AFRICAN BABOONS 



:n which two of the toes are united by a web ; of this 

 gibbon there have been examples at the Zoo, and may 

 be at the present moment. The hoolock is easily tamed, 

 and is not as a rule very vicious. A female lately in- 

 habiting the ape house showed a positive disHke to 

 her own sex in the human species, but put up with the 

 attentions of men. In India the animal appears to 

 be often tamed, and will reside in a " compound " for 

 years. Under these circumstances, Dr. Candler tells 

 us, it seldom uses its voice, the need for this expression 

 of opinion having departed with the rest of the herd. 

 At the Zoo, on the other hand, the gibbon makes 

 vocal the ape house, stimulated thereto, it may be 

 surmised, by adjacent chimpanzees, and by the con- 

 versation of the keeper and of visitors. 



THE CHACMA BABOON. 



This is a necessary abbreviation of the Hottentot 

 word " T'chatikamma," which is really not pronounce- 

 able by us, and is, moreover, a trifle difficult of correct 

 spelling. The name refers to the baboon, Papio por- 

 carius, which with twelve other species inhabits Africa. 

 The chacma, and baboons generally, lie at the base of 

 the Catarrhine series, or Old World apes. They have 

 the cheek pouches, the downward looking and approxi- 

 mated nostrils, and the thirty-two teeth, disposed as 

 in man, and the non-prehensile tails of that division 

 of apes. The baboons differ from other Catarrhines 

 by their " very dog-like face," by the rather swollen 

 muzzle, and by the large size of the posterior callosities. 

 The males have also particularly large canine teeth. The 

 tail is short. Our chacma, which is always to be seen 

 at the Zoo, and has recently been placed outside instead 

 of inside the stuffy monkey house, lives in the South of 

 Africa in troops up to about icfo in number. This 



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