THE ORANG-UTAN 



(Simia sa/yrus) 



THIS, the third and last of the great man-like apes, is found far away 

 from the African home of the Gorilla and Chimpanzee in Borneo 

 and Sumatra ; where, by the way, there occur other animals with near 

 African relatives. It differs from the other two not only in the red 

 colour of its hair, but equally remarkably in its shape, which departs 

 much further from the human form ; the arms in the Orang being so 

 long as to reach the ground when the creature stands erect, and the 

 legs being very short, while the body is also very short and round. 

 The fingers and toes are very long, with the exception of the thumb 

 and great toe, which are very small indeed, and often minus the last 

 joint. The colour of the coat, the hair of which is particularly long 

 and lank, varies from almost chocolate to a bright auburn, and, as in 

 the Chimpanzee, there is a great amount of variation in its abundance 

 and in the colour of the skin, many Orangs being but scantily furnished 

 with hair, and dark in the face and skin, while in the ordinary type 

 the face is mostly dirty flesh-colour, and the hair abundant. 



There is as great a difference in the sexes as in the case of the 

 Gorilla, the male, which is much the larger, having particularly big 

 canine teeth, and, in many instances, developing a fatty expansion of 

 the cheeks which makes the face peculiarly broad. Such individuals, 

 however, occur side by side with those of the ordinary type. The 

 goitred appearance of the neck is due to a large vocal sac. The ears 

 of the Orang are small and delicate, and its general expression much 

 more pleasing and refined if one can apply the term to any of these 

 creatures than in the other two. In height the male reaches four or 

 five feet, when erect, but this animal very seldom stands upright on 

 the ground, and indeed seldom comes there at all ; when it does, it 

 walks, like the others, on the knuckles and feet. It is, however, essenti- 



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