THE CHIMPANZEE 
Troglodytes niger. 
Plate J. 
The efforts made in Europe to preserve the Chimpanzee and other anthropoid Apes in captivity for any length 
of time, have hitherto proved unavailing. Shut up by itself in a barred den, without companions of its own 
species, and subjected to the continual changes of climate, which occur in these latitudes, the poor captive 
soon withers and dies, and is replaced by another, fresh from the warm tropics, certain to undergo a similar 
fate in its turn. Under these circumstances the Zoological Society have wisely abstained during the last few 
years from the acquisition of young examples of the Chimpanzee and Ourang Outang, waiting until some 
more efficient plan for their preservation can be adopted. There is no doubt that adult specimens, if 
procurable, would be much more likely to succeed well. 
The illustration is taken from a drawing of the fine young male specimen of the Chimpanzee, which lived 
a few months in the Society’s Menagerie, in 1852. Previously to this the Society had, at different times, 
possessed many living examples of this animal. Between 1830 and 1853 the deaths of no less than nine 
Chimpanzees belonging to the Menagerie are recorded in the Society’s Diaries. None of these had lived 
beyond a few months in this country. But the dissection of their dead bodies has assisted in furnishing 
materials towards a series of elaborate Memoirs on the Osteology and Anatomy of the Chimpanzees and their 
allies, which have been contributed by Professor Owen to the Society’s Transactions, and have greatly tended 
to advance our knowledge of this important subject. 
The interest until recently centred in the Chimpanzee, as supposed to shew the nearest approach in 
structure to Man, among the Quadrumana, has been of late years in some degree diminished by the discovery 
of its gigantic brother the Gorilla (Troglodytes gorilla ) in the forests of the Gaboon. The Gorilla is now 
considered by some of the highest authorities to be the most “ anthropoid ” of the Apes, though this view has not 
been universally assented to. Dr. Wyman, a well-known American Naturalist, who first, in conjunction with 
Dr. Savage—its discoverer—described the Gorilla, and gave it its scientific name, considers it less nearly allied 
to Man than the Chimpanzee, but refers them both to the same genus. The French Naturalists, I. Geoffroy 
St. Hilaire and Duvernoy, also concur with the American in placing the Gorilla below the Chimpanzee in the 
scale, and go even further, placing it in a distinct genus. Professor Owen’s views on this point, however, 
are not in accordance with either of these authorities, as will be seen on reference to the full abstract of his 
Memoir on the Gorilla, printed in the Society’s “ Proceedings ” for 1859, which likewise contains a resume of the 
present state of our knowledge of this extraordinary animal, 
The late Mr. Broderip drew up some interesting observations on the habits of the Chimpanzee in captivity, 
from observations of a young male which was living in the Society’s Menagerie in 1835; these will be found 
detailed in the Society’s “ Proceedings ” for that year. In 1839, Lieut. Henry K. Sayers, who brought another 
young male to England, gave the following account of it at one of the Society’s meetings. “Bamboo, 
the Chimpanzee, now in the Zoological Society’s Gardens, was purchased about eight months since, from a 
Mandingo, at Sierra Leone, who related that he had captured him in the Bullom country, having first shot the 
mother, on which occasions the young ones never fail to remain by their wounded parents. On becoming 
mine he was delivered over to a black boy, my servant, and in a few days became so attached to him as to be 
exceedingly troublesome, screaming and throwing himself into the most violent passion if he attempted to 
leave him for a moment. He evinced also a most strange affection for clothes, never omitting an opportunity 
of possessing himself of the first garment he came across whenever he had the means of entering my 
apartment. This he carried immediately to the Piazza, and invariably seated himself on it with a self- 
satisfied grunt, nor would he resign it without a hard fight, and on being worsted exhibited every symptom of 
the greatest anger. Observing this strange fancy, I procured him a piece of cotton cloth, which, much to the 
amusement of all who saw him, he was never without, carrying it with him wherever he went, nor could any 
temptation induce him to resign it even for a moment. Totally unacquainted with their mode of living in a 
wild state, I adopted the following method of feeding him, which has appeared to succeed admirably. In the 
morning, at eight o’clock, he received a piece of bread about the size of a halfpenny loaf', steeped in water, or 
milk and water; about two, a couple of bananas or plantains; and before he retired for the night, a banana, 
orange, or slice of pine apple. The banana appeared to be his favorite fruit; for it he would forsake all other 
viands, and if not gratified would exhibit the utmost petulance. Oil one occasion I deemed it necessary to 
refuse him one, considering that he had already eaten a sufficiency, upon which he threw himself into the 
most violent passion, and uttering a piercing cry, knocked his head with such violence against the wall as to 
throw himself on his back, then ascending a chest which was near, wildly threw his arms into the air, and 
precipitated himself from it. These actions so alarmed me for his safety, that I gave up the contest. On my 
doing so, he evinced the greatest satisfaction at his victory, uttering, for several minutes, the most expressive 
grunts and cries. In short, he exhibited on all occasions where his will was opposed, the impatient temper of a 
spoilt child, but even in the height of passion I never observed any disposition to bite or otherwise ill-treat 
his keeper or myself.” 
