CHAPTER XXIV 



The Treatment of Apes in Captivity — Temperature — Building — 

 Food — Occupation 



I 



N conclusion I deem it in order to offer a few remarks 

 with regard to the causes of death among these apes, 

 and to say something regarding the treatment of animals 

 in captivity. We know so little and assume so much con- 

 cerning them that we often violate the very laws which 

 we are trying to enforce. 



We have already noticed the fact that the gorilla is 

 confined by nature to a low, humid region, reeking with 

 miasma and the effluvia of decaying vegetation. The 

 atmosphere in which he thrives is one in which human 

 life can hardly exist. We know in part why man can- 

 not live in such an atmosphere and under such condi- 

 tions, but we cannot say with certainty why the ape 

 does do so. It would seem that the very element that 

 is fatal to man gives strength and vitality to the gorilla. 

 We know that all forms of animal life are not affected 

 in the same way by the same causes ; and while it may be 

 said in round numbers that what is good for man is good 

 for apes, that is not a fact. 



The human race is the most widely distributed of any 

 genus of mammals, and, as a race, it can undergo greater 

 extremes of change in climate, food, or condition than any 



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