12 THE WORLD OF ANIMAL LIFE 



The gorilla makes a kind of home for itself, in its native forests, 

 by twisting a number of branches into a rough platform, on which 

 it sleeps. It is abroad during the day in search of fruits, which 

 are its principal article of food. In the adult state it is no doubt 

 the fiercest among the apes, but it has probably been caught 

 oftener than was supposed, for it is now known that as far back 

 as i860 a common showman was exhibiting one in England. 



THE CHIMPANZEE 



The Chimpanzee is very closely related to the gorilla, and in- 

 habits the same dense forests of Central Africa. For a long time 

 some of the best naturalists thought that the words gorilla and 

 chimpanzee were simply two names for the same animal, and it is 

 only within the past fifty years that we have learned to distinguish 

 between them. The country in which they live was one of the 

 last to be explored by white men, and both of these fierce forest 

 dwellers are so difficult to approach that it is not surprising that 

 travellers were long in obtaining exact particulars of their appear- 

 ance and habits. 



The chimpanzee is shorter than the gorilla, is far less ugly, 

 and is on the whole of a more amiable disposition. In its native 

 forests it is at times quite playful, and when caught young may 

 become exceedingly tame. In general appearance and structure 

 it has a closer likeness to mankind than the gorilla, and we read 

 that some of the earliest travellers in Africa mistook it for a 

 " wild man of the woods". 



One traveller gives us a very good description of a young 

 chimpanzee which he bought on the coast of Africa, and brought 

 home to the Zoological Gardens in London. The mother of the 

 little captive had been shot a few months before, when the baby 

 was caught because he refused to leave his wounded parent. 



On being purchased by the traveller, the little chimpanzee 

 was placed in the care of a black boy, of whom he became so fond 



