Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1963-11-10
NewScienceo fApe Watching

of hers that they took bananas
and other food from her hand,
and moved freely in and out
Of the GOodall base camp,
affably stealing towels, blank
cts, sheets, clothes, and any
thing else they could get their
hands on.
The things Miss G oodall
discovered about wild Chin
panzeeS have set the scientific
world agog: they sometimes
walk upright; they fashion
and use crude tools, such as
twigs stripped Of leaves to
probe for termiteS; they kill
and eat animals on rare Occa-
siOns to supplement tn cir
vegetarian diet; they dance a
wild ''rain dance" in the trop-
ical downpOurs; and they
talk, more or less.
The first time Miss GoodalI
moved right in among" a
troop Of c himps, all the
males, as one, said Huh"
The females did not comment.
But soon everybody took to
greeting her with an amiable,
low-pitched "HOo!", which
m cans, in AmericaneSe,
"Hil"
A high-pitched "HoO!", on
the other hand, expresses
mystification. This was made
clear by the author in her de-
scription of an incident in
which a big, burly male, sit
ting in the crotch of a tree
and thinking about nothing
in particular, was sud-
denly flabbergaSted when he
spotted her on the ground be-
low. He uttered a hoo-pitched
''Hil" Correction: a hig h.
pitched Hoo"
81 think" wrote Miss Good
all, "that he was puzzled by
-. the sheet of polyethylene
protecting me from the rain"
So science now knows that a
chimpanzee, sitting in the
rain in his native jungle, will,
if suddenly confronted with a
sheet Of polyethylene, emit a
high-pitched Hoo"
We turn now to the gorilla
specifically Gorilla gorilla
beringei.
These folk talk, too, but
they use a vocabulary so COM
pick that it makes the chimps
sound like Simple Simians.
First l ought to mention
that this book, 1.-THE Noun
tain Gorilla" is the end
product Of a year-long sur
vey, by young Mr.. George
Schaller and his wife, Kay, Of
mountain gorilla range in
the Eastern Congo, Ruanda-
Urundi, and Western Ugan-
d."
The outstanding conclusion
arrived at by the Schallers in
more than 5000 contacts" is
that gOrillas, d e spite their
fearsome regulations, are not
repeat not-ferocious.
The Schallers also learned
that these hugest of anthro.
poids-called n'gila, locally
are easy to locate but, owing
to the dense jungle greenery,
difficult to observe.
Observation methods con-
sisted of u approaching unde-
tected (by far the h arder
way, and q sitting in full
view for lengthening ID ally
perio d s-w e e k S or even
months of it. But this infinite
patience ga process facili-
tated by the placid tempera-
ment of the animals") only
partially overcame the great
apes shyness. When a "domi-
nant male" approached with
in 5 feet of Schaller, it was a
moment of sensational sue
cess. None of your impish,
chimpish fraternizing, hand
holding, and banana-begging
for gorillas - for all their
placid temperament and I'M
ferocity!
AS to gorilla talk, Mr..
Schaller, under the heading
of ''Vocalizations," noted that
e arlier observers reported
that wild gorillas roar,
scream, snarl, growl, moan,
whine, cluck, croak, grunt,
hum, "burble," and foot"
His own findings added up
to twenty-five more or less
distinct vOcalizations."
On checking his tabulation,
on page $50, l found that I'M
der headings of Contentment,
Excitement, Distress, Fear,
and so on. he listed, among
other "vocalizations":: Rapid
Bo-BO-Bo, Painting Ho-Ho-Ho,
Staccato 600. Growing HUI
Hu-Hu, Barking Waw-Waw-
Waw, Soft GrumbleS. Squeaky
Yips, Loud Screams, Fierce
RoarS, and Low Chuckles.
l know what that last one
means. It means: They'll
never break our code!"
=
Chimpanzee Country and
Ta.,llo TA,,ak,.,, L. 11s-..A