JUNGLE SOCIETY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 102, 2 May 1931, Page 7 (Supplement)

JUNGLE SOCIETY.

ANIMAL SPEECH AND MANNERS. ETHICS W FOB, AND FEATHER EARLY MAN'S POSSIBLE TUTOR. That birds and animals have th%ir own form of speech is no longer doubted by naturalists and scientists. The vocabularies of primitive aborigines, if has been discovered, bear a marked relationship to the sounds made byanimals; animals may even have been the tutor of primitive man in the matter of speech. "Animals speak, laugh, cry, and give audible expression to their feelings," declares Joseph Delmont, the German big-game hunter, and he gives some remarkable instances of birds and animals who act the role of sentries and give warning to other creatures around them of the approach of danger. The jay perches for many hours a day on. the tops of high trees of the forest. His excellent eyes range over the landscape spread out before him. If he spies a human being in the distance he utters his by no means unmelodious cry and all the animals of the forest which are accustomed to being hunted by man immediately seek a hiding-place. "When I say animals I do not mean mammals only. Many of the birds also recognise the signal and fly into the denser parts of the forest. Bird-Warnings. Buffaloes, rhinoceroses, hippopotami, and the great antelopes of the plains, he says are continuously _ being warned in this way by the .large and small oxpecker- or rhinoceros-bird. These animals take no notice of the bird's ordinary cry, but they immediately take cover when the. shrill, staccato warning cry is heard. They interpret the bird's language in various ways and know exactly what to do from the different calls. These birds, which find their food in the crevices of the rhino's hide, are watchful guards and betray the approaching enemy with loud screechings. They then leave the rhino's back and flutter over him in circles, uttering incessant cries of warning, and from time to time dropping on the

beast's head to "warn him with vigorous thrusts from their beaks; then rising again to indicate the direction in which the pachyderm is to escape. Monkey's Meetings. In the forests of India, says Herr Delmont, the small monkeys hold meetings which are virtually courts of justice. The elder ones preside and chatter in excited tones. Interruptions are heard from all sides, and if one of the interrupters is too persistent and disturbs the peace it sometimes happens that one of the "officials" or a member of the audience will attack him; he will get a cuffing and have his ears bitten. The only silent one is the prisoner, if you do not count a soft, frightened whimpering which he sets up from time to time. The officials do not give the accused any support. He must suffer everyetliing dumbly; he knows that the judge and the monkey folk are without mercy and would not forgive him even if he promised to reform. He obediently awaits the judgment, which is nearly always a sentence of death, and craftily looks round for a chance of escape. If he succeeds in breaking through the ranks, the whole meeting sets up an angry howl. "Stop thief!" is yelled from all sides, and they set off in pursuit. The accused is seldom fortunate enough to escape his fate, his pursuers are so numerous. Jungle Chivalry. • Normally monkeys are afraid of the wild boar; they will seek refuge in the highest branches of trees on his approach and scold and bombard him like maniacs. Herr Delmont. mentions an instance in which they gave him battle: A band of gibbons were surprised by a boar, and at' once fled into the neighbouring trees. During this panic a baby gibbon fell from its mother's body to which it was clinging in one of the trees. The mother, heedless of danger, climbed down to save her off-spring. The boar at once attacked and wounded her. From the trees the band of apes had watched the movements of the mother in horror, and when the boar made to renew his attack, all the grown gibbons, not as a rule regarded as courageous animals, dashed down from the trees and rushed angrily upon the enemy. In the ensuing struggle three apes lost their lives and a number were wounded. The rest, especially the females, dug their teeth frantically into the raging boar and finally forced him to take to his heels.