Notes on African Monkeys 



WITH THK PP:RS0NAL STORY OF .1. T. .1I^.• WHO TRAVELED TWO YEARS 



WITH THK AKELEY EXPKDITIOX IN AFIU(\V. WAS BROUOHT 



TO A.^IHKICA IN l!il_'. AND NOW MAY HK SKEX IX THE 



NATIONAL Z(H>L()(il("AL I'AK'K. WASH IN(iToN. D.C.f 



By I\I K S. (' A \{ L Iv A K !•: I. 1-: Y 



Illustrations of J. T. Jr. in Africa from pliologriiplis l)y Carl E. Akeloy 



OX the Akele}^ African expe- 

 ditions of 1908-1909 and 

 1910-1912, for the collection 

 and study of elephants, the first for the 

 Field Museum, Chicago, the second for 

 the American Museum of Natural His- 

 tory, ISTew York, I had splendid oppor- 

 tunity to observe many of the small 

 African mammals. The black boys of 

 the expedition would bring them in to 

 me so that I had a "zoo" of considerable 

 size at each camp — young antelopes, 

 hyrax, and monkeys — although we car- 

 ried few of the animals from camp to 

 camp. 



Greatest of all delights, however, were 

 the long hours I spent watching such 

 animals, especially the monkeys, in 

 their own home life. During the weeks 

 we were at "Tembo Circus," ^ whenever 

 it chanced that I did not accompany 

 the day's hunt and was left alone in 

 camp, I would go out, taking a black 

 boy with me, and sit down under the 

 trees, which were very high, from one 

 hundred to one hundred and fifty feet. 

 I would even lie down on my back in 

 the grass— with the boy stationed on 

 guard behind me so that leopards could 



^ The name given to the camp near the spot 

 where Mrs. Akeley shot the record Kenia ele- 

 pliant. .See "Elephant Hunting on Mount Kenia." 

 The American Museum Journal, November, 1915. 



not creep up unawares— and watch the 

 Colohus monkeys 2 in the trees. 



At first everything would be quiet, 

 ajiparently with no monkeys to see. 

 1 would be sure, however, that they 

 wore seeing me. Soon their curiosity 

 would get the better of them. One 

 would peek out here, others there 

 and yonder. Then they would come 

 down a little closer to get a good look 

 at me. Sometimes they would bark 

 and scold. It is difficult to see Colohus 

 monkeys owing to the wonderful way 

 they have of hiding themselves among 

 the leaves; also the black and white of 

 their coats blend with the color of tree 

 branches and with the black and white 

 of the tree lichens. These monkeys 

 have no thumbs, but the lack does not 

 impair their grasping power, and as 

 they travel from tree to tree they may 

 leap twenty or thirty feet, their long 

 plumed fur spreading in the air. They 

 are very beautiful indeed as they sail 

 downward, and to watch the Colohus 

 mothers with their babies is a sight 

 not to be forgotten. They are so care- 

 ful and loving with them and are evi- 

 dently as worried if the baby is hurt 

 or sick as human mothers might be. I 



- This genus of monkeys ^vill be illustrated in a 

 succeeding issue of the Journal in connection 

 with a series of pictures of some of the habitat 

 monkey groups in the American Museum. 



* Named after Mr. .J. T. McCuteheon, the cartoonist, who was traveling with the Akelov expedition at 

 the time J. T. Jr. was captured. 



7 It is said that all African monkeys bite as they grow older. So it proved with J. T. We kept her 

 until she was about eight years old, but she bit me twice, so we had to send her to the National 

 Zoological Park. There she can get out of doors every day in her cage, which is large and kept very 

 clean. She can play on the ground, dig up the stones, and eat the dirt as monkeys like to do. I go to 

 visit her sometimes and she recognizes me. Apparently she has become very much accustomed to adapt- 

 ing herself to existing conditions. It is known that monkeys live a good many years. One at the New 

 York Zoological Park is twenty-eight years old. — The Author. 



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