Uganda's Gorillas Tiny Pigmies as True " Keepers "

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 17, 4 February 1937, Page 12

Uganda's Gorillas Tiny Pigmies as True " Keepers "

t UOKILY the blapk gbeep to tbe ^ Uganda game fpld are few to variety, though unfqrtunately almpst overwbPltoing to numbers (writeg Captain R- §• Pitfnan, game. warden to the Uganda prps tectbrate). The worst ofienders are the elephant, the bUfialQ, and the hippopotapaus; then fqllow the crocqdile, lion, leqpard, baboon, and bush pig. Afi the animals to this gecond list are popularly gtyled vermin; no restrictions are imnosed on their destruqtion. But there ar§ many SRfPies which enjoy freedom from toterference. Successful protection and perpetUlt'on without the whole-hearted co-operation of the native population is impossible, The African can be an inordtoate killer; yet when the native directed his own game afiairs h§ toanaged them extraordtoarily well, and his altered attitude to4ay is undoubtedly due to Wegtern tofiuence, either directly or indirectly. * * *- rpnE native as a rule does not destroy - wantonly; if to recent years there bave been unwelcome exceptions, tbey are the direct result pf Western "civilisation." He destroys for food, for clothes, fpr protectipn of peysqn and property; and latterly, since the advent of the white man, unfortunately for profit. But the native with a stake in the game and the aulhQrJty to acfc can be a valuable factor to game conservation. On the whole he co-operates loyally with law and order to what to him is the utterly sepselesg , pyotection. qf quantities pf creatures of considerable food value. Uganda's Gqrilla. « Uganda's most toteresting wild creature is. the gorilla, a mighty anthropoid, naturally Of peaceful disposition. In its forest haunts it can be observed peaceably and at leisure, but it to resentful pf undue intrusion, and an enraged male, gorilla, weightog 400-5QO pounds, gtand" ing s}x feet with an arm-spread of ten feet, solicftgus fqr the welfare pf his family, can be a formidable adversary of iinparalleled ferocity. Tbe vicfim« huinan pr other, of a gorfila's attack ' lsnally has its principal jotots deliberately disarticuiated. The gravest danger to the welfare of the gorilla is unnecessary interference, which in due course pyovokes an awe-tospirtog demonstration from the gigantiG male. It is a warning, and not an attack, though those ignorant of bto fearsome ways wait not bpt aGt "to self-defence," and so pne more tonocent gorilla pays the penalty for devptipn fo tos own ktod> * % $ A nd whp arg tbe ?eel protectp?e Rf '- tbe Uganda goyiljas? A small pygmy grqup japt e^Pfeding a dpgep 'maleeV tbey are the true wardeng, for WltbPUt tbefc a|d it wpuld be almqgt bnpossib,le tp apOfpaGh tbese IRan-rlike brutes to tbel? mountatoous forest haunts. The little men reyerence their mlgbty neigbbours; these entertaining pnd extyemely agile folk seem tp glory in their role of "Ifeepeys of the Gorilla,." The antediluvian white rhtooceros is ope of nature's freaks, uncouth and ungainly. But it is such a deiightful fool, SO placid- so confiding, that it is ^ the easjest prey for a natjve spearmapj tbpugh new IVPiu'y b enjoys cQinplelf

toununity from mQlestation. AlthdUSb frequenting tbe immediate viptoito oi settlements, it bas not yet showu f tendency to raid the crops, and its presence is not only tolerated but often encouraged. So muGb so, that some chiefs are no less mtodful of the welfare of the White rhtooceros ' parties than of their own cattie, They regard wifb diattoct pride the presence of a tow °? tbese monStrosities withto the confines of tbeir domain; they also realise that they are an asset which will attrgct visitoflNot so the hippopotamus. Not many years ago on tbe Bafpe Rivpr, to Np?thern Rhodesia, a fine old chief, now dead, USPd cpntempfuonsly to refer to the hippopotamuses as. "Government fi&ttle," stoce they were protecte'd by the Government, to spite of the damage they d° to the' people's crops. The district was in a Game Reserve, and tbe chiefs §nnoy|pce was due to the tostotenpe tbat at lRnS last the sanctity "of the reserve should be duly respected. The Buffalo. The buffalo to its tens of thousands is the bugbear of Uganda; to inspires more terror than either the tonnage of the marauding elephant pr the muscle of the prowling lion. One can never be certain of a buffalo's reaction, and in consequence this doughty opponent has been resppnsible for many of tbe toOSt pitiful tragedies to tbe annals gf African hunting, A game reserve may pay well for itself, In Uganda the trip to the Murfibtoon Falls, Situated to tbe. beart of tbe Pyotectorate's largest reserve, is annU§Uy increasing to popularity. The exciifiion is made by luxuriqus river steamer or comfortable launch, and for more than 20 mUes tbe Nile is followed thrgugh a rggion teemtog with wild life of exceptional toterest. Thg ejephants are the outstanding attraction; one may see dogeps, Qften hundreds, and to this great natural zoo they roam at peace and where they will. Now it is a herd comtog down to drlnk — diminutive calves ambling by their mothers' sides; next a panic-strickep mob raising clouds of dust as they lumber clumsily away IntP tlje ktodly fefqge of tbe bush; tben a batb|ng party loatb to give way to the approachtog steamer, which they greet with truculent trumpetjng; or peyhaps a migbty buii swimming tbe rjver abead. Tbere i§ always sometbtog new^eyery trip to gerbnn to proyide it. Gf hip^ppotamuses thgre arg gvej a thopisand in this §tretch "gf "the AygrHideoys knol)biy crocddiles ii|ig the riygr edge, hgaptog" themselves ip iuch gnan|ities to the sbailows that at "a *dtotanie they resemblg grgat sandbahks' Beveral species of antelopes, warfchogs, baboons, inpnkeys, and waterfowl of all sizes and evgry hue occur in abundance; herds of buffaloes are frequently seen, and, if one is lucky, perhaps a wandering rhtoo-. peros or a thirsty lion. And finally the falls themselves, in a setting of primseval spiendour. The Nile drives through a tiny cleft not 20 feet irx width at the top of a lofty scarp, to caspade ruthlessly in a gerips of steps to the great pqpl spme ImpdfPda oi feej: hglpw.