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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-03-neu> [abgerufen am 19.04.2024].
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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 Lady’s Newspaper 149 (3. November 1849), S. 250.
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| Sprache | Englisch | ||||||
| Typografischer Befund | Antiqua; Spaltensatz. | ||||||
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|250|
Below the mission of Sta. Barbara de Arichuna we passed thenight as usual, under the open sky, on a sandy flat on the bankof the Rio Abure, closely bordered by the impenetrable forest. Itwas not without difficulty that we succeeded in finding dry wood tokindle the fire with which it is always customary in that country tosurround a bivouac, in order to guard against the attacks of thejaguar. The night was humid, mild, and moonlight. Several cro-codiles (alligators) approached the shore. I think I have observedthese animals to be attracted by fire, like our crayfish, and manyother inhabitants of the water. The oars of our boat were placedupright, and carefully driven into the ground, to form poles, fromwhich our hammocks could be suspended. Deep stillness prevailed;only from time to time we heard the blowing of the fresh-water dol-phins, which are peculiar to the Orinoco network of rivers (and,according to Colebrooke, to the Ganges as far as Benares), whichfollowed each other in long lines. Soon after eleven o’clock, sucha disturbance began to be heard in the adjoining forest that for theremainder of the night all sleep was impossible. The wild cries ofthe animals appeared to rage throughout the forest. Among themany voices that resounded together, the Indians could only recog-nise those which, after short pauses in the general uproar, werefirst heard singly. There was the monotonous howling of thealuates (the howling monkeys); the plaintive, soft, and almostflute-like tones of the small sapajous; the snorting grumblings ofthe striped nocturnal monkey; the interrupted cries of the greattiger, the cuguar or maneless American lion, the peccary, the sloth,and a host of parrots, of parraquas, and other pheasant-like birds.When the tigers came near the edge of the forest, our dog, whichhad barked incessantly, came howling to seek refuge under ourhammocks. Sometimes the cry of the tiger was heard to proceedfrom amidst the high branches of a tree, and was in such casesalways accompanied by the plaintive piping of the monkeys, whowere seeking to escape from the unwonted pursuit. If one asks theIndian why this incessant noise and disturbance arises on particularnights, they answer with a smile that the animals are rejoicing inthe bright moonlight, and keeping the feast of the full moon. Tome it appeared that the scene had probably originated in some acci-dental combat, and that hence the disturbance had spread to otheranimals, and thus the noise had increased more and more. Thejaguar pursues the peccaries and tapirs, and these, pressing againsteach other in their flight, break through the interwoven tree-likeshrubs which impede their escape; the apes on the tops of the trees,being frightened by the crash, join their cries to those of the largeranimals; this arouses the tribes of birds who build their nests in
|Spaltenumbruch| communities, and thus the whole animal world becomes in a stateof commotion.—(From Humboldt.)
THE NOCTURNAL LIFE OF ANIMALS IN THE PRIMEVAL FOREST.