Gorillas & Chimpanzees. Garner Richard Lynch

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СКАЧАТЬ due respect, I do not think the ape abuses the right by urging his claim beyond his real needs, while nations sometimes do.

      When a member of a family of apes is ill, the others are quite conscious of it, and evince a certain amount of solicitude. Their conduct indicates that they have, in a small degree, the passion of sympathy, but the emotion is feeble and wavering. So far as I know, they do not essay any treatment, except to soothe and comfort the sufferer. They surely have some definite idea of what death is, and I have reason to believe that they have a name for it. They do not readily abandon their sick, but when one of them is unable to travel with the band, the others rove about for some days, within call of it, but do not minister to its wants.

      It is said, if one of them is wounded, the others will rescue it if possible, and convey it to a place of safety; but I cannot vouch for this, as such an incident has never come within my own experience.

      One of the most remarkable of all the social habits of the chimpanzee, is the kanjo, as it is called in the native tongue. The word does not mean "dance" in the sense of saltatory gyrations, but implies more the idea of "carnival." It is believed that more than one family takes part in these festivities.

      Here and there in the jungle is found a small spot of sonorous earth. It is irregular in shape, but is about two feet across. The surface is of clay, and is artificial. It is superimposed upon a kind of peat bed, which, being very porous, acts as a resonance cavity, and intensifies the sound. This constitutes a kind of drum. It yields rather a dead sound, but of considerable volume.

      This queer drum is made by chimpanzees, who secure the clay along the bank of some stream in the vicinity. They carry it by hand, and deposit it while in a plastic state, spread it over the place selected, and let it dry. I have, in my possession, a part of one that I brought home with me from the Nkami forest. It shows the finger-prints of the apes, which were impressed in it while the mud was yet soft.

      After the drum is quite dry, the chimpanzees assemble by night in great numbers, and the carnival begins. One or two will beat violently on this dry clay, while others jump up and down in a wild and grotesque manner. Some of them utter long, rolling sounds, as if trying to sing. When one tires of beating the drum, another relieves him, and the festivities continue in this fashion for hours.

      I know of nothing like this in the social economy of any other animal, but what it signifies, or what its origin was, is quite beyond my knowledge. It appears probable that they do not indulge in this kanjo in all parts of their domain, nor do they occur at regular intervals.

      The chimpanzee is averse to solitude. He is fond of the society of man, and is easily domesticated. If allowed to go at liberty, he is well-disposed, and is strongly attached to man, but if confined, he becomes vicious and ill-tempered. All animals, including man, have the same tendency.

      Mentally the chimpanzee occupies a high plane within his own sphere of life, but within those limits the faculties of the mind are not called into frequent exercise, and therefore they are not so active as they are in man.

      It is difficult to compare the mental status of the ape to that of man, because there is no common basis upon which the two rest. Their modes of life are so unlike, as to afford no common unit of measure. Their faculties are developed along different lines. The two have but few problems in common to solve. While the scope of the human mind is vastly wider than that of the ape, it does not follow that it can act with more precision in all things. There are, perhaps, instances in which the mind of the ape excels that of man, by reason of its adaptation to certain conditions. It is not a safe and infallible guide to measure all things by the standard of man's opinion of himself. It is quite true that, by such a unit of measure, the comparison is much in favour of the man, but the conclusion is neither just nor adequate.

      It is a problem of great interest, however, to compare them in this manner, and the result would indicate that a fair specimen of the ape is in about the same mental horizon as a child of one year old. But if the operation were reversed, and man were placed under the natural conditions of the ape, the comparison would be much less in his favour. There is no common mental unit between them.

      The chimpanzee exercises the faculty of reason with a fair degree of precision, on problems that concern his own comfort or safety. He is quick to interpret motives, to discern intents, and is a rare judge of character. He is inquisitive, but not so imitative as monkeys are. He is more observant of the relations of cause and effect, and in his actions he is controlled by more definite motives. He is docile, and quickly learns anything that lies within the range of his own mental plane.

      The opinion has long prevailed that these apes subsist upon a vegetable diet, but such is not in anywise the case. In this respect their habits are the same as those of man, except that the latter has learned to cook his food, while the former eats his raw.

      Their natural tastes are much diversified, and they are not all equally fond of the same articles of food. Most of them are partial to the wild mango, which grows in abundance in certain localities in the forest, and is often available when other kinds of food are scarce. It thus becomes, as it were, a staple article of food. There are many kinds of nuts to be found in their domain, but the oil palm nut appears to be a favourite. They also eat the kola nut, when it is to be had. Several kinds of small fruits and berries also form a part of their diet. They eat the stalks of some plants, the tender buds of others, and the tendrils of certain vines, the names of which I do not know.

      Most of the fruits and plants that are relished by them are either acidulous or bitter in taste, and they are not especially fond of sweet fruits, if they can get those having the flavours mentioned. They eat bananas, pine-apples, and other sweet fruits, but not from choice. Most of them appear to prefer a lime to an orange, a plantain to a banana, or a kola nut to a sweet mango, but in captivity they acquire a taste for sweet foods of all kinds.

      In addition to these articles they devour birds, lizards, and small rodents. They rob the birds of their eggs and their young. They make havoc on many kinds of large insects. Those that I have owned were fond of cooked meats and salt fish, either raw or cooked.

      CHAPTER VI

      THE SPEECH OF CHIMPANZEES

      The speech of chimpanzees is limited to a few sounds, and these are confined chiefly to their natural wants. The entire vocabulary of their language embraces perhaps not more than twenty words, and many of them are vague or ambiguous, but they express the concept of the ape with as much precision as it is defined to his mind, and quite distinctly enough for his purpose.

      In my researches I have learned about ten words of his speech, so that I can understand them, and make myself understood by them. Most of these sounds are within the compass of the human voice, in tone, pitch, and modulation; but two of them are much greater in volume than it is possible for the human lungs to reach, and one of them rises to a pitch more than an octave higher than any human voice. These two sounds are audible at a great distance, but they do not fall within the true limits of speech.

      The vocal organs of this ape resemble those of man as closely as any other character has been shown to resemble. They differ slightly in one detail that is worthy of notice. Just above the opening called the glottis, which is between the vocal cords, are two small sacs or ventricles. These, in the ape, are larger and more flexible than in man. In the act of speaking they are inflated by the air passing out of the lungs through the long tube called the larynx. The function of these organs is to control and modify the sound by increasing or decreasing the pressure of the air that is jetted through this tube. They serve, at the same time, as a reservoir and a gauge.

      In the louder sounds produced by the chimpanzee these ventricles distend until the membrane of which they are composed is held at a high tension. This greatly intensifies the voice, and increases its volume. It is partly due to these little sacs that the ape is able to make СКАЧАТЬ