excited the brilliantly-coloured naked parts of the skin are said to
become still more vividly coloured.
“With several species of Baboons the ridge of the forehead projects
much over the eyes, and is studded with a few long hairs representing
our eyebrows. These animals are always looking about them, and in
order to look upwards they raise their eyebrows. They have thus, as it
would appear, acquired the habit of frequently moving their eyebrows.
However this may be, many kinds of Monkeys, especially the Baboons,
when angered or in any way excited, rapidly and incessantly move their
eyebrows up and down, as well as the hairy skin of their foreheads. As
we associate in the case of man raising and lowering of the eyebrows
with definite states of the mind, the almost incessant movement of the
eyebrows by Monkeys gives them a senseless expression. I once observed
a man who had a trick of continually raising his eyebrows with any
corresponding emotion, and this gave to him a foolish appearance; so
it is with some persons who keep the corners of their mouths a little
drawn backwards and upwards, as if by an incipient smile, though at the
time they are not amused or pleased.
“A young Orang, made jealous by her keeper attending to another
Monkey, slightly uncovered her teeth, and uttering a peevish noise,
like ‘tish-shist,’ turned her back on him. Both Orangs and Chimpanzees
when a little more angered protrude their lips greatly, and make a
harsh barking noise. A young female Chimpanzee in a violent passion
presented a curious resemblance to a child in the same state. She
screamed loudly, with widely-open mouth, the lips being retracted so
that the teeth were fully exposed. She threw her arms wildly about,
sometimes clasping them over her head. She rolled on the ground,
sometimes on her back, sometimes on her belly, and hit everything
within reach. A young Gibbon in a passion has been described as
behaving in almost exactly the same manner. The lips of young Orangs
and Chimpanzees are protruded sometimes to a wonderful degree under
various circumstances. They act thus not only when slightly angered,
sulky, or disappointed, but when alarmed at anything--in one instance
at the sight of a Turtle--and likewise when pleased. But neither the
degree of protrusion nor the shape of the mouth is exactly the same,
as I believe, in all cases; and the sounds which are then uttered are
different.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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