The Animal World, A Book of Natural History: Young Folks' Treasury (Volume V)Wood, Theodore
General
The Animal World, A Book of Natural History: Young Folks' Treasury (Volume V)
Wood, Theodore
Animals -- Juvenile literature
There is one more family of monkeys found in the Old World which we must
mention, and that consists of the animals known as macaques. They
are natives of Asia, with one exception, and that is the famous magot,
the only monkey which lives wild in any part of Europe. It inhabits the
Rock of Gibraltar, and though it is not nearly as common as it used to
be, there is still a small band of these animals with which nobody is
allowed to interfere. They move about the Rock a good deal. When the
weather is warm and sunny, they prefer the side that faces the
Mediterranean, but as soon as a cold easterly wind springs up they all
travel round to the western side, which is much more sheltered. They
always keep to the steepest parts of the cliff, and it is not easy to
get near enough to watch them. Generally the only way to see them at all
is by means of a telescope.
The magot is sometimes known as the Barbary ape, although of course it
is not really an ape at all. But it is very common in Barbary, and two
or three times, when the little band of monkeys on the Rock seemed in
danger of dying out, a few specimens have been brought over from Africa
just to make up the number.
The only other member of this family that we can mention is the
crab-eating macaque, which is found in Siam and Burma. It owes its name
to its fondness for crabs, spending most of its time on the banks of
salt-water creeks in order to search for them. But perhaps the strangest
thing about it is that it is a splendid swimmer, and an equally good
diver, for it has been known to jump overboard and to swim more than
fifty yards under water, in its attempts to avoid recapture.
CHAPTER III
THE AMERICAN MONKEYS AND THE LEMURS
A great many very curious monkeys live in America; and in several ways
they are very different from those of Africa and Asia.
Most of the Old World monkeys, for example, possess large cheek-pouches,
in which, after eating a meal, they can carry away nearly enough food
for another. No doubt you have often seen a monkey with its cheeks
perfectly stuffed out with nuts. But in the American monkeys these
pouches are never found.
Then no American monkey has those bare patches on its hind quarters,
which are present in all the monkeys of the Old World, with the
exception of the great apes, and which are often so brightly colored.
And, more curious still, no American monkey has a proper thumb. The
fingers are generally very long and strong; but the thumb is either
wanting altogether, or else it is so small that it cannot be of the
slightest use.
[Illustration: PHOTOGRAPHIC PORTRAITS OF MONKEYS.
1. Young Orang-utan "Dohong." 2. Barbary Ape.
3. Japanese Red-faced Monkey. 4. White-faced Sapajou.
5. Siamang Gibbon. 6. Chimpanzee "Polly."
_All lived in the New York Zoölogical Park._]
SPIDER-MONKEYS
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