Abstract
HAVE any of your readers any experience of the production in captivity, of a second generation of any of the quadrumana? At least twelve out of about eighty species kept in the Zoological Gardens have bred during the past thirty years—the lemurs forming a large proportion—and the Rhesus more frequently than any other monkey. I presume that even a first generation of any of the anthropoids is unknown—except possibly of the gibbon (?). The disposition and moral character (in the widest sense) of no species of monkey whatever approaches that of the dog. May not this be due to the absence of inheritance (to which the dog owes so much) of the gradually accumulated cultivation of these qualities through association with man? The dog has enjoyed all these advantages. The monkey cannot, owing to the impossibility of rearing a succession of gener ations in captivity. Does the experience of your readers, who may have studied a first generation of monkeys, point to any improvement on the parent stock in disposition and character? So far as I have been able to judge from individuals in public collections, the mere mental power of these animals conspicuously exceeds that of any others. I should be glad to know whether this opinion is shared by those who have had more extended opportunities of observation.
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NICOLS, A. Breeding of the Quadrumana. Nature 31, 54 (1884). https://doi.org/10.1038/031054c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/031054c0
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