Sullivan republican. [volume] (Laporte, Pa.) 1883-1896, 1892-02-19
HABITS OF THE GORILLA
THE MOST FORMIDABLE ANIMAL
IN EXISTENCE.

The gorilla is probably the most for
midable animal in existence. Imagine a
man six feet two inches in height and
measuring four feet and half across the
shoulders. Give him girth about the
chest of seventy inches, and arms long
enough to reach nearly to his ankles
when he stands erect. Make him muscu-
lar in proportion, with huge canine tusks
and jaw strong enough to crush rifle
barrel. Suppose him to have no neck,
an immense body very short bow-legs, long
black hair all over his body, a fiat nose and
feet like hands. There you have fair de-
scription of gorilla of the largest size.
Ordinarily these animals do not exceed
five feet in height, with breadth of four
feet across the shoulders. Much as they
resemble men when grown, they are much
moIe human in appearance during the
early stage of their being, having like
ness to babies In many ways that is most
striking.
Gorillas live in family groups, each
consisting of male, one female and her
young. They do not frequent the same
sleeping-place often, usually spending the
night where they happen to be. Choos-
ing full-grown tree to build lodging
in, they bend the branches together at a
height of twenty feet or more, thus max
ing sort of bed, which they cover with
twigs torn off for the purpose or with
leaf-moss. The male spends the night
crouching at the foot of the tree, against
which he places his back, in this way
remaining on guard to protect the female
and young in the nest above from attack
by leopards. These powerful carnivora
are always ready to devour any species.of
ape they can capture.
In the daytime the gorilla family
roams about the forest seeking food. In
walking the animals totter along in a
swinging gait, supporting themselves
partly by resting the knuckles of their
hands upon the ground. Much of their
locomotion, however, is accomplished by
climbing from tree to tree. They are
very skillful climbers, and if one branch
does not seem sufficiently strong to bear
their weight, they will use three or four
at once. AS soon as young male
reaches maturity conflict for the mas
terry ensues between itself and its father,
which results in a final settlement of the
ownership of the family, the weaker one
being either killed or driven away.
The male gorilla arrogates to himself
the same right not to labor which is as
sumed by human savages. His business
is fighting, exclusively, and he does not
usually condescend even to gather food,
his wife and children collecting fruits
and other delicaoies for him to devour.
If they are not sufficiently nimble in this
employment he shows his resentment by
growing and boxing their ears.
When he fights he stands erect upon
his hind legs, the hair on his head and
the nape of his neck bristling, his fright
full teeth displayed, and his forehead
wrinkling with fearful scowl. At the
same time he beats his mighty chest re-
sounding blows with his fists and utters
most terrific yells of "Kh-ah, kh-ah!"
which makes the forest re.echo. He par
ries blows with the dexterity of a prac-
ticed boxer, and his method of attack is
usually to seize his human adversary by
the arm, crunching the limb in his teeth;
or he throws the man down and rends
him with his huge CANNES. The best
thing that the hunter can do at close
quarters is to permit the beast to seize
the barrel of the gun, which it will at
once carry to its mouth. Thus directed,
a bullet is likely to be settler. Other
wise, the gorilla will quickly crush the
gun barrel between his teeth and proceed
tbereupon to wi pc out his opponent. To
run away is an impossibility in the thick
woods.
The coarse black hair which covers the
gorilla becomes gray in age, and this fact
formerly caused a mistaken belief to the
effect that there were two species. 1t is
said that the animal will assail the ele-
phant and drive it away by striking the
latter's trunk with club, knowing that
to be the sensitive point of the probos-
cidian. Probably the gorilla would be a
fair match in strength for lion, sup.
posing that it came to a match between
them; but there are no lions in Gorilla
Land. The gorilla has thirteen ribs on
each side, whereas r man has only twelve;
it has also one more vertebra in its back
bone than man has. Philosophers have
been disposed to attribute the progress of
mankind beyond the anthropoids to his
possession of serviceable thumb, upon
which all his ability for manipulation
mainly depends. Many of the great apes
have most human-like hands, save for the
thumb, which is not nearly so we'll de-
veloped, and lacks certain important
muscles. For example, gorilla cannot
possibly perform the operation known as
''twiddling." His muscular strength,
however, equals that of at least half
dozen of the most powerful men. The
capacity of his chest cavity is more than
one-third greater than that of man,
which contributes enormously to his en-
durance. The rudimentary tail found in
anthropoid apes not infrequently occurs
with human beings, and this develop
ment is said to be hereditary among the
MAN. Mans of Central Africa and also
among the southern Malays. AS for the
nrehensile foot anatOmistS have called