BOOK I. MAMMALS.

CHAPTER I.

APES, MONKEYS, AND LEMURS.

THE MAN-LIKE APES.

THE CHIMPANZEE.

man in bodily structure and appearance, although in height OF all the great apes the CHIMPANZEE most closely approaches it is less near the human standard than the gorilla, 5 feet being probably that of an adult male.

Several races of this ape are known, among them the TRUE CHIMPANZEE and the BALD CHIMPANZEE. The varieties also include the Kulo-kamba, described by Du Chaillu, and the Soko, discovered it with the gorilla. But the by Livingstone, who confounded variations in neither of these are sufficiently important to justify their being ranked as species. is found in The first authentic mention of the chimpanzee sailor " The Strange Adventures of Andrew Battell," an English taken prisoner by the Portuguese in 1590, who lived eighteen years near Angola. He speaks of two apes, the Pongo and the Enjocko, of which the former is the gorilla, the latter the Photo by Fratetli Alinari, Florence. chimpanzee. The animal was first seen in Europe in 1641, and ARABIAN BABOOX. described scientifically" fifty-eight years later, but we are indebted

Photos by Q. W, Wition <fc Co., Ltd..} Anger.

".The Living Animals of the World t 1 1.* to Dr. Savage, a missionary, for our first account of its habits, in 1847. The chimpanzee, like the gorilla, is found only in Africa. The range includes West and Central Equatorial Africa, from the Gambia in the north to near Angola in the south, while it occurs in the Niam-Niam country to the north-west of the great lakes, and has been discovered recently in Uganda. The new Uganda Railway, which will open out the great lakes to the east, will bring English travellers well within reach of the nearest haunt of these great apes. It is on the likeness and difference of their form and shape to those of man that the attention of the world has been mainly fixed. is a heavily The chimpanzee built animal, with chest and arms of great power. The male is slightly taller than the female. The crown is depressed, the chin receding, the ridges which overhang the eye-sockets more fkoto by Scholastic Photo. Co.] [Parson's Green. prominent than in man, less so CHIMPANZEE WELL-KNOWN "JENNY," THE AT THE ZOO. than in the gorilla. The nose POSE. CHARACTERISTIC A VERY has a short bridge, and a flatIn this picture the rounded ear, human-liko wrinkles on the forehead, and length of is large, and the toes should be noted. extremity. The ear less human than that of the gorilla. The hands and feet are comparatively long; the digits are, except the thumb and great toe, joined by a web. The arms are short for an ape, reaching only to the knees. The teeth are similar to those of man, and the canines of only moderate size. The chimpanzee has thirteen pairs of ribs, and, like man, has a suggestion at the end of the vertebra? of a rudimentary tail. It walks on all-fours, with the backs of its closed fingers on the ground, and can only stand upright is of a -reddish or brown flesh-colour, the hairby clasping its hands above its head. The skin black, with white patches on the lower part of the face. The bald chimpanzee has the top, front, and sides of the face bare, exceedingly large ears, thick lips, and black or brown hands and feet. is the thick forest, where tropical vegetation ensures The chimpanzee's natural home it frequents the mountains near the coast. It is aalmost total gloom. But near Loango allfruit-feeding animal, said to do much damage to plantations, but the bald race, at forevents in captivity, takes readily to flesh, and the famous " Sally " which lived in the Zoo over six years used to kill and eat pigeons, and caught and killed rats. The male chimpanzee builds a nest in a tree for his family, and sleeps under its shelter; when food becomes scarce in the vicinity, a move is made, and a new nest built. This ape lives either in separate families or communities not exceeding ten in number, and is monogamous. it is difficult to get accurate information, as the sins of the As to the animal's courage,

Apes, Monkeys, and Lemurs

gorilla and baboon have often been laid on its shoulders, and information derived from natives is usually untrustworthy. Apparently the chimpanzee avoids corning into collision with man although, when attacked, it is a formidable antagonist. Tales of chimpanzees kidnapping women and children need stronger evidence than they have yet obtained. The natives kill this ape by spearing it in the back, or by driving it into nets, where it is entangled and easily dispatched. According to Livingstone, the soko, as the chimpanzee is called in East Central Africa, kills the leopard by biting its paws, but falls an easy prey to the lion.

In captivity it is docile and intelligent, but usually fails to stand a northern climate for more than a few months. It is easily taught to wear clothes, to eat and drink in civilised fashion, to understand what is said to it, and reply with a limited vocabulary of grunts. Sally learnt to count perfectly up to six, and less perfectly to ten; she could also distinguish white from any colour, but if other colours were presented her she failed, apparently from colour-blindness. Of this ape the late Dr. Gr. J. Ilomanes wrote with something more than the enthusiasm of a clever man pursuing a favourite theme: " Her intelligence was conspicuously displayed by the remarkable degree in which she was able to understand the meaning of spoken language a degree fully equal to that presented by an infant a few months before emerging from infancy, and therefore higher than that which is presented by any brute, so far at least as I have evidence to show." Romanes here speaks only, be it noticed, of ability to understand human speech not to think and act. But this is in itself a great mark of intelligence on human lines. " Having enlisted the co-operation of the keepers, I requested them to ask the ape repeatedly for one strawr, two straws, three straws. These she was to pick up and hand out from among the litter of her cage. No constant order wras to be observed in making these requests; but whenever she handed a number not asked for her offer was to be refused, while if she gave the proper number her offer was to be accepted, and she was to receive a piece of fruit in payment. In this way the ape had learnt to associate these three numbers with the names. As soon as the animal understood what was required, she never failed to give the number of straws asked for. Her education was then completed in a similar manner from three to four, and from four to five straws. Sally rarely made above to thatmistakes; but number up Ltd.] [Aberdeen. of Photo by G. W. Wilson & Co., one to to whichfive, and ten, up the keepers endeavoured to advance her A YOUNG CHIMPANZEE. education, the result is uncertain. It is This excellent photograph, by Major Nott, F.Z.S., is partkutoly good, as evident that she understands the words showing the manner in which these animals use their hands and

The Living Animals of the World

seven, eight, nine, and ten to betoken numbers higher than those below them. When she was asked for any number above six, she always gave some number over six and under ten. She sometimes doubled over a straw to make it present two ends, and was supposed (thus) to hasten the attain-all the ment of her task." By no means chimpanzees are so patient as Sally. One kept in the Zoological Gai'dens for some time made an incessant noise by stamping on the back of the box in which it was confined. It struck this with the flat of its foot wlwle hanging to the cross-bar or perch, and made a prodigious din. This seems to bear out the stories of chimpanzees assembling and drumming on logs in the Central African forests.

THE GORILLA.

The name of this enormous ape has been known since 450 B.C. Hanno the Carthaginian, when off Sierra Leone, met with wild men arid women whom the interpreter called

Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons, GORILLAS. The males escaped and flung stones HEAD OF MALE GORILLA. from the rocks, but several females were first of one ever of the gorillasThis is a photograph brought to England It. dfl sent Chaillu. captured. These animals could not have been the It was famous by gorillas, but were probably baboons. Andrew it is likeBattell, already mentioned, described the gorilla under the name of Pongo. He says a man, but without understanding even to put a log on a fire; it kills Negroes, and drives off the elephant with clubs; it is never taken alive, but its young are killed with poisoned arrows; it covers its dead with boughs. Dr. Savage described it in 1847. Later Du Chaillu visited its haunts, and his well-known book relates how he met and killed several specimens. But Mr. Winwood Keade, who also went in quest of it, declared that Du Chaillu, like himself, never saw a live gorilla. Von Koppenfels, however, saw a family of four feeding, besides shooting others. The late Miss Kingsley met several, one of which was killed by her elephant-men. The gorilla has a limited range, extending from 2 north to 5 south latitude in West far east itAfrica, a moist overgrown region including the mouth of the Gaboon River. How is found is uncertain, but it is known in the Sierra del Cristal. In 1851-52 it was seen in considerable numbers on the coast.

The gorilla is the largest, strongest, and most formidable of the Primates. An adult male is from 5 feet 8 inches to 6 feet high, heavily built, with arms and chest of extraordinary power. The arms reach to the middle of the legs. The hands are clumsy, the thumb short, and the fingers joined by a web. The neck scarcely exists. The leg has a slight calf. The is large andtoes are stumpy and thick; the great toe moves like a thumb. The head receding, with enormous ridges above the eyes, which give it a diabolical appearance. The canine teeth are developed into huge tusks. The nose has a long bridge, and the nostrils look downwards. The ear is small and man-like.

In colour the gorilla varies from deep black to iron-grey, with a reddish tinge on the it ishead; old animals become grizzled. The outer hair is ringed grey and brown; beneath a woolly growth. The female is smaller not exceeding 4 feet 6 inches and less hideous, as

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