THE MAMMALS 



245 



pithecus). The gibbons, inhabiting southeastern Asia, pos- 

 sess arms of such length that they are able to touch their 

 hands to the ground as they stand erect. They are thus 

 adapted for a life in the trees, where they spend most of their 

 time feeding on fruit, leaves, and insects. In the same dis- 

 trict the orang occurs, walking when on the ground on its 

 knuckles and the sides of its feet. It prefers the life in 

 the trees, however, in 

 which it builds nests 

 serving for rest and 

 concealment. The go- 

 rilla (Fig. 140), the 

 largest of apes, attain- 

 ing a height of over 

 five feet and a weight 

 of two hundred 

 pounds, is a native of 

 Africa, where it lives 

 in families and sub- 

 sists on fruits. The 

 same region is the 

 home of the chimpan- 

 zee, which in its vari- 

 ous characteristics ap- 

 proaches most nearly 

 to man. 



Man (Homo sapi- 

 ens) is distinguished 



by the inability to oppose the big toe as he does his thumb 

 a feature associated with his erect position and by the rela- 

 tively enormous size of the brain. Even in an average four- 

 year-old child or an Australian bushman the brain is twice as 

 large as in the gorilla. With this relatively great develop- 

 ment of the nervous system is correlated superior mental 

 faculties, which together with social habits and powers of 

 speech exalt man to a position far above the highest ape. 



FIG. 140. Gorilla (Gorilla). 



