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GORILLA (or PoNGO)

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 258 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GORILLA (or PoNGO) , the largest of the See also:man-like apes, and a native of See also:West See also:Africa from the See also:Congo to Cameroon, whence it extends eastwards across the See also:continent to See also:German See also:East Africa. Many naturalists regard the gorilla as best included in the same genus as the See also:chimpanzee, in which See also:case it should be known as Anthropopithecus gorilla, but by others it is regarded as the representative of a genus by itself, when its See also:title will be Gorilla savagei, or G. gorilla. That there are See also:local forms of gorilla is quite certain: but whether any of these are entitled to See also:rank as distinct See also:species may be a See also:matter of See also:opinion. It was See also:long supposed that the apes encountered on an See also:island off the west See also:coast of Africa by See also:Hanno, the Carthaginian, were gorillas, but in the II opinion of some of those best qualified to See also:judge, it is probable that the creatures in question were really baboons. The first real See also:account of the gorilla appears to be the one given by an See also:English sailor, See also:Andrew See also:Battel, who spent some See also:time in the wilds of West Africa during and about the See also:year 1590; his account being presented in See also:Purchas's See also:Pilgrimage, published in the year 1613. From this it appears that Battel was See also:familiar with both the chimpanzee and the gorilla, the former of which he terms engeco and the latter pongo—names which ought apparently to be adopted for these two species in See also:place of those now in use. Between Battel's time and 1846 nothing appears to have been heard of the gorilla or pongo, but in that year a missionary at the See also:Gabun accidentally discovered a See also:skull of the huge See also:ape; and in 1847 a See also:sketch of that specimen, together with two others, came into the hands of See also:Sir R. See also:Owen, by whom the name Gorilla savagei was proposed for the new ape in 1848. Dr See also:Thomas See also:Savage, a missionary at the Gabun, who sent Owen See also:information with regard to the See also:original skull, had, however, himself proposed the name See also:Troglodytes gorilla in 1847. The first See also:complete See also:skeleton of a gorilla sent to See also:Europe was received at the museum of the Royal See also:College of Surgeons in 1851, and the first complete skin appears to have reached the See also:British Museum in 1858. See also:Paul B. du Chaillu's account (1861) of his journeys in the Gabun region popularized the knowledge of the existence of the gorilla. Male gorillas largely exceed the See also:females in See also:size; and attain a height of from 51 ft. to 62 ft., or perhaps even more.

Some of the features distinguishing the gorilla from the See also:

mere gorilla-like chimpanzees will be found mentioned in the See also:article See also:PRIMATES. Among them are the small ears, elongated See also:head, the presence of a deep groove alongside the nostrils, the small size of the thumb, and the See also:great length. of the See also:arm, which reaches See also:half-way down the shin-See also:bone (See also:tibia) in the erect posture. In old See also:males the eyes are overhung by a beetling See also:penthouse of bone, the hinder half of the See also:middle See also:line of the skull bears a See also:wall-like bony See also:ridge for the See also:attachment of the powerful See also:jaw-muscles, and the tusks, or canines, are of monstrous size, recalling those of a carnivorous See also:animal. The See also:general See also:colour is blackish, with a more or less marked See also:grey or brownish tinge on the See also:hair of the shoulders, and sometimes of See also:chestnut on the head. Mr G. L. See also:Bates (in Proc. Zool. See also:Soc., 1905, vol. i.) states that gorillas only leave the depths of the See also:forest to enter the outlying clearings in the neighbourhood of human settlements when they are attracted by some See also:special See also:fruit or succulent plant; the favourite being the fruit of the " mejom," a tall See also:cane-like plant (perhaps a See also:kind of Amomum) which grows abundantly on deserted clearings. At one isolated See also:village the natives, who were unarmed, reported that they not unfrequently saw and heard the gorillas, which See also:broke down the stalks of the plantains in the See also:rear of the habitations to See also:tear out and eat the See also:tender See also:heart. On the old clearings of another village Mr Bates himself, although he did See also:net see a gorilla, saw the fresh tracks of these great apes and the torn stems and discarded fruit rinds of the " mejoms," as well as the broken stalks of the latter, which had been used for beds. On another occasion he came across the See also:bed of an old gorilla which had been used only the See also:night before, as was proved by a See also:negro woman, who on the previous evening had heard the animal breaking and treading down the stalks to See also:form its See also:couch.

According to native See also:

report, the gorillas See also:sleep on these beds, which are of sufficient thickness to raise them a See also:foot or two above the ground, in a sitting posture, with the head inclined forwards on the See also:breast. In the first case Mr Bates states that the tracks and beds indicated the presence of three or four gorillas, some of which were small. This account does not by any means See also:accord with one given by von Koppenfels, in which it is stated that while the old male gorilla sleeps in a sitting posture at the See also:base of a See also:tree-See also:trunk (no mention being made of a bed), the See also:female and See also:young ones pass the night in a See also:nest in the tree several yards above the ground, made by bending the boughs together and covering them with twigs and See also:moss. Mr Bates's account, as being based on actual inspection of the beds, is probably the more trustworthy. Even when asleep and snoring, gorillas are difficult to approach, since they awake at the slightest rustle, and an See also:attempt to surround the one heard making his bed by the woman resulted in failure. Most gorillas killed by natives are believed by Mr Bates to have been en-countered suddenly in the daytime on the ground or in See also:low trees in the outlying clearings. Many natives, even if armed, refuse, however, to molest an adult male gorilla, on account of its ferocity when wounded. Mr Bates, like Mr Winwood See also:Reade, refused to See also:credit du Chaillu's account of his having killed gorillas, and stated that the only instance he knew of one of these animals being slain by a See also:European was an old male (now in Mr See also:Walter See also:Rothschild's museum at See also:Tring) shot by the German trader Paschen in the Yaunde See also:district, of which an illustrated account was published in 1901. Mr E. J. Corns states, however, that two European traders, apparently in the " 'eighties " of the 19th See also:century, were in the See also:habit of surrounding and capturing these animals as occasion offered.' Fully adult gorillas have never been seen alive in captivity—and perhaps never will be, as the creature is ferocious and morose to a degree. So long ago as the year 1855, when the species was known to zoologists only by its skeleton, a gorilla was actually living in See also:England.

This animal, a young female, came from the Gabun, and was kept for some months in WombAell's travelling See also:

menagerie, where it was treated as a pet. On its See also:death, the See also:body was sent to Mr See also:Charles See also:Waterton, of See also:Walton See also:Hall, by whom the skin was mounted in a See also:grotesque manner, and the skeleton given to the See also:Leeds museum. Apparently, however, it was not till several years later that the skin was recognized by Mr A. D. See also:Bartlett as that of a gorilla; the animal having probably been regarded by its owner as a chimpanzee. A young male was See also:purchased by the Zoological Society in See also:October 1887, from Mr See also:Cross, the See also:Liverpool dealer in animals. At the time of arrival it was supposed to be about three years old, and stood 21 ft. high. A second, a male, supposed to be rather older, was acquired in See also:March 1896, having been brought to Liverpool from the See also:French Congo. It is described as having been thoroughly healthy at the date of its arrival, and of an amiable and tractable disposition. Neither survived long. Two others were received in the Zoological Society's menagerie in 1904, and another was housed there for a See also:short time in the following year, while a fifth was received in 1906. Falkenstein's gorilla, exhibited at the See also:Westminster See also:aquarium under the name of pongo, and afterwards at the See also:Berlin aquarium, survived for eighteen months.

" Pussi," the gorilla of the See also:

Breslau Zoological Gardens, holds a See also:record for See also:longevity, with over seven years of menagerie See also:life. See also:Writing in 1903 Mr W. T. Hornaday stated that but one live gorilla, and that a tiny See also:infant, had ever landed in the See also:United States; and it lived only five days after arrival. (R.

End of Article: GORILLA (or PoNGO)

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