APES, MONKEYS, AND LEMURS 



3 



gorilla and baboon have often been laid on its shoulders, and information derived from natives is 

 usually untrustworthy. Apparently the chimpanzee avoids coming into collision with man, 

 although, when attacked, it is a formidable antagonist. Tales of chimpanzees kidnapping women 

 and children need stronger evidence than they have yet obtained. The natives kill this ape by 

 spearing it in the back, or by driving it into nets, where it is entangled and easily dispatched. 

 According to Livingstone, the Soko, as the chimpanzee is called in East Central Africa, kills the 

 leopard by biting its paws, but falls an easy prey to the lion. 



In captivity it is docile and intelligent, but usually fails to stand a northern climate for more 

 than a few months. It is easily taught to wear clothes, to eat and drink in civilised fashion, to 

 understand what is said to it, and reply with a limited vocabulary of grunts. Sally learnt to 

 count perfectly up to six, and less perfectly to ten; she could also distinguish white from any 

 colour, but if other colours were presented her she failed, apparently from colour-blindness. Of 

 this ape the late Dr. G. J. Romanes wrote with something more than the enthusiasm of a clever 

 man pursuing a favourite theme : " Her intelligence was conspicuously displayed by the remark- 

 able degree in which she was able to 

 understand the meaning of spoken lan- 

 guage a degree fully equal to that pre- 

 sented by an infant a few months before 

 emerging from infancy, and therefore 

 higher than that which is presented by 

 any brute, so far at least as I have 

 evidence to show." Romanes here 

 speaks only, be it noticed, of ability to 

 understand human speech not to think 

 and act But this is in itself a great 

 mark of intelligence on human lines. 

 " Having enlisted the cooperation of the 

 keepers, I requested them to ask the ape 

 repeatedly for one straw, two straws, 

 three straws. These she was to pick up 

 and hand out from among the litter of 

 her cage. No constant order was to be 

 observed in making these requests ; but 

 whenever she handed a number not asked 

 for her offer was to be refused, while if 

 she gave the proper number her offer 

 was to be accepted, and she was to re- 

 ceive a piece of fruit in payment. In 

 this way the ape had learnt to associate 

 these three numbers with the names. 

 As soon as the animal understood what 

 was required, she never failed to give 

 the number of straws asked for. Her 

 education was then completed in a similar 

 manner from three to four, and from 

 four to five straws. Sally rarely made 

 mistakes up to that number ; but above 

 five, and up to ten, to which one of the 

 keepers endeavoured to advance her 



education, the result is uncertain. It iS 



phtt , by G 



A YOUNG CHIMPANZEE 



TAis exctll , nt pllotograph) hy Major Nottf F . z . s , t is particularly good, 



as sAow '"g th' manner in -which these animals use their hands and feet 



