Man's Place in Nature, and Other EssaysHuxley, Thomas Henry
Science
Man's Place in Nature, and Other Essays
Huxley, Thomas Henry
Apes; Ethnology; Human beings -- Origin; Indo-Europeans
From the time of Tyson and Tulpius downwards, the habits of the young
CHIMPANZEE in a state of captivity have been abundantly reported and
commented upon. But trustworthy evidence as to the manners and customs
of adult anthropoids of this species, in their native woods, was almost
wanting up to the time of the publication of the paper by Dr. Savage, to
which I have already referred; containing notes of the observations
which he made, and of the information which he collected from sources
which he considered trustworthy, while resident at Cape Palmas, at the
north-western limit of the Bight of Benin.
The adult Chimpanzees, measured by Dr. Savage, never exceeded, though
the males may almost attain, five feet in height.
"When at rest, the sitting posture is that generally
assumed. They are sometimes seen standing and walking,
but when thus detected, they immediately take to all
fours, and flee from the presence of the observer. Such
is their organization that they cannot stand erect, but
lean forward. Hence they are seen, when standing, with
the hands clasped over the occiput, or the lumbar region,
which would seem necessary to balance or ease of posture.
"The toes of the adult are strongly flexed and turned
inwards, and cannot be perfectly straightened. In the
attempt the skin gathers into thick folds on the back,
shewing that the full expansion of the foot, as is
necessary in walking, is unnatural. The natural position
is on all fours, the body anteriorly resting upon the
knuckles. These are greatly enlarged, with the skin
protuberant and thickened like the sole of the foot.
"They are expert climbers, as one would suppose from
their organization. In their gambols they swing from limb
to limb to a great distance, and leap with astonishing
agility. It is not unusual to see the 'old folks' (in the
language of an observer) sitting under a tree regaling
themselves with fruit and friendly chat, while their
'children' are leaping around them, and swinging from
tree to tree with boisterous merriment.
"As seen here, they cannot be called _gregarious_, seldom
more than five, or ten at most, being found together. It
has been said, on good authority, that they occasionally
assemble in large numbers, in gambols. My informant
asserts that he saw once not less than fifty so engaged;
hooting, screaming, and drumming with sticks upon old
logs, which is done in the latter case with equal
facility by the four extremities. They do not appear ever
to act on the offensive, and seldom, if ever really, on
the defensive. When about to be captured, they resist by
throwing their arms about their opponent, and attempting
to draw him into contact with their teeth." (Savage, l.
c. p. 384.)
With respect to this last point Dr. Savage is very explicit in another
place:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account