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
Much stress is laid by some writers on the bald head of one ape and the
parted hair on the head of another. These features cannot be relied
upon as having any specific meaning, unless there are as many species
as there are apes. Sometimes a specimen has no hair on the crown of the
head, while another differs from it in this respect alone by having
a suit of hair more or less dense; and yet in every other respect
they are alike. Some of them have their hair growing almost down to
the eyebrows, and all hairs appear to diverge from a common center,
like the radii of a sphere; another of the same species may have the
hair parted in the middle as neatly as if it had been combed; another
may have it in wild disorder. The same thing is noticed in certain
monkeys, and it is equally true of the human being. As a factor in
classifying, it signifies nothing. It may be remarked that the _kulu_
is inclined to have but little hair upon the crown of the head.
Between the two species there is a close alliance. The males differ
more than the females. This is especially true in the structure of
certain organs. The face of the young _ntyigo_ is free from hairs, but
in the adult state there is in both sexes a tendency to the growth of
a light down upon the cheeks. The color of the skin is not uniform
in all parts of the body. This is especially true of the face. Some
specimens have patches of dark color set in a lighter ground. Sometimes
certain parts of the face are dark and other parts light. I have seen
one specimen quite freckled. It is said by some that the skin is light
in color when young, and becomes darker with age; but I find no reason
to believe that such is the case. It is true that the skin darkens a
few shades as the cuticle hardens, but there is no transition from one
color to another, and this slight change of shade is chiefly on the
exposed parts.
The _kulu_ has a short, round face, much like that of a human. In early
life it is quite free from hairs, but, like the other, a slight down
appears with age. He has on his body a heavy suit of black hair. It
is coarser and longer than that of the _ntyigo_. It is also inclined
to wave, thus having a fluffy aspect. The color is jet black, except
a small tuft of white about the base of the spine. I have seen two in
which this tuft was perfectly black. The skin varies in color less than
in the _ntyigo_, and the darker shades are seldom found. The eyes are a
shade darker, and in both species the parts of the eye which are white
in man are brown in them. But this gradually shades off into a yellow
near the base of the optic nerve. As a rule, the _kulu_ has a clear,
open visage, with a kindly expression. It is confiding and affectionate
to a degree beyond any other animal. It is more intelligent than its
_confrère_, and displays the faculty of reason almost like a human
being.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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