Tarzan's 'Great Apes'

[Hintermann]

I have often wondered exactly what species the 'great apes' found in Tarzan stories are supposed to be. As depicted in Dell & Gold Key comics, they look too large to be Chimpanzees and not big enough to be Gorillas. Size wise, they seem to approximate the Orang Utan, but those are lighter furred and found only in the Indonesian forests.

Therefore, I assume that Edgar Rice Burroughs designated Phakut and other similar man-sized apes to be some dark furred relatives of the Orang Utan.

[sheets]

IIRC, the apes in Burroughs's Tarzan books are actually a ficticious species that is more intelligent and somewhat more man-like than real apes. Of course, back then, people had all kinds of crazy ideas about real apes, that they were ferocious meat-eaters that liked to carry off human women to mate with and such :)

[MDG]

In ine of Phillip Jose Farmer's books--though I don't remember if he was talking about Lord Greystoke or "Lord Grandrith"--they weren't apes at all, but a species of primitive man, like Australopithecus. But by the time ERB found out this "truth", it was too late to change it in the stories, so they remained "great apes."

MDG

[Hintermann]

Tarzan's 'Great Apes' had a language of some sort and so they probably were more humanoid than Gorillas & Chimps. I recall that "Kreegah!" was 'Danger!', "Bundolo!" was 'Kills!', "Po" is hungry, "Sopu" is fruit, "Gomangani" is (white?) man and so on.

[MWGallaher]

Mountain gorillas had only been "discovered" (by westerners) a scant 10 years before Burroughs wrote "Tarzan of the Apes", and very few westerners had actually seen one (they tended to die when imported). Speculation about the nature and capabilities of the animals of the sort Burroughs made may have been unlikely, but still plausible.

[Kan-Man]

This is slightly off topic, but I was reminded of it while reading all of your posts...

My dad is a huge Tarzan fanatic and my brother and I used to watch all the movies with him while we were growing up. Anyway, he had a coffee table book (Tarzan at the Movies?) and there was a picture in it that showed how they had to put fake ears on the Indian elephants to make them look like African elephants.

And the only Tarzan language I can remember is "ongawa" which I think means "go".

[Jesse Hamm]

Cheeta, Tarzan's chimp companion in the '30s films, is apparently still alive and kicking: http://cheetathechimp.org/

[swinebread]

All the talk about Tarzan Apes makes me think of the old Filmation cartoon.
I remember the apes being very human like, and the series had lots of sci-fi elements from the novels. They are putting out lots of old Filmation cartoons on DVD now. I hope that they put this one out too, as I remember it very fondly. I think Tarzan fans would really enjoy it :)

[Lone Ranger]

Mountain gorillas had only been "discovered" (by westerners) a scant 10 years before Burroughs wrote "Tarzan of the Apes", and very few westerners had actually seen one (they tended to die when imported). Speculation about the nature and capabilities of the animals of the sort Burroughs made may have been unlikely, but still plausible.

That's how I have always seen it.

In western eyes, Africa was still the 'dark continent' where endless mysteries existed and the possibilities were limitless.

I have always seen the apes as some cross between a chimp and mountain gorilla. Tarzan adventures take place near the west coast, countries such as Gabon still have gorilla populations (a friend of mine came within 10 feet of one).

Even today, scientists are still looking for new simian species.

To further derail things - check out a thread I just started on the Comm Board, featuring Mego artwork swiped from Tarzan/Korak covers. Mego Swipe

Does anyone know if George Wilson did work for Mego or the studio Mego used, or is this just plain theft?

[Gordon Smith]

IIRC, the apes in Burroughs's Tarzan books are actually a ficticious species that is more intelligent and somewhat more man-like than real apes. Of course, back then, people had all kinds of crazy ideas about real apes, that they were ferocious meat-eaters that liked to carry off human women to mate with and such :)

Nailed it in one. The Mangani (or Great Apes) who raised Tarzan (book-canon) are indeed a ficticious primate species. They are always carefully distinquished from other primates (like gorillas) that Tarzan encounters in his wanderings.

[Gordon Smith]

In ine of Phillip Jose Farmer's books--though I don't remember if he was talking about Lord Greystoke or "Lord Grandrith"--they weren't apes at all, but a species of primitive man, like Australopithecus. But by the time ERB found out this "truth", it was too late to change it in the stories, so they remained "great apes."

MDG

Yes, you are correct. In his ''biography'' (or, as I prefer to think of it, his fan fiction) of Lord Greystoke, Tarzan Alive, Farmer indeed rationalizes the ''Mangani'' as a ''species of primitive man, like Australopithecus''. He employed the same concept in the books in which his Tarzan parody, '' Lord Grandrith'' appears.