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
Young Chimpanzees have frequently been brought to this and other
European countries, and several of them have been exhibited in our
Zoological Gardens. They are generally gentle and rather melancholy in
their deportment, and often show much affection for those who have the
charge of them. Of a specimen exhibited in France in his time, Buffon
gives the following interesting account: “I have seen this animal,” he
says, “present its hand to lead out its visitors, or walk about with
them gravely as if it belonged to the company. I have seen it seat
itself at table, unfold its napkin and wipe its lips, use its spoon and
fork to carry its food to its mouth, pour its drink into a glass, and
touch glasses when invited; fetch a cup and saucer to the table, put in
sugar, pour out its tea, and leave it to cool before drinking it; and
all this without any other instigation than the signs and words of its
master, and often of its own accord.” Buffon adds that it had a taste
which, no doubt, some of our young readers partake: “It was excessively
fond of sugar-plums.”
[Illustration: THE GORILLA. (_Troglodytes Gorilla._)]
THIS wonderful Ape, which has lately been discovered in the same region
inhabited by the Chimpanzee, is thought, in some respects, to possess
even a greater resemblance to our own species. He is said to attain a
height of seven feet, but the largest specimens hitherto obtained have
been rather less than six feet high. By some travellers the Gorilla is
said to walk upright, with his hands resting on the nape of his neck,
but the state of his knuckles shows that he usually goes, like the
Chimpanzee, on all fours. His skin is covered with short grizzled hair,
and the naked skin of his face and hands is black. The Gorilla is much
dreaded by the negroes who have to pass through the forests frequented
by him when engaged in hunting the Elephant; this is not on account of
his teeth, although they are sufficiently formidable, but of the
enormous strength of his hands, with which he can strangle a man in a
moment, and it is even said that the old males never miss an opportunity
of performing this operation. It is even said, that as a party of
hunters is passing through the forest, one of their number will
sometimes disappear suddenly, being caught up by a Gorilla lurking upon
the low branches of a tree; the monster speedily strangles his victim
and then lets the body fall.
[Illustration: THE MAGOT, OR BARBARY APE, (_Inuus sylvanus_,)]
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.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account