How to Tell Your Friends from the Apes. Will Cuppy
but seems to escape. The back of his head is straight up and down. His howl is caused by a large hyoid bone at the top of the trachea. It can be cured by a simple operation on the neck with an axe. The male Howler is always followed by seven or eight female Howlers with young Howlers but this may be a coincidence. Howlers have long prehensile tails with which they hang from the trees, talk Monkey talk and pick up Brazil nuts. There are several species of Howlers. The Fat Howler is as trying as any. The Howling Monkey and the Spider Monkey are neighbors. The infant Howling Monkey occasionally bears a striking resemblance to a Spider Monkey. Ask me sometime why that is.1 The Capuchin or Organ Grinder Monkey is regarded as very intelligent. He scrambles after pennies, scratches himself, and has morals. He can stand on his hind legs but the tail is a dead giveaway.2 Monkeys have loads of fun. They breed in captivity and know many other tricks. They are fond of Bats, marshmallows, Goldfish, and ink. Old World Monkeys cannot hang by their tails. They might as well not be Monkeys.3
1 Spider Monkeys look nothing like Spiders.
2 The Tee-tee or Squirrel Monkey inhabits Brazil and the Reading Room of the British Museum.
3 There is a general feeling among Old World Monkeys that they are the best Monkeys, but there is no scientific basis for this. If you are an Old World Monkey you are classed as Catarrhine or narrow-nosed. If not, you are Platyrrhine or broad-nosed. That’s about the gist of it.
THE LEMUR
THE LEMUR is one worse than the Monkey. He is often mistaken for a Squirrel, a Rabbit, an Agouti, or anything but a Lemur. He has been described as a state of mind or ectoplasm. The Lemur is a Primate because people say so. The Lemur sleeps all day long and nobody tells him that he is a tramp. When disturbed he sort of squeaks. Most Lemurs live in Madagascar but they are never quite warm enough. The Ring-tailed Lemur or Madagascar Cat1
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