[Illustration: THE BALD CHIMPANZEE.]
{199}II. THE BALD CHIMPANZEE. ANTHROPOPITHECUS CALVUS.
_Troglodytes calvus_, Du Chaillu, Pr. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., vii., p. 296
(1861); id., Travels, pp. 32, 48, 63 (1861); Gray, P. Z. S., 1861, p.
273; Bartlett, P. Z. S., 1885, p. 673, pl. xli.; Beddard, Tr. Z. S.,
xiii., p. 177 (1893); Romanes, P. Z. S., 1889, p. 316.
_Troglodytes kooloo-kamba_, Du Chaillu, Pr. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., vii.,
p. 358 (1861); id., Travels, pp. 39, 49, 50 (1861); Gray, P. Z. S., 1861,
p. 273.
_Mimetes troglodytes_, var. a (_T. calvus_), Gray, Cat. Monkeys Brit.
Mus., p. 6 (1870).
_Anthropopithecus calvus_, Flower & Lydekker, Mammals, p. 736 (1891).
(_Plate XLI._)
CHARACTERS.--This species was first indicated by Du Chaillu on his return
from his celebrated journey to the Gaboon, but based on poor skins, which
left much doubt as to the species being distinct. Excellently preserved
specimens were, however, brought home by Marche and Dr. Compiégne, and some
of them passed into the Dublin Museum, but it was not till 1885, when a
living specimen, now known to fame as "Sally," was received at the
Zoological Gardens in London, and lived there for five years, that the
correctness of Du Chaillu, as to the distinctness of his "Kooloo-kamba,"
_A. calvus_, from _A. troglodytes_, was proved and accepted.
Similar to _A. troglodytes_, but distinguished from it by the face, hands,
and feet being quite black, or brownish-black, instead of pale
flesh-colour; the front, top, and sides of the head and face are nearly
naked, having only a few short hairs on the head, which is quite destitute
of any signs of the parting so {200}conspicuous in _A. troglodytes_. The
hair is blacker than in the latter species, and extends only for a short
distance in front of the level of the ears, and on the sides of the face;
the temporal region and cheeks show a scanty growth; on the chin and upper
lip a sparse crop of short hairs, chiefly white; long scattered black
eyebrows, which do not meet in the mid-line, spring from the supra-orbital
ridges. The ears are as large as in _A. troglodytes_, very flat, but stand
out more prominently from the side of the head; their margin is nude, and
there is no lobule. The hands are haired across the knuckles, and again
(after a naked band) on the back of the hand and arm; the foot is haired
down to the first joints of the toes; the nails and fingers are very human
in appearance.
Face very prognathous; the nasal bones ridged in the mid-line; the foot
less like a human hand than even in the Orang. "Sally's" brain weighed
8-3/5 ounces.
The expression of the face, the expanded nostrils, the thicker lips,
especially the lower lip, and the more elevated skull, all distinguish _A.
calvus_ from _A. troglodytes_; in its muscular anatomy and in its brain it
also shows points of difference.
DISTRIBUTION.--The interior of Gaboon, in Western Africa.
HABITS.--The Bald Chimpanzee showed in captivity a disposition to live on
animal food, which the Common Chimpanzee never does. "Sally" had also the
singular habit of producing pellets, resembling the castings thrown up by
Raptorial birds; they were composed of feathers (of the birds she had
eaten) and other indigestible substances taken with her food. Moreover,
"Sally," as this Chimpanzee, now famous in the annals of zoology, was
named, was an expert rat-catcher, and caught and killed many rats that
entered her cage. "Her intelligence was {201}far above that of the ordinary
Chimpanzee. With but little trouble she could be taught to do many things
that require the exercise of considerable thought and understanding."
(_Bartlett._) In general habits _A. calvus_ differs, so far as known, in no
respect from _A. troglodytes_.
It was on this Ape that the late Dr. G. J. Romanes, attracted by its high
intelligence, made his interesting psychological experiments, which are
related in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society for 1889. "Her
intelligence was conspicuously displayed by the remarkable degree in which
she was able to understand the meaning of spoken language--a degree fully
equal to that presented by an infant a few months before emerging from
infancy, and, therefore, higher than that which is presented by any brute,
so far at least as I have met with any evidence to show. Having enlisted
the intelligent co-operation of the keepers, I requested them to ask the
Ape repeatedly for one straw, two straws, or three straws. These she was to
pick up and hand out from among the litter of her cage. No constant order
was to be observed in making these requests, but whenever she handed a
number not asked for, her offer was to be refused, while if she gave the
proper number her offer was to be accepted, and she was to receive a piece
of fruit as payment. In this way the Ape was eventually taught to associate
these three numbers with their names.... As soon as the animal understood
what was required, and had learnt to associate these three numbers with
their names, she never failed to give the number of straws asked for. Her
education was then extended in a similar manner from three to four and four
to five straws." "Sally" rarely made mistakes up to that number, but above
five and up to ten, to which one of the keepers endeavoured to advance her
education, the result is uncertain. {202}"It is evident that she
understands the words seven, eight, nine, and ten, to betoken numbers
higher than those below them, and when she was asked for any of these
numbers above six, she always gave some number over six and under ten. She
sometimes doubled over a straw to make it present two ends, and was
supposed to hasten, with the small stock of patience she possessed, the
attainment of her task." Dr. Romanes was disposed to think that the
uncertainty which attended her dealing with the numbers six and seven was
due to her losing patience rather than to her losing count. It was at all
events evident that "Sally" could count accurately up to five. Dr. Romanes
tried to teach her colours in the same way, but the result was so uniformly
negative that he was disposed to think that she was colour-blind, as she
was taught to distinguish between white straws and the straws of any other
colour, but she could not be taught to go further.
In 1875 a female Ape, which received the name of "Mafuca," was received
from the Loango coast at the Dresden Zoological Gardens. "This," says Dr.
Hartmann, "was a wild unmanageable creature, 120 cm. in height, reminding
us in many respects of the Gorilla. The face was prognathous [more so than
in _A. troglodytes_]; the ears were comparatively small, placed high on the
skull, and projecting outwards; the supra-orbital arch was strongly
developed, and the end of the nose was broad, and there were rolls of fat
on the cheeks. The creature was, moreover, strongly built, and the region
of the hips and the belly was contracted, while the hands and feet were
large and powerful. The general physiognomical resemblance between Mafuca
and a female Gorilla [whose dead body I had examined] was very great." It
was suggested that the creature might be a cross between a Chimpanzee and a
Gorilla, as the traveller {203}Koppenfels had affirmed he had shot such
cross-bred animals. It is still an undecided question to what species it
belonged.
Of the four genera of the _Simiidæ_, "the Gibbons are obviously most remote
from Man, and nearest to the _Cynopithecini_ (_Cercopithecidæ_).
"The Orangs come nearest to Man in the number of the ribs, the form of the
cerebral hemispheres, the diminution of the occipito-temporal sulcus
[groove] of the brain, and the ossified styloid process; but they differ
from him much more widely in other respects, and especially in the limbs,
than the Gorilla and the Chimpanzee do.
"The Gorilla is more Man-like in the proportions of the leg to the body,
and of the foot to the hand; further, in the size of the heel, the
curvature of the spine, the form of the pelvis, and the absolute capacity
of the cranium.
"The Chimpanzee approaches Man most closely in the character of its
cranium, its dentition, and the proportional size of the arms." (_Huxley._)