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
ARE both natives of South America; they live in large troops, feeding on
roots, fruits, and insects, and are much more gentle than those of the
old world. Of the _Capuchin_ there are many species, differing from each
other in colour only; they are very lively, active, and amusing, and
about a foot long. The Spider Monkey, like the Capuchin, has a long
prehensile tail, which it uses like a fifth hand. Nature seems by this
addition to have more than recompensed them for the want of a thumb, for
by it, when they are unable to leap from one tree to another, on account
of the distance, they form a kind of chain, with their young upon their
backs, hanging down by each other’s tails. One of them holds the branch
above, and the rest swing to and fro like a pendulum, until the
undermost is enabled to catch hold; the first then lets go his hold, and
thus comes undermost in his turn; in this way they can travel a great
distance without ever touching the ground. Curious illustrations of this
are daily seen at the Zoological Gardens, where there are several of
these Monkeys.
[Illustration: THE OUISTITI AND MARIKINA MONKEYS.
(_Jacchus vulgaris_ and _Rosalia_.)]
THE OUISTITI, or MARMOZET, inhabits the Brazils, and is of small size,
not measuring more than seven inches, though his tail is near eleven; he
weighs about six ounces, and, like others of his kind, lives not only on
vegetables, but also upon insects, the eggs of birds, and even small
birds. His face is almost naked, of a swarthy flesh colour, with a white
spot above the nose; the tail is full of hair, and annulated with
ash-coloured and black rings alternately; his nails are sharp, and his
fingers like those of a squirrel.
The MARIKINA is a beautiful little animal, not above nine inches long,
and is sometimes called the Lion Monkey; his hair is long, soft, and
glossy; his head is round, his face brown, and his ears hid under the
long hairs which surround his face, and which are of a bright red, while
those on his body and tail are of a beautiful pale yellow, or gold
colour. He is very playful, and of a seemingly robust temperament, for
we have seen one which lived five or six years in Paris, without any
other particular care than keeping it during the winter in a chamber in
which there was a fire every day.
[Illustration: THE LEMUR AND THE MONGOOS,
(_Lemur macaco_ and _Lemur albifrons_,)]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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