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 most sagacious specimen of the race that I have been brought in
contact with is Consul II., who is now an inmate of the Bellvue Garden
of Manchester, England. He has not been educated to perform mere tricks
to gratify the visitor in the way that animals are usually trained, but
most of the feats that he performs are prompted by his own desire and
for his own pleasure.
[Illustration: CONSUL II. RIDING A TRICYCLE]
There is a vast difference in the motives that prompt animals in the
execution of these feats. I have elsewhere mentioned the fact that
animals that are caused to act from fear do so mechanically, and it is
not a true index to their intellect. While Consul and a few other apes
that I have seen do many things by imitation they do not do so from
coercion. They seem to understand the purpose and foresee the results,
and these impel them to act.
Some of the feats performed by this ape I have never seen attempted
by any other. One accomplishment is riding a tricycle. He knows the
machine by the name of "bike," although it is not really a bicycle. He
can adjust it and mount it with the skill of an acrobat. The ease and
grace with which he rides are sufficient to provoke the envy of any
boy in England. He propels it with great skill and steers it with the
accuracy of an expert. He guides it around angles and obstacles in the
way with absolute precision.
Consul is allowed to go at liberty a great deal of his time, which is
the proper way to treat these apes in captivity. He rides the wheel for
his own diversion. He does not do it to gratify strangers or to "show
off."
Another accomplishment which he has, is that of smoking a pipe, cigar,
or cigarette. It may not be commended from a moral standpoint, but the
act appears to afford him quite as much pleasure as it does the average
boy when he first acquires it, and he has also formed the habit of
spitting as he smokes, but he has the good manners not to spit on the
floor. When Consul has his pipe lighted he usually sits on the floor
to enjoy it, and he spreads a sheet of paper down before him to spit
on. When he has finished smoking he rolls up the paper and throws it
into some corner out of the way. When playing about the grounds he
often finds a cigar stub. He knows what it is, picks it up, puts it
into his mouth and at once goes to his keeper for a light. He will not
attempt to light his pipe or cigar, because he is afraid of burning his
fingers; but he will light a match and hand it to his keeper to hold
while lighting the pipe. He sometimes takes a piece of paper, lights it
in the fire and hands it to some one else to light his pipe for him. He
is afraid of the fire, and will not hold the paper while it is burning.
If any one hesitates to take it from him, he throws it at them and gets
out of the way. He is not so fond of cigarettes, because he gets the
tobacco in his mouth, and he does not like the taste of it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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