Mrs. Loudon's Entertaining Naturalist: Being popular descriptions, tales, and anecdotes of more than Five Hundred Animals.Loudon, Mrs. (Jane)
General
Mrs. Loudon's Entertaining Naturalist: Being popular descriptions, tales, and anecdotes of more than Five Hundred Animals.
Loudon, Mrs. (Jane)
Animals -- Juvenile literature; Zoology -- Juvenile literature
ANIMALS of the Monkey tribe are furnished with hands instead of paws;
their ears, eyes, eyelids, lips, and breasts resemble those of the human
species. For greater facility of description, the animals of this
extensive tribe are usually arranged in the three divisions of Apes,
Baboons, and Monkeys. Apes are destitute of tails, and the chief of this
kind is the Ourang Outan, or Wild Man of the Woods: he is found in the
forests of Borneo and Sumatra. He is a solitary animal, and avoids
mankind. The largest are said to be six feet high, very active, strong,
and intrepid, capable of overcoming the strongest man: they are likewise
exceedingly swift, and cannot easily be taken alive. When young,
however, the Ourang Outan is capable of being tamed: one of them, shown
in London some years ago, was taught to sit at table, make use of a
spoon or fork in eating, and drink wine out of a glass. It was mild and
affectionate, much attached to its keeper, and obedient to his
commands.
[Illustration: THE CHIMPANZEE.
(_Simia Troglodytes_, or _Troglodytes niger_.)]
THIS Ape, which is an inhabitant of the great forests of Western Africa,
is generally considered to be that which approaches nearest to the human
species in its conformation. When full-grown, he measures about five
feet in height, standing erect, but this is a posture which he does not
naturally prefer, and when on the ground he usually walks upon all
fours, applying the outside of his hinder feet and the knuckles of his
fore limbs to the earth. His skin is clothed with long coarse black or
dark-brown hair, which becomes scanty on the lower surface of the body
and on the limbs; the face is naked and of a flesh colour, and at each
side there hangs down a great bush of long hair like a whisker. The
Chimpanzee lives in the trees, upon the branches of which he is very
active, and he has intelligence enough to build himself a sort of hut of
branches, usually about thirty or forty feet from the ground. His food
consists chiefly of fruits, and he is said to fly from the presence of
man.
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