Help me find this Uneeka animal!
January 10, 2010 11:12 AM   Subscribe

What is or was a "Uneeka"?

Asking for my dad: there was an article in a paper in 2009, which had one of these "from the archives" stories. It mentioned that 100 years ago, at the Marine Gardens in Edinburgh, a lion broke through its cage and killed another animal known as a "Uneeka". That animal is described as "mysterious", "strange" and has "baffled scientists", but nothing more is mentioned.

I've searched newspaper archives the best I can, and found that the Uneeka was part of a menagerie owned by the Bostock Arena, seemingly a travelling circus and curiosity exhibition from the USA. They were in the United Kingdom in 1908 for the Hungarian Exhibition in London and the Scottish National Exhibition in Edinburgh, the latter which I presume the newspaper article is referring to.

Does anybody have any more information about the Uneeka? or about the Bostock Arena? or even where I could find pictures of their menagerie?

Any help welcome, as Google seems to be an almost complete failure.
posted by Sova to Grab Bag (6 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: According to Google, the uneeka was a lion-leopard-jaguar hybrid.
posted by phoenixy at 11:27 AM on January 10, 2010 [1 favorite]


Are we sure this wasn't a satirical article? There is a character from the Backyardigans on Nick Jr. called Uniqua (pronounced you-nee-kwa).
posted by IndigoRain at 11:27 AM on January 10, 2010 [1 favorite]


Oh, in that case, never mind my answer.
posted by IndigoRain at 11:28 AM on January 10, 2010


Are we sure this wasn't a satirical article?

Newspapers from that era often feature stories about odd animals and other weird phenomena, always reported in a matter-of-factly style, and quite often attributed to scientists (baffled or not) and other reputable members of the public. Skepticism weren't quite as trendy back then.

Greg Ross' wonderful Futility Closet blog often contains stuff like this.
posted by effbot at 11:52 AM on January 10, 2010 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: According to Google, the uneeka was a lion-leopard-jaguar hybrid.

Omg, that's great! You're much better at Google than me!
posted by Sova at 11:54 AM on January 10, 2010


Uniqua clearly owes some kind of debt to the uneeka, which stops at the antennae.

We've been struggling with what the hell Uniqua was supposed to be for a year.

I think Uniqua is a uneeka.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 2:45 PM on January 10, 2010


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