News 



Published Monthly by Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago 



Vol. 4 



AUGUST, 1933 



No. 8 



GROUP SHOWS ORANGS 

 IN NATURAL HABITAT 



By Wilfred H. Osoood 

 Curator, Department of Zoology 



In the early days of Field Museum, in 

 fact during the nineties not long after the 

 establishment of the institution, a group of 

 orangs was prepared and installed by Carl 

 E. Akeley. It was the first large mammal 

 group of modern type to be exhibited in 

 the Museum. The specimens had been 

 collected in Borneo by C. F. Adams and 

 were purchased and presented to the Mu- 

 seum by Trustee Martin A. Ryerson. 



For that time the 

 group was an excellent 

 one and the workman- 

 ship was of the quality 

 which brought to 

 Akeley the recogni- 

 tion and support 

 which led to his later 

 and better-known 

 productions. How- 

 ever, the group 

 occupied a square 

 floor-case suitable for 

 its original purpose, 

 but not in conformity 

 with the arrangement 

 of subjects in the Mu- 

 seum's present build- 

 ing. Therefore, it was 

 decided recently to 

 rearrange and adapt 

 the group to a new 

 setting in a built-in 

 case with a semi-ellip- 

 tical painted back- 

 ground. 



The task of carry- 

 ing out the plan was 

 undertaken by Staff 

 Taxidermist Leon L. 

 Pray, whose skill and 

 ingenuity combined 

 with much patient 

 detailed labor have 

 brought it to a very successful conclusion. 

 Although more than thirty years old, the 

 mounted specimens were found to be in 

 good condition, requiring no change except 

 in their relative positions to each other. 

 The new setting, however, involved the 

 complete construction of a tree-top scene 

 in a tropical forest. Tree-trunks, branches, 

 and twigs were faithfully reproduced and 

 a wealth of leaves and fruit was added to 

 them. In all, nearly nine thousand artificial 

 leaves were necessary. A painted back- 

 ground, also done by Mr. Pray, served to 

 perfect the desired representation. 



No visitor who sees this group is ever 

 likely to think of the orang as anything 

 but a forest-dweller and this, of course, is 

 one of the objects of such complete repre- 

 sentation of the animal's habitat. It does 

 come to the ground to some extent, and is 

 able to amble about in semi-erect position, 

 but its real home is in the tree-tops. At 

 night it sleeps in a rudely formed nest of 

 boughs and leaves in aerial seclusion. A 

 single nest apparently is not continuously 

 occupied for long, and many freshly made 



ones are to be found in regions where the 

 animals are numerous. 



The orang or orang utan does not equal 

 the size of the gorilla, but may be as large 

 or larger than the chimpanzee. The old 

 male in the Museum's group is exceptionally 

 large, the spread of its outstretched arms 

 being more than eight feet. It weighed 

 150 pounds when killed, and had a height 

 of four feet six inches. When placed in 

 erect position the arms extend to the ankles, 

 being relatively longer than in the other 

 man-like apes. 



Although there are numerous characters 

 distinguishing the orang from the other 



Orang Group in William V. Kelley Hall 

 The huge ape in the center is an unusually large one. Its arm spread measures eight feet four and one-half 

 inches from the tips of the fingers on one hand to the tips of those on the other. 



great apes, the simplest and most convenient 

 one is its uniform reddish brown color. 

 The melancholy expression of its face is 

 also characteristic. It is much more fre- 

 quently seen in captivity than the gorilla 

 or the chimpanzee, and it can be taught 

 to perform many tricks. In motion pictures, 

 where it is now seen frequently, it often 

 passes for the gorilla. It is still numerous 

 in its sole habitat in the islands of Borneo 

 and Sumatra, and with any reasonable 

 degree of protection should be in no danger 

 of early extinction. 



Museum Is Cool in Midsummer 



Field Museum has been repeatedly proved 

 to be one of the coolest places in Chicago 

 during the sweltering heat waves that strike 

 the city from time to time. The great white 

 building, largest in the world constructed of 

 marble, seems to resist the sun's attacks 

 almost completely, and with the aid of the 

 ventilation system with which it is equipped 

 a temperature of 68 degrees is maintained 

 at all times. 



EXHIBITS STRESS IMPORTANCE 

 OF ILLINOIS MINERALS 



By Henry W. Nichols 

 Associate Curator of Geology 



The importance of Illinois as a producer 

 of minerals is vividly brought out among 

 the exhibits at Field Museum of the mineral 

 products of the world. These demonstrate 

 that its mineral resources are large, and 

 their mining an industry greater than the 

 similar industries of most states. 



While the mineral products of Illinois are 

 not spectacular ones like the gold and silver 

 of Colorado, or the diamonds of South 

 Africa, they are real 

 money-makers like 

 coal, silica, shale, clay, 

 sand, gravel, and 

 petroleum, on down 

 to less known products 

 such as fluorspar, 

 magnesia from dolo- 

 mite, peat, and marl. 

 Incidentally some 

 silver is mined in Illi- 

 nois, in conjunction 

 with lead. Possibly 

 even diamonds and 

 gold could be found. 

 No doubt a few 

 diamonds exist in the 

 terminal moraine of 

 the glaciers which 

 swept Illinois thou- 

 sands of years ago, for 

 a few have been found 

 in the moraines of 

 Wisconsin, Michigan 

 and Indiana. It is not 

 likely that Illinois was 

 entirely passed over 

 during the distribu- 

 tion by the glaciers of 

 these floats from 

 undiscovered diamond 

 fields of the far north. 

 Likewise, small quan- 

 tities of float gold have 

 been washed from the moraine in Indiana, 

 and probably a man armed with a pan and 

 most unusual persistence could wash a few 

 flakes of gold from our gravels. However, 

 the maximum possible earnings of such a 

 man in Indiana amount to about one 

 dollar a day, and it is doubtful if one in 

 thousands would attain even that. 



An industry awaiting development in 

 Illinois is marble quarrying. Deposits have 

 been found which appear to have as desirable 

 qualities as the better known ones in other 

 states. 



The most important fluorite mines of 

 the country are in Illinois, and the highest 

 quality sands are quarried on a very large 

 scale at Ottawa. These have been adopted 

 as the nation's standard for testing and com- 

 parison purposes. Lead and zinc are the 

 only metallic ores in the state the mining of 

 which has reached important proportions. 



A large cut aquamarine, weighing 341 

 carats, is on exhibition in H. N. Higinbotham 

 Hall of the Museum. 



