THE HUMAN SIDE OF APES
mother's attention was averted, an attendant quickly jerked the body out of the cage. The monkey, Madam Abreu states, "cried and cried, and I did my best to console her."
Young apes as a rule take very kindly to human beings. Mr. Sheak states that he had "seen a young chimpanzee, taken from the shipping box in which he came to America, throw his arms about the neck of a man he had never seen before and hug him affectionately. I had once a little fellow who would snuggle up to me, then take my arm and put it about him." Throwing the arms about the neck or shoulders of another individual seems to be a natural and possibly instinctive mode of greeting among chimpanzees. Mr. Sheak, in describing the behavior of a tired chimpanzee when she observed her master getting out her sleeping box, states that "she gave forth two or three long-drawn-out notes, followed by sharp, quick, truncated barks of delight, rushed to her master and hugged him frantically, turned to me and hugged me till she almost choked me, then hurried over to a negro at the end of the stage and hugged him too." One seldom observes such exuberance of gratitude even in human beings.
Youth is the period in which apes are most companionable and attractive. As they get older and life grows more serious, their disposition is likely to become none too angelic. And the strength of these animals renders it unsafe to take chances with the uncertainty of their temper. There are, however, as many varieties of temperament among them as there are among people, and many adult apes remain safe and devoted companions even when they grow old. Chimpanzees especially are very emotional animals, and they habitually give free rein to their impulses, whether of affection or of pugnacity. Like children, they have not mastered the arts of inhibition and dissimulation, and they are there-
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