AN AGGRESSIVE APE

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 122, 16 February 1935, Page 23

AN AGGRESSIVE APE

The Monkey House at the London (England) Zoo has a new inmate with a bad but interesting record. She is a gibbon ape, presented by the Duke of Westminster. Mabel, as she has been nicknamed, was one of a pair of gibbon apes kept at large on a small island in a lake in the grounds of Eaton Hall. Life on this island suited the male ape so well that lie grew tame and docile, but his companion developed a dangerously bad temper. Finally she became ,so aggressive that the attendance could no longer land on the island even to feed his charges, and was compelled to row across the lake until he was near enough to throw food to the animals. This state of affairs was quite satisfactory as long as the irate ape was confined to the island by the surrounding water; but it was realised that if the lake froze Mabel would then be able to walk over to freedom by means of a layer of ice. So at the end of November a message was-sent to the Zoo asking that a keeper should travel to Eaton Hall to capture the bad-tempered creature. Accordingly a keeper arrived on the scene and, equipped with nets and a portable cage, he was rowed over to the island. When he arrived there, however, both came down to the water’s edge to meet him, and, before he had time to realise what was happening, the male animal had jumped on him while the female attacked him.

A long and strenuous struggle then took place. The keeper was handicapped by the presence of the amiable gibbon on his back, and by the time he had managed to capture Mabel he was covered with bites and scratches, i Had. Mabel’s teeth been as strong as her intentions the keeper would have been in a sorry state, and had Mabel’s companion decided to join in the fight and assist her the man might easily have lost his life. When one of a pair or of a colony of simians has to be captured the keeper generally has much more to fear from the animal’s mate or relatives than from the animal itself. Fortunately, however, for this keeper Mab.el’s companion took no part in the battle. Mabel is still demonstrating against her visitors and keepers. She is one of the finest gibbons ever seen at the Zoo, for owing to her life on the island she is in-perfect physical condition and her coat is unusually thick.