OF WILD ANIMALS 7 i 



were shipped on to Madras, received there by my old friend 

 A. G. R. Theobald, — and presented at the court of the Duke 

 of Buckingham. 



Up to a comparatively recent date, the studies of the 

 psychologists that have been devoted to the minds of animals 

 below man, have been chiefly concerned with low and common 

 types. Comparatively few investigators have found it possible 

 to make extensive and prolonged observations of the most 

 intelligent wild animals of the world, even in zoological gardens, 

 and their observations on wild animals in a state of nature 

 seem to have been even more circumscribed. I know only 

 three who have studied any of the great apes. 



In attempting to fathom the mental capacity and the mental 

 processes of some of the highest mammals, there is the same 

 superior degree of interest attaching to the study of wild 

 species that the ethnologist finds in the study of savage races 

 of men that have been unspoiled by civilization. Obviously, 

 it is more interesting to fathom the mind of a creature in an 

 absolute state of nature than of one whose ancestors have been 

 bred and reared in the trammels of domestication and for 

 many successive generations have bowed to the will of man. 

 The natural fury of the Atlantic walrus, when attacked, is 

 much more interesting as a psychologic study than is the 

 inbred rage of the bull-dog; and the remarkable defensive 

 tactics of the musk-ox far surpass in interest the vagaries of 

 range cattle. 



For several reasons, the great apes, and particularly the 

 chimpanzees and orang-utans, are the most interesting subjects 

 for psychologic study of all the wild-animal species with 

 which the writer is acquainted. Primarily this is due to the 

 fact that intellectually and temperamentally, as well as an- 

 atomically, these animals stand very near to man himself, and 

 closely resemble him. The great apes mentioned can give 

 visible expression to a wide range of thoughts and emotions. 



The voice of the adult orang-utan is almost absent, and 



