The Washington times., 1936-02-21
Human Side of News
Bg EdUin C.. Hill


the very sight Of them reminds
us that we were once covered with
fur and that our foreheads re-
treated faster than Ras Desta
Demtu. Still and all, they are a
pair of admirable characters,
these two. Snatched from Afri-
can forests, they have thrived
in America and American ways.
I refer to Miss Janet Penserosa
and Miss Ellen Allegro. Miss
Janet is a young gorilla lady
and Miss Ellen is a chimpanzee
subdeb.
It was seven and a half years
ago-in october, 1928-when they
arrived in New York aboard the
s. S. Olypmic. They we're rather
pulling, and even DR.. w. Reid
Blair, director Of the New York
Geological Park, didn't have much
hope of keeping them to a green
old ape-age. Miss Janet weighed
only 171a pounds and Miss Allie
gra only 10.
But under the wise and watch
full care of Blair, the great natural
ist, they thrived up ir Pa Knick-
erbocker's vast animal park. Miss
Janet tips the beam today at las
pounds and Miss Ellen weighs 30.
"ANIMAL INSTINCT"
Milk, eggs, vegetables, oranges
just about what you give hui
man child-did the trick. If I'm
not mistaken. Janet Penserosa is
the first gorilla ever brought up
from babyhood in captivity. Ellen
is a bit the smarter Of the pair,
though both are uncannily clever.
The chimpanzee ranks near the
top, after man, in animal intelE.
gence.
All animals think. Even that
which we call animal instinct"
Is handed down through thou
sands of hundreds of years until
it becomes automatic.
OF all animals, the chimpanzee
has the greatest power Of original
thought. It is initiative to a
startling degree. 1t can be trained
to perform skillfully many OF the
simpler activities of human be-
ings, such as eating at table with
knife, fork and dish. dressing
! itself and going to bed and get
ting UP at stated hours.
If human beings had made the
chimpanzee or the orang-utan a
faithful friend and household
companion, and had trained the
apes over a million years as dogs
have been trained. extraordinary
results would have been obtained.
according to the great zoologlst
of the New York Zoo.
Perhaps the tailleSS ones
those creatures with half a hui
man soul in their bellies" as Mr..
Kipling said-might even have
been taught to talk.
Repeated tests have proved that
the chimpanzee has a fairly good
thinking brain.
In one of these tests, DR.. Blair
hung a banana high out Of reach
of a chimpanzee he was studying.
In it's cage he placed two rods
which could be joined together.
The chimpanzee first tried to
grab the banana with its bare
hands. He couldn't make it.
Then he paused few moments
and then picked up one Of the
rods end tried to knock the ba-
mana down. Disappointed again
because the rod was too short,
Mr.. Chimp did some real heavy
brain work and deliberately
joined the two rods together and
easilv reached the prize. That,
SAYS DR.. Blair, was quick, logical,
intelligent thinking.
MORE INVENTIVE
Second on his list is the orarg-
utan, more inventive even than
the chimpanzee, but less obserV'
ant.
They had a famous orang at the
ZOO some years ago, Dohong by
name, from the Malay States.
Dohong did some pretty startllng
things. He had a knack for the
use of simple tools.
Well up on the list comes the
gorilla, most difficult of all the
apes to estimate because its lie
in captivity is usually so short
that it is not nearly as amenaole
to man as the other apes.
Then comes the domestic dog
mans old friend and loyal COM
panion. Long association with
man has sharpened his intelll'
gence and developed to remark
able degree his capacity for train
ing.
Anyway, next time you visit
New York's fascinating ZOO call on
Miss PenseroSa and Miss Allegro.
You will be well repaid.
For you will be looking back
10000, 900 years to something very
close to the first man, that
strange creature who was a true
man and no ape, and yet very
like an ape.
SaLnlssd SUN 40 1851 7QSII6doo)
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