“Lastly, in the baboon family, the adult male of _Cynocephalus
hamadryas_ differs from the female not only by his immense mane, but
slightly in the color of the hair and of the naked callosities. In the
drill (_C. leucophæus_) the females and young are much paler-colored,
with less green, than the adult males. No other member in the whole
class of mammals is colored in so extraordinary a manner as the adult
male mandrill (_C. mormon_). The face at this age becomes of a fine
blue, with the ridge and tip of the nose of the most brilliant red.
According to some authors, the face is also marked with whitish stripes,
and is shaded in parts with black, but the colors appear to be variable.
On the forehead there is a crest of hair, and on the chin a yellow
beard. ‘Toutes les parties supérieures de leurs cuisses et le grand
espace nu de leurs fesses sont également colorés du rouge le plus vif,
avec un mélange de bleu qui ne manque réellement pas d’élégance.’ When
the animal is excited all the naked parts become much more vividly
tinted.”
Darwin sums up the evidence in regard to the differences in color
between the male and female in the following statement:—
“I have now given all the cases known to me of a difference in color
between the sexes of mammals. Some of these may be the result of
variations confined to one sex and transmitted to the same sex, without
any good being gained, and therefore without the aid of selection. We
have instances of this with our domesticated animals, as in the males of
certain cats being rusty-red, whilst the females are tortoise-shell
colored. Analogous cases occur in nature: Mr. Bartlett has seen many
black varieties of the jaguar, leopard, vulpine phalanger, and wombat;
and he is certain that all or nearly all these animals, were males. On
the other hand, with wolves, foxes, and apparently American squirrels,
both sexes are occasionally born black. Hence it is quite possible that
with some mammals a difference in color between the sexes, especially
when this is congenital, may simply be the result, without the aid of
selection, of the occurrence of one or more variations, which from the
first were sexually limited in their transmission. Nevertheless it is
improbable that the diversified, vivid, and contrasted colors of certain
quadrupeds, for instance, of the above monkeys and antelopes, can thus
be accounted for.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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