THE GORILLA 



{Anthropopitkecus gorilla) 



WERE it not for our own existence on the earth, the Gorilla could 

 claim to be the head of the animal kingdom, for he is by very far the 

 most powerful of all apes, and we do not know that his intelligence is at 

 all inferior to that of the Chimpanzee. 



In general form he has much resemblance to that animal, but is more 

 heavily built, with longer arms and legs ; the fingers and toes are, on the 

 other hand, much shorter and thicker than the Chimpanzee's, the latter 

 webbed at the base, while the whole hand and foot are broader. The 

 eyebrow-ridges are very prominent in the Gorilla, especially in the male, 

 whose skull also bears great central and lateral crests for the attachment 

 of muscles. 



The Gorilla has the face and skin all over the body black ; the coat, 

 which is shorter, closer, and of a more woolly nature than the Chim- 

 panzee's, is also black, but with a strong tendency to grey on the back, 

 especially in advancing age, when it also is inclined to disappear on 

 the chest and about the hips altogether. The crown of the head is 

 commonly, but not always, covered with chestnut-red hair. 



The female Gorilla attains about the same size as the male Chimpanzee, 

 although stouter and more powerful, and chiefly differs in her prominent 

 eyebrows and the other points above described ; but the adult male, as 

 the illustration shows, has a very different and much more animal cast 

 of face, the jaws becoming greatly developed ; in size also this sex far 

 surpasses any other ape, male Gorillas of six feet in height being on 

 record, while in breadth they much surpass a man of the same stature. 

 The teeth, especially the canines, are very powerful. The young Gorilla, 

 however, is more human-looking than the Chimpanzee, distinctly re- 

 calling a badly-developed negro child in appearance, the resemblance 

 being inci eased by the fact that the Gorilla more readily stands up and 



