NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 



the trees, where it is useless to pursue them ; for, 

 up amongst the branches of the great forest trees, 

 they are at home, travelling over the tree-tops at 

 great speed, making astonishing leaps at times with 

 hands and feet spread out ready to grip the nearest 

 branch. Although possessing long tails, the Vervets 

 never use them for gripping tree branches — the tails 

 are not prehensile, as is the case with their cousins, 

 the American monkeys. 



They are adepts at concealment, and when lying 

 along the thick branches of tall forest trees, flattened 

 down and immovable, they cannot be observed 

 from below ; nor is it, as a general rule, possible 

 to shoot them when they peep over the side of 

 a branch. 



The Vervet Monkeys associate in troops of from 

 a dozen to about a hundred individuals of both sexes 

 and all ages. The adult males are at all times jealous 

 of each other, and frequent battles are fought. The 

 male, whose strength and fighting powers are supe- 

 rior to the others, assumes leadership, which he holds 

 just so long as he is physically superior to the other 

 males in the troop, who fight at intervals among 

 themselves, until one eventually proves himself supe- 

 rior to the rest. Then he gives battle to the leader, 

 and should he succeed in vanquishing him, he be- 

 comes supreme chief. If the old leader happens to 

 have escaped with his life, he is doomed for the rest 

 of his existence to live in solitude. " Might is 

 Right " in the lower animal world. 



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