408 PRIMATES APES AND LEMURS 



and are amusing when young, but become savage and disagreeable 

 when old. 



Of the Anthropoid Apes, those most nearly approaching in 

 general appearance to the Cynomorpha, or Dog-shaped Monkeys, 

 are the Gibbons (Hylobates), which inhabit India, Siam and Malaysia 

 generally. They are less human-looking than the Orangs, smaller 

 and more slender, but when they walk for a short distance 

 erect, with the arms held above the head balancing the body, 

 their resemblance to a small and hairy " lord of creation " 

 is considerable. A very slight glance distinguishes them from 

 the Orangs ; they have straight backs, small heads with large 

 eyes and rather prominent chins, very long forearms, callosities 

 on the hind-quarters, and no visible tail. They are most active, 

 graceful creatures, leading an arboreal life, swinging from bough to 

 bough with the greatest ease. To the anatomist they present 

 many complicated problems ; for, although evidently not so high 

 in the animal scale as the Orangs and Chimpanzees, they have 

 some points about them which cause them to resemble Man more 

 than they do these great Apes, and others which cause them to 

 resemble the large army of Monkeys. 



The Orang-Utan (Simia satyrus) is a native of Borneo and 

 Sumatra, where it lives in the hot steaming forests. It is the 

 largest Asiatic Anthropoid Ape, and appears to lead a very solitary 

 life, never appearing in companies, but only singly, or at most 

 in pairs. Its brown skin and long reddish chestnut hair give 

 it a very characteristic appearance. It is a large and heavily 

 built animal, with long, powerful, hairy arms, and a rather sad 

 expression of face, while the ears are small and delicately shaped. 

 By means of its long muscular arms it can pass from branch to 

 branch and tree to tree with considerable rapidity, but its move- 

 ments on the ground are cautious and uncertain, probably on account 

 of the peculiar structure of the hind-limbs, which are very loosely 

 jointed to the hip-bones, and are destitute of the strong ligament 

 which in Man binds the thigh-bone to the hip-bone. The young 

 Orangs, like most of the great Apes, are very docile, quiet, and 

 affectionate creatures, but as they grow older become less amiable, 

 and give way to sullen if not violent fits of rage. Those which have 

 been kept alive in captivity for any length of time do not appear 

 tp show quite so much intelligence and liveliness of character as 



