January, 1920 
FOREST AND STREAM 
15 
THE INTELLIGENCE OF MONKEYS 
AN AFRICAN HUNTER TELLS OF HIS OBSERVATIONS CONCERNING THESE INTEREST- 
ING DENIZENS OF THE THICKLY FORESTED PARTS OF THE DARK CONTINENT 
By CHARLES COTTAR 
I HAD been hunting elephants along the 
southern border of Abyssinia; and 
had killed a big bull near a spring of 
scanty water on the edge of a small for- 
est that skirted the desert-sands. And 
while my gunbearer had gone to camp to 
bring porters to carry in the ivory, I 
awaited his return beneath the shade of 
a mimosa that overlooked the spring. 
A few minutes after taking up my posi- 
tion a large band of baboons came down 
to drink. There had evidently been no 
other monkeys about the spring for a 
considerable time, for as soon as the mob 
arrived they began upturning the loose 
stones in quest of scorpions, upon which 
they feed, and they were numerous about 
the spring. 
Baboons are unusually boisterous. Day 
and night they are prone to quarrel and 
fight and make both day and night hide- 
ous with their screeching and screaming 
and barking, to say nothing of the con- 
tinuous chattering as they search about 
in quest of food, or play about the tops 
of trees or rocky pinnacles. 
But this mob was extremely peaceful. 
Perhaps they had come a considerable 
distance across the desert, were tired, 
hungry and wanting water. But, like 
♦all animals of the desert and jungle, 
they displayed the usual caution about 
venturing directly up to the water; and 
fed their way cautiously up, seeming 
without too eager intention of approach- 
ing, at least, till all the scorpions were 
dug up and devoured. 
Amongst the mob were animals of all 
sizes and ages; differing in color, in ac- 
tions and in manners. There were moth- 
ers with finy babes about their necks, and 
outcasts lingering about the edges of 
the band; while groups of youngsters 
skipped and frolicked about, not unlike 
children at a picnic. Then there were 
pairs and parties who seemed only en- 
grossed in the affairs of their companion 
or company. 
It was one of these parties — of four 
members — that finally absorbed my at- 
tention. It consisted of a female and 
three males. And with the aid of 6-pow- 
er glasses they were brought up so close 
that I could see every facial expression. 
The female was a really beautiful 
monkey — alert, erect, with a fine, smooth, 
blue coat and a graceful carriage. Her 
companions were a trio of admirers all 
busily engaged in turning stones in a 
diligent endeavor to uncover scorpions 
for the object of their affections. 
For a half hour the little company 
worked amongst the loose rocks, and the 
serenest tranquility prevailed. But their 
actions were so nearly human that it 
was inevitable that there was trouble 
ahead. Every sense of each individual 
of the group was at the highest possible 
pitch, while the three admirers strove 
with each other in outwardly peaceful 
An African Baboon 
harmony to beguile the attentions of 
their inamorata, while inwardly three 
monkeys were on the point of a physical 
explosion that was so evident that the 
attention of the monkeys about them was 
on the alert for the inevitable. 
The most casual observer would have 
seen at a glance that those three monkeys 
were in the deepest tangle of mental 
strife — were scheming every way within 
the compass 6f a monkey mind to out- 
do each other, and win the attentions of 
the object of their labors. And it took 
the closest attention to business — not a 
slip dared be made in the turning of a 
stone and the finding of more and better 
food by any one of the trio, lest the 
finder of a bunch of juicy scorpions 
would be the winner and the others 
turned away. And the even distribution 
of the attention and blandishments of 
the female made it evident that she, too, 
was no unsophisticated monkey, but was 
as capable of thinking and planning and 
acting her part in monkey courtship. 
But with monkeys, as with the higher 
of the order, luck and fortune oftimes 
brush aside all other elements and one 
becomes a winner over his fellows 
through no good points of his own. And 
this is what happened with these mon- 
keys. 
With a series of grunts and whines 
and jabbering one of the male monkeys 
turned up a stone, and beneath it were 
a family of young scorps — the sweetest 
morsels ever — and quite sufficient for the 
moment to make the lady-monk lose her 
head and chatter a regular lullaby of 
monkey-talk into the ear of one whose 
labor had supplied her with the sweet 
morsels. Then things happened. 
The whole mob was congregated well 
in a mass about the spring. In another 
minute they would have been drinking. 
Many had taken up positions upon stones 
from which they could reach the scanty 
water in the tracks of animals that had 
come to drink. But there was a scream, 
a slight commotion amid the group of 
four and the entire mob was in action to 
get in the clear. While the three males 
rolled and tumbled about the spring, 
tearing and gashing each other with 
teeth and nails the lady-mojikey, from a 
perch on the highest stone, screamed and 
screeched either in approval or disap- 
proval, so human-like, that to have been 
witness to the scene would have dis- 
pelled all question of the ability of a 
monkey to talk. 
The combined efforts of two, soon put 
the favorite to flight, and closely fol- 
lowed by his antagonists the three 
passed, snarling and grunting, close by 
me, while the one over whom they fell 
out and fought called wildly after them 
as the forest swallowed them up. In 
two minutes the flattering smiles and 
blandishments of the lady-monkey were 
being lavished upon a new admirer who 
had languished about in the offing till 
the three stronger rivals had broken up 
the game with their violence. 
Night came on before we completed the 
task of removing the ivory and morning 
found us still at the desert spring. And 
at sunrise a band of Sikes monkeys came 
from the forest for a morning drink. 
These Sikes monkeys, like baboons are 
extremely fond of scorpions. And like 
baboons and all other monkeys — it is in- 
stinct with all varieties of the order — 
are almost frantically afraid of a snake. 
And as these Sikes were searching for 
scorpions, a small snake was uncovered. 
In the meantime a small band of ba- 
boons had sauntered down near the 
spring and were barking in a nonchalant 
tone at the Sikes. But immediately the 
snake was uncovered, and a yell went up 
from the discoverer, both Sikes and ba- 
boons leaped and scampered away, the 
ones knowing either from the actions or 
the “talk/’ of the others that their dread- 
ed enemy had been uncovered. 
O N another occasion while hunting 
elephants in the Ba-Dongo forest 
in western Uganda, a band of 
chimpanzees set up a chattering in the 
woods some distance from camp. Chim- 
panzees are among the noisiest of apes. 
In the forest they are ever yelling and 
“talking.” And eager to get a few pic- 
tures of them I stalked down into the 
dense forest hoping to attain a position 
from which a picture would be possible. 
But, like all other monkeys, they are 
keen of sight and all but impossible to 
approach. And despite my best efforts 
an old woman-chimpanzee discovered me 
and with the usual “lip” of the sex put 
the whole tribe going with a screech. 
The instant she screamed the last 
mother’s-son of the mob left the trees and 
beat it for the ground, while at inter- 
vals some member would bounce up on 
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