At the 
Meshie Mungkut 
A sensible, witty and 
richly informative guide to 
both “home” and “away” 
aspects of birding 
With enthusiasm, humor, and ac- 
curacy, the noted Country Journal 
columnist takes the reader through 
the ins and outs of attracting and 
feeding birds at home — and through 
the major field birding events of the 
year. Illustrated with drawings. 
$15.95 at all bookstores 
flgS Norton 
Itfcn W W NORTON & COMPANY, INC 
500 Fifth Avenue, New York 10110 
Ownership Statement 
Statement of ownership, management, and circula- 
tion (required by 39 U.S.C. 3685) of Natural His- 
tory. published twelve times a year at the American 
Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 
79th Street, New York, N.Y. 10024, for October 1, 
1981. General business offices of the publisher are 
located at Central Park West at 79th Street, New 
York, N.Y 10024 Publisher, David D. Ryus; editor, 
Alan P Ternes, Central Park West at 79th Street, 
New York, N.Y. 10024. Owner is the American 
Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 
79th Street, New York, N.Y. 10024. Known bond- 
holders, mortgagees, and other security holders own- 
ing or holding one percent or more of total amount of 
bonds, mortgages, or other securities: None. The 
purpose, function, and non-profit status of this organi- 
zation and the exempt status for federal income tax 
purposes have not changed during preceding 12 
months (Section 132.122, Postal Service Manual). , 
The average number of copies of each issue during 
the preceding 12 months are: A Total number of 
copies printed: 500,048; B Paid circulation: 1. Sales 
through dealers and carriers, street vendors, and 
counter sales: 11,699; 2. Mail subscriptions: 453,813; 
C. Total paid circulation: 465,512. D. Free distribu- 
tion by mail, carrier, or other means: 6,708. E. Total 
distribution: 472,220. F. Copies not distributed: 1 
Office use, leftover, unaccounted, spoiled after print- 
ing: 9,529. 2. Returns from news agents: 18,299. G. 
Total: 500,048. The actual number of copies of single 
issue published pearest to filing date are: A. Total 
number of copies printed: 503,642. B. Paid circula- 
tion: 1. Sales through dealers and carriers, street 
vendors, and counter sales: 13,135. 2. Mail subscrip- 
tions: 455,382. C. Total paid circulation: 468,517. D 
Free distribution by mail, carrier, or other means: 
6,971. E. Total distribution: 475,488. F. Copies not 
distributed: 1. Office use, leftover, unaccounted, 
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statements made by me above are correct and com- 
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David D. Ryus, Publisher 
In February of 1930, Harry Raven, a 
curator at the American Museum of 
Natural History, had just finished lunch 
in his camp in the great forest of the 
French Cameroons when two Africans 
emerged from the bush and approached 
him. One man carried a baby female 
chimpanzee in his arms. The African 
explained that he had shot the mother 
with a poisoned dart for food, and when 
he retrieved the body he had found the 
terrified infant chimp clinging to the 
dead mother’s hair. The African had 
kept the animal as a pet for about a 
month and wanted to know if Raven was 
interested in buying it. 
“I approached the man who held 
her,” Raven wrote later, “and put out 
my arms. The little animal looked at me 
a moment, then stretched her arms to- 
ward me and I took her. She grasped me 
tightly as if she might fall.” Raven bar- 
gained with the man through an inter- 
preter and after much haggling ac- 
quired the chimpanzee. This purchase 
marked the beginning of one of the first 
attempts to raise a chimpanzee as a 
child in a human family. 
Raven kept the chimp with him while 
the Museum expedition he was on trav- 
eled for more than 2,000 miles in Africa. 
When Raven returned to his temporary 
house in the Cameroons, he let the 
chimp have free run of the town. She 
played with the local children, who be- 
gan calling her Meshie Mungkut, which 
loosely translates as “little chimpanzee 
that fluffs her hair up to look big.” 
In a year Raven’s work in Africa was 
finished, and he took Meshie across the 
Atlantic in a steamship. One cold Feb- 
ruary day in 1931 they arrived in Bos- 
ton. According to Raven, “Meshie was 
very much excited and interested in the 
things she saw and heard. I think the 
outstanding incident of Meshie’s arrival 
in the United States was her alarm on 
seeing a team of horses while she was 
being driven across Boston in a taxi- 
cab. . . . Upon seeing a team of great 
dappled gray draft horses blowing 
clouds of steam through their nostrils, 
she uttered a little scream and grabbed 
me around the neck. . . . Meshie actu- 
ally got down on the floor once in an 
effort to get as far away as possible, but 
a moment later she was back looking out 
the window.” 
Anthropologist Harry Shapiro, a col- 
league of Raven’s in the Museum, who 
is now curator emeritus, recalls Meshie’s 
life with the Ravens. 
“Harry [Raven] arrived at his house 
one winter’s evening. After the first 
greetings with his wife and children, he 
reached into a large pouch and pulled 
out the baby chimp. Harry treated 
Meshie just like another child in his 
family and raised her accordingly. The 
Raven kids, well, they treated her as a 
sibling. 
“It wasn’t a scientific experiment, 
mind you, but as far as I know this was 
the first time a chimpanzee was raised 
as a human. Of course, there have been 
Meshie’s mounted body on display 
in the Hall of Primates 
AMNH 
74 
