Old World monkey

“ All of the American monkeys are true monkeys, but in the old world there is no line between ape, baboon, gibbon, macaque and monkey. Most of the American species (the marmosets excepted) have one more molar tooth on each side of each jaw than does man, but the forms of the eastern continent are like man in that respect, as they are in having nails rather than claws on at least some of the fingers and toes. Many of the new world species have prehensile tails, but this never occurs in the others, the tail exhibiting a tendency to be reduced, at last disappearing in the man-like apes. ”

“ Thus the fossil monkeys of South America have the nostrils wide apart like all the existing simiæ of the new world, and fossil monkeys with approximated nostrils, the characteristic mark of all the old world quadrumana, are exclusively found in Asia and in Europe, where now a small species of monkey is confined to the Rock of Gibraltar, but where, in the Upper Miocene times, large long-armed apes, equalling man in stature, lived in the oak forests of France. ”

“ Birds of prey and snakes are their great enemies. [Pg 392]
"There are eight species of monkeys, but they are not all found in every district. They live in troops, but when old they live generally by themselves or in pairs.
"Of all the mammalian animals inhabiting the forest the monkey tribe is the most numerous; but the poor monkey is surrounded by enemies, the greatest being man, who sets traps everywhere to catch him. Then he is continually hunted by the negroes with guns or arrows. ”

“ The callosities of the Old-World monkeys, which sit upon their haunches, are other cases in point; but they do not occur among the more strictly arboreal quadrumana of the American Continent, nor among the lemurs, for the habits of these two classes in this respect are more similar to those of ordinary mammals. On the other hand, the New World monkeys possess a prehensile tail, with which they frequently swing from bough to bough or lower themselves to the ground, and in these creatures, says Cuvier, "la partie prenante de la queue est nue en dessous." ”

“ Lund in limestone caverns in Brazil, offers the nearest analogy to the howler monkeys (Mycetes) which are still found in the same locality. The Sapajou (Cebus macrognathus) , the Sagouin (Callithrix primævus) , and the little Ouistiti (Jacchus grandis) , are all Brazilian forms. No Transmutationist will assert the probable, or even possible, derivation of American types of men from the Platyrrliine monkeys.
Turning to the Old World, the earliest and one of the most interesting forms of fossil monkey has been discovered in the Eocene sand, at Kyson in Suffolk. ”

“ THIS monkey, (fig. 211.) though small, is a beautiful animal. Its name seems to indicate that it is a native of Siam, and other eastern provinces of Asia; but though we cannot positively assert this, it is, however, certain that it belongs to the Old Continent, and is not found any where in the New, because it has pouches on each side of its cheeks, and callosities on its posteriors, which characters neither belong to the sagoins nor sapajous, [226] which are the only animals of the New World that can be compared to the monkeys. ”

“ Their gentleness and good-nature—apart from the fact that these are not found in all the species, do not in the least make up for their general lack of enterprise, boldness, cheerfulness, liveliness, and decision, circumspection and ingenuity—qualities which place the Old-World monkeys so high—while their everlasting whining and complaining counterbalance, in our eyes, all the qualities which might attract us to them. ”

“ Then no American monkey has those bare patches on its hind quarters, which are present in all the monkeys of the Old World, with the exception of the great apes, and which are often so brightly colored. And, more curious still, no American monkey has a proper thumb. The fingers are generally very long and strong ”

“ In the Post-Pliocene deposits of the Brazilian caves, remains of monkeys are numerous, and mainly belong to extinct species of Callithrix, Cebus, and Jacchus, all living South American genera. Only one extinct genus, Protopithecus, which embraced animals of large size, has been found in this peculiar fauna.
It is a noteworthy fact, that no traces of any Anthropoid apes, or indeed of any Old World monkeys, have yet been detected in America. Man, however, the highest of the Primates, has left his bones and his works from the arctic circle to Patagonia. ”

“ Among these Old World monkeys the forms to which man shows the greatest resemblance are the anthropoid apes, which, like him, possess neither tail nor ischial callosities. The platyrrhine and catarrhine monkeys have their primitive ancestor among extinct forms of the Lemuridae. Darwin also touches on the question of the original home of the human race and supposes that it may have been in Africa, because it is there that man's nearest relatives, the gorilla and the chimpanzee, are found. ”

“ The Old World monkeys are, as a family, of higher grade, larger size, and greater historical interest than those of America. Fossil remains show that the tribe is an old one, and was once able to range all over Europe; now the few half-captive and altogether mischievous apes on the rock of Gibraltar represent all that remain of a species once numerous even in northern France, and so recently as the Pleistocene. This ape is a macaque (Macacus) , a genus that otherwise is purely Asiatic and contains some of the most celebrated of the monkeys. ”

“ On the ground their gait is extremely ungainly, uncertain, and tottering, particularly in those species which have a prehensile tail, but even their climbing does not come at all near that of the Old-World monkeys. For increase of the number of organs of locomotion does not necessarily result in increased power, still less in greater variety of movement; on the contrary, it often means one-sidedness, and it certainly does so in the case of the New-World monkeys. ”

“ We know that there are many animals on this continent not found in the Old World. These must have been carried from here to the ark, and then brought back afterwards. Were the peccary, armadillo, ant-eater, sloth, agouti, vampire-bat, marmoset, howling and prehensile-tailed monkey, the raccoon and muskrat carried by the angels from America to Asia? How did they get there? Did the polar bear leave his field of ice and journey toward the tropics? How did he know where the ark was? Did the kangaroo swim or jump from Australia to Asia? ”

“ So great is it, that even after the animal has died from the effect of a shot or other wound, its tail will still remain hooped around the branch; and if the body is not taken down by the hunter, it will hang there till released by the decay of the tail!
Not all the monkeys of America possess this prehensile power of tail. Some are entirely without it, and approach nearer to certain kinds in the Old World; while there are a few species that very closely resemble the lemurs. These differences have led to a classification of the American monkeys ”

“ The most beautiful and entertaining of all monkeys are these New World species. No person clever at interpreting the ways of animals would fail to consider them far more clever and sympathetic than the melancholy anthropoid apes, while for appearance they have no equals. Probably the most attractive monkey in Europe is a South American one now in the London Zoological Gardens. It was first mentioned to Europeans by Baron von Humboldt, who saw it in the cabin of an Indian on the Orinoco. These forest Indians of South America are gentle creatures themselves. ”

“ It is the least attractive in appearance of its western brethren, and is the only one of the monkey tribe which the natives are unable to tame. Though often caught, they do not survive many weeks in captivity. It lives on fruits and nuts, and is hunted for the sake of its flesh, which, though rather dry, is much esteemed. The natives entrap this monkey in a curious fashion. They take a large nut, and scraping out the interior, leave only a small mouth, and, filling it with sugar, leave it near the trees inhabited by the mycetes. ”

“ In this constant carefulness for his own precious person the broad-nosed monkey impresses one not so much with his prudence as with his slowness, and it is noteworthy that the whole character of the New-World monkeys bears this out. Their voice is not quite so monotonous as that of the marmosets, but it is unpleasant, not to say tiresome. ”

“ The monkey can do so many things at once that no juggler can equal it. It will hold fruit in one hand, pick more with one foot, place food to the mouth with another hand, and walk and swing from branch to branch with the other foot and tail, all simultaneously. These monkeys have no visible thumb, though dissection shows that they have a rudimentary one; but the limbs are so flexible that they can put one arm round behind their heads over on to the opposite shoulder, and brush the fur on their upper arm. ”

“ At the most favourable opportunity he seizes the reptile just below the head with a firm grasp, then springs to a tree, if available, or to any hard substance near at hand, on which he rubs the snake's head with all his strength until life is extinct; at intervals smelling the fresh blood as it oozes from the wounds of his victim. When success has crowned his labour, the monkey capers about his prostrate enemy, as if in triumph at the victory he has won; developing, as the Natives say, in this, a striking resemblance to man. ”

“ Just because there is so little of the true monkey about them they are preferred by women and despised by men.
On a decidedly higher level stand the Broad-nosed or New-World monkeys, which also inhabit America, though even in these, the full character of the true monkey is not attained. ”

“ The little monkey, the frightened, hopeless agony of death stamped on its tiny, grotesque features, dabbles aimlessly with little twigs and leaves, stuffing them at the wound; sometimes it feebly tries to get back among the branches that make his world, and, as you approach, there is never any savage, snarling stand where he meets extinction with the cornered heroism that seems for the moment to balance the scene. Instead, he pleads with failing gestures of forlorn propitiation, and with hoarse, cooing little noises, for the respite that would be far less merciful than the coup de gráce. ”

“ It is one of the monkeys, too, which organ-grinders so often carry about on their organs. But they do not care to have it except when it is quite young, for although it is very gentle and playful until it reaches its full size, it afterward becomes fierce and sullen, and is apt at any moment to break out into furious passion.
Like most of the guenons, green monkeys go about in droves, each under the leadership of an old male, who wins and keeps his position by fighting all his rivals. ”

“ The monkey-organist is generally a native of Switzerland or the Tyrol. He carries a worn-out, doctored, and flannel-swathed instrument, under the weight of which, being but a youth, or very rarely an adult, he staggers slowly along, with outstretched back and bended knees. On the top of his old organ sits a monkey, or sometimes a marmoset, to whose queer face and queerer tricks, he trusts for compensating the defective quality of his music. ”

“ The Simiadae then branched off into two great stems, the New World and Old World monkeys; and from the latter, at a remote period, Man, the wonder and glory of the Universe, proceeded. ”

“ The monkeys resent intrusion of their territories by anything that looks like another monkey, such as a man. When approached they start barking. The usual terrier-like bark of great excitement may change to a metallic chatter repeated with great frequency. When males, and sometimes adult females are approached closely they growl in a strikingly vicious manner. Typically they come to the terminal ends of branches, often within 40 to 50 feet of the observer, and vigorously shake these branches. Both hands and feet may be used while the animal hangs by its tail. ”

“ On the other hand the American monkeys do little damage to man, for the vast forests which form their home (they are found in the warm countries of Mexico, Central and South America, and never in a very high altitude) provide for them so fully that they have no need of man’s help. The natives depend very much on monkey meat as a food and hunt them with bow and arrows, while travelers are often obliged to subsist upon monkey roasts for weeks together and do not find them very bad fare. ”

“ Unlike the grazing deer and the deer-eating panther, the frugivorous monkeys of the tropics are the direct competitors of the intolerant lord of creation. The Chinese macaques, the Moor monkey, the West-African baboons, have to eke out a living by pillage. The Gibraltar monkey has hardly any other resources. Nor has nature been very generous in the physical equipment of the species. Most monkeys lack the sharp teeth that enable the tiger to defy the avenger of his misdeeds. Without exception they all lack the keen scent that helps the deer to elude its pursuers. ”

“ The monkeys of the Old World, like those of the New, fall into two groups to which the rank of families may perhaps be granted, although the dentition is essentially alike in both. We call the one type Dog-like, the other Man-like, and we may go the length of saying that the former teach us what monkeyhood really is, while the latter rise above it. For the first group especially, my opening remarks hold good. Among them we find monkeys beautiful and ugly, attractive and repulsive, lively and serious, good-natured and malicious. ”