taken over the management of Camp Putnam, 478 00:29:08,080 --> 00:29:11,800 Speaker 1: which or Carl and Rosemary Rough, had gained experience that 479 00:29:12,000 --> 00:29:15,600 Speaker 1: capture and care, and over the next forty years they 480 00:29:15,640 --> 00:29:19,280 Speaker 1: exported almost seventy O copy to zoos in Europe and 481 00:29:19,320 --> 00:29:24,240 Speaker 1: North America. Survival rates remained really low, though the animals 482 00:29:24,280 --> 00:29:27,840 Speaker 1: often fell into ill health along the journey or shortly 483 00:29:27,880 --> 00:29:32,960 Speaker 1: after they arrived at their destination. Parasitic infections in particular, 484 00:29:33,040 --> 00:29:37,280 Speaker 1: did a lot of damage to these very stressed animals. Yeah, 485 00:29:37,360 --> 00:29:41,160 Speaker 1: basically these were parasites that they had had most likely 486 00:29:41,280 --> 00:29:44,800 Speaker 1: in their natural habitat, but because their immune system was 487 00:29:44,920 --> 00:29:48,640 Speaker 1: so completely debilitated by all of this stress and movement, 488 00:29:48,840 --> 00:29:51,240 Speaker 1: they just couldn't fight them off the way they normally 489 00:29:51,240 --> 00:29:55,080 Speaker 1: would have. North America's first A Copy arrived in nineteen 490 00:29:55,160 --> 00:29:57,479 Speaker 1: thirty seven and it became part of the animal collection 491 00:29:57,520 --> 00:30:02,520 Speaker 1: at the Bronx Zoo. Over time, time deforestation, mining and 492 00:30:02,560 --> 00:30:05,280 Speaker 1: the illegal hunting of O Copy because they are now 493 00:30:05,360 --> 00:30:09,200 Speaker 1: protected by Congolese law, these have led to declining numbers 494 00:30:09,200 --> 00:30:12,560 Speaker 1: in the wild, and the International Union for Conservation of 495 00:30:12,640 --> 00:30:15,320 Speaker 1: Nature or i u c IN, has declared the copy 496 00:30:15,360 --> 00:30:20,400 Speaker 1: an endangered species. The Institute in Congo for the Conservation 497 00:30:20,480 --> 00:30:24,200 Speaker 1: of Nature and the i u c IN SSC GIRAFFEO 498 00:30:24,200 --> 00:30:29,320 Speaker 1: Copy Specialist Group work together to lead conservation efforts in 499 00:30:30,520 --> 00:30:34,680 Speaker 1: the Democratic Republic of Congo established the O Copy Wildlife Reserve. 500 00:30:35,400 --> 00:30:37,680 Speaker 1: It is very difficult to get a count on a 501 00:30:37,840 --> 00:30:40,720 Speaker 1: Copy in the wild because they are very shy and 502 00:30:40,760 --> 00:30:44,000 Speaker 1: they are very good at avoiding people, and their natural 503 00:30:44,360 --> 00:30:48,240 Speaker 1: camouflage works very well. The current estimates that we have 504 00:30:48,840 --> 00:30:51,400 Speaker 1: are nearly a decade old because of that, but according 505 00:30:51,440 --> 00:30:54,920 Speaker 1: to the O Copy Conservation Project, they're an estimated three 506 00:30:54,960 --> 00:30:58,760 Speaker 1: thousand to thirty five hundred okopy on the Ocopy Wildlife 507 00:30:58,760 --> 00:31:02,959 Speaker 1: Reserve and somewhere between ten thousand and fifteen thousand total 508 00:31:03,040 --> 00:31:07,360 Speaker 1: on Earth. In a twist, all those initially clumsy efforts 509 00:31:07,400 --> 00:31:11,160 Speaker 1: to procure a copy for zoos have actually led to 510 00:31:11,200 --> 00:31:14,960 Speaker 1: the development of a significant avenue for conservation of the species. 511 00:31:15,680 --> 00:31:20,200 Speaker 1: In seven Europe started the first captive breeding programs, and 512 00:31:20,400 --> 00:31:23,080 Speaker 1: the Antwerp Zoo, the first to have received an a 513 00:31:23,160 --> 00:31:26,240 Speaker 1: copy from Africa, is now a leader in that effort. 514 00:31:26,960 --> 00:31:30,760 Speaker 1: A lot of zoo programs also include institute support for 515 00:31:30,920 --> 00:31:34,560 Speaker 1: conservation efforts in the wild. As of last year, there 516 00:31:34,600 --> 00:31:38,760 Speaker 1: were almost two hundred copy in captivity and captivity breeding 517 00:31:38,800 --> 00:31:42,040 Speaker 1: programs have become an important part of the conservation effort 518 00:31:42,600 --> 00:31:46,440 Speaker 1: creating an assurance population. The goal is to reach two 519 00:31:46,520 --> 00:31:50,320 Speaker 1: hundred seventy animals and such facilities to ensure a genetically 520 00:31:50,440 --> 00:31:57,280 Speaker 1: healthy captive population, and since October eighteenth has been World 521 00:31:57,360 --> 00:32:00,800 Speaker 1: O Copy Day. Just one when. All of these conservation 522 00:32:00,840 --> 00:32:05,800 Speaker 1: groups usually share a lot of information and try to 523 00:32:05,800 --> 00:32:09,800 Speaker 1: help raise awareness and knowledge about them among the general population. 524 00:32:11,320 --> 00:32:13,680 Speaker 1: For listener, mail, I have a yummy one related to 525 00:32:13,720 --> 00:32:17,960 Speaker 1: our recent Accidental Inventions episode. This is from our listener, Becca, 526 00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:20,640 Speaker 1: who writes Dear Holly and Tracy. Hi, I'm Becca. I 527 00:32:20,640 --> 00:32:22,880 Speaker 1: started listening to the podcast about a year ago, but 528 00:32:22,960 --> 00:32:25,760 Speaker 1: have only started listening frequently during the spring break. I 529 00:32:25,800 --> 00:32:28,959 Speaker 1: am on right now. I was listening to the Accidental 530 00:32:29,000 --> 00:32:31,680 Speaker 1: Inventions episode earlier today while on a walk, and I 531 00:32:31,720 --> 00:32:35,120 Speaker 1: wanted to share some personal knowledge slash a story with you. 532 00:32:35,120 --> 00:32:37,480 Speaker 1: You were right. Nuts are in the recipe on the 533 00:32:37,480 --> 00:32:40,200 Speaker 1: back of chocolate morsel bags, although you can omit them, 534 00:32:40,240 --> 00:32:42,800 Speaker 1: which I do, which is the correct thing to do 535 00:32:42,840 --> 00:32:47,280 Speaker 1: in my opinion. I made a little cheering gesture because 536 00:32:47,360 --> 00:32:51,320 Speaker 1: I'm glad I remembered rightly. I felt vindicated. I've become 537 00:32:51,360 --> 00:32:53,320 Speaker 1: a bit of an expert on making these cookies, as 538 00:32:53,360 --> 00:32:55,520 Speaker 1: I baked them about six times within the first six 539 00:32:55,520 --> 00:32:59,040 Speaker 1: months of quarantine back in I still make them frequently, 540 00:32:59,080 --> 00:33:01,600 Speaker 1: as well as chocolate white chocolate chip cookies, both of 541 00:33:01,600 --> 00:33:03,800 Speaker 1: which are big crowd pleasers with my family and my 542 00:33:03,840 --> 00:33:06,240 Speaker 1: friends at school. I mean cookies a lot when we 543 00:33:06,280 --> 00:33:08,000 Speaker 1: had full day rehearsals for a play I was in, 544 00:33:08,440 --> 00:33:10,480 Speaker 1: and the cast always got excited when I said I 545 00:33:10,520 --> 00:33:13,160 Speaker 1: brought cookies to the lunch break. Your podcast is awesome 546 00:33:13,160 --> 00:33:15,680 Speaker 1: and I'm often up past midnight listening to it. And 547 00:33:15,760 --> 00:33:17,760 Speaker 1: like I said, when I'm on Walks, y'all are awesome 548 00:33:18,000 --> 00:33:20,000 Speaker 1: and I'm definitely going to keep listening to the podcast. 549 00:33:20,080 --> 00:33:23,120 Speaker 1: Hope you'll stay safe during these uncertain times, Becca. She 550 00:33:23,320 --> 00:33:27,520 Speaker 1: also sent a very beautiful picture of her cat, Angelo, 551 00:33:27,600 --> 00:33:29,560 Speaker 1: who she has had almost her whole life. And he 552 00:33:29,640 --> 00:33:37,480 Speaker 1: is a very mellow, cuddly cat. Um so cute, so cute. Um. Listen. 553 00:33:38,040 --> 00:33:40,479 Speaker 1: I'm a sucker for kitties, It's no secret, and this 554 00:33:40,520 --> 00:33:44,840 Speaker 1: one looks very cuddly indeed and precious. Um. I. I I 555 00:33:45,080 --> 00:33:48,880 Speaker 1: also love that Becca mentioned that she makes cookies and 556 00:33:48,920 --> 00:33:51,440 Speaker 1: brings them to her rehearsals. I am a big fan. 557 00:33:51,480 --> 00:33:54,200 Speaker 1: I'm just gonna put this out there in case anyone 558 00:33:54,240 --> 00:33:58,160 Speaker 1: has ever wondered bringing baked goods where you go pretty 559 00:33:58,280 --> 00:34:01,960 Speaker 1: lar for things that are like service situations is the 560 00:34:02,000 --> 00:34:04,920 Speaker 1: best way to win friends and influence people there is 561 00:34:04,960 --> 00:34:08,080 Speaker 1: on the earth. I brought brownies to my dentist recently 562 00:34:08,520 --> 00:34:10,279 Speaker 1: and he was so thankful, and I feel like I 563 00:34:10,280 --> 00:34:14,440 Speaker 1: get a plus service. I brought donuts to my tattoo 564 00:34:14,520 --> 00:34:17,719 Speaker 1: artists recently. I didn't handbake those, but listen if you 565 00:34:17,719 --> 00:34:20,920 Speaker 1: want to make somebody's day, bring something delicious wherever you go, 566 00:34:21,480 --> 00:34:23,640 Speaker 1: and everyone won't want to be your pal. This is 567 00:34:23,680 --> 00:34:25,920 Speaker 1: the secret I give unto you. If you did not 568 00:34:25,960 --> 00:34:29,440 Speaker 1: already know it, go forth, um, make more friends, get 569 00:34:29,480 --> 00:34:31,800 Speaker 1: great service wherever you go. And also just because you 570 00:34:31,840 --> 00:34:34,080 Speaker 1: want to take care of people. That's my usual impetus 571 00:34:34,200 --> 00:34:36,800 Speaker 1: is like I just want to make somebody's day easier 572 00:34:36,880 --> 00:34:40,640 Speaker 1: or nicer, delightful. Baked good will do it. Hi, ho, 573 00:34:40,880 --> 00:34:44,799 Speaker 1: I'm on it. Uh you would like to write to 574 00:34:44,880 --> 00:34:48,560 Speaker 1: us and share your baked good information or just whatever 575 00:34:48,640 --> 00:34:50,800 Speaker 1: is going on it's pertinent or not to the podcast. 576 00:34:50,840 --> 00:34:53,240 Speaker 1: You can do that a history podcast at iHeart radio 577 00:34:53,320 --> 00:34:56,760 Speaker 1: dot com. You can also check out our social media 578 00:34:56,840 --> 00:35:00,080 Speaker 1: which is pretty much everywhere as Missed in History and 579 00:35:00,280 --> 00:35:02,279 Speaker 1: you can subscribe to the podcast if you haven't done 580 00:35:02,320 --> 00:35:04,759 Speaker 1: that yet, that's easiest. Pie on the I heart radio 581 00:35:04,760 --> 00:35:12,920 Speaker 1: app or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts. Stuff 582 00:35:12,920 --> 00:35:14,880 Speaker 1: you Missed in History Class is a production of I 583 00:35:15,040 --> 00:35:18,439 Speaker 1: heart Radio. For more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit 584 00:35:18,480 --> 00:35:21,360 Speaker 1: the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 585 00:35:21,480 --> 00:35:22,760 Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.