These Monkeys are called weepers from their plaintive cry. Usually their voice is soft; when excited or angry it becomes loud and pitiful; when teased it keeps up a kind of plaintive wailing, which has given it its name of Weeping Monkey, although they have also been called Musk Monkeys at times, because of their musky odor.
These Monkeys have short round heads with the skull projecting backwards, and many of them have their faces bordered with long hair; others have long hair on top of the head, and in one species, called the Horned Monkey, this hair forms two black tufts, having the appearance of horns.
All the Weeping Monkeys are gentle and easily tamed, and perform many amusing tricks, such as firing off a gun, and sweeping with a small broom. They will break a nut between two stones when it is too strong to be cracked with their teeth, and show many signs of unusual intelligence.
THE LEMURS, OR FOX-HEADED MONKEYS.
LEMUR OR FOX-HEADED MONKEYS.
Some very curious animals are found in the Lemur family. The Sloth Monkeys, the Indris, the Aye-Ayes and the ugly big-eyed Tarsier, are all related to the Lemurs, and some look more like fairy-tale monsters than harmless, timid, little animals of the Monkey family.
What are known as the “Lemurs proper,” or the Fox-Headed Monkeys, are the best known of this family. Their hair is thick, soft and woolly, their ears short and velvety, and their tails long and bushy. They have very large eyes, and queer hands with flattened nails.
Nearly all the different members of the Lemur family live in Madagascar and the surrounding islands. They like to live in companies or troops among the trees, and their food is mainly the fruits of these trees; but they will also eagerly catch and devour insects. They are very sociable animals, and like to collect in numerous bands; and they sleep in the highest parts of the trees where no harm can come to them.