August, 1917. The Irish Naturalist 125 



SOME NOTES ON THE DUBLIN GORILLA. 



BY PROF. GEO. H. CARPENTER, M.SC, SEC. R.Z.S.I. 



(plates III., IV., v.). 



For several years past the Gardens of the Royal Zoological 

 Society of Ireland in Phamix Park, Dublin, have never been 

 without one or more representatives of the Anthropoid 

 Apes — that family (Simiidae) of the order Primates whose 

 members approach most nearly in bodily structure and also 

 in mental characteristics to Man. For no observant person 

 who has had the opportunity of watching the habits of 

 anthropoids can doubt for a moment that their behaviour 

 is far more " human " than that of even such a long- 

 domesticated animal as the dog. 



Among the apes on view in the Dublin monkey-house, 

 the Bornean Orang-utan and various species of the Malayan 

 and Burman Gibbons have often been represented, while 

 West African Chimpanzees have been constantly in the 

 collection — frequently two or three individuals at once, 

 these being the most frequently imported and most readily 

 obtained of all the anthropoids. In December, igo6, the 

 Society acquired a young male Gorilla — the other great 

 West African ape whose name has become famihar to most 

 people from the descriptions of travellers and naturalists, 

 and from museum specimens, though very few Europeans 

 have the opportunity of seeing a live example. This young 

 male lived in the ape-house for a few weeks only, and no 

 opportunity of getting another Gorilla presented itself 

 until January, 1914, when a young female was offered for 

 sale by Mr. W. Cross, of Liverpool, who had imported her 

 from the Gaboon along with a young male Chimpanzee. 

 These two apes were purchased by the Society, and they 

 have lived together in the ape-house until 25th May of 

 the present year when the Gorilla died after a residence in 

 Dublin of three years and four months. This is by far 

 the longest period through which a Gorilla has survived 

 in captivity in the United Kingdom. The Zoological 



