Apes and Monkeys: Their Life and LanguageGarner, R. L. (Richard Lynch)
Science
Apes and Monkeys: Their Life and Language
Garner, R. L. (Richard Lynch)
Apes; Monkeys; Sound production by animals; Speech
There is at least one case in which the male gorilla has failed to
develop this crest. In the series of skulls found in the cuts given
herewith, No. 6 is that of an adult male gorilla. I know it to be such,
for I dissected the animal and prepared the skeleton for preservation.
He was killed in the basin of Lake Ferran Vaz, not more than three or
four hours’ walk from my cage, and his body was at once brought to me.
A good idea of his size can be obtained by reference to another cut
given herewith. This cut is copied from a photograph taken by me. It
shows some natives in the act of skinning the gorilla.
[Illustration: SKULLS OF GORILLAS--FRONT VIEW (From a Photograph in
Buffalo Museum.)]
[Illustration: SKULLS OF GORILLAS--PROFILE VIEW (From a Photograph in
Buffalo Museum.)]
In this picture the gorilla is sitting flat on the sand; his body is
limp and is somewhat shorter than it was in life. Yet it can be seen
that the top of his head is higher than the hip of the man who is
holding him. In the foreground, on the left of the gorilla, sits the
man who killed him. He is sitting on a log and is thereby a little more
elevated than the gorilla. It did not occur to me to place them side
by side in order to make a comparison. As he sits, the body and head
of this gorilla measure nearly four feet from the base of the spinal
column to the top of the head. I had no means of weighing him, but made
an estimate by lifting him. I estimate that he weighed at least two
hundred and forty pounds. He was not an old specimen, but comparing the
skull with No. 7, in which the crests are well developed, it is found
to be larger, and other things point to the conclusion that he was
older than No. 7.
I am aware that one specimen does not of itself establish anything, but
in this case it shows that the male gorilla does not always develop
the crest. The head of this specimen was surmounted by the red crown
which I have elsewhere described. No. 1, which is the skull of my pet,
Othello, had the same mark. He was captured near the place where No. 6
was killed.
No. 2 is the skull of a female nearly four years old. She had the same
mark. She was also captured in the same basin, but on the opposite
side of the lake. The facial bones of No. 6 show that he had received a
severe blow early in life; but the fragments had knit together, and the
effect could not be seen in the face of the ape while alive.
No. 8 is the skull of a large male from Lake Izanga, which is on the
south side of the Ogowé River, more than a hundred miles from the
coast. This is one of the three centers of population mentioned. I do
not know the history of this specimen. It was presented to me by Mr.
James Deemin, an English trader, with whom I traveled many days on the
Ogowé River, and who extended to me many courtesies.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account