The Mental Life Of Monkeys And Apes Part 1

The Mental Life of Monkeys and Apes.

by Robert M. Yerkes.

I

INTERESTS, OPPORTUNITY AND MATERIALS

Two strong interests come to expression in this report: the one in the study of the adaptive or ideational behavior of the monkeys and the apes; and the other in adequate and permanent provision for the thorough study of all aspects of the lives of these animals. The values of these interests and of the tasks which they have led me to undertake are so widely recognized by biologists that I need not pause to justify or define them. I shall, instead, attempt to make a contribution of fact on the score of each interest.

While recognizing that the task of prospecting for an anthropoid or primate station may in its outcome prove incomparably more important for the biological and sociological sciences and for human welfare than my experimental study of ideational behavior, I give the latter first place in this report, reserving for the concluding section an account of the situation regarding our knowledge of the monkeys, apes, and other primates, and a description of a plan and program for the thorough-going and long continued study of these organisms in a permanent station or research inst.i.tute.

In 1915, a long desired opportunity came to me to devote myself undividedly to tasks which I have designated above as "prospecting" for an anthropoid station and experimenting with monkeys and apes. First of all, the interruption of my academic duties by sabbatical leave gave me free time. But in addition to this freedom for research, I needed animals and equipment. These, too, happily, were most satisfactorily provided, as I shall now describe.

When in 1913, while already myself engaged in seeking the establishment of an anthropoid station, I heard of the founding of such an inst.i.tution at Orotava, Tenerife, the Canary Islands, I immediately made inquiries of the founder of the station, Doctor Max Rothmann of Berlin, concerning his plans (Rothmann, 1912).[1] As a result of our correspondence, I was invited to visit and make use of the facilities of the Orotava station and to consider with its founder the possibility of cooperative work instead of the establishing of an American station. This invitation I gratefully accepted with the expectation of spending the greater part of the year 1915 on the island of Tenerife. But the outbreak of the war rendered my plan impracticable, while at the same time destroying all reasonable ground for hope of profitable cooperation with the Germans in the study of the anthropoids. In August, 1915, Doctor Rothmann died.

Presumably, the station still exists at Orotava in the interests of certain psychological and physiological research. So far as I know, there are as yet no published reports of studies made at this station.

It seems from every point of view desirable that American psychologists should, without regard to this initial attempt of the Germans to provide for anthropoid research, further the establishment of a well equipped American station for the study not only of the anthropoid apes but of all of the lower primates.

[Footnote 1: See bibliography at end of report.]

In the early months of the war while I was making every effort to obtain reliable information concerning conditions in the Canary Islands, I received an urgent invitation from my friend and former student, Doctor G. V. Hamilton, to make use of his collection of animals and laboratory at Montecito, California, during my leave of absence from Harvard. This invitation I most gladly accepted, and in February, 1915, I established myself in Santa Barbara, in convenient proximity to Doctor Hamilton's private laboratory where for more than six months I was able to work uninterruptedly under nearly ideal conditions.

Doctor Hamilton without reserve placed at my disposal his entire collection of animals, laboratory, and equipment, provided innumerable conveniences for my work, and in addition, bore the entire expense of my investigation. I cannot adequately thank him for his kindness nor make satisfactory acknowledgment here of his generous aid. Thanks to his sympathetic interest and to the courtesy of the McCormick family on whose estate the laboratory was located, my work was done under wholly delightful conditions, and with a.s.sistance from Ramon Jimenez and Frank Van Den Bergh, Jr., which was invaluable. The former aided me most intelligently in the care of the animals and the construction of apparatus; and the latter, especially, was of very real service in connection with many of my experiments.

The collection of animals which Doctor Hamilton placed at my disposal consisted of ten monkeys and one orang utan. The monkeys represented either _Pithecus rhesus_ Audebert (_Macacus rhesus_), _Pithecus irus_ F.

Cuvier (_Macacus cynomolgos_), or the hybrid of these two species (Elliot, 1913). There were two eunuchs, five males, and three females.

All were thoroughly acclimated, having lived in Montecito either from birth or for several years. The orang utan was a young specimen of _Pongo pygmaeus_ Hoppius obtained from a San Francisco dealer in October, 1914 for my use. His age at that time, as judged by his size and the presence of milk teeth, was not more than five years. So far as I could discover, he was a perfectly normal, healthy, and active individual. On June 10, 1915, his weight was thirty-four pounds, his height thirty-two inches, and his chest girt twenty-three inches. On August 18 of the same year, the three measurements were thirty-six and one-half pounds, thirty-three inches, and twenty-five inches.

For the major portion of my experimental work, only three of the eleven animals were used. A growing male, _P. rhesus_ monkey, known as Sobke; a mature male, _P. irus_, called Skirrl; and the young orang utan, which had been named Julius. Plates I and II present these three subjects of my experiments in characteristically interesting att.i.tudes. In plate I, figure 1, Julius appears immediately behind the laboratory seated on a rock, against a background of live oaks. This figure gives one an excellent idea of the immediate environment of the laboratory. Figure 2 of the same plate is a portrait of Julius taken in the latter part of August. By reason of the heavy growth of hair, he appeared considerably older as well as larger at this time than when the photograph for figure 1 was taken. In plate II, figure 3, Julius is shown in the woods in the att.i.tude of reaching for a banana, while in figure 4 of the same plate he is represented as walking upright in one of the cages.

Likenesses of Sobke are presented in figures 5 and 6 of plate II. In the latter of these figures he is shown stretching his mouth, apparently yawning but actually preparing for an attack on another monkey behind the wire screen. Figure 7 of this plate indicates Skirrl in an interesting att.i.tude of attention and with an obvious lack of self-consciousness. The same monkey is represented again in figures 8 and 9 of plate II, this time in the act of using hammer and saw.

EXPLANATION OF PLATE II

FIGURE 3.--Orang utan, Julius, reaching for banana.

FIGURE 4.--Julius walking across his cage.

FIGURE 5.--_P. rhesus_, Sobke.

FIGURE 6.--Sobke stretching his jaws (yawn?) preparatory to a fight.

FIGURE 7.--_P. irus_, Skirrl.

FIGURE 8.--Skirrl using hammer and nail.

FIGURE 9.--Skirrl using a saw.

All of the animals except the orang utan had been used more or less for experiments on behavior by Doctor Hamilton, but this prior work in no way interfered with my own investigation. Doctor Hamilton has acc.u.mulated a large ma.s.s of the most valuable and interesting observations on the behavior of monkeys, and he more thoroughly understands them than any other observer of whom I have knowledge. Much to my regret and embarra.s.sment in connection with the present report, he has thus far published only a small portion of his data (Hamilton, 1911, 1914). In his most recent paper on "A study of s.e.xual tendencies in monkeys and baboons," he has given important information concerning several of the monkeys which I have observed. For the convenience of readers who may make use of both his reports and mine, I am designating the animals by the names previously given them by Hamilton. The available and essential information concerning the individuals is presented below.

_List of animals in collection_

Skirrl. _Pithecus irus_. Adult male.

Sobke. _P. rhesus_. Young adult male.

Gertie. _P. irus-rhesus_. Female. Born November, 1910.

Maud. _P. rhesus_. Young adult female.

Jimmy II. _P. irus_. Adult male.

Scotty. _P. irus_ (?). Adult male.

Tiny. _P. irus-rhesus_. Female. Born August, 1913.

Chatters. _P. irus_. Adult eunuch.

Daddy. _P. irus_. Adult eunuch.

Mutt. _P. irus_. Young adult male. Born August, 1911.

Julius. _Pongo pygmaeus_. Male. Age, 4 years to 5 years.

When I arrived in Santa Barbara, Doctor Hamilton was about to remodel, or rather reconstruct, his animal cages and laboratory. This gave us opportunity to adapt both to the special needs of my experiments. The laboratory was finally located and built in a grove of live oaks. From the front it is well shown by figure 10 of plate III, and from the rear, by figure 11. Its location was in every way satisfactory for my work, and in addition, the spot proved a delightful one in which to spend one's time.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 12.--Ground plan of Montecito laboratory and cages. Scale 1/120

L, laboratory; C, cages; A, experiment room in which multiple-choice apparatus was installed; B, E, additional rooms for research; D, store room and shop; Z, large central cage communicating with the eight smaller cages 1-8.]

Figure 12 is a ground plan, drawn to scale, of the laboratory and the adjoining cages, showing the relations of the several rooms of the laboratory among themselves and to the nine cages. Although the construction was throughout simple, everything was convenient and so planned as to expedite my experimental work. The large room A, adjoining the cages, was used exclusively for an experimental study of ideational behavior by means of my recently devised multiple-choice method.

Additional, and supplementary, experiments were conducted in the large cage Z. Room D served as a store-room and work-shop.

The laboratory was forty feet long, twenty-two feet wide, and ten feet to the plate. Each small cage was six, by six, by twelve feet deep, while the large compartment into which each of the smaller cages opened was twenty-four feet long, ten feet wide, and twelve feet deep.

II