What species were Tarzan's apes?

Discussion in 'Biology & Genetics' started by Dinosaur, Nov 12, 2007.

  1. Dinosaur Rational Skeptic Valued Senior Member

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    When I read the original Edgar Rice burroughs novel, I had a notion about the apes that adopted the infant Tarzan. I do not think there is such a species.

    My concpet of those apes was that they were about the size of a man or perhaps slightly larger. They seemed to be anatomically similar to a man, expect for longer arms. They did not seem to be like gorillas. baboons, or chimpanzees.

    Tarzan fought with at least one of them when he was an adult. There is not way a man could cope with a gorilla.

    Is there a species like the one that I imagined? Perhaps Burroughs made up a non existent species for the purposes of a novel, which is no sin since it was supposed to be fiction.

    Has anyone read the original novel and formed an impression of what these apes were?

    Does anyone here have an idea as to the species? In the movies, Tarzan was no longer with the ape family and had a pet chimpanzee. In the Greystroke movie, his mother was portrayed as a gorilla.
     
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  3. cosmictraveler Be kind to yourself always. Valued Senior Member

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    I think they were spuriousmonkeys myself, odd creatures they were.

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  5. spuriousmonkey Banned Banned

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    tarzan was special. he could tackle the tackle of any ape any day.
     
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  7. Till Eulenspiegel Registered Member

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    The apes who raised Tarzan were the Mangani, their own name for themselves in their ape language. The Mangani Tarzan killed was Kerchak.
     
  8. spidergoat pubic diorama Valued Senior Member

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    There is not way a man could cope with a gorilla....

    ...or any ape for that matter. The book was not scientifically accurate by today's standards.
     
  9. pilpaX amateur-science.com Registered Senior Member

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    well, the other gorilla was stronger but tarsan had a knife, thats how he also killed aligator and python if I remember correctly.
     
  10. spuriousmonkey Banned Banned

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    I'm sure it wasn't an alligator. Unless Tarzan lived in the jungles of America or china.
     
  11. spuriousmonkey Banned Banned

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    cross between a gorilla and a dog.

    weight of a Gorilla.

    gorilla weight again.

    behaviour not seen in Gorillas
     
    Last edited: Nov 13, 2007
  12. spuriousmonkey Banned Banned

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    A new species.

    Gorillas are their enemies.
     
  13. Till Eulenspiegel Registered Member

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    It's only a story, not meant to be true or realistic any more than his Mars or Pelucidar stories were meant to be.
     
    Last edited: Nov 13, 2007
  14. spidergoat pubic diorama Valued Senior Member

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    I don't think that would matter too much, they fight in groups.
     
  15. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    In the movies Tarzan's oddly named pal Cheeta was a chimpanzee. I haven't seen any of them since I was little so I don't remember any scenes with the Mangani. I'm sure they were just human actors in gorilla suits.

    Gorillas are not easy to domesticate. Koko is a rare exception surely made possible by teaching her ASL and she's still not an ape you would expect to perform tricks. Young chimpanzees are relatively easy, but when they reach adulthood they become less tractable or downright hostile.

    It's not unbelievable that a gorilla clan would take in a human child. After all Jane Goodall managed to be accepted as a member of the clan she was studying. We're more closely related to chimpanzees and despite their smaller stature they're more than strong enough to manage a human child. However, chimps are rather nasty critters who commit such humanlike acts as murder. Bonobos are more gentle and tolerant (they spend a lot of time engaging in sex as a social bonding activity) and would be a better choice for a story; up until a few decades ago no one realized that bonobos and true chimpanzees are two different species.

    The description of the Mangani social order is indeed not accurate for gorillas. They live in a single family unit ruled by a patriarch. All male offspring leave when they become sexually mature. And they are not especially violent among themselves. Jane Goodall once accidentally slapped the female sitting next to her on the butt and she just moved away.

    The "missing link" is a common theme in post-Darwinian literature. We observe ourselves as being so greatly differentiated from the other hominoids or "Great Apes" (chimpanzees, bonobos, orangutans and the two species of gorilla) that we imagine there must be a transitional species hiding somewhere in the bush. In fact our DNA is so close to chimpanzee DNA that the lack of transitional species other than the fossils we've already discovered is not remarkable.

    BTW, Dino, baboons are monkeys, not apes. They have tails. Besides the hominoids, the other branch of the ape subclass (superfamily?) of primates is the gibbons, of which there are a number of species.
     
  16. GeoffP Caput gerat lupinum Valued Senior Member

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    Accepted as a member, eh? That might have been a little touch-and-go in some situations. She might have been required to accept other members, for instance.
     
  17. john smith Tongue in cheek Registered Senior Member

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  18. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    The human female's ability to physically perform copulation outside of her estrus cycle is very rare among mammals. Chimpanzees and bonobos (our closest relatives) have it, as do dolphins. Gorillas don't. As a result, gorillas are like most mammals: the females dictate the terms of copulation.

    If Tarzan had really killed the leader of a pack of gorillas and taken over as patriarch, he might have had some serious problems.
     
  19. GeoffP Caput gerat lupinum Valued Senior Member

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    Yes, I've been reading a book about that...what the hell is the title...about the female control of reproduction via iron-nutritive fitness. Still, I always assumed that gorilla males were a little more insistent even though females control the act. There is, after all, no Jaegermeister in the gorilla world.

    I can see that being a sensitive business.
     
  20. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    No, I looked it up. The females solicit sex and they can be mighty insistent about it. Remember, you've got a single adult male in a pack with a dozen or more adult females.
     
  21. GeoffP Caput gerat lupinum Valued Senior Member

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    Really? So, surviving the bull gorilla, whatever's left of Tarzan would have to endure the female assault. Couldn't even die happy, I'd think.
     
  22. spuriousmonkey Banned Banned

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    reference of peer-reviewed article?
     

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