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
The lips of the chimpanzee afford that animal several perfectly
distinct expressions of the individual's mind and feelings. While
it is not possible to offer a description of each which will
certainly be recognizable to the reader, the two extremes will at
least be appreciated. When coaxing for food, or attention, the
lips are thrust far out beyond the teeth, and formed into a funnel
with the small end outermost. When the chimpanzee flies into a
rage at some real or fancied offense, the snarling lips are drawn
back, and far up and down, until the teeth and gums are fully
exposed in a ghastly threat of attack. At the same time, the voice
gives forth shrill shrieks of rage, correctly represented by the
syllable "Ee-ee-ee!", prolonged, and repeated with great force,
three or four times. On such occasions as the latter, the
offending party must look out for himself, or he may be roughly
handled.
The voice of the chimpanzee is strong, clear, and in captivity it
is very much in evidence. Two of its moderate tones are almost
musical. It is heard when the animal says, coaxingly, "Who'-oe!
Who'-oe!" A dozen times a day, our large specimens indulge in
spells of loud yelling, purely for their own amusement. Their
strident cry sounds like "Hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo! _Wah'_-hoo!
_Wah'_-hoo! Hoo'-hoo! _Wah_-h-h-h! _Wah_-h-h!" The
second combination, "Wah-hoo," consists of two sounds, four notes
apart.
It is with their voices that chimpanzees first manifest their
pleasure at seeing cherished friends of the human species, or
their anger. Their recognition, and their exuberant joy on such
occasions, is quite as apparent to every observer as are the
manifestations of welcome of demonstrative human beings.
Like all other groups of species, the apes of various genera now
living vary widely in their mentalities. The chimpanzee has the
most alert and human-like mind but with less speed the orang-utan
is a good second. The average captive gorilla, if judged by
existing standards for ape mentality, is a poor third in the
anthropoid scale, below the chimp and orang; but since the rise of
Major Penny's family-pet gorilla, named John, we must revise all
our former views of that species, and concede exceptions.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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