Let us now consider another species of animal, and one nearer to man—viz., the apes, more especially the strongest and most savage of their kind. Here, again, it is permissible to assume that no variety of ape has succeeded in forming a clear idea of death and of the means of inflicting it. Thus, if the gorilla were possessed of the idea of death, and the way in which his formidable arms can cause it, never would man escape from a struggle with such a creature for, as Brehm points out, a single blow from the huge claw-armed foot of a gorilla can rip up a man, break open his chest, or cleave his skull. And yet many do escape from these encounters with the great simian, maimed and mutilated indeed, but with their lives. Brehm narrates that he has met in Africa with many such horribly mauled survivors. Now, it is evident that if so strong and formidable an animal—whose human foes are absolutely at his mercy, once they have discharged their firearms—frequently fails to kill them, it can only be because he strikes blindly under the influence of rage, without directing his blows in such a way as to indicate that he possesses any consciousness as to the spots in which the blows would produce the most vital effects. The gorilla, therefore, has no idea of death and of the means of inflicting it.
This view is strengthened by all we know concerning the conflicts which take place among the gorillas themselves. The male gorilla fights savagely in the mating season, and yet no one has ever found a dead gorilla which could possibly have perished in one of these skirmishes. On the other hand, gorillas have been seen bearing scars or jagged rents undoubtedly produced by the teeth of some rival in love, an obvious indication that in these conflicts the animals confine themselves to biting as chance directs, and that their frightful capacity for slaughter is not set in motion from any predetermined idea of destroying the life of an adversary.
The orang-outang likewise uses its teeth as sole weapon of offense and defense; and that also on impulse. "When it is wounded or pursued," says Brehm, "it can defend itself well; the hunter should then be on his guard. The animal's arms are strong, and its teeth most formidable; it can easily fracture a man's arm and its bites are horrible."
Let us follow the same author's description of a fight between a dog and a baboon, which is the largest simian after the orang-outang and the gorilla: "The dog follows its foe and endeavors to seize it; but the baboon suddenly turns and springs upon the dog with an appalling howl, grips it with all its claws at once on breast and throat, bites it deeply on those spots several times, rolls with it over and over on the ground, biting again and again, and at last leaves it prostrate, covered with wounds and blood. The baboon then makes for the rocks, uttering yells of
