THE HUMAN SIDE OF APES 



objective, puts it just underneath, gets up on it, and looking 

 upward, makes ready to jump, but does not jump; gets down, 

 seizes the other box, and, pulling it behind him, gallops about 

 the room, making his usual noise, kicking against the walls 

 and showing his uneasiness in every other possible way. 

 He certainly did not seize the second box to put it on the 

 first; it merely helps him to give vent to his temper. But 

 all of a sudden his behavior changes completely; he stops 

 making a noise, pulls his box from a distance right up to 

 the other one, and stands it upright on it. He mounts the 

 somewhat shaky structure, several times gets ready to jump, 

 but again does not jump; the objective is still too high for 

 this bad jumper. But he has achieved his task." 



After having used two boxes Sultan and some of the other 

 chimpanzees would pile three or more boxes one on the 

 other. The apes blundered a great deal in their building 

 operations; they had little conception of the conditions 

 requisite to make the structure a stable one. Their per- 

 formances were curiously like those of very young chil- 

 dren dealing with similar problems. They exhibited a 

 type of intelligence far below that of an adult human 

 being. But it was intelligence far above that of an ordinary 

 mammal. 



Several observers have described how apes and monkeys 

 use sticks or other implements in order to get objects that 

 are otherwise out of reach. Miss Romanes, in describing 

 the behavior of a Cebus monkey, says that "if a nut or any 

 object he wishes to get hold of is beyond the reach of his 

 chain, he puts out a stick to draw it toward him, or if that 

 does not succeed he stands upright and throws a shawl back 

 over his head, holding it by the two corners ; he then throws 

 it forward with all his strength, still holding on by the 

 corners; thus it goes out far in front of him and covers the 



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