"JENNY," THE WELL-KNOWN CHIMPANZEE AT THE ZOO.
A VERY CHARACTERISTIC POSE.
In this picture the rounded ear, human-like wrinkles on the forehead, and length of the toes should be noted.
The chimpanzee, like the gorilla, is found only in Africa. The range includes West and Central Equatorial Africa, from the Gambia in the north to near Angola in the south, while it occurs in the Niam-Niam country to the north-west of the great lakes, and has been discovered recently in Uganda. The new Uganda Railway, which will open out the great lakes to the east, will bring English travellers well within reach of the nearest haunt of these great apes. It is on the likeness and difference of their form and shape to those of man that the attention of the world has been mainly fixed.
The chimpanzee is a heavily built animal, with chest and arms of great power. The male is slightly taller than the female. The crown is depressed, the chin receding, the ridges which overhang the eye-sockets more prominent than in man, less so than in the gorilla. The nose has a short bridge, and a flat extremity. The ear is large, and less human than that of the gorilla. The hands and feet are comparatively long; the digits are, except the thumb and great toe, joined by a web. The arms are short for an ape, reaching only to the knees. The teeth are similar to those of man, and the canines of only moderate size. The chimpanzee has thirteen pairs of ribs, and, like man, has a suggestion at the end of the vertebræ of a rudimentary tail. It walks on all-fours, with the backs of its closed fingers on the ground, and can only stand upright by clasping its hands above its head. The skin is of a reddish or brown flesh-colour, the hair black, with white patches on the lower part of the face. The bald chimpanzee has the top front, and sides of the face bare, exceedingly large ears, thick lips, and black or brown hands and feet.
The chimpanzee's natural home is the thick forest, where tropical vegetation ensures almost total gloom. But near Loango it frequents the mountains near the coast. It is a fruit-feeding animal, said to do much damage to plantations, but the bald race, at all events in captivity, takes readily to flesh, and the famous "Sally" which lived in the Zoo for over six years used to kill and eat pigeons, and caught and killed rats. The male chimpanzee builds a nest in a tree for his family, and sleeps under its shelter; when food becomes scarce in the vicinity, a move is made, and a new nest built. This ape lives either in separate families or communities not exceeding ten in number, and is monogamous.
As to the animal's courage, it is difficult to get accurate information, as the sins of the gorilla and baboon have often been laid on its shoulders, and information derived from natives is usually untrustworthy. Apparently the chimpanzee avoids coming into collision with man, although, when attacked, it is a formidable antagonist. Tales of chimpanzees kidnapping women and children need stronger evidence than they have yet obtained. The natives kill this ape by spearing it in the back, or by driving it into nets, where it is entangled and easily dispatched. According to Livingstone, the soko, as the chimpanzee is called in East Central Africa, kills the leopard by biting its paws, but falls an easy prey to the lion.
Photo by G. W. Wilson & Co., Ltd.] [Aberdeen.
A YOUNG CHIMPANZEE.
This excellent photograph, by Major Nott, F.Z.S., is particularly good, as showing the manner in which these animals use their hands and feet.