Abstract
THERE is no longer any room for doubt amongst naturalists as to the complete distinctness of the larger anthropoid ape of tropical Africa, the gorilla, from its smaller brother, the chimpanzee. The differences are amply sufficient for specific, if not for generic, distinction. But, on the question whether there is only one chimpanzee, spread over a great extent of the African continent, or several species confounded under the same name, there is still much difference of opinion. As long ago as 1853, M. Duvernoy communicated to the Academy of Sciences of Paris a short description of a second species of chimpanzee (see Comptes rendus, vol. xxxvi. p. 927), based on specimens obtained by Dr. Franquet in Gaboon in 1851. M. Duvernoy subsequently published an elaborate memoir on the same subject in the Archives du Muséum (vol. viii. p 1). The distinctions insisted upon by Duvernoy between his Troglodytes tschego and the ordinary T. niger were chiefly osteological; at the same time he characterized the tschego (from M. Franquet's description) as having the “face black, and the ears small,” while, according to the same authority, the ordinary chimpanzee has “very large ears, and its face flesh-coloured.”
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
S., P. The Bald-Headed Chimpanzee . Nature 39, 254–255 (1889). https://doi.org/10.1038/039254a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/039254a0