The Living Animals of the World 



seven, eight, nine, and ten to betoken 

 numbers higher than those below them. 

 When she was asked for any number above 

 six, she always gave some number over six 

 and under ten. She sometimes doubled over 

 a straw to make it present two ends, and 

 was supposed (thus) to hasten the attain- 

 ment of her task." By no means all the 

 chimpanzees are so patient as Sally. One 

 kept in the Zoological Gai'dens for some 

 time made an incessant noise by stamping on 

 the back of the box in which it was confined. 

 It struck this with the flat of its foot wlwle 

 hanging to the cross-bar or perch, and made 

 a prodigious din. This seems to bear out 

 the stories of chimpanzees assembling and 

 drumming on logs in the Central African 

 forests. 



THE GORILLA. 



The name of this enormous ape has been 

 known since 450 B.C. Hanno the Cartha- 

 ginian, when off Sierra Leone, met with wild 

 men arid women whom the interpreter called 

 GORILLAS. The males escaped and flung stones 

 from the rocks, but several females were 

 captured. These animals could not have been 

 gorillas, but were probably baboons. Andrew 

 Battell, already mentioned, described the gorilla under the name of Pongo. He says it is like 

 a man, but without understanding even to put a log on a fire ; it kills Negroes, and drives 

 off the elephant with clubs ; it is never taken alive, but its young are killed with poisoned 

 arrows; it covers its dead with boughs. Dr. Savage described it in 1847. Later Du Chaillu 

 visited its haunts, and his well-known book relates how he met and killed several specimens. 

 But Mr. Winwood Keade, who also went in quest of it, declared that Du Chaillu, like himself, 

 never saw a live gorilla. Von Koppenfels, however, saw a family of four feeding, besides 

 shooting others. The late Miss Kingsley met several, one of which was killed by her 

 elephant-men. 



The gorilla has a limited range, extending from 2 north to 5 south latitude in West 

 Africa, a moist overgrown region including the mouth of the Gaboon River. How far east it 

 is found is uncertain, but it is known in the Sierra del Cristal. In 1851-52 it was seen in 

 considerable numbers on the coast. 



The gorilla is the largest, strongest, and most formidable of the Primates. An adult male 

 is from 5 feet 8 inches to 6 feet high, heavily built, with arms and chest of extraordinary 

 power. The arms reach to the middle of the legs. The hands are clumsy, the thumb short, 

 and the fingers joined by a web. The neck scarcely exists. The leg has a slight calf. The 

 toes are stumpy and thick; the great toe moves like a thumb. The head is large and 

 receding, with enormous ridges above the eyes, which give it a diabolical appearance. The 

 canine teeth are developed into huge tusks. The nose has a long bridge, and the nostrils 

 look downwards. The ear is small and man-like. 



In colour the gorilla varies from deep black to iron-grey, with a reddish tinge on the 

 head ; old animals become grizzled. The outer hair is ringed grey and brown ; beneath it is 

 a woolly growth. The female is smaller not exceeding 4 feet 6 inches and less hideous, as 



Photo by A. S. KvMand <k Sons, 



HEAD OF MALE GORILLA. 



This is a photograph of one of the first gorillas ever brought to England 

 It was sent by the famous It. dfl Chaillu. 



