The Minds and Manners of Wild Animals: A Book of Personal ObservationsHornaday, William T. (William Temple)
Science
The Minds and Manners of Wild Animals: A Book of Personal Observations
Hornaday, William T. (William Temple)
Animal behavior
My next orang was a complete reverse of No. 1. He liked not the
Dyaks who brought him to me, but in the first moment of our
acquaintance he adopted me as his foster-father, and loved me like
a son. Throughout four months of jungle vicissitudes he stuck to
me. He was a high-class orang,--and be it known that many orangs
are thin-headed scrubs, who never amount to anything. His skull
was wide, his face was broad, and he had a dome of thought like a
statesman. He had a fine mind, and I am sure I could have taught
him everything that any ape could learn.
During the four months that he lived with me I taught him, almost
without effort, many things that were necessary in our daily life.
Even the Dyaks recognized the fact that the "Old Man" was an orang
(or "mias") of superior mind, and some of them traveled far to see
him. Unfortunately the exigencies of travel and work compelled me
to present him to an admiring friend in India. Mr. Andrew Carnegie
and his then partner, Mr. J. W. Vandevorst, convoyed my Old Man
and another small orang from Singapore to Colombo, Ceylon, whence
they were shipped on to Madras, received there by my old friend A.
G. R. Theobald,--and presented at the court of the Duke of
Buckingham.
Up to a comparatively recent date, the studies of the
psychologists that have been devoted to the minds of animals below
man, have been chiefly concerned with low and common types.
Comparatively few investigators have found it possible to make
extensive and prolonged observations of the most intelligent wild
animals of the world, even in zoological gardens, and their
observations on wild animals in a state of nature seem to have
been even more circumscribed. I know only three who have studied
any of the great apes.
In attempting to fathom the mental capacity and the mental
processes of some of the highest mammals, there is the same
superior degree of interest attaching to the study of wild species
that the ethnologist finds in the study of savage races of men
that have been unspoiled by civilization. Obviously, it is more
interesting to fathom the mind of a creature in an absolute state
of nature than of one whose ancestors have been bred and reared in
the trammels of domestication and for many successive generations
have bowed to the will of man. The natural fury of the Atlantic
walrus, when attacked, is much more interesting as a psychologic
study than is the inbred rage of the bull-dog; and the remarkable
defensive tactics of the musk-ox far surpass in interest the
vagaries of range cattle.
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