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Alexander von Humboldt: „Nocturnal Life of Animals – A Night on the Apure“, 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-14-neu> [abgerufen am 29.03.2024].

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Titel Nocturnal Life of Animals – A Night on the Apure
Jahr 1850
Ort Manchester
Nachweis
in: The Manchester Courier, And Lancashire General Advertiser 26:1508 (20. April 1850), Beilage, S. 183.
Sprache Englisch
Typografischer Befund Antiqua; Spaltensatz; Auszeichnung: Kursivierung.
Identifikation
Textnummer Druckausgabe: VI.118
Dateiname: 1849-Das_naechtliche_Leben-14-neu
Statistiken
Seitenanzahl: 1
Zeichenanzahl: 3330

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|183|
Nocturnal Life of Animals—A Night on the Apure.—Below the mission of Santa Barbara de Arichuna we passed the night as usual, in the open air, on a sandy flat, on the banks of the Apure, skirted by the impenetrable forest. We had some difficulty in finding dry wood to kindle the fires with which it is here customary to surround the bivouac, as a safe- guard against the attacks of the jaguar. The air was bland and soft, and the moon shone brightly. Several crocodiles approached the bank, and I have observed that fire attracts these creatures as it does our crabs and many other aquatic animals. The oars of our boats were fixed upright in the ground to support our hammocks. Deep stillness prevailed, only broken at intervals by the blowing of the fresh-water dolphins. After eleven o’clock such a noise began in the con- tiguous forest, that for the remainder of the night all sleep was impossible. The wild cries of animals rang through the woods. Among the many voices which resounded together the Indians could only recognise those which, after short pauses, were heard singly. There was the monotonous plaintive cry of the aluates (howling monkeys), the whining, flute-like notes of the small sapajous, the grunting murmur of the striped nocturnal ape (Nyctipithecus trivirgatus, which I was the first to describe) the fitful roar of the great tiger, the cuguar or maneless American lion, the peccary, the sloth, and a host of parrots, perraquas (Ortalides), and other pheasant-like birds. Whenever the tigers approached the edge of the forest, our dog, who be- fore had barked incessantly, came howling to seek pro- tection under the hammocks. Sometimes the cry of a tiger resounded from the branches of a tree, and was then always accompanied by the plaintive piping tones of the apes, who were endeavouring to escape from the unwonted pursuit. If one asks the Indians why such a continuous noise is heard on certain nights, they answer, with a smile, that “the animals are rejoicing in the beautiful moonlight, and celebrating the return of the full moon.” To me, the scene appeared rather to be owing to an accidental, long-continued, and gradually-increasing conflict among the animals. Thus, for instance, the jaguar will pursue the peccaries and the tapirs, which, densely crowded together, burst through the barrier of tree-like shrubs which opposes their flight. Terrified at the confusion, the monkeys on the tops of the trees join their cries with those of the larger animals. This arouses the tribes of birds who build their nests in communities, and suddenly the whole animal world is in a state of commotion. Fur- ther experience taught us that it was by no means always the festival of moonlight that disturbed the stillness of the forest, for we observed that the voices were loudest during violent storms of rain, or when the thunder echoed and the lightning flashed through the depths of the woods. The good-natured Fran- ciscan monk who (notwithstanding the fever from which he had been suffering for many months) accom- panied us through the cataracts of Atures and May- pures to San Carlos, on the Rio Negro, and to the Brazilian coast, used to say, when apprehensive of a storm at night, “May Heaven grant a quiet night both to us and to the wild beasts of the forest!”— Humboldt’s Views of Nature.