BABOON. 



BABOON. 



having been broken in that situation by a heavy blow. The whiskers 

 are not so thickly furnished as in the species already described ; they 

 are however equally directed backwards, but do not conceal the ears, 

 which are black, naked, and less regularly oval than in man and the 

 generality of the Simite. The under parts of the body, the breast, 

 belly, abdomen, and inner face of the arms and thighs, are very 

 sparingly fiirnished with long hairs of a uniform brown colour. The 

 females and young differ in no other respect from the adult males, 

 except in being of a lighter and more active make. 



This species inhabits the coast of Guinea, and is that most 

 commmonly seen about the streets, and in menageries and museums. 

 In youth it is gentle, curious, gluttonous, and incessantly in motion, 

 smacking its lips quickly, and chattering when it wishes to beg contri- 

 butions from ita visitors, and screaming loudly when refused or 

 tantalised. As it grows older however it ceases to be familiar, and 

 assumes all the morose look and repulsive manners which characterise 

 the baboons in general. The specimen observed by Buffon was full 

 grown, and exhibited all the ferocity of disposition and intractability 

 of nature common to the rest of its kind. " It was not," says he, 

 " altogether hideous, and yet it excited horror. It appeared to be 

 continually in a state of savage ferocity, grinding its teeth, perpetually 

 restless, and agitated by unprovoked fury. It was obliged to be kept 

 shut up in an iron cage, of which it shook the bars so powerfully 

 with its hands as to inspire the spectators with apprehension. It was 

 a stout-built animal, whose nervous limbs and compressed form 

 indicated great force and agility ; and though the length and thickness 

 of its shaggy coat made it appear to be much larger than it was in 

 reality, it was nevertheless so strong and active that it might have 

 readily worsted the attacks of several unarmed men." 



4. C'. Mormon and C. Mai man ( Linnaeus ), the Mandrill, is the largest 

 of the whole genus, and may be readily distinguished from all the 

 other baboons by the enormous protuberance of its cheeks, and the 

 bright and variegated colours which mark them, as well as by its short 

 upright tail. The full-grown Mandrill measures above 5 feet when 



The Mandrill (C. Harmon and O. Maimon). 



standing upright ; the limbs are short and powerful, the body thick 

 and extremely robust, the head large and almost destitute of forehead, 

 the eye-brows remarkably prominent, the eyes small and deeply sunk 

 in the head, the cheek-bones swollen to an enormous size, and forming 

 projection* on each aide of the nose as large u a man's fist, marked 

 transversely with numerous alternate ribs of light blue, scarlet, and 

 deep purple ; the tail not more than a couple of inches in length, and 

 generally carried erect ; the callosities large, naked, and of a blood- 

 red colour. The general colour of the hair U a light olive brown 

 above, and silvery gray beneath, and the chin is furnished underneath 

 with a small pointed yellow beard. The hair of the forehead and 

 temples is directed upwards so as to meet in a point on the crown, 

 which gives the head a triangular appearance ; the ears are naked, 

 angular at their superior and posterior borders, and of a bluish black 

 colour ; and the muzzle and lips are large, swollen, and protuberant. 

 The former is surrounded above with an elevated rim or border, and 

 truncated like the snout of a hog a character which we have nbwrvrd 

 in no other baboon, and which leads us to suspect that the Mandrill is 

 the species that Aristotle incidentally mentions by the name Chcero- 

 "* (xoipoTTiflrjicos), (' Hist. Anim.,' lib. it cap. 2), and which may 

 have been brought into Egypt or Greece by the merchants who kept 

 up a regular intercourse between Egypt and the countries of the 

 interior. There are other considerations which give a strong degree 

 of probability to this conjecture. The short, indeed almost tuber- 

 culous, tail of the Mandrill, for instance, would have ld Aristotle to 

 compare it with the ape or Pitheciu (iriflrjitos), rather than with the 

 other Simiada, all of which have tails of considerable length : and the 

 truncated form of the snout would readily suggest its similarity to the 

 tog (xV>of). We are aware that the GhaeroiMhecui of the Greek 



philosopher has been generally identified with the Common Baboon or 

 the Derrias ; but neither of these species possesses any character which 

 justifies that supposition ; and besides, the Derrias is indisputably 

 allowed to be the species designated by the much more appropriate 

 name of C ynocephalus (KvvoKe<t/a\os). Nor does the Mandrill differ 

 much in its general form and appearance from the Pit/teem of Aristotle, 

 which was the common Magot or Barbary Ape (Macacus inuus) : there 

 is no very great difference in the size of these animals, their colour is 

 very nearly the same, both are equally remarkable for the powerful 

 make of their bodies, and the sinewy character of then- short stout 

 limbs ; and in fact the only striking difference which exists between 

 them is the prolonged, truncated, swinish snout of the one, and the 

 round head and short face of the other. Thus we can very satisfac- 

 torily account for both members of the compound name employed by 

 Aristotle ; nor can an objection be fairly taken to the approximation 

 which we have here made of his Chceropithecus to the Mandrill of 

 Guinea, on account of the extremely limited knowledge which the 

 ancient Greeks possessed of the western coasts of Africa ; since we 

 know that they were well acquainted with other animals from the 

 same or even a more remote locality ; such, for instance, as the Gnu 

 (Antilope Gnu), which is clearly the Catoblepas of ancient writers, and 

 the Pecasse or buffalo of the Gold Coast. 



The females and young Mandrills differ from the adult males in the 

 shorter and less protuberant form of the muzzle, which is moreover of 

 a uniform blue colour ; the cheek-bones have little or no elevation 

 above the general plane of the face, nor are they marked with the 

 longitudinal furrows which give the other sex so singular an appear- 

 ance ; at least they are far from being so prominently developed. It 

 is only indeed when they have completed their second dentition that 

 these characters are fully displayed in the males, and that the extremity 

 of the muzzle assumes that bright red hue by which it is so remarkably 

 distinguished. 



The Mandrill is often mentioned by travellers, and bears the diffe- 

 rent names of Smitten, Choras, Boggo, Barris, &c., according to the 

 language or dialect of the tribes in whose territories it has been observed. 

 Those which have been observed in a domestic state are generally 

 remarked to have had a strong taste for spirituous and fermented 

 liquors. A remarkably fine individual, which was long kept at Exeter 

 Change, and afterwards at the Surrey Zoological Gardens, drank his 

 pot of porter daily, and evidently enjoyed it. In a state of nature his 

 great strength and malicious character render the Mandrill a truly 

 formidable animal. As they generally march in large bonds, they 

 prove more than a match for any other inhabitants of the forests, and 

 are even said to attack and drive the elephants away from the districts 

 in which they have fixed their residence. The inhabitants of those 

 countries themselves are afraid to pass through the woods unless in 

 large companies and well armed ; and it is said that the Mandrills 

 will even watch their opportunity when the men are in the fields, to 

 plunder the negro villages of everything eatable, and sometimes attempt 

 to carry off the women into the woods. 



5. C. leucophaus (F. Cuvier), the Drill, is a species only recently 

 admitted by the most judicious modern naturalists, though long since 



The Drill (C. leucaphicm). 



described by Pennant, and after him by various other writers. It is 

 likewise a native of the coast of Guinea, and like the Mandrill is dis- 

 tinguished by a short erect stumpy tail, scarcely two inches in length, 

 and covered with short bristly hair. The cheeks are not so protu- 

 berant as in that species, neither are they marked with the same 

 variety of colours; and the m/o ami power of the animal are much 

 inferior. The colours of the body bear some resemblance to those of 

 the Mandrill, but they are more mixed with green on the upper parts, 

 and are of a lighter or more silvery hue beneath. The head, back, 

 sides, outer surface of the limbs, a band at the base of the neck, and 

 the backs of the fore hands, are furnished with very long fine hair, of 

 a light-brown colour at the root, and from thence to the point marked 



