The Living Animals of the World, Volume I: Mammals

Apes, Monkeys, and Lemurs

told by Mr. Bidcup: "The apes of the Rock, led by one particular monkey, were always stealing from the kit of ascertain regiment encamped there. At last the soldiers caught the leader, shaved his head and face, and turned him loose. His friends, who had been watching, received him with a shower of sticks and stones. In these desperate circumstances the ape sneaked back to his old enemies, the soldiers, with whom he remained." Lord Heathfield, a former Governor of the Rock, would never let them be hurt; and on one occasion, when the Spaniards were attempting a surprise, the noise made by the apes gave notice of their

Pkoto by L. Mcdlaud, F.Z.S.] [A'ort/i Finc/tley. attempt.

DIANA MONKEY.

One of the most gaily coloured monkeys of Africa.

THE BABOONS.

Far the most interesting of the apes in the wild state are the BABOONS. Their doglike heads (which in some are so large and hideous that they look like a cross between an ill-tempered dog and a pig), short bodies, enormously strong arms, and loud barking cry distinguish them from all other creatures. The greater number for there are many kinds live in the hot, dry, stony parts of Africa. They are familiar figures from the cliffs of Abyssinia to the Cape, where their bold and predatory bands still occupy Table Mountain. They are almost the only animals which the high-contracting Powers of Africa have resolved not to protect at any season, so mischievous are they to crops, and recently to the flocks. They kill the suckling lambs, and tear them to pieces for the sake of the milk contained in their bodies.

One of the best-known baboons is the CHACMA of South Africa. The old males grow to a great size, and are most formidable creatures. Naturally, they are very seldom caught; but one very large one is in the Zoological Gardens, Regent's Park, at the time of writing. The keeper declares he would rather go into a lion's cage than into the den is neaily "halo by G. W. Wilion & Co., Ltd.}of this beast when angry. Its head one-third of its total length from nose to the BARBARY APE. root of the tail. Its jaw-power is immense, The last of the European monkeys; on this side of the Mediterranean it is only found on the Rock of Gibraltar.and its forearm looks as strong as Sandow's.

i6 The Living Animals of the World

Like all monkeys, this creature has the power of springing instantaneously from a sitting position; and its bite would cripple anything from a man to a leopard. The chacmas live in companies in the kopjes, whence they descend to forage the mealie-grounds, river-beds, and bush. Thence they come down to steal fruit and pumpkins or corn, turn over the stones and catch beetles, or eat locusts. Their robbing expeditions are organised. Scouts keep a look-out, the females and young are put in the centre, and the retreat is protected by the old males. Children in the Cape Colony are always warned not to go out when the baboons are near. When irritated and they are very touchy in their tempers the whole of the males will sometimes charge and attack. The possibility of this is very unpleasant, and renders people cautious. Not many years ago a well-known sportsman was shooting in Somaliland. On the other side of Photo by C. Reid] [Wihaw, N.B. a rocky ravine was a troop of baboons of a species RHESUS MONKEY.

A young specimen of the common Bengal monkey. of which no examples were in the British Museum. Though he knew the danger, he was tempted to shoot and to secure a skin. At 200 yards he killed one dead, which the rest did not notice. Then he hit another and wounded it. The baboon screamed, and instantly the others sat up, saw the malefactor, and charged straight for him. Most fortunately, they had to scramble down the ravine and up again, by which time the sportsman and his servant had put such a flat,'' that the baboons contenteddistance between them, making "very good time over the themselves by barking defiance at them when they reached the level ground.

They are the only mammals which thoroughly understand combination for defence as well as attack. But Brehm, the German traveller, gives a charming story of genuine courage and self-sacrifice shown by one. His hunting dogs gave chase to a troop which was retreating to some cliffs, and cut off a very young one, which ran up on to a rock, only just out of reach of the dogs. An old male baboon saw this, and came alone to the rescue. Slowly and deliberately he descended, crossed the open space, and stamping his hands on the ground, showing his teeth, and backed by the furious barks of the rest of the baboons, he disconcerted and cowed these savage dogs, climbed on to the rock, picked up the baby, and carried him back safely. If the dogs had attacked the old patriarch, his tribe would probably have helped him. Burchell, the naturalist after whom Burchell's zebra is named, let his dogs chase a troop. The baboons turned on them, killed one on the spot by

Photo ly A. S. liudland J: Sons] [London. biting through the great blood- RHESUS MONKEY AND SOOTY MANGABEY. vessels of the neck, and laid bare

The sooty mangabey (to the right of the picture) is gentle and companionable, but petulant and active. the ribs of another. The Cape

Apes, Monkeys, and Lemurs

Dutch in the Old Colony would rather let their dogs bait a lion than a troop of baboons. The rescue of the infant chacma which Brehm saw himself is a remarkable, and indeed the most incontestable, instance of the exhibition of courage and self-sacrifice by a male animal. If the baboons were not generally S. Rudland & Sons, London. Photo by L. Medland, F.Z.S., North finchtey. liable to become bad- Photo by A.

GREY-CHEEKED MANGABEY. tempered when they This monkey CHINESElives in a MACAQUE.climate as cold as that

One of the small African monkeys. grow old, they could of England. probably be trained to : but they are so formidable,be among the most useful of animal helpers and servers and so uncertain in temper, that they are almost too dangerous for attempts at semi-results. Ledomestication. When experiments have been made, they have had remarkable Vaillant, one of the early explorers in South Africa, had a chacma baboon which was a better watch than any of his dogs. It gave warning of any creature approaching the camp at it out with him when he wasnight long before the dogs could hear or smell it. He took shooting, and used to let it collect edible roots for him. The latest example of a trained baboon only died a few years ago. It belonged to a railway signalman at Uitenhage station, about 200 miles up-country from Port Elizabeth, in Cape Colony. The man had the misfortune to undergo an operation in which both his feet were amputated, after being crushed by the wheels of a train. Being an ingenious fellow, he taught his baboon, which was a full-grown one, to pull him along the line on a trolly to the "distant" signal. There the baboon stopped at the word of command, and the man would work the lever himself. But in time he taught the baboon to do it, while he sat on the trolly, ready to help if any mistake were made. The chacmas have for relations a number of other baboons in the rocky parts of the African Continent, most of which have almost the same habits, and are not very different in appearance. Among them is the GELADA BABOON, a species very common in the rocky highlands of Abyssinia; another is the ANUBIS BABOON of the West Coast of Africa. The latter is numerous Photo by York & Son, dotting Hill. round the Portuguese Photo by A. S. Rudland Sons, London. GRIVET MONKEY. BONNET MONKEY, AND ARABIAN settlement of Angola. This is the small monkey commonly taken about Whether the so-called BABOON (ON THE RIGHT). with street-organs. 3

of the World18 The Living Animals

is a COMMON BABOON of the menageries separate species or only the young of some one of the above-mentioned is not very clear. But about another variety there can be no doubt. It has been separated from the rest since the days of the Pharaohs. It does not differ in habits from the other baboons, but inhabits the rocky parts of the Nile Valley. It appears in Egyptian mythology under the name of Thoth, and is constantly seen in the sculptures and hieroglyphs. Equally strong and far more repulsive are the two baboons of West Africa the DRILL and the MANDRILL. As young

Photo by L. Medland f.Z.S.] [North Finchley. specimens of these beasts are the only ones at all easily caught, and these nearly RHESUS MONKEYS. This photograph is particularly interesting. It was actually taken by another always die when cutting their second teeth monkey, which pressed the button of Mr. Medland's camera. when in captivity, large adult mandrills are seldom seen in Europe. They grow to a great size, and are probably the most hideous of all beasts. The frightful nose, high cheek-bones, and pig-like eyes are the basis of the horrible heads of devils and goblins which Albert Diirer and other German or Dutch mediaeval painters sometimes put on canvas. Add to the figure the misplaced bright colours cobalt-blue on the cheeks, which are scarred, as if by a rake, with scarlet furrows, and scarlet on the buttocks and it will be admitted that nature has invested this massive, powerful, and ferocious baboon with a repulsiveness equalling in completeness the extremes of grace and beauty manifested in the roe-deer or the bird of paradise. The natives of Guinea and other parts of West Africa have consistent accounts that the mandrills have tried to carry off females and children. They live in troops like the chacinas, plunder the fields, and, like all baboons, spend much time on the ground walking on all-fours. When doing this, they are quite unlike any other creatures. They walk slowly, with the head bent downwards, like a person walking on hands and knees looking for a pin. With the right hand (usually) they turn over every stick and stone, looking for insects, Photo by A _ s, Rutland & sons] scorpions, or snails, and these they ORANGE SNUB-NOSED MONKEY. Seize and eat. The Writer has Seen This should be contrasted with the Proboscis Monkey.