The Minds and Manners of Wild Animals

of trained chimpanzees on the theatrical stage. Really, when a well trained "chimp" is dressed from head to foot like a man, and is seen going with quickness, prec

e, including the giant Casey and Mr. Garner's Susie; and finally in 1918 our own Suzette. The theatre-going public has been well supplied with trained ch

minate on the stage, and why so few performing

and slower in execution th

ang are not good for

her awkward with it

twice as many chi

activities soon wear him out. If he survives to see his sixth or seventh year, it is then tha

the orangs. Three chimps out of every five are good for training, but

ded genus of apes than from any unclean, ignorant and repulsive race of the genus Homo. In comparing the chimpanzees of Fernan Vaz with the Canoe Indians of the Strait of Magellan and

the facial expression of man himself. In fact, the face of an intelligent chimpanzee or orang-utan is a fairly constant index of the state of mind of the individual. In their turn, tho

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 thr

mal 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 striden

the human species, or their anger. Their recognition, and their exuberant joy on such occasions, is

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, be

d upon their estimate of comparative mentality in the primates. Fortunately for our purposes, the minds of the most intelligent and capable apes, baboons, and monkeys have been partially developed and exploited by stage trainers, and to a far less extent by keepers in zoological parks. Some wonderf

CHIMPANZEE "Baldy" was an animal of fine intelligence

s a breadth of intelligence, a range of memory and of activity and precision in thought and in energy which no logical mind can ignore. To say that a chimpanzee who can sw

n. The poor subjects are left for cage life. The trainer must possess intelligence of good quality, infinite patience and tireless industry. Furthermore, the stage properties must be ample. An outfit of this k

nt "trick" bicycle rider. She could stand upright on a huge wooden ball, and by expert balancing and foot-work roll it up a steep incline, down a flight of stairs, and land it safely upon the stage, without

and body could exert. All the training skill in the world could not take a machine and teach it to ride a bicycle t

orang-utan Joe was a very capable animal, and his performances were wonderful. He could use a hamm

theatre in 1909. The star actor was a fine male animal about six years old, called

OF PETER,

u, hatrack, candle, cigarette, match, cuspidor, roller skates, bottl

ith a string fastened it in place under his chin. With a fork he speared some slices of banana and ate them. Into his tumbler he poured liquid from a bottle, drank, then corke

te between his fingers, gave his keeper a light, smoked again, and blew puffs of smoke first

eeth with a tooth-brush, brushed his hair on both

and put it on the ke

danced about, beating a tambourine. Then he removed his shirt, trousers, shoes, garters

ller skates and playfully pursued a young woman who ran

nd swiftly rode around the stage about fifteen times. While riding he took off his cap and waved it. He rode up an incl

nd drank out of it. Then he drank out of a tumbler, all while riding. After much flag- waving and swift ri

seemed to do nothing save to assist with the stage properties, just as an assistant helps any acrobat through the property business of his act. If any commands or signs were given, the audience was not aware of it. Later on I learned that sometimes Pete

ount of nervous energy that each performance used up, I made the prediction that he could not f

ty was tested at the laboratory of the University. Dr. Witmer's conclusions, as set forth in a paper in the December (1909) issue of the Psychological Clinic, are of very great interest. He approached

mance. So-called educated horses and even educated seals and fleas have made their appeal in large number to the credulity of the public. Can any animal below man be educated in the proper sense of t

sense the animal is himself giving the stage performance. He knows what he is doing, he delights in it, he varies it from time to time, he understands the succession of tri

r. and Mrs. McArdle, that Peter's proficiency is not so m

irst time he tried it. He put pegs in the ordinary kindergarten pegging board. He opened and closed a very difficult lock. He used hammer and screw driver, and distinguished without any mistake b

nk before he was snatched away by his trainers. He understood language and followed instructions without signs. He was able to say "mamma," and Doctor Witmer taught him in five minutes to give

een copied from an article which appeared in the

e's mind is a subject fit, not for the animal

ur observations on the chimpanzee, I must record a tragic failure in m

a's shouts of excitement and delight carried half a mile throughout the Park. Everything looked most auspicious for the rearing of a wonderful cage-bred and cage-born chimpanzee, the second one ever born in captivity. Instead of carrying her infant astride her hip, as do orang mothers, and the coolie women of India, Suzette astonished us beyond measure by tucking it into her groin, between her thigh and her a

n her to go on with the functions of motherhood. Her breasts contained plenty of

nd struggled to get free, Suzette would nervously rearrange her straw bed, carefully pick from the tiny fingers every straw that they had clutche

it. For hours, and for days, we anxiously watched for nursing to begin; but in vain. At last we became almost frantic from the spectacle of the infant being slowly starved to death because the mother

ld have proceeded along her usual lines. But in our Primate House, Suzette felt that her infant was surrounded by a host of strange enemies, from whom it must be st

er breast and nurse only once, for about one minute; and then back

tly to make it possible to remove the baby without a fight with the mother and its certain death. Owing to her savage temper all the work had to be done between iron bars, to keep from losing hands or arms, and the handicap on the human ha

trol her by force would have been sheer folly, or worse. In

wrong, and she realized the awful odor, but that idea of defense of her offspring obscured all others. In maintaining her possession of that infant, nothing c