i8 THE WORLD OF ANIMAL LIFE 



These animals utter a loud and piercing cry at morning and 

 evening; and when they are leaping from branch to branch, and 

 flinging themselves fearlessly from one tree to another, it is 

 quite difficult to realize that they are not so many great birds. 

 In fact, in a state of nature the movements of some of these 

 gibbons is so rapid that they take small birds on the wing, which 

 they devour. They are much more omnivorous in their feeding 

 than the preceding apes, since they devour insects, eggs, and 

 callow birds, as well, no doubt, as fruit. 



Even in captivity a gibbon is so active that the eye can scarcely 

 follow its movements. If an apple or banana is shown to it, the 

 animal will dash round and round the cage in its excitement, 

 leaping from floor to roof and from roof to floor, and scarcely 

 touching the bars and branches as it passes along. Yet its move- 

 ments are so easy and graceful that it does not seem to be exerting 

 itself in the least. 



The gibbon walks more easily than any of the apes, and that 

 upon two feet, which it places flatly and firmly on the ground, 

 and either balances its enormous arms like a comical figure "fi 

 or throws them round the back of its neck. So long are its 

 arms, that when the animal stands upright the tips of the fingers 

 reach to the ground. The arms of a man, standing in the same 

 position, reach only to half-way between the hip and the knee. 



In like manner, the spread of a man's arms, when stretched out 

 upon either side of the body, measured from the tips of the fingers 

 of the one hand to those of the other, is just about equal to his 

 height. But in the gibbon the spread of the arms is rather more 

 than twice the height of the body. 



Although the thumb of the hinder foot of a gibbon is unusually 

 large, that of the fore-foot, or hand, is very tiny, and, moreover, 

 is set side by side with the fingers. A gibbon, in consequence, 

 cannot pick up a small object between its finger and thumb, as we 

 ourselves are able to do. The human thumb is of very little use 

 in climbing, as we may easily see by watching a gymnast. We 

 shall quickly notice that he does not employ his thumb at all 

 when he hangs from a bar, but simply hooks his fingers over it. 

 Indeed were he to grasp the bar, the strain upon his muscles 



