144 BOTANIC GARDENS MENAGERIE. 



Krra from which it takes its Malay name, is only used as an 

 alarm note for a man or dog in sight. A quite different 

 sound is used for a tiger or perhaps for any large animal. If a 

 young monkey gets into a small tree and alarmed at the 

 approach of any one utters its little squeaks of fright, and is 

 afraid to try a long jump into the safety of a taller tree, the 

 king monkey comes as near as he safely can do it and utters 

 a peculiar grunt " umh " " umh " till the little one makes a 

 wild spring and escapes from its peril. Meanwhile the old one 

 threatens the enemy with an entirely different bark at intervals. 

 This latter sounds much the same as the cry that two males 

 quarrelling begin their abuse of each other. Young monkeys 

 have also a number of plaintive cries which do not seem to 

 mean anything and which older monkeys do not use. 



When the monkeys see a snake they get very excited and 

 make a great chattering. On one occasion when a terrier was 

 attacking a cobra, the monkeys came from some distance to the 

 scene of the fight, so close I could almost touch them, and 

 quite regardless of me and the dog, peered down to see if they 

 could see the snake which was hidden from their sight in 

 the thick fern. I presume they judged from the noise the dog 

 was making what he was attacking, or they may have heard 

 the snooting of the cobra, when they were close enough. 

 The duration of life of these smaller monkeys seems to be 

 about 20 years, but I cannot be certain of this. The . hybrid 

 Kra-Berok is now 11 years old and is in very fine condition 

 showing no signs of age. The big black Cynopithecus, which 

 was full grown, and probably 8 or 10 years old when he was 

 obtained, lived for 10 years in the gardens and died of old age. 

 Several other monkeys have died of old age, but they were old 

 when they were obtained. Monkeys do not suffer from con- 

 sumption here as they do in Europe. The causes of death of 

 the monkeys in the gardens, have been, beside old age, pneumo- 

 nia, not rare in the Wawas (Hylobates), stomatitis (three 

 Hylobates apparently an infectious disease which killed all 

 three in one cage ; tetanus (one); and fatty degeneration of the 

 heart. Two bading monkeys died of this from over feeding. 

 Being very greedy and always getting the first food, they got 



Jour. Straits Branch 



