Gorillas & Chimpanzees

by R. L. Garner

The reason why Johanna may be regarded as the most valuable specimen for study is the fact that she is the only female of her race that has ever reached the state of puberty. She has done so, and this fact enables us to determine certain things which have never heretofore been known. This affords the Zoologists an opportunity for the study of her sexual development which may not again present itself in many years to come. From this important point of view she presents the student with many new problems in that branch of science.

I have elsewhere stated as my opinion that the female chimpanzee reaches the age of puberty at seven to nine years, and I have many reasons which I will not here recount, that cause me to adhere to that belief. But the uncertainty of the age of this ape does not destroy her value as a subject of scientific study.

The most sagacious specimen of the race that I have been brought in contact with is Consul II., who is now an inmate of the Bellvue Garden of Manchester, England. He has not been educated to perform mere tricks to gratify the visitor in the way that animals are usually trained, but most of the feats that he performs are prompted by his own desire and for his own pleasure.

CONSUL II. RIDING A TRICYCLE

There is a vast difference in the motives that prompt animals in the execution of these feats. I have elsewhere mentioned the fact that animals that are caused to act from fear do so mechanically, and it is not a true index to their intellect. While Consul and a few other apes that I have seen do many things by imitation they do not do so from coercion. They seem to understand the purpose and foresee the results, and these impel them to act.

Some of the feats performed by this ape I have never seen attempted by any other. One accomplishment is riding a tricycle. He knows the machine by the name of "bike," although it is not really a bicycle. He can adjust it and mount it with the skill of an acrobat. The ease and grace with which he rides are sufficient to provoke the envy of any boy in England. He propels it with great skill and steers it with the accuracy of an expert. He guides it around angles and obstacles in the way with absolute precision.

Consul is allowed to go at liberty a great deal of his time, which is the proper way to treat these apes in captivity. He rides the wheel for his own diversion. He does not do it to gratify strangers or to "show off."

Another accomplishment which he has, is that of smoking a pipe, cigar, or cigarette. It may not be commended from a moral standpoint, but the act appears to afford him quite as much pleasure as it does the average boy when he first acquires it, and he has also formed the habit of spitting as he smokes, but he has the good manners not to spit on the floor. When Consul has his pipe lighted he usually sits on the floor to enjoy it, and he spreads a sheet of paper down before him to spit on. When he has finished smoking he rolls up the paper and throws it into some corner out of the way. When playing about the grounds he often finds a cigar stub. He knows what it is, picks it up, puts it into his mouth and at once goes to his keeper for a light. He will not attempt to light his pipe or cigar, because he is afraid of burning his fingers; but he will light a match and hand it to his keeper to hold while lighting the pipe. He sometimes takes a piece of paper, lights it in the fire and hands it to some one else to light his pipe for him. He is afraid of the fire, and will not hold the paper while it is burning. If any one hesitates to take it from him, he throws it at them and gets out of the way. He is not so fond of cigarettes, because he gets the tobacco in his mouth, and he does not like the taste of it.