The following is my translation of an article called: Bei den Schimpansen des Berliner Zoologischen Gartens (Ende April 1921) von Dr Hans Weinert. It appeared in a German popular science magazine, Kosmos Handweiser für Naturfreunde 1921, Heft 10, Seiten 269-276.
Readers will be justifiably annoyed if I follow my usual practice of not including the magnificent illustrations that accompany the original article. It therefore delights me to say that's precisely what I've done.
I'm not aware of any previous translations.
Trevor Dykes.

With the chimpanzees of the Berlin Zoological Garden (late April 1921) by Dr Hans Weinert.
Since November, 1920 the Zoological Garden of Berlin has been equipped with a primate house. This news was already then known from newspaper reports, so perhaps it would be welcome to some to hear more details about these animals; after all, this concerns beings that are of much significance to the problem of human ancestry.

There are six "Tenerife chimpanzees". The name is connected with a station which, before the war, had been established on Tenerife by a deceased naturalist; so as to observe the primates in a form of free life appropriate for their character. No chimpanzees actually occur on Tenerife itself.- The loss in value of German currency meant this station had to be relocated to Berlin; the climate and environment are naturally nowhere near as suitable for either keeping or observing them as on Tenerife. But we have to make the best of things.

The six chimpanzees all come from Cameroon; nevertheless, they are not all from the same species. The chimpanzee, as with the other primates the Orangutan and the gorilla, is a genus for which a number of species can be differentiated. One does still argue about the justifications of the specific divisions, but it is clear that all three forms are different apes in terms of their body build and their areas of residence. The more precise scientific systematics is, however, such a difficult chapter that no secure, specific diagnosis can yet be provided for these Cameroon chimpanzees either. Our knowledge must be more complete before we can establish meaningful specific names, and refer each animal to them and name it. For this end, it is urgently necessary that each newly captured animal has its area of residence accurately recorded. Unfortunately, this is no longer possible for the "Tenerife chimpanzees". Even when the species name has been long give and previously accepted, such as for the Tschego chimpanzees, the matter has not remained undisputed. It is hardly to be doubted that the chimpanzee can fruitfully interbreed among themselves; but whether they really have occasion to do so is another matter. In how far crosses between different animal species occur in the wild is still a much debated subject indeed. Much can be asserted but little is evidenced; there is also the difficulty that one can but poorly define the term "species". In general, real species from the animal kingdom are also subdivided into races. Among apes, and especially primates, the natural reproductive drive which kept one species away from others is perhaps no longer present.

It is nevertheless to be assumed that from each primate genus, for which fertile crosses occur, mixed species can naturally arise. The possibility of bastardisation between both African anthropoids, the chimpanzee and gorilla, has not been rule out -the Tschego was even once held to be such a bastard. (Additional note: This possibility has since been ruled out.) However, I doubt that such bastards could be fertile. The possibility of hybrids between the Africans and the Asiatic orangutan is very improbable.

There is nothing in these assumptions, as must always be intoned, that would justify any such experiment.

The scientific name for the chimpanzee requires something else to be clarified as -contrary to the unambiguous German term- it occurs in four forms; Pan, Simia, Troglodytes and Anthropopithecus are in use. The first name is the oldest and would, after an agreement, be the one to use. However, it finds little acceptance, and I would prefer to opt to retain Anthropopithecus. (Additional note: Pan is the valid generic name.) It means 'man ape'. That also applies for the other two genera, but the chimpanzee is the most human-like. We naturally are not descended from it, and we do not know how the primate looked from which the human race branched off from the tribe of anthropoids. According to the view of the polygenists, who assume a number of origins for humanity, people are supposed to have arisen on different occasions from various anthropoids. However, up until now, all really usable information, and all of my research, have confirmed the opinion that the human race is of a single origin. Of all the primates still alive today, as it appears to me, the chimpanzee seems to have retained the most unaltered characteristics of the former ancestors, and has developed the least of its own derivations.

So, six chimpanzees arrived in Berlin during November of last year, and specifically five females and one male, and they were either adult or at least near to puberty. Unfortunately, the oldest animal died in December, a female name Tschego, but she perhaps was not a member of the Tschego species (Illustration 1), and she died during giving delivery at an age of 16 or 17 years, and the child also did not survive.

This loss was replaced by another birth on April 1st, and now present are four females, the male and a male baby. There is hardly anything of as much interest offered in the whole of zoology as observing this group. Without any great arrangement of psychological experimentation, it becomes self-evident that these primates, with their willingness for play, their entirely natural dealings with one another, and the means and manner in which they are concerned about the spectators, provide so much excitement and worthwhile knowledge, that one always gets to see something new.

The first thing that must become apparent is how different in appearance the various animals are. Generally, it is not easy for us to immediately recognize persons of a different race -such as Negroes or the Japanese- and it is even more difficult with animals, and the reason for this lies simply in our lack of practise. But with the chimpanzees, which are of various species, one will be able to do so if one takes that into consideration.

The easiest one to recognise is still Sultan, the male, but not because of indirect or direct sexual characteristics. The latter are not strongly pronounced for chimpanzees -another significant sign of their primitive position in the primate family tree. With highly specialised apes, such as the Orangutan and gorilla, the differences between the body forms of male and female are unusually extreme. Sultan can be recognised from a deformity of his face. The head is unusually angular in shape, the highest point of the middle forehead (Additional note: the German word is Scheitel, which refers to a parting of the hair.) rises fairly high above the ears; Especially apparent, however, are the outgrowths from both cheeks on either side of the nostrils (Ill. 2). As a result of the symmetrical position, these swellings are mostly held to be natural. But the poor fellow had an acute bone disease and only has one tooth on each jaw; he has not got the large canines, his defence and the symbol of his masculinity; they are stuck beneath the skin over the cheeks and cause the domed swellings. If one looks at the profile of the animal against the light, then one gets the impression of there being a very pronounced nose, an organ that is not found in that state with primates.

The four females are called Loka, Grande, Chika and Tercera. To the non-expert they are not easily recognisable as "women". That they do not possess the large canines of males can only be concluded should one have enough time to look inside the opened mouth. A female primate does not have the female bust at its adult stage unless she is lactating; in this, and the other proportions of the body, she is much like the male animal. It can be seen that the teats on the nipples of apes are not as high as those of humans, and the widened lip area is missing although, occasionally, there is something similar. What otherwise distinguishes the four females from Sultan, in terms of the general body shape, are the characteristics of species and the individual. Above all are four things: for one animal, the large "chimpanzee ears" are higher than the middle of the forehead, whereas another has comparatively small hairs that remain below the highest point of the mid forehead. The mostly black hair is of varying lengths, and Chika has prominent armpit features composed of hair (tufts?). The hair-free regions of the body and facial surfaces are also of differing sizes. Loka has an almost hairless forehead; there is "typically" a triangle with chimpanzees, and this is shaped differently for the various animals. The hair is also subject to changes through time. The brows above the eyes or, to be more precise, the Torus supraorbitalis, are found on all, but certainly not to the same degree of pronouncement. More variable than any other thing is the skin colour of the face. Loka is immediately obvious from the light, yellow tone, Grande is speckled with black and brown and also possesses a Mongolenflecke, which is certainly not a feature in common between Asian people and primates. The other two have black to slate coloured skin. -There us a characteristic the "women" do have and one, indeed, which is even repulsive in such otherwise attractive to observe creations. There is a horrible, red swelling on the hind parts at the time of breeding readiness -a love mad baboon can hardly look worse. And this is all the more so as the sexually mature animals have a period regularly every four weeks, and the swelling has absolutely no time to entirely go down. Therefore, the animals only look something like attractive for a few days in a month. During the rest of the time, should they sit upon their rear, it looks as if they are on a seat cushion that does not belong to their body.

All in all, this chimpanzee house shows us that the description of this primate is not so easy, and that the species of this genus have a band of variation that will only allow a final verdict after gaining knowledge of each species. This variation of form is of value to science, even if it may strike the visitor to the primate house as boring in comparison to everything that the animals do in their cage.

And that is certainly much more amusing -aside from the many moments which can be termed nothing other than "embarrassing" as, consciously or unconsciously, one draws connections with human behaviour.

One does not need to attend to the roughest "fun" and most eye-catching actions, as the subconscious and subtle methods of expression suffice for reaching conclusions about the animals. Various such observations may find mention here.

Chimpanzees are animals that live socially in the wild and -completely in contrast to the dreamy, silent orangutan- love shouting and racket. One notices this with every visit. Once, for example, they engaged in a bout of mad screaming that overfilled their glasshouse. One could already hear from far away that this was no longer fun; it is a terrible Gekeise overtoned with piercing screams of complaint. What had happened? Sultan had been somewhat rash towards his ladies. These -leaving no room for tenderness- had consequently boxed his ears several times during the further course of the proceedings! One must see a large chimpanzee face, as if covered by a slate grey, hard leather, in order to fully appreciate Sultan's indignation. Probably he had wanted to seriously forbid these events, but that made this "entertainment" continue and, finally, the noble Marquis even ended up being bitten. Now he sits on top of a climbing frame, complaining loudly, as he holds the bitten spot on his right upper arm with his left foot. He screams so horribly that his loyal keeper finally thinks: "Now I had better intervene or else he will never calm himself down!" Using a long iron pole, he rattles the outside of the bars of the cage and resolutely told the eager for action females off. The four sit on a distant gymnastics trapeze high in the cage, and stare at their shouting keeper. They show not the least physical response of concern, and think themselves safe -I do not know whether chimpanzees actually think in the manner of Götz of Berching thought, but it looked precisely as if they were considering something. And Sultan? His face was lit with joy and sunshine; it was like that of a crying child which had just been comforted, in that one had just smacked the table that it had banged into.

A few moments later all the pain has been forgotten, and Sultan is again the same happy chap as usual. But there also comes an opportunity for fitting revenge: The chimpanzee lady also feels the want of an appropriate lad. She makes him the most tantalising proposals, shows him her most "beautiful" side, but Sultan -there is no competition available so he can allow himself such things- sits high up on the top of a pole, and stares with such a deliberately disinterested expression into the upper left corner of the cage, that an impassioned chimpanzee maiden feels deep remorse. Sultan slowly turns his head round. He notices absolutely nothing. The maiden attempts a new pose below in the cage, and waves for him to come down. Sultan notices nothing, absolutely nothing. Then she climbs up and sits down next to him; now Sultan is interested in the floor of the cage where the lovelorn one has just arrived from. She taps him gently in the ribs with her outstretched index and middle fingers, as if she wants to say: "Hey, beautiful, young man!" And now Sultan turns away from the cage floor with humiliating indifference, and stares into the upper right corner of the cage, and the female chimpanzee departs, lets the trap door fall closed behind her, and disappears into the inner cage.

A true cavalier could not brush aside an eager beauty with more style.

A mixture of childish naivety with mature, individual character is certainly appropriate for the psyche of the primates. When Sultan had relaxed again after the harsh treatment from his women, he forgot about the humiliating incident immediately and, indeed, he treated his tormentors in the same way as was usual. An hour later, the keeper brought along the evening food; as he was entering the cage, he took the opportunity to check what damage Sultan may have actually sustained. Sultan immediately realised what was happening, and his cheeky scallywag mood provided the expression of injured innocence; he held the bitten arm outstretched, allowed himself to be stroked and comforted, and then opened he eyes: "Ah yes, that's women for you!"

Without doubt, Sultan provides the most and best material during the observations. He has always shown himself to be the cleverest with psychological experiments; and it was also he who hit upon the much cited idea of putting one stick inside of another, so as to lengthen it, in order for him to be angle for the bananas in front of the cage.

Grande is the cheekiest of the females. It is absolutely forbidden for people to enter the cage whom the animals do not know. One must wait close to the bars without looking the animals right in the eye. They then try to reach through the bars to touch. Grande seemed taken with me and showed great enthusiasm. She came suddenly from the furthest corner of the cage and grabbed me. Once, I tempted the comfortable Chika to come to the bars and, with the necessary care, I bean to tickle her fur. She had just decided she would enjoy me continuing, when Grande secretly and suddenly snuck up and -before I could think of it- knocked the hat from my head! At that time her expression could be termed nothing other than wicked.

Sultan is more attracted by ladies, but without revealing any signs of sexual excitement. As Herr Geheimrat Heck thinks, it gives him a particular pleasure to get him worried and he then flees back when screamed at. Should one want to get behind the cage, then one must climb through a small trap door which leads very close to the bars; and the apes wait there, especially Sultan and Grande, and, as somebody goes by, they attempt to make the unsuspecting person fall by their loud shouting. However, should they notice that one is watching out, then they begin to be very crafty nevertheless reach their objective. Sultan sits in a corner rather far away, and acts as if he has not seen the person wanting to climb the ladder, but he constantly sneaks closer. And hardly has one placed a foot on the rung, he comes charging to the bars with a loud scream while banging the floor with his feet with as much power as possible. It is a proper game of catch which, if allowed to go the whole way, would certainly end ungently.

The animals behave in the same way among themselves; loud shouting and stomping on the floor raise the enjoyment enormously. The more noise, then the greater the fun. However, they do not all feel this to the same degree and frequently flee -especially during choleric temperatures- the noise and the unappreciated excitement.

The method of movement also differs greatly. They can all walk upright; Tschego does this almost always; Grande also does it often. She runs very quickly along the cage, and allows her arms to drop to about 45° and then, like a child, lets her hand brush along against the bars. When walking, the apes usually tread with the whole sole of the foot and not only -as they are "supposed" to do- with the outer side of their bent in toes. Both modes occur. If Grande is in a particularly good mood and the keeper happens to be in the cage, then she may well take him by the hand and turn around with him in circles, and she herself walks entirely upright while so engaged. This is one of the images which is most strongly like the activities of a child having fun, as Grande screams and shouts so, that everybody can only agree with their laughter.

And the chimpanzees can laugh! It has often been maintained that laughing involves the feeling of being above the perils of life and, therefore, only humans can laugh. Earlier, I had already sometimes considered the question as to how else my dog could have laughed, than with the facial and voice tones that he already used. And that also counts here; Grande has her face scrunched together -so that the eyes are very small- and beats around the cage with ringing screams, then one can only term this "laughing"; and when the keeper pets and strokes Sultan, who bends and bows and gives a grimace that, in Saxony, one would appropriately term "Feiren".

Whether, in the wild, the primate also comes to giggling and laughter, that remains an open question, but I would to affirm it for the chimpanzees. Grande begins such behaviour for herself, and it is in no way started by the keeper, who rather plays the suffering part in such stormy gangs of ring-a-ring-roses. The theory of the ascendancy above the perils of life being a prerequisite for laughter remains, nevertheless, just as valid. When one does not demand more from animals than is possible for them, then one may not limit it to humans alone.

There are also quieter times in the ape cage when one does not take the least notice of another (Ill. 2); then a couple of straws can always be used as a toy with which to pass the time; or one with true devotion to grooming some limb or other part of the body. It is nevertheless still more amusing when one does this for some other; and then the spectators shout: "The apes are getting rid of lice!" However, the animals are kept so clean that this is not possible; the keen observer will soon notice for themself that it can have nothing to do with 'lice', as one pulls on the lip of another from a distance of almost 10cm. No lice or fleas sit under the lips. Above all else, the animals are removing scales of skin, -possibly due to a hunger for salt; should something with six or eight legs happen to get in the way, then that too will be eaten with enthusiasm. Humans do the same; It is said to be the sign of a cultivated man, among Indians, should he remove a really fat louse on a lady, to present it to her on the tips of his fingers as a small delicacy.

I also have to defend the chimpanzees against yet another accusation of uncultured behaviour, and this is the well known lack of cleanliness in the cage as with other primates. The ape would indeed hardly be a tolerable housemate, as he is only partly house-trained or not at all. However, one may not use this too rashly to justify condemning apes as being "unclean". Earlier, in these pages, I have already once pointed out that the 'pig sty' of the pig sty is actually something people cause*1. It is similar here. If, in our opinion, the apes make every part of their cage "unclean" from higher positions, then this is actually a result of their "cleanliness". Animals that live on trees in forests cannot keep clean in any other way; their method is just as simple as it is practical; that the cage appears less tidy is not the fault of the apes, -why do we lock them in there?
(*1, See Handweiser 1918, p.130.

What finally makes the observation of these animals so particularly attractive is, naturally, the happy and significant event on 1st April of this year. Significant because we were previously only poorly informed about the birth process of primates, at least poorly enough that science was unable to reach a judgement. -Nevertheless, how things occurred in Berlin corresponded with out expectations, if they did not even surpass them. The birth process ran in a very human-like way.

One naturally knew that Loka was in the 'family way' but, with the stand of our then present day knowledge, the time of the birth could not be precisely predicted. Given the width with which the extensive ribs have to their sides with primates, one noticed the pregnancy relatively late*2. Soon after waking up -at 9 o'clock in the morning- one noticed that the pangs were beginning for Loka. She did not cry with pain, at the most moans, as she now and then lay down on her back; she made a nest for the evening in her sleeping box during the after noon, as she usually does, laid herself in it on her back, grabbed hold of the bars with both feet and, at a quarter to six and with strong assistance, bore a small son. The birth itself went very quickly; one only saw how she suddenly reached for some straw with which she covered the new born youngster. The whole process of this first birth of the animal must be set at about 10 hours.
(*2, Ill. 1 shows the Tschego in the fourth or fifth week prior to the birth.)

It is especially instructive that the young mother, without any prior instruction, knew exactly the right way to behave. At first, the small lad appeared to be dead; it was silent and did not move. The mother took his little head entirely into her mouth and licked and sucked on it, -certainly so as to free the breathing passage from slime. When that did not help, she shook her child, tapped it, threw it around like a ball, swang it high and low, and did not forget to rub and cover it with straw. Her efforts were rewarded: the little one lived. The parent then wanted -as is found with other animals- to eat the after-birth that was still attached to the baby by an umbilical cord of at leas a metre in length, but she stopped this when another foodstuff was passed to her. The next morning the placenta had been bitten off and lay in the straw.

The mother and child had come through the thing well. Now we had our full half-dozen count of chimpanzees again. At first, the others watched their new housemate with curiosity and interest; they were friendly to him and his mother. The proverbial Affenliebe (Additional note: 'ape love', not proverbial in English) does not only apply to the love of one's own young but, rather, to all ape children; often, they take rabbits or guinea pigs as substitutes to cuddle; dolls can also be well cared for in ways only small 'dolly mothers' can managed. (Additional note: The word used there is <í>Puppenmutter, and it refers to girls who mother their dolls -and perhaps, why not?, some boys.)

But all that is new will become old, -after fourteen days, the others no longer worried about Loka any more than usual, but rather somewhat less, as the understanding mother brought a more serious behaviour to view, and was no longer ready to join in with every sort of nonsense. She moved carefully with her child through the cage, as it hung onto her stomach as is usual for apes, as if she were carrying a basket of valuable porcelain. Sultan, the father, acted towards her exactly as with the other female apes; he was not aware of his paternity honour. However, one should not think ill of him for that. The animal does not know of a connection between conception and birth; and this ignorance is not only limited to animals! Lower races of people also do not know of it. Father is he whose wife had a child! If with strongly monogamous marriages, such as with some carnivores or the gorilla among primates, then the biological father takes on the paternal duties for his own children. But with more social animals -to which the chimpanzee belongs- things are different. Here, the children belong to the mother, the men or the Pascha provide protection and leadership of the whole horde, and the young -whether their own or not- are cared for similarly, and this sort of paternal love can be just as sacrificially practiced as that in marriages which retain animals within the family. Sultan did no less than his genus provides. Sometimes, he behaves himself so, that one can only believe he thought he had married too early, and was not yet mature enough for a wife and child. When so effected, he takes his wooden play balls or his tin food bowl and races through the cage like an apparition from hell, and Loka and her small son get worried to heaven. With the others, she flees to the highest corners of the cage from whence they watch the crazy antics with disapproving calls: "Hu-hu-hu-hu-hu".

The baby is reliant upon his own energy in order to hold on tightly to the long stomach hairs with hands and feet, helpless as the small animal otherwise is, the art of holding tight came with him to the world through inheritance (Ill. 4). It is necessary for survival among apes in the wild in order to accompany the mother when foraging for food, and especially so as not to hinder flight through the plants and forest. A new born person also arrives in existence with the ability to hold tight, inherited although it hardly has any use for it. Every mother can proudly say of her baby: "Once he gets hold of a thing, then he will never let it go!"*3. Primitive people also often have their children holding fast onto the hips of the mothers, but the absent hair will have been substituted for by some form of carrying device.
(*3, Compare Handweiser 1921, p.110.)

Generally, things are made easier for chimpanzee children. Namely, whoever enters the ape house for a visit will at first not notice who the happy mother is. Should there not be "something going on", then the apes sit quietly on their boards or poles; there is nothing to be seen of a youngster. The one suddenly notices how Loka is sitting upright, and a small red hand with long, thin fingers is shoved through between the upper thigh and stomach gripping onto the black, stiff hairs at the sides of the mother: and above the giant hand of the parent, which happens to be hanging between the legs and over the lap, there is a small, black head peeping out, and the red face has a morose expression, and the half worried and half helpless seeming eyes are searching for the breast of the mother. Mostly, the small one must find the food source for itself and will hardly be supported with this by the mother. But, should he find the nipple of the breast, then he sucks with energy and enthusiasm, and changes often from breast to breast; besides, he in no way holds to the proscribed "meal times" that paediatricians specify for human children.

When I spoke to Loka during my first visit of the week, she first looked at me with worry and then gave forth an ever louder and faster: "Hu-hu-huhu-huhuhuhu", and finally bared her teeth and screamed at me. Later, she stopped doing this.

Loka does not have to wash nappies for her small son; she has a very simple method of disposal for the "human activity" that occurs in this respect; she simply eats it up! For as long as the children only receive maternal milk other animals do this too. It remains to be seen whether the chimpanzee will stop this when the baby begins to take additional food. This is in no way certain, as apes retain this repulsive habit. In this case -of a mother and child- it certainly has its own significance.

Whoever is able to, they would enjoy visiting this primate house. There is always something worth seeing for everybody. But one should not expect to find semi-humans; they are animals and, although we are in no way descended from them, they do show us presumably the best model, still available today, with regards to ways in which people once may have attained humanity.

An index of more of my translations of old Kosmos articles can be found at:

Kosmos Translations Archive

A number of Mesozoic (and post-Mesozoic) location summaries can be found at Localities.