Capuchin monkey

“ There is at least one animal found in the forests of Guayana which is familiar even to the untravelled Cockney, namely, the prehensile-tailed capuchin monkey or sapajou, of which several species are known in Venezuela, while they are the most common tame kind brought to Europe. Humboldt’s woolly monkey, which is nearly allied, is dark grey, the capuchin being generally reddish; its flesh is said to be excellent eating for those who feel no qualms at nearing the verge of cannibalism. ”

“ The little Capuchin monkeys, whose voices and sounds he had ample opportunity of observing here, give sufficient material for trying experiments in the meaning of monkey sounds. The writer believes that it is highly probable that the cleverer monkeys have a great many notes or sounds which the others do understand, if only because they make the same under similar circumstances, otherwise they would not utter them. They are like the sounds which an intelligent but nearly dumb person might make. ”

“ There is only one monkey which we can thoroughly recommend as an indoor pet, the beautiful and intelligent little Capuchin. The marmosets, even more beautiful and equally pleasing, are too delicate for our climate, and die of colds and coughs after the first fogs of winter. But the lively little Capuchins may be kept for years in an English house; and no monkey approaches their good-temper and pretty winning ways. They all have good round heads, with black fur on the top and light-brown on the cheeks. ”

“ Indeed, European settlers usually know them by the names of hare or rabbit, and hunt them in the same way. The flesh of most species is very good eating, and they are therefore much sought after both by the natives and colonists.
Along with these, near the juvia-tree, were several capivaras, already noticed. But still more singular creatures on the ground were the monkeys. Of these there were different kinds; but that which first drew the attention of our party was the great Capuchin monkey. ”

“ The acquisitive energy of a monkey-swarm must be witnessed to be credited. In the banana-gardens of the tierra caliente a Mexican capuchin monkey will exhaust his business opportunities with the dispatch of a Cincinnati bank-cashier; but, in his attempt to reach the Canadian side of the hedge with a good armfill of plunder, so often falls a victim to the pursuing dogs that monkey-trappers frequently rent an orchard for the special purpose of capturing the retreating marauders. ”

“ Strong, active, fierce, the Capuchin is tamed with the greatest difficulty, and, when angered, he raises himself on his hinder extremities, grinds his teeth in his wrath, and leaps around his antagonist with threatening gestures. If any malicious person wishes to see this Homunculus in a most devouring rage, let him wet the Capuchin’s beard, and he will find that such an act is the unforgivable sin. There is one point, indeed, wherein our monkey differs from civilised man—he very seldom drinks ”

“ An angry hamadryas baboon, for instance, will strike the ground with his fist, not because any Christian visitors have ever set him that bad example, but because his forefathers have thus for ages vented their wrath on the rocks of the Nubian highlands. A capuchin monkey will pick huckleberries with his fingers, not in deference to civilized customs, but because his fingers are deft and long, and his jaws very short. ”

“ Near Bocanso in southeastern Cuba the woods are alive with capuchin monkeys, that seem to have escaped from the wreck of some South American trading vessel and found the climate so congenial that they proceeded to make themselves at home, like the ring-tailed colonists of Fort Sable, in the Florida Everglades. The food supply may not be quite as abundant as in the equatorial birthland of their species, but that disadvantage is probably more than offset by the absence of tree-climbing carnivora. ”

“ Are both natives of South America; they live in large troops, feeding on roots, fruits, and insects, and are much more gentle than those of the old world. Of the Capuchin there are many species, differing from each other in colour only; they are very lively, active, and amusing, and about a foot long. The Spider Monkey, like the Capuchin, has a long prehensile tail, which it uses like a fifth hand. ”

“ If one looks at the long-bearded, serious singers one can scarcely keep from smiling; but soon the indescribable discords they produce become as wearisome as their monotonous climbing, or rather creeping movements. What one does another imitates, but whatever they may do, howsoever they may act, their behaviour is always monotonous. Very much like these, or not essentially different, are all the monkeys with prehensile tails; though a few prominent members of the family, the Capuchin monkeys for instance, are rather more free and independent. ”

“ With the possible exception of one or two figures, monkeys (Maya, maaš or baaɔ) are not represented in the Maya codices examined. In Tro-Cortesianus 88c (Pl. 39, fig. 4) occurs a curious nondescript animal with what seem to be hoofs on the forefeet, a somewhat bushy tail of moderate length, and a head that appears to be distinctly bonneted, somewhat as in the representations of the capuchin. Stempell regards this as a monkey, though recognizing that the short bushy tail is unlike that of any Central American species. ”

“ THE WEEPER CAPUCHIN, OR CAI. [91]
This is known by the black top to its head, and it is small, and brown in colour elsewhere, the face and throat being greyish-yellow.
Brehm gives the following notes about their habits:—“This Monkey is common from Bahia to Colombia, and it chooses wooded country where there is no underwood. The greater part of its life is spent on trees, and it only leaves them to drink, or to visit a field of maize. In the day he wanders from tree to tree, looking for food; in the night sleeps on the branches of some tree. ”

“ When the golden orange glows among the dark foliage in South American plantations, the capuchin monkeys make their appearance, often from a great distance, to share the fruit with the owner. Other plant-eaters too are led by the hope of gaining an easier livelihood into regions and districts which they usually avoid; insectivores periodically follow the insects when they are for the time abundant at this place or that, and large beasts of prey keep in the wake of herbivorous mammals, especially of the herds belonging to man. ”

“ If the digestible qualities of the novelty seem doubtful, he appears to act on the principle that in the mean while it can do no harm to appropriate it. North of the Rio Grande most capuchin-monkeys are martyrs to rheumatism, and three poor cripples of the Cebidæ species had been assigned winter quarters in the kitchen of a New Orleans boarding-house. They could be trusted, as their complex ailments disqualified them from running and climbing, their only mode of progression being a sidelong wriggling on their haunches and elbows. ”

“ The Sapajous are the hardiest, the most intelligent and in some respects the most interesting of the New World monkeys. They all possess the prehensile (or grasping) tail, which is not found on any Old World monkey, and the use made of it is a constant source of wonder. Monkeys of this species are quite common in captivity, and their wrinkled brows and serious countenances give them an appearance of being burdened with cares,—which most captive monkeys certainly are! These are the unfortunate creatures which so often come to grief on hand-organs. ”

“ Thus, the suitably named pig-tailed macaque of the Far East is trained, in Sumatra and Borneo, to climb the coconut palms and select and throw down ripe nuts—the most really useful thing to the credit of monkeys; the Japanese species is the one that is so much used in the decorative designs of that artistic people; and the best known of all is the com [Pg 379] mon Bengal or rhesus monkey, which is revered by some sects of Hindus, and is treated with tolerance or made a pet of, or an aid to jugglers, throughout India. Several other macaques are common pets and servants in the East. ”

“ The tail acts as a fifth hand.
The Capuchins are, in the writer's opinion, the nicest of all monkeys. Many species are known, but all have the same round merry faces, bright eyes, pretty fur, and long tails. There is always a fair number at the Zoological Gardens. They are merry, but full of fads. One hates children and loves ladies; another adores one or two other monkeys, and screams at the rest. All are fond of insects as well as of fruit. ”

“ The macaques go about in flocks, and often come to the ground. All have the habit of cramming food into their cheek pouches for mastication at leisure. The majority of the species are very docile when young.
Closely related to the macaques are the mangabeys, or white-eyelidded monkeys of West Africa, and the central African genus Cercopithecus, which includes many small-sized, handsome, tree-living kinds, of which the most widely known is the diana monkey, whose long fringe of white hair hanging from its neck and chest is in much demand in the fur market. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The relations between the monkey and his master ought to be friendly, and, when the first causes for fear and motives to anger have been suppressed, there will remain on the animal's part only feelings of respect. He will recognize his inferiority to man, and will respect him without fear. These lively and nervous animals, abruptly torn from their native wilds, to be shut up and treated in an unnatural manner, preserve in captivity their good-humor and intelligence to a remarkable degree.
The monkeys I have kept have been both of New World and Old World species. ”

“ 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. ”

“ A troop of monkeys travelling through the forest and feeding as they move, is also worth watching. Their presence is plainly indicated, even when some distance off, by the crashing noise made as they leap from tree to tree. Having reached the extremity of one branch, the monkey, with a swing and a flying leap, conveys himself to another, not alighting as a rule on a bough of any size, but generally coming down on all fours amongst the small twigs, a bunch of which is immediately embraced. ”

“ The monkey becomes as fond of its human friends as it is of those of its own race. Often it does not like certain people, and has its own way of showing this, but there are others whom it seems to love warmly. This faculty does not [279] belong only to monkeys, but may be seen in dogs and other animals. But it is often strongly shown by the monkey.
Darwin tells of a keeper in the London Zoölogical Garden, who one day was attacked by a savage baboon. In the cage was a little American monkey, a great friend of the keeper, but very much afraid of the great baboon. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The monkeys are very numerous in the sacred cities, and especially in Benares and Pooree. Within a few miles of the temple of Juggernaut there are many hundreds, if not thousands. They are so tame that they will come down from the trees and eat rice from the hands of the pilgrims. When the pilgrim presents his hand with the rice in it, the monkey seizes it with his left paw, and he will never let go his grip until he has taken every grain. Very few persons are injured by monkeys, but they will sometimes seize a basket, if there be fruit in it, when carried by a woman or child. ”