WHO ARE THE MANGANI?
In Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan series, the Mangani (Great Apes) are not just ordinary animals. They are a distinct, fictional species that play a major role in the ape-man's upbringing.
In the world of Tarzan of the Apes, the Mangani are a missing link in primate evolution. Burroughs describes them as distinct from both known chimpanzees and gorillas, occupying a unique evolutionary middle ground.
They are massive, powerful creatures much more formidable than chimpanzees, yet more agile than gorillas. They are fully capable of walking on two legs but naturally travel through the jungle canopy.
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| Tarzan And The Mangani |
DO THE MANGANI LIVE IN AN ORGANIZED SOCIETY?
The Mangani live in organized tribal communities led by a dominant king ape. Their culture centers around tribal rituals, notably the Dum-Dum. It is a primal, rhythmic nocturnal dance performed to celebrate victories or mourn the dead.
ERB used the jungle lord's ape family to explore early-20th-century ideas about human origin and primal nature. By placing the ape-man among a species that possessed language, a tribal hierarchy, and a capacity for abstract thought, the author created a bridge between the wild animal kingdom and human civilization.
Unlike the Bolgani (the gorillas) or the Manu (the monkeys), the Mangani possess a strict code of tribal law and emotional depth, allowing them to adopt and raise a human child.
ERB spent considerable time building the lore, biology, and culture of the tribe that adopted the one-year-old. The Chicago author explicitly distinguished them from chimpanzees and the gorillas, framing them as an intelligent, bipedal evolutionary "missing link".
ERB first introduces the Mangani in Tarzan Of The Apes, Chapter 3, "Life and Death," by contrasting them with known animals, emphasizing their size and bipedalism.
- "They were great apes, man-like apes which the natives of the Gobi speak of in whispers; but which no white man ever had seen... They were giant creatures, huge, powerful, and terrible, possessing some characteristics of the gorilla, but of a species unknown to science—a missing link, possibly, between the wild anthropoid and man." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
When Kala protects the Tarmangani child in Chapter 4, ERB describes the adult bulls' physical and vocal traits.
- "He was a huge, fierce bull, weighing probably three hundred pounds. His great fangs were bared in a horrid snarl... The speech of these apes was a combination of guttural grunts, barks, and clicks, accompanied by facial grimaces and body movements." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
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| Baby Tarzan And The Mangani |
DO THE MANGANI HAVE TRIBAL CEREMONIES?
The culture of the Mangani is defined by the Dum-Dum, a nocturnal tribal gathering centered on rhythmic drumming, as described in Chapter 7, "The Light of Knowledge".
- "The assembly was a wild and terrible spectacle. In the center of the clearing stood a huge, hollowed-out log... Three or four old females sat about it, beating upon it with large sticks... The dance of the giant apes was a mad, primitive thing of rhythmic leaps and bounds, accompanied by the beating of their breasts and the ferocious baring of their great fangs." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
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| Joe Kubert |
DO THE MANGANI PRACTICE LAW AND ORDER?
When the jungle lord returns to Africa, in The Return Of Tarzan, Chapter 18, "The Drop of Bornite", he encounters his old tribe. They are now living under a new king named Karnath, ERB revisits how the Mangani establish hierarchy and respect power over abstract rules.
- "To them, he was still the great king who had ruled them by the power of his hand and the cunning of his brain... The Mangani know no law but the law of the jungle—the survival of the fittest. They do not reason as men reason; they feel and act upon impulse and the inheritance of tribal custom." ERB-Return Of Tarzan.
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| Mangani Migration |
DO THE MANGANI CLAIM TERRITORY?
ERB portrays the Mangani as highly territorial creatures. While they do not establish static, bordered nations, they claim and fiercely defend local foraging districts and tribal hunting grounds from rival ape tribes, predators, and humans. When their territory's natural resources are depleted, or when they are driven out by a stronger adversary, they migrate to establish a new domain.
The following passages from the early Tarzan novels illustrate how ERB descgribed the geographic limits, migratory habits, and territorial behaviors of the ape tribe.
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| Mangani |
1. Defining Their Home Territory and Range
In Chapter 3 of Tarzan Of The Apes, ERB establishes the specific coastal and inland boundaries that Kerchak’s tribe claims as their domain, noting how they navigate it:
- "The tribe of Kerchak numbered some sixty or seventy apes... They roamed the coast over a territory of some twenty-five miles in width, and inland a distance of about fifty miles, following the distribution of natural foods and the migrations of the lesser game upon which they also preyed...They traveled for the most part upon the ground... following the path of the great elephants whose comings and goings break the only roads through those tangled mazes..." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
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| Mangani Bull |
2. Foraging Within Localized Zones
ERB emphasizes in Chapter 9, that while the great apes scatter to find food during the day, they remain strictly within a cohesive, protected zone, keeping track of one another through vocalizations:
- "Three miles to the west slept the tribe of Kerchak. Early the next morning the apes were astir, moving through the jungle in search of food... The apes scattered by ones, twos, and threes in all directions, but ever within sound of a signal of alarm." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
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| Mangani Forging |
3. Migrating to New Territory When Resources Fail
If an area can no longer sustain them, the tribe makes a collective decision to abandon their current location and march to find a new one. This behavior is shown in The Beasts of Tarzan, Chapter 16, when the British Lord encounters a different clan:
- "The apes told Tarzan that they had been traveling toward the east when the scent spoor of the she had attracted them and they had stalked her. Now they wished to continue upon their interrupted march; but Tarzan preferred to follow nearby and take the woman from them. After a considerable argument, it was decided that they should first hunt toward the east for a few days..." ERB-The Beasts Of Tarzan.
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| Mangani Migration |
4. Fierce Defense of the Tribal Domain
ERB repeatedly informs that the Mangani's intense territorial instincts are a primary driver of violence in the jungle. They view any outside entities, whether a neighboring ape tribe or human hunters, as a direct threat to their tribe.
- "Territorial instincts drive frequent conflicts with rival tribes, larger predators such as leopards or lions, and occasionally humans, involving aggressive charges, growls, and group defenses to protect foraging grounds and family units." ERB-The Beasts Of Tarzan.
When a tribal king lets out the famous Dum-Dum drum rally or a defensive roar, it functions largely as a warning to external threats that they are trespassing on Mangani land.
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| Mangani |
DO THE MANGANI HAVE A LANGUAGE?
A defining feature of the Mangani is their rudimentary spoken language, consisting of guttural sounds, clicks, and signs. This is the first language the jungle boy learns. In fact, the word "Tarzan" is a Mangani phrase meaning "White Skin". Tar meaning "white", Zan meaning "skin".
- "The language of the apes is a language of short, primitive roots... They have no words for abstract concepts, nor numbers to count past three. To them, the past is a dim blur and the future does not exist. They live in the fierce, absolute now of the jungle." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
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| Benito Gellego |
| In the Tarzan series, ERB establishes that the Mangani possess a variety of distinct vocal calls. These vocalizations serve as their primary method of long-distance communication, warning systems, victory cries, and emotional expression. |
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| Obed Kline |
- "A minute later a great anthropoid ape swung down from the trees into the clearing... Placing his foot upon the neck of the carcass, he lifted his voice in the hideous and terrifying victory cry of the bull ape. And Tarzan, lurking in the nearby foliage, felt his young heart leap in fierce response, for the voice was the voice of his wild heritage." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
- "Then he placed his foot upon the neck of the fierce beast, and lifting his grim face to the flashing eye of the jungle heaven, voiced the horrid victory cry of the bull ape." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
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| Joe Jusko |
- "Suddenly a shrill cry went up from one of the sentries immiting the danger signal of the tribe. In an instant the scattered apes converged toward a common center, dropping from the trees or scrambling through the undergrowth with marvelous rapidity... It was the alarm call that meant a common enemy was near." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
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| Sheeta And Tarzan |
- "He paused and raised his face to Goro, the moon. With uplifted arm he stood, the cry of the bull ape quivering upon his lips, yet he remained silent lest he arouse his faithful Waziri who were all too familiar with the hideous challenge of their master." ERB-Tarzan And The Jewels Of Opar.
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| Frank Frazetta |
- "From the lips of the ape-man broke a rumbling growl of warning. Numa answered but he did not advance... the ape-man growled out his savage warnings. Now this particular lion had never before come in contact with Tarzan of the Apes and he was much mystified." ERB-Tarzan And The Jewels Of Opar.
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| Frank Frazetta |
- "When the tribe uttered a certain recurring sound, it was the call to the Dum-Dum... Kerchak took his post at the great drum. The others sat in a circle around him. Raising his giant arms, he struck a heavy blow upon the resonant log, and at the same moment let out a booming roar that echoed through the dense amphitheater of the jungle." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
- Taug looked at Tarzan with blinking eyes. 'Can I eat it?' he asked in the low gutturals of the great anthropoids. To Taug, and to all the Mangani, everything in the universe was divided into two classes: that which could be eaten, and that which could eat them. Beyond this, their intellect did not easily venture." ERB-Jungle Tales Of Tarzan.
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| Enrique Torres Prait |
WHAT DO THE MANGANI EAT?
The Mangani are omnivorous foragers. Their diet consists primarily of fruits, nuts, roots, wild berries, insects, and grubs, though they occasionally hunt small animals for meat.
Unlike humans, the Mangani are strictly opportunistic eaters who do not store or preserve food, a trait that the ape-man often tries to change when he takes leadership of the tribe.
Fruits, Berries, and Roots were the staples of their daily diet. The tribe moved systematically through the jungle from one feeding ground to the next as various wild fruits ripen.
Grubs and Bananas were a vital source of protein, especially for the older or less agile members of the tribe who cannot easily climb into the high canopy. Occasionally, the stronger adult males will catch and eat small birds, rodents, or small monkeys.
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| Mangani Lunch Brake |
Are The Mangani Cannibals?
In Chapter 7, of Tarzan Of The Apes, "The Light of Knowledge", ERB describes the jungle lord's very first experience participating in the ritualistic Dum-Dum dance. Kerchak's tribe captures a king ape belonging to an entirely different, rival tribe.
During the height of the frenzied drum ceremony, Kerchak leaps into the center of the ring and kills the captive ape. The tribe then falls upon the carcass, tearing it apart and devouring the meat. ERB even notes that the teen uses his father's newly discovered steel hunting knife to cut off his own large piece of the flesh.
ERB establishes a very fine, tribal line here. The explicit rule he writes at the beginning of Chapter 8 is,
- "The body of Tublat lay where it had fallen, for the people of Kerchak do not eat their own dead." ERB-TARZAN Of The Apes.
So, while the Mangani do not eat members of their own specific tribe, which they consider true murder cannibalism, they view strange apes from outside tribes as entirely different political entities and, consequently, as fair game for ritual meat.
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| Joe Kubert |
DAILY MANGANI LIFE
In Jungle Tales Of Tarzan, ERB describes how the tribe spends its days hunting for basic jungle nourishment.
- "The tribe of Kerchak was moving slowly through the dense jungle, foraging for food. They sought fruits, berries, nuts, and edible roots, or occasionally small rodents, birds, or insects. They had been moving thus for days, a great, savage caravan of huge, hairy beasts." ERB-Jungle Tales Of Tarzan.
In Chapter 2, ERB provides a vivid detail of how the elderly members of the tribe are forced to adapt their diet when they lose their agility and teeth.
- "She threatened to call Mumga to chastise them with a stick—Mumga, who was so old that she could no longer climb and so toothless that she was forced to confine her diet almost exclusively to bananas and grub-worms." ERB-Jungle Tales Of Tarzan.
In Tarzan And The Golden Lion, the jungle lord looks down from the trees and observes his former tribe at peace, emphasizing how their dietary routines remained unchanged since his childhood.
- "A faint smile overspread the ape-man's face as he paused upon a great branch, himself hidden by the leafy foliage about him, and watched the little band below him. Every action, every movement of the great apes, recalled vividly to Tarzan's mind the long years of his childhood, when, protected by the fierce mother-love of Kala, the she-ape, he had ranged the jungle with these same powerful, bruising beasts, turning over rotting logs in search of grubs, or pulling down the tender shoots of the bamboo." ERB-Tarzan And The Golden Lion.
In Tarzan The Untamed, Chapter 6, ERB highlights that while the Mangani live in a land of plenty, they completely lack the foresight to store food for lean times—a habit Tarzan seeks to break.
- "Tarzan was full of plans. He would rebuild and enlarge the cabin of his birth, constructing storage houses where he would make the apes lay away food when it was plenty against the times that were lean—a thing no ape ever had dreamed of doing." ERB-Tarzan The Untamed.
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| Taug And Tarzan |
MATING HABITS OF THE MANGANI
The mating habits of the Mangani are seasonal, driven by raw biological urges, dominance, and physical competition rather than romance or permanent pair-bonding. The Mangani are generally described as morose, peevish, and highly aggressive creatures.
ERB informs us that they are completely devoid of mutual affection outside of their designated breeding periods. Furthermore, the jealousy and competition during these times create long-lasting tribal grudges.
- "They felt no greater suspicion of him than of any other bull of their acquaintance; yet they did not love him, for they loved none outside the mating season, and the animosities aroused by other bulls during that season lasted well over until the next." ERB-Jungle Tales Of Tarzan.
Mating rights within a Mangani tribe are entirely tied to the dominance hierarchy. If another bull wants a mate, he must either challenge the king or physically combat other young bulls for an unattached female.
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| Mangani |
TARZAN'S FIRST LOVE
When the jungle teen enters adolescence, he develops feelings for a female ape named Teeka. However, a younger, stronger playmate named Taug also pursues her, and the interaction is characterized by primitive, aggressive courtship displays.
- "And as he watched her that afternoon, and wondered, a young bull ape who had been lazily foraging for food beneath the damp, matted carpet of decaying vegetation at the roots of a near-by tree lumbered awkwardly in Teeka's direction...
- ...He was Taug, a huge, fierce young bull a playmate of Tarzan's childhood, but now a sour, morose brute, who took great pleasure in tyrannizing over the younger apes and the shes of the tribe...
- Taug stopped close to Teeka. He looked at her with his small, wicked eyes, and then he reached out a great, hairy hand and caught her by the arm. Teeka bared her fangs and nipped him; but Taug only grinned and drew her closer. Tarzan felt a sudden, strange thrill of anger." ERB-Jungle Tales Of Tarzan
Ultimately, because the jungle lord is physically human and lacks the massive, brutal strength of a mature Mangani bull at that stage in his life, he loses Teeka to Taug. The teen realizes that among the Mangani, physical force and survival of the fittest dictate who mates.
In the mindset of the Mangani, a female (referred to as a "she"), is captured and possessed. When the British Lord later reverts to a more feral, primitive state in Tarzan And The Jewels Of Opar, Chapter 16, his perspective on Jane Clayton (his wife, whom he has temporarily forgotten due to amnesia) completely shifts back to the primeval Mangani mating instinct. He views her through the lens of a beast tracking a mate by scent, ready to fight off rivals to claim her.
- "The apes told Tarzan that they had been traveling toward the east when the scent spoor of the she had attracted them and they had stalked her... To him, she was as any other jungle she, and he had set his heart upon her as his mate. For an instant, as he had approached closer to her in the clearing where the Arabs had seized her, the subtle aroma which had first aroused his desires in the hut that had imprisoned her had fallen upon his nostrils, and told him that he had found the creature for whom he had developed so sudden and inexplicable a craving... He would obtain possession of both his pretty pebbles and the she." ERB-Tarzan And The Jewels Of Opar.
Females reach maturity in late childhood/early adolescence and typically give birth to a single offspring, which they protect fiercely.
The dominant king bull claims a harem of mates from within the tribe. Younger bulls must assert physical dominance, fight rivals, and use aggressive displays of power,"bared fangs", to claim a female of their own.
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| Tarzan And Teeka |
Mangani Child Growth
ERB does not reveal in the series how long a female Mangani carries her unborn, but he does describe Gazan's (Teeka and Taug's balu) growth and development throughout Jungle Tales Of Tarzan. Here is the actual developmental timeline of Gazan's physical and mental growth as detailed.
Phase 1: The Clinging Newborn (Months 1–2)
- Small, relatively hairless on his belly, and physically fragile.
- At this stage, Gazan, ("Red-Skin"), has almost no independent locomotion. His world is entirely binary: clinging to Teeka’s front or nursing.
- Completely passive to the outside world but possesses an incredibly powerful instinctive grip. He is fiercely guarded by Teeka, who will not let any member of the trie, including the father Taug, touch him.
Phase 2: The Riding Infant (Months 3–5)
- Gazan grows a thicker coat of coarse red hair. His limbs lengthen and strengthen rapidly.
- He graduates from clinging to Teeka’s belly to riding triumphantly on her back as she swings through the lower terrace of the jungle.
- He begins reaching out for leaves and twigs while his mother forages. He starts to recognize individual members of the tribe, specifically learning to associate the jungle teen with safety rather than fear.
Phase 3: The Scrambling Toddler (Months 6–9)
- At less than a year old, his physical strength and coordination already begin to rival that of a much older human child.
- Gazan begins walking on all fours on the ground and can climb vertical tree trunks independently.
- This is the peak "play" phase. He wrestles with other young apes and uses Tarzan as a living jungle gym. He can now understand the basic guttural language and warning cries of the Mangani.
Phase 4: The Independent Balu (Around Year 1)
- Sturdy, muscular, and increasingly heavy.
- He is fully capable of foraging for his own food (grubs, beetles, fruits) and no longer relies solely on Teeka for mobility. He can run, climb, and swing through the branches with significant speed.
- Gazan achieves a high degree of emotional and physical independence, though he still rushes back to Teeka's arms if a predator like Numa the lion or Sheeta the leopard echoes a roar through the brush.
One of the most important cluse, and one of the most unnoticed, is that ERB's description of Gazan's growth and developement in each chapter throughout Jungle Tales Of Tarzan; prooves the storyline is consistent, and not made up of a group of radom short stories. It also proves the timeline contiues for more than one year
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| Mangani |
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
James Michael Moody is a lifelong fan and collector of Edgar Rice Burroughs. Moody has contributed over two hundred articles to various ERB-related fanzines over forty-five years. He also manages an unauthorized Tarzan blog titled, Greystoke Chronologist: James Michael Moody. There the researcher chronologizes the Tarzan books starting in May 1872 (known as the pushback theory) instead of the more accepted date, May 1888.
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| James Michael Moody |
James Michael Moody is also the author of the action-packed Sci-Fi fantasy adventure Unium series. Pioneers On Unium, published December 31, 2019, Exiled On Unium, published August 25, 2022, and Swordsman On Unium, published July 15, 2024. In
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| James Michael Moody |
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