The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-04-26 00:00:00

GRIEF OF A CHIMPANZEE.

From a study .of a fine pair of chimpanzees in the
Philadelphia Zoological Garden, Mr. A. E. Brown
has obtained several intersting evidences of a rather
high degree of mental power in this species. One of
the pair lately died, and be behaviour of the sur-
viving•one seemed to bear tomewhat on the acquired
nature of the physical mehns by which our own
strongly excited emotions fnd relief, as well as on
the origin of those emotions themselves. Evidences
of a certain degree of getuine grief were well
marked. The animals had been great friends;
they never quarrelled, On be first cry of fright
from one, the other was inetantly prepared to do
battle in its behalf. It was early in a morning when
the female died and when the mrvivor found it im-
possible to arouse her his grief atd rage were painful
to witness. Snatching at the short hair on .his head,
the ordinary yell of rage at first set up finally changed
to a cry, the like of which he had never been heard to
utter before, and which would be most nearly repre-
sented by hah-ah-ah•ah•ah, uttered somewhat under
the breath, and with a plaintive sound like a moan.
Crying thus' he would lift up he head and then her
hands, only to let them fall again. After her body
was removed he became more quiet; but, catching
sight of it on its being carried peat the cage, he be-
came violent and cried for the rest of that
day. The day following he sat still most of
the time and moaned continuotsly ; this gradually
passed away, the plaintive cry became less fre-
quent, but when he was angry it would be heard at the
close of the fits just as the sobbing of a child after a
passionate fit of crying. It soot become apparent
that this recollection of the nature of the past associa-
tion was becoming less and less vivid, still it was
noticed that, while the two used to sleep together in
one blanket on the floor, he nov invariably slept on a
cross beam at the top of the cage, returning to in-
herited habit, and probably slowing that the appre-
hension of unseen dangers had been heightened by his
sense of loneliness. A high degree of permanence in
grief of this nature in all problbility belongs only Lo
MM.

In noticing the above the Paily News in a leader
remarks :
"Grief has seldom been studied ii animals which are of
their nature wild, but it is commaily noticed among some
of those which are the companions of man. The constant
affection of dogs, who will not leave the place where their
masters are buried, has often affcrded a topic to cynics,
poets, and painters. Dogs, on the other band very rarely
show the same sort of permanent affection to animals of
their own species. If one of a couple of pointers ex-
pires, the mate puts up with his loss as a rule with
philosophical resignation. Cats, too, which occasion-
ally strike up sentimental attachments to dogs and
horses, are rather indifferent to the life and death
of other cats. They are even suspected of taking an almost'
human interest in the chances of additional petting and
attention which may fall to their own share. On the other
hand, one of the very rare cases of what looked suspiciously
like suicide in a member of the lower creation is attributed,
on good evidence, to a cat. Her kittens had been drowned
by the action of a harsh but necessary judgment, and she
exhibited the usual signs of sorrow which most creatures
display in these circumstances. In the course of the day
her wailing ceased, she was nowhere to be found, and a few
days later her corpse was discovered by accident. She was
hanging by the neck from a cleft made by two forked
branches in a tree. A coroner's jury would probably have
taken a merciful view of her case and referred her death to
the results of an accidental fall; btt another and sadder
view of the affair seems tenable. The affection of oxen who
have been driven together in pairs is so great that when one
dies the survivor often pines, and at last follows his old com-
panion. George Sand was told by the peasant farmers in
Berri that when one good beast died they knew that they
would have to purchase a new pair, as sorrow made the sur-
vivor useless. Thus grief seems much more persistent and
fatal in the creature which cannot gives its sorrow that lively
expression which is in the power of the chimpanzee.
Among other of the more spiritual emotions which the
lower animals share with man, there can be little doubt
that one is the enjoyment of educating the very young.
Birds obviously do a great deal in the way of instruction.
An American naturalist, Mr. Clarke, has lately restated the
facts already known about the musical education of birds.
The old philosophers used to try to discover the origin of
language by isolating children. One of the Scotch Stuarts
discovered that infants brought up alone with a dumb
woman instinctively. spoke Hebrew. Some other Royal
philologist, mentioned by Herodotus, came to the conclusion
that a Libyan dialect was the original speech. These views
are now discredited. It appears from Mr. Clarke's
notes that birds do not, any more than men, inherit in-
stinctive vocal utterance. The young bird only inherits a
potential gift of song. He learns 'alter long practice, by
constantly hearing the song of his elders, the melody pecu-
liar to that species, which is in turn similarly transmitted
to the next generation.' Thus a young linnet sings in the
linnet language, and a robin in robin notes, just as an
English child learns English and a French child French.
The young bird, though the forest is ringing with other
music, attends dutifully to his parents alone. Were it
not for this sense of filial duty, there is nothing
to prevent a linnet of musical genius from taking
singing lessons of a lark. We cannot very easily try the old
experiment on birds, at least it would be cruel to cut the
tongues of a pair and make them bring up their offspring
in utter solitude. It that were done the nestlings, on Mr.
Clarke's principles, would grow up with no song at all. They
would probably gradually hit upon a new system of exer-
cising their voices, and would hit on some very primitive
form of bird-music. Musical tones probably first gave
pleasure to birds in this way. Each bird uttered that
combination of notes which was most easily beard by his
mate, and which he could produce with least wear and
tear of vocal organs. The pleasure resulted from
many ages of habit, during which the vibrations
of sound separated certain nerves into groups, and
then accustomed these groups to concerted acti-
vity.' So far, however, is the 'concerted activity' from
being inherited in full working order that 'the loss of a
parent at a critical moment will compel a young bird to
study from other birds, perhaps of different speoles.' This
is the old theory of Air. Daines Barrington, who himself
possessed sky-larks, wood-larks, and titlarks that had
educated linnets. The yonng linnets sang, not like their
parents, but like their tutom. There are limits to this edu-
cational process, however, and the Scotch preacher's illus-
tration of a miracle has still considerable force. It would
be a miracle,' he said,. •if a coo were to fly up a tree and
whistle like a mavis. '