THEIR FOOD AND HABITS. 



31 



All the anatomical facts may accordingly 

 be summed up thus, that the characters which 

 distinguish the Simia; from man may indeed 

 be regarded as sufiicient to found a separate 

 order, but that that is the utmost value they 

 have. The simian characters considered as 

 a whole present a curious mixture, inasmuch 

 as some of them correspond to those of the 

 human child and remain at this stage, while 

 others show a development of certain pecu- 

 liarities beyond the point arrived at in man. 

 The head of a male gorilla with its enormous 

 teeth, muscle-tendons, and ridges, on the one 

 hand, and the child's brain within it, on the 

 other hand, affords the best illustration of this 

 assertion. 



All the Simiee are originally arboreal, and 

 many of them never come to the ground in a 

 state of freedom. In climbing they are ex- 

 tremely adroit and powerful, the most expert 

 gymnasts, accomplishing the most astonishing 

 leaps with safety and rapidity. But some 

 come to the ground occasionally, others prefer 

 to spend a part of their life there, and others 

 again scarcely ever leave the ground, but 

 climb about among the rocks in the mountains. 

 These particulars are so far interesting in 

 that they represent a gradual transition to the 

 erect attitude of man. Except the anthropoid 

 apes all the Simise set the soles of their hind- 

 feet flat upon the ground in walking, and most 

 of them also those of the fore-feet. On the 

 other hand, the long-armed spider-monkeys 

 (Ateles), when they do walk at all, which is 

 quite the exception, turn the hands in in such 

 a manner that the edge corresponding to the 

 little finger touches the ground. The anthro- 

 poid apes place their hind-feet on the ground 

 in an exactly similar manner, while they fold 

 up their hands so as to support themselves on 

 their knuckles. The members of the genus 

 Troglodytes (the chimpanzee and the gorilla), 

 however, frequently walk long distances 

 upright, placing the hind -feet flat on the 

 ground, and it is known regarding the gorilla 

 that in so doing he always keeps his arms 



free for fighting. The very long-armed 

 gibbons, in the rare instances in which they 

 come to the ground, walk upright, rocking 

 from side to side, while they hold up their 

 long arms in the air so as to balance them- 

 selves. The upright position, always, how- 

 ever, with a bent back, can thus be assumed 

 by the anthropoid apes, but not for very long 

 distances, and in connection with that it is a 

 noteworthy fact that they give their hands and 

 feet that position which is seen in a new-born 

 child — the fingers bent in and the soles of the 

 feet turned in so that the outer edge would 

 touch the ground. 



The food of the Simiae is very varied, but 

 lor the most part mixed. Only very few of 

 them are pure vegetable feeders, these living 

 chiefly on fruits or even juicy leaves. Most 

 of them require a larger or smaller addition of 

 animal food — Articulata and their larvse, the 

 larger species even eating reptiles, birds, and 

 small mammals. Some, such as the Arcto- 

 pitheci, appear to be wholly insect-eaters. In 

 keeping these animals in captivity far too little 

 attention has been paid to this circumstance. 



Still more manifold are their mode of life, 

 habits, temperament, and mental capacities. 

 Most species live in societies, often indeed in 

 large troops and herds subject to one of the 

 older animals as a leader; some, such as the 

 large anthropoid apes, have been met with 

 only in small families — male, female, and 

 child. Most of the Simiae of the Old World 

 are highly intelligent, extremely curious, given 

 to all sorts of tricks, and like children liable 

 to pass with extreme rapidity from a cheerful 

 to a dull or angry mood ; while the American 

 forms, on the other hand, seem as a rule 

 more given to brooding, and are less sensitive 

 and slower in their movements. Even in 

 early years, for it is only young specimens on 

 which it has been possible so far to make 

 continued observations in Europe, the anthro- 

 poid apes exhibit a certain dignity in their 

 bearing, while the baboons are intractable, 

 sullen, and mostly ill-natured creatures, Bu^ 



