A Hand-book to the Primates, Volume 2 (of 2)Forbes, Henry O. (Henry Ogg)
Science
A Hand-book to the Primates, Volume 2 (of 2)
Forbes, Henry O. (Henry Ogg)
Primates
This celebrated Man-like Ape has been known, by vague report at least, for
nearly three hundred years. The earliest clear account of its existence,
however, is derived from the "Strange {196}Adventures of Andrew Battell, of
Leigh in Essex, sent by the Portugals prisoner to Angola, who lived there
and in the adioining regions neere eighteene yeares." It was first
published in 1613 in "Purchas his Pilgrimage," and later more fully in
1625, in "Purchas his Pilgrimes."[3] Here it is related that in the
Province of Mayombe, "which is nineteen leagues from Longo along the Coast,
the woods are so covered with baboones, monkies, apes, and parrots that it
will fear any man to travaile in them alone. Here are also two kinds of
monsters, which are common in these woods, and very dangerous. The greatest
of these two monsters is called Pongo, in their language, and the lesser is
called Engeco." The Pongo turned out to be the Gorilla, the description
given by the old prisoner Battell proving to be wonderfully accurate. The
lesser monster, the Engeco, is equally certainly the Chimpanzee. The first
record of a specimen actually seen in Europe is in 1641, and is noticed by
Tulpius in his "Medical Observations," and the earliest scientific
description of a Chimpanzee--a young specimen of _A. troglodytes_--is that
of the anatomists Tyson and Cowper, published by the Royal Society in 1699.
It was, however, not till 1835, that the osteology of a full-grown specimen
was described, when Sir Richard Owen's memoir appeared, and shortly after a
very detailed account of its habits was given to the world by Dr. Thomas
Savage, the missionary to whom we have already referred (p. 184), followed
by a further anatomical investigation of its structure by Dr. Wyman, of
Boston, U.S.A.
DISTRIBUTION.--This species is found over the greater part of Tropical
Central Africa, and its range is co-extensive with that given above for the
genus. Loango and the Gaboon, however, {197}are the districts from which
this Chimpanzee has chiefly been imported into Europe.
HABITS.--The more characteristic habits of the common Chimpanzee have
already been given under the description of the genus.
Its food consists of all sorts of forest fruits, and especially of the
young shoots of the _Scitamineæ_, or ginger-plants.
The Chimpanzee can move the skin of its head, as the Gorilla does, but
without causing the erection of the hair, which the Orang and the Gorilla
are both able to accomplish. It can also to some considerable extent
wrinkle its forehead, if disappointed or pleased, as when refused anything,
or if tickled, when in the latter case it also utters a chuckling sound
like that of smothered laughter, draws back the corners of its mouth, and
wrinkles its eyelids.
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