SEMI-HUMAN APES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 14925, 24 February 1912, Page 2 (Supplement)

SEMI-HUMAN APES.

Thk theatre-going public of Berlin aro greatly entertained by the antics of Max and Moritz, two semi-human apes, -who aro performing in the music halls of that capital. Max and Moritz are simians from tho wilds of Central Africa. German anthropologists have manifested much interest in these animals, which aro said to be the most human-like of all the apes and so intelligent as to form tho missing link in the Darwinian chain. After several months' training. Max and Moritz aro able to dress and undress themselves, to play whist and bagatelle, to work a typewriter correctly if slowly to understand simple phrases in four languages, and to go through an elaborate luncheon without committing any great solecism in manners. •.->•' They are stated to liave a language of their own. It is 'entirely guttural, and owing to the formation of their palates, ! which are flat and low, they aro unable to articulate like the human being. At the same time they arc able to communicate with one another. A noted German scientist recently spent several months in the forest studying tho habits and endeavouring to understand the language of the simians. For this purpose he had a largo iron cage built in a tree, and he spent several hours daily in this retreat. He gathered much interesting zoological information, but was unable to make any headway with the series of deep grunts by means of which the simians communicate.