. Man's place in nature, and other anthropological essays. xperience I shall frequently have occasionto refer, states that the Gibbons are true mountaineers, loving theslopes and edges of the hills, though they rarely ascend beyond thelimit of the fig-trees. All day long they haunt the tops of thetall trees; and though, towards evening, they descend in smalltroops to the open ground, no sooner do they spy a man than theydart up the hill-sides, and disappear in the darker valleys. All observers testify to the prodigious volume of voice possessedby these animals. According to the writer whom I h
. Man's place in nature, and other anthropological essays. xperience I shall frequently have occasionto refer, states that the Gibbons are true mountaineers, loving theslopes and edges of the hills, though they rarely ascend beyond thelimit of the fig-trees. All day long they haunt the tops of thetall trees; and though, towards evening, they descend in smalltroops to the open ground, no sooner do they spy a man than theydart up the hill-sides, and disappear in the darker valleys. All observers testify to the prodigious volume of voice possessedby these animals. According to the writer whom I have Just cited,in one of them, the Siamang, the voice is grave and penetrating,resembling the sounds goek, goek, goek, goek, goek ha ha ha hahaaaaa, and may easily be heard at a distance of half a the cry is being uttered, the great membranous bag underthe throat which communicates with the organ of voice, the so-called laryngeal sac, becomes greatly distended, diminishingagain when the creature relapses into silence. 22 MANS PLACE IN NATURE. Fig. 8.—A Gibbon {H. pileatus), after Wolf. M. Duvaucel, likewise, affirms that the cry of the Siamang maybe heard for — the woods ring again. So Mr. Mar-tin * describes the cry of the agile Gibbon as overpowering and * Man and Monkies, p. 423. NATURAL HISTORY OF THE MAN-LH^E APES 23 deafening in a room, and from its strength, well calculated forresounding through the vast forests. Mr. Waterhouse, an ac-complished musician as well as zoologist, says, The Gibbons voiceis certainly much more powerful than that of any singer I everheard. And yet it is to be recollected that this animal is nothalf the height of, and far less bulky in proportion than, a man. There is good testimony that various species of Gibbon readilytake to the erect posture. Mr. George Bennett,^ a very excellentobserver, in describing the habits of a male Hylohates syndactyluswhich remained for some time in his possession, says: He in-variabl
Size: 1130px × 2212px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubj, booksubjecthumanbeings
