New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-01-05

WHAT ANIMALS THINK ABOUT
BY RENE BACHE

big knife downstairs which suggests to him
the idea of dinner-the sound in question
usually preceding by about an hour the
serving of the noondaymeal of beef ormutton.
THERE was another monkey at the Ma
tional loo, named Jocko, which wore
earnngS-theSe ornaments having been con-
tr1buted by a sailor who became intimate
with the animal on Shipboard. He used 10
amuSe himself by the hour in poking cock
reaches out of cracks between the boards
that formed the walls of his cage. employ
ing StrawS for the purpose. If a straw was
too long, II would bend, and so was ineffcc-
tive as poker. As soon as he asccrtaincd
this, the monkey would bite it off TO the
proper length.
Even monkey has got to have some sort
OF amusement while in prison, and locke
managed to obtain much entertainment at
the expense OF an unfriendly hyena in the
next cage. The cages were separated by a
solid partition of boards, in which was a
locked door, with keyhole 1t was the
monkeys special delight to attract the at
tention of the hvcna in such a way as to
make him look through the kcyholc, and
then to poke him in the eye with straw
On other occasions he would reach out
through the bars in front, and with his
fingers tickle the nose of the hyena Though
he could not see the latter, while the hyena
tried his best to bite him. He would keep
this up by the hour until the prisoner in the
next cage was pretty nearly crazy.
WHEN one admits that animals have
memory, ii is equivalent TO saving
that they possess thought which implies
reflection and at least some development
of the faculty we call reason. Doubtless an
alligator as he lies half asleep on Il mud
bank summing himself. has his own thoughts
which reflect the various phases OF his life
and experience. And, where experience is
concerned, the alligator, or the crocodile
can 20 back much further than any other
existing creature. These reptiles grow very
slowly, and enough is known OF their rate
OF growth to Indicate that twclve-foot
specimen must be at least two hundred
years old.
When ii comes to monkeys at the other
end of the scale. we have 10 do with animals
that, in view of some OF the most eminent
naturaliStS today, are properly to be re-
garded as lesser races of man. Professor
Edward l.. Thorndike of Columbia Uni
verSity SAYS that the monkey CONSTITUTES
with man a separate mental genus occupy
ing mentally an intermediate place between
mammals in general and the human species.
kinShip with men, he adds, as shown as
much in the monkeys minds as in their
physical likeness to men,"
Another distinguished investigator Of this
interesting subject, Dr. \. ]. kinnaman,
went 50 far as TO institute a competition IN
arithmetic between monkeys and young
children. He found, through a variety OF
experiments, that monkeys at the age OF one
wear were able to count better than human
beings four years old. But here the mon
KEYS ability to comprehend numbers prob
ably reaches its limit, while that OF man
goes on almost indefinitely.
\ marked characteristic OF the monkey
mode of thought is its dcsultorncss. The
simian animal does q lot Of thinking; but its
ideas are disconnected. It's mind, OF course,
is stranger to logical processes, and 1t is
constantly jumping from one thing TO an
other. In all likelihood the same remark
would apply TO the minds Of other creatures
lower in the scale-though their mentality
is less active and less complex.
NOBODY ever saw an animal laugh. 10"
~ often one comes across that statement
set forth as if il was an undlspu,cd fact.
And vet, as Dr. Frank Baker says II Is abb
solutclv untrue Who, for example, that
l-rov,s and loves dogs is unfamiliar with