582 



SKELETON OF ORANG 



CHAP. 



The name Orang-Utan, now applied exclusively to the subject 

 of the present description, was formerly applied also to the 

 Chimpanzee, and to that animal, moreover, under the latinised 

 version of Homo sylvestris. The Orang is a large and heavy Ape 

 with a particularly protuberant belly and a melancholy expression. 

 The face of the old male is broadened by a kind of callous expan- 

 sion of naked skin at the sides. The colour of the animal is a 



FIG. 279. Skeleton of Orang. Simia satyrus. (After de Blainville.) 



yellow brown, varying in the exact shade. The ears are parti- 

 cularly small and graceful in appearance, pressed closely to the 

 sides of the head. The head is very brachycephalic. The arms 

 are very long, and when the animal is in the erect posture they 

 reach as far as the ankle. The hallux is very short and usually 

 destitute of a nail. It is a curious fact that the head of the thigh 

 bone is unattached by a ligament to the socket of the pelvis in 

 which it articulates, a state of affairs which may give the limb 

 greater freedom in movement, but does not add to its strength ; 



