Apes, Monkeys, and Lemurs 19 baboons picking up sand, and straining it through their fingers, to see if there were ants in it. He has also seen one hold up sand in the palm of its hand, and blow the dust away with its breath, and then look again to see if anything edible were left. Mandrills kept in captivity until adult become very savage. One in Wombwell’s menagerie killed another monkey and a beagle. Mr. Cross owned one which would sit in an armchair, smoke, and drink porter; but these convivial accomplishments were accompanied by a most ferocious temper. One of the earliest accounts of the habits of the Abyssinian baboons was given by Ludolf in his “History of Ethiopia.” It was translated into quaint, but excellent old English: “Of Apes,” he says, “there are infinite flocks up and down in the mountains, a thousand and more together, and they leave no stone unturned. If they meet with one that two or three cannot lift they call for more aid, and all for the sake of the Worms that lye under, a sort of dyet which they relish exceedingly. They are very greedy after Emmets. So that having Pays ba. at ote ae rare ce wa Photo by Ottomar Anschiitz) (Berlin,

PIG-TAILED MONKEY

« Footing the line.” Note how the monkey uses its feet as hands when walking on a branch. found an emmet hill, they presently surround it, and laying their fore paws with the hollow downward upon the ant heap, as soon as the Emmets creep into their treacherous palms they lick ’em off, with great comfort to their stomachs. And there they will lye till there is not an Emmet left. They are also pernicious to fruits and apples, and will destroy whole fields and gardens unless they be looked after. For they are very cunning, and will never venture in till the return of their spies, which they send always before, who, giving all information that it is safe, in they rush with their whole body and make a quick despatch. Therefore they go very quiet and silent to their prey; and if their young ones chance to make a noise, they chastise them with their fists; but if the coast is clear, then every one has a different noise to express his joy.” Ludolf clearly means the baboons by this description.: A more ancient story deals with Alexander’s campaigns. He encamped on a mountain on which were numerous bands of monkeys (probably baboons). On the following morning the sentries saw what looked like troops coming to offer them battle. As they had just won a

2O The Living Animals of the World

victory, they were at a loss to guess who these new foes might be. The alarm was given, and the Macedonian troops set out in battle-array. Ihen through the morning mists they saw that the enemy was an immense troop of monkeys. Their prisoners, who knew what the alarm was caused by, made no small sport of the Macedonians.

THE SPEECH OF MONKEYS.

Something should be said of the alleged " speech of " monkeys which Professor Garner believed himself to have discovered. He rightly excluded mere sounds showing joy, desire, or sorrow from the faculty of speech, but claimed to have detected special words, one meaning "food," another "drink," another "give me that,".another meaning " monkey," or an identification of a second animal or monkey. to keep Photo by Ottomar AnsckGiz] [JJerlin. He used a phonograph CHACMA BABOON. permanent record of the This photograph shows his attitude when about to make an attack. sounds, and made an expedition to the West African forests in the hope that he might induce the large anthropoid apes to answer the sounds which are so often uttered by their kind in our menageries. The enterprise ended, as might have been expected, in failure. Nor was it in the least necessary to go and sit in a cage in an African forest in the hope of striking up an acquaintance with the native chimpanzees. The little Capuchin monkeys, whose voices and sounds he had ample opportunity of observing here, give sufficient material for trying experiments in the meaning of monkey sounds. The writer believes that it is highly probable that the cleverer monkeys have a great many notes or sounds which the others do understand, if only because they make the same under similar circumstances, otherwise they would not utter them. They are like the sounds which an intelligent but nearly dumb person might make. Also they have very sharp ears, and some of them can understand musical sounds, so far as to show a very marked attention to them. is relatedThe following account of an experiment of this kind, when a violin was being played, in " Life at the Zoo ": " The Capuchin monkeys, the species selected by Professor Garner for his experiments in monkey language, showed the strangest and most amusing excitement. These pretty little creatures have very expressive and intelligent faces, and the play and mobility of their faces and voices while listening to the music were extraordinarily rapid. The three in the first cage at once rushed up into their box, and then all peeped out, chattering and excited. One by one they came down, and listened to the music with intense curiosity, shrieking and making faces at a crescendo, shaking the wires angrily at a discord, and

Photo by C. Reid] {WiiUaw, N.B.

A YOUNG MALE CHACMA BABOON.

Note the protruding tusk in the upper jaw. A baboon sitting in this position of rest can instantly leap six or seven feet, and inflict a dangerous bite. 21

22

The Living Animals of the World

putting their heads almost upside-down in efforts at acute criticism at low and musical passages. Every change of note was marked by some alteration of expression in the faces of the excited little monkeys, and a series of discordant notes roused them to a passion of rage.” At the same time a big baboon, chained up near, evidently disliked it. He walked off in the opposite direction to the farthest limits of his chain.

THE NEW WORLD MONKEYS.

Mention of the Capuchins takes us to the whole group of the New World Monkeys. Nearly all of these live in the tropical forests of Brazil, Guiana, Venezuela, and Mexico. They are all different from the Old World monkeys, and many are far more beautiful. The most attractive of the hardier kinds are the Capuchins; but there are many kinds of rare and delicate little monkeys more beautiful than any squirrel, which would make the most delightful pets in the world, if they were not so delicate. To try to describe the Old World monkeys in separate groups from end to end is rather a hopeless task. But the American monkeys are more manageable by the puzzled amateur. Most of them have a broad and marked division between the nostrils, which are not mere slits close together, but like the nostrils of men. They also have human-looking rounded heads. Their noses are of the “cogitative” order, instead of being snouts or snubs with narrow openings in them; and the whole face is in many ways human and intelligent. The HOWLER MONKEYS, which utter the most hideous sounds ever heard in the forests, and the SPIDER MONKEYS are the largest. The latter have the most wonderfully developed limbs and tails for catching and climbing of any living animals. As highly specialised creatures are always interesting, visitors to any zoological garden will find it worth while to watch a spider monkey climbing,

Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons] [London.

HEAD OF MALE MANDRILL.

This is one of the most hideous of living animals. The natives of West Africa hold it in greater dislike even than the large carnivora, from the mischief which it does to their crops.

Photo by L. Medland, F.Z.S., North Finchley.

BROWN CAPUCHIN.

The most intelligent of the common monkeys of the New World. It uses many sounds to express emotions, and perhaps desires.

Photo by L. Medland, F.Z.S., North Finchley.

DRILL.

Only less ugly than the Mandrill. Its habits are the same.

Apes Monkeys, and Lemurs

just as it is always worth while to watch a great snake on the move. The tail is used as a fifth hand: the Indians of Brazil say they catch fish with it, which is not true. But if you watch a spider monkey moving from tree to tree, his limbs and tail move like the five fingers of a star-fish. Each of the extremities is as sensitive as a hand, far longer in proportion than an ordinary man's arm, and apparently able to work independently of joints. The monkey can do so many things at once that no juggler can equal it. It will hold fruit in one hand, pick more with one foot, place food to the mouth with another hand, and walk and swing from branch to branch with the other foot and tail, all simultaneously. These monkeys have no visible thumb, though

Photo by A. S. Rudland cfc Sons] [London dissection shows that they have a rudimentary one; RED HOWLER MONKEY. but the limbs are so flexible that they can put one

The males possess a most extraordinary voice. arm round behind their heads over on to the opposite shoulder, and brush the fur on their upper arm. The end of the tail seems always "feeling" the air or surroundings, and has hairs, thin 'it is near a leaf or branch. It isand long, at the end, which aid it in knowing when almost like the tentacle of some sea zoophyte. Gentle creatures, all of them, are these spider monkeys. One of them, of the species called WAITA, when kept in captivity, wore the fur off its forehead by rubbing its long gaunt arms continually over its brow whenever it was scolded. The spider monkeys differ only in the degree of spidery slenderness in their limbs. In disposition they are always amiable, and in habits tree-climbers and fruit-eaters.

The CAPUCHINS are, in the writer's opinion, the nicest of all monkeys. Many species are known, but all have the same round merry faces, bright eyes, pretty fur, and long tails. There is always "Sr a fair number at the Zoological Gardens. They are merry, but full of fads. One hates children and loves ladies; another adores one or two other monkeys, and screams at the rest. All are fond of insects as well as of fruit. A friend of the writer kept one in a large house in Leicestershire. It was not very good-tempered, but most amusing, climbing up the blind-cord first, and catching and eating the flies on the window-panes most dexterously, always avoiding the wasps. This monkey was taught to put out a lighted paper (a useful accomplishment) by dashing its hands on to the burning part, or, if the paper were twisted up, by taking the unlighted end and beating the burning part on the ground; and it was very fond of turning the leaves of any large book. This it did not only by vigorous use of both arms and hands, but by putting its head under too, and "heaving" the leaves over. behind the room In the monkey-house private [.London. & Soni] of the rare Photo ly A. S. Rudland a number are thereat the Zoo always MONKEY A SPIDER for arboreal life. The tailand delicate monkeys from the New World, This monkey is specially adapted which cannot stand the draughts of the outer acts as a fifth hand.