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Zitierempfehlung
Alexander von Humboldt: „The Nocturnal Life of Animals in the Primeval Forest“, in: ders., Sämtliche Schriften digital, herausgegeben von Oliver Lubrich und Thomas Nehrlich, Universität Bern 2021. URL: <https://humboldt.unibe.ch/text/1849-Das_naechtliche_Leben-02-neu> [abgerufen am 20.04.2024].
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| Titel | The Nocturnal Life of Animals in the Primeval Forest | ||||
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| Jahr | 1849 | ||||
| Ort | London | ||||
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Nachweis in: The Morning Post 23681 (31. Oktober 1849), S. 3.
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| Sprache | Englisch | ||||
| Typografischer Befund | Antiqua; Spaltensatz; Auszeichnung: Kursivierung. | ||||
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—Below the mission of Sta. Barbarade Arichuna we passed
the night as usual, under the opensky, on a sandy flat on the
bank of the Rio Apure, closelybordered by the impenetrable
forest. It was not withoutdifficulty that we succeeded in
finding dry wood to kindlethe fire with which it is always
customary in that countryto surround a bivouac, in order to
guard against the attacksof the jaguar. The night was humid,
mild, and moon-light. Several crocodiles (alligators) approached
the shore.I think I have observed these animals to be attracted
byfire, like our crayfish, and many other inhabitants of
thewater. The oars of our boat were placed upright, andcarefully driven into the ground, to form poles, fromwhich our hammocks could be suspended. Deep stillnessprevailed; only from time to time we heard the blowingof the fresh-water dolphins, which are peculiar to theOrinoco network of rivers (and according to Colebrooke, tothe Ganges as far as Benares), which followed each other inlong lines. Soon after eleven o’clock, such a
disturbancebegan to be heard in the adjoining forest, that
for the re-mainder of the night all sleep was impossible. The
wildcries of the animals appeared to rage throughout the
forest.Among the many voices that resounded together, the
Indianscould only recognise those which, after short pauses
in thegeneral uproar, were first heard singly. There was the
mo-notonous howling of the aluates (the howling monkeys);
theplaintive, soft, and almost flute-like tones of the
small sapa-jous; the snorting grumblings of the striped
nocturnalmonkey; the interrupted cries of the great tiger,
the cuguaror maneless American lion, the peccary, the sloth, anda host of parrots, of parraquas, and other pheasant-likebirds. When the tigers came near the edge of the forest,our dog, which had barked incessantly, came howling toseek refuge under our hammocks. Sometimes the cry ofthe tiger was heard to proceed from amidst the highbranches of a tree, and was in such cases always accom-panied by the plaintive piping of the monkeys, who wereseeking to escape from the unwonted pursuit. If one asksthe Indien why this incessant noise and disturbancearises on particular nights, they answer with a smilethat the animals are rejoicing in the bright moon-light, and keeping the feast of the full moon. Tome it appeared that the scene had probably originatedin some
accidental combat, and that hence the dis-turbance had spread to
other animals, and thusthe noise had increased more and more.
The jaguarpursues the peccaries and tapirs, and these, pressing
againsteach other in their flight, break through the
interwoventree-like shrubs which impede their escape; the
apes on thetops of the trees, being frightened by the crash,
join theircries to those of the larger animals; this arouses
the tribesof birds who build their nests in communities, and
thusthe whole animal world becomes in a state of
commotion.Humboldt.
The Nocturnal Life of Animals in thePrimæval Forest.