_Homo sylvestris_ (Ourang-outang), Tyson & Cowper, Phil. Trans., xxi., p.
338 (1699); Tulpius, Observ. Anat., p. 270, pl. 14 (1641).
_Homo troglodytes_, Linn., Syst. Nat., i., p. 32 (1766; pt.).
_Simia troglodytes_, Gm., Syst. Nat., p. 26 (1788); Blumenb., Handb., x.,
p. 73 (1803); Owen, Tr. Z. S. I., p. 344, pls. 48, 50-52, 55, 56 (1835);
ii., p. 169 (1841); Schl., Mus. Pays-Bas, vii., p. 8 (1876).
_Troglodytes niger_, Geoffr., Ann. Mus., xix., p. 87 (1812); Desmar.,
Mammolog., p. 49 (1820); Lesson, Spec. Mamm., p. 37 (1840); var.
_Marungensis_, Owen, Tr. Z. S., v., p. 3, pls. i.-ix.; p. 279, pl. xlix.
(1866); Noalk, Zool. Jahrb., ii., p. 291 (1887).
_Pseudanthropos (Troglodytes) leucoprymnus_, Less., Ill., Prod. Syst.
Mamm., pl. 12 (1811); Reichenb., Naturg. Affen., p. 191 (1862).
_Pithecus leucopryma_, Less., Ill. Zool., pl. 31 (1836; young).
_Satyrus lagaros_, Meyen, Arch. f. Naturg., p. 282 (1856).
_Mimetes troglodytes_, Gray, Cat. Monkeys Brit. Mus., p. 6 (1870).
_Troglodytes vellerosus_, Gray, P. Z. S., 1862, p. 181; id., Cat. Monkeys
Brit. Mus., Append., p. 127.
_Troglodytes schweinfurthi_, Gigl., Studii Craniol. sui Cimpanzé iii., p.
56 (1872).
_Troglodytes aubryi_, Grat. et Alix, Nouv. Arch. Mus., ii., p. 1, pls. 1,
9 (1866).
{195}_Troglodytes tchego_, Duvernoy, Arch. Mus., viii., p. 8 (1855).
_Anthropopithecus troglodytes_, Flower & Lydekker, Mamm., p. 736, fig.
357 (1891).
CHARACTERS.--Face, ears, hands, and feet dark-reddish flesh-colour, or more
rarely of a blackish-brown colour; in general the colour of the hair is
wholly black, except on the upper and lower lips, where it is white and
very short, and in the region of the buttocks, where it is washed with
reddish-brown.
Hair on the body straight and silky, with coarser hair interspersed; on the
top of the head it lies smoothly to each side, away from a median line;
round the face it forms bushy whiskers, extending down into a slight beard;
it encroaches on the brow, leaving only a triangular central space naked;
on the upper and lower lips are short, bristly hairs; the rest of the face
naked and much wrinkled; on the shoulders, the back, and the hips, the hair
is longer than elsewhere; the back of the hands and feet are thinly haired,
the fingers and toes nude. The margin of the ears is often folded in for
the greater part of its length.
The skin of the body is of a peculiar light, yet muddy, flesh-colour,
sometimes verging on brown. Brownish or black spots on many parts of the
body seem to vary in different individuals.
The expression of the face is grave, but less melancholy and pre-occupied
than in the Orangs.
The weight of the brain in _A. troglodytes_ varies from 6½ to 6-3/5 ounces.
This celebrated Man-like Ape has been known, by vague report at least, for
nearly three hundred years. The earliest clear account of its existence,
however, is derived from the "Strange {196}Adventures of Andrew Battell, of
Leigh in Essex, sent by the Portugals prisoner to Angola, who lived there
and in the adioining regions neere eighteene yeares." It was first
published in 1613 in "Purchas his Pilgrimage," and later more fully in
1625, in "Purchas his Pilgrimes."[3] Here it is related that in the
Province of Mayombe, "which is nineteen leagues from Longo along the Coast,
the woods are so covered with baboones, monkies, apes, and parrots that it
will fear any man to travaile in them alone. Here are also two kinds of
monsters, which are common in these woods, and very dangerous. The greatest
of these two monsters is called Pongo, in their language, and the lesser is
called Engeco." The Pongo turned out to be the Gorilla, the description
given by the old prisoner Battell proving to be wonderfully accurate. The
lesser monster, the Engeco, is equally certainly the Chimpanzee. The first
record of a specimen actually seen in Europe is in 1641, and is noticed by
Tulpius in his "Medical Observations," and the earliest scientific
description of a Chimpanzee--a young specimen of _A. troglodytes_--is that
of the anatomists Tyson and Cowper, published by the Royal Society in 1699.
It was, however, not till 1835, that the osteology of a full-grown specimen
was described, when Sir Richard Owen's memoir appeared, and shortly after a
very detailed account of its habits was given to the world by Dr. Thomas
Savage, the missionary to whom we have already referred (p. 184), followed
by a further anatomical investigation of its structure by Dr. Wyman, of
Boston, U.S.A.
DISTRIBUTION.--This species is found over the greater part of Tropical
Central Africa, and its range is co-extensive with that given above for the
genus. Loango and the Gaboon, however, {197}are the districts from which
this Chimpanzee has chiefly been imported into Europe.
HABITS.--The more characteristic habits of the common Chimpanzee have
already been given under the description of the genus.
Its food consists of all sorts of forest fruits, and especially of the
young shoots of the _Scitamineæ_, or ginger-plants.
The Chimpanzee can move the skin of its head, as the Gorilla does, but
without causing the erection of the hair, which the Orang and the Gorilla
are both able to accomplish. It can also to some considerable extent
wrinkle its forehead, if disappointed or pleased, as when refused anything,
or if tickled, when in the latter case it also utters a chuckling sound
like that of smothered laughter, draws back the corners of its mouth, and
wrinkles its eyelids.
The _Soko_ observed by Livingstone in the Manuyema country would seem to be
the common Chimpanzee. "According to Livingstone," to quote Mr. H. H.
Johnston's note in his excellent "Life" of the great traveller, "these
creatures often walk in an erect position, but steady their bodies by
placing the hands on the back of the head. He represents this beast as
being of great intelligence, and so cunning, that it is difficult to stalk
him in front without being seen, and, therefore, when he is killed, it is
usually from behind. The Manuyema people frequently string a number of nets
round some enclosure in the forest and drive the _Sokos_ into them and
spear them. Brought to bay like this, they will frequently turn on their
assailants, and will snatch their spears from them, and break them, and
perhaps also bite off the ends of the men's fingers. But, as a rule, the
Soko is not ferocious. They are said to kidnap children and {198}run up the
trees with them, and have to be lured down by bananas. When wounded the
creature tries to staunch the blood by stuffing leaves into the wound. It
lives in communities of about ten, and is monogamous. The female produces
occasionally twins. As parents, they are very affectionate towards their
offspring, the father relieving the mother of the burden of her young one
in dangerous places. Their food consists of wild fruits. At times the
_Sokos_ collect together and drum with their fists on the trunks of hollow
trees, and accompany this performance with loud yells and screams."
"According to the statements of the Niam-niam themselves," says
Schweinfurth, "the chase of the Chimpanzee requires a party of twenty or
thirty resolute hunters, who have to ascend the trees, which are some
eighty feet high, and to clamber after the agile and crafty brutes until
they can drive them into the snares prepared beforehand. Once entangled in
a net the beasts are without much further difficulty killed by means of
spears. However, in some cases, they will defend themselves savagely and
with all the fury of despair. Driven by the hunter into a corner, they are
said to wrest the lances from the men's hands and to make good use of them
against the adversary. Nothing was more to be dreaded than being bitten by
their tremendous fangs." The stories as to their carrying off young girls,
and constructing nests are pure fabrications, according to Schweinfurth.
Its name among the Niam-niam is "Ranya." "The life which the Ranya leads is
very much like what is led by the Orang-Utan in Borneo, and is spent almost
entirely in the trees, the woods on the river banks being the chief resort
of the animals.... Like the Gorillas, they are not found in herds, but
either in pairs, or even quite alone, and it is only the young which
occasionally may be seen in groups."