THREE GREAT APES. 



ii 



snatched his hand into the cage, bit off two 

 fingers at the second joint, and terribly 

 lacerated the others. 



The latest celebrity among the apes was 

 " Sally," of a species known as the " bald- 

 headed chimpanzee," who until 3 years ago 

 was an inhabitant of the London Zoolog- 

 ical Gardens. Her keeper assured me she 

 could count, up to 5, as well as any person. 

 For example, when asked for 4 straws, she 

 would pick them up with her right hand, 

 one by one, place them in her left hand until 

 the right number had been secured, then 

 grasp the whole bunch and hold it forth. 

 When asked to divide an apple between her 

 keeper and a stranger, she invariably gave 

 her keeper the larger piece. Small boys 

 whom she disliked she would spit upon, as 

 naturally as any school-boy. 



The Edwards Brothers are now exhibit- 

 ing in this country 2 young chimpanzees 

 whose special mission in life seems to be to 

 show us how narrow is the gap between the 

 highest apes and the lowest men. Like Joe, 

 the famous orang-utan, they permit them- 

 selves to be dressed in the garments of 

 humanity, and sitting for pictures seems to 

 be their chief delight. With their short legs 

 concealed by trousers, their half prehensile 



feet humanized by the use of shoes, and 

 with hair parted in the middle, their re- 

 semblance to man is certainly very strik- 

 ing. 



A chimpanzee can always be identified at 

 sight — and almost as far as it can be seen — 

 by the great size of its ears. They are about 

 twice as large as those of the gorilla, 3 

 times the size of those of the orang-utan, 

 and both in shape and size they are wonder- 

 fully like the ears of the lord of creation. 

 The skin of a living chimpanzee is nearly 

 white. Over the body and limbs there is 

 a rather thin growth of dark grey or black 

 hair, which is short, and generally of uni- 

 form length. In walking, this creature 

 goes " on all fours," but instead of placing 

 the palm of the hand flat upon the ground, 

 as do all the baboons and monkeys, the 

 fingers are bent squarely at the second 

 joint, and the chimpanzee really supports 

 itself on its knuckles. 



At home, in the African forests, it is said 

 that often the chimpanzee piles together in 

 a tree-top a mass of green branches, and 

 under it takes shelter from the torrents of 

 rain so common in that latitude. It is the 

 beginning of the evolution of the roof, as a 

 protection from the weather. 



AMATEUR PHOTO BY BOYD C. PACKER 



THINKS IT WILL WEIGH 3 POUNDS. 

 Winner of Eighth Prize in Recreation's Third Annual Photo Competition. 



