Gorillas & ChimpanzeesGarner, R. L. (Richard Lynch)
Science
Gorillas & Chimpanzees
Garner, R. L. (Richard Lynch)
Chimpanzees; Gabon -- Description and travel; Garner, R. L. (Richard Lynch), 1848-1920 -- Travel; Gorilla
The fact of the ape deserting its offspring under certain conditions,
may be taken as an evidence of its superior intelligence and its
appreciation of life and danger, rather than a low, brutish impulse. It
is the exercise of superior judgment that causes man to act with more
prudence than other animals. It does not detract from his nobleness.
Within the family circle of the chimpanzee the father is supreme;
but he does not degrade his royalty by being a tyrant. Each member
of the family seems to have certain rights that are not impugned by
others. For example, possession is the right of ownership. When one ape
procures a certain article of food, the others do not try to dispossess
it. It is from this source, doubtless, that man inherits the idea of
private ownership. It is the same principle amplified by which nations
hold the right of territory, but nations often violate this right, and
so do chimpanzees when not held in check by something more potent than
a sense of justice. With all due respect, I do not think the ape abuses
the right by urging his claim beyond his real needs, while nations
sometimes do.
When a member of a family of apes is ill, the others are quite
conscious of it, and evince a certain amount of solicitude. Their
conduct indicates that they have, in a small degree, the passion of
sympathy, but the emotion is feeble and wavering. So far as I know,
they do not essay any treatment, except to soothe and comfort the
sufferer. They surely have some definite idea of what death is, and
I have reason to believe that they have a name for it. They do not
readily abandon their sick, but when one of them is unable to travel
with the band, the others rove about for some days, within call of it,
but do not minister to its wants.
It is said, if one of them is wounded, the others will rescue it if
possible, and convey it to a place of safety; but I cannot vouch for
this, as such an incident has never come within my own experience.
One of the most remarkable of all the social habits of the chimpanzee,
is the _kanjo_, as it is called in the native tongue. The word does not
mean "dance" in the sense of saltatory gyrations, but implies more the
idea of "carnival." It is believed that more than one family takes part
in these festivities.
Here and there in the jungle is found a small spot of sonorous earth.
It is irregular in shape, but is about two feet across. The surface
is of clay, and is artificial. It is superimposed upon a kind of
peat bed, which, being very porous, acts as a resonance cavity, and
intensifies the sound. This constitutes a kind of drum. It yields
rather a dead sound, but of considerable volume.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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