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The Orang-Utan would rarely seem to exceed four feet in 
height, but the body is very bulky, measuring two-thirds of 
the height in circumference.* 
The Orang-Utan is found only in Sumatra and Borneo, 
and is common in neither of these islands—in both of which 
it occurs always in low, flat plains, never in the mountains. It 
loves the densest and most sombre of the forests, which ex- 
tend from the sea-shore inland, and thus is found only in the 
eastern half of Sumatra, where alone such forests occur, 
though, occasionally, it strays over to the western side. 
On the other hand, it is generally distributed through 
Borneo, except in the mountains, or where the population is 
dense. In favourable places, the hunter may, by good for- 
tune, see three or four in a day. 
Except in the pairing time, the old males usually live by 
themselves. The old females, and the immature males, on the 
other hand, are often met with in twos and threes; and the 
former occasionally have young with them, though the 
pregnant females usually separate themselves, and sometimes 
remain apart after they have given birth to their offspring. 
The young Orangs seem to remain unusually long under their 
mother’s protection, probably in consequence of their slow 
growth. While climbing, the mother always carries her young 
* The largest Orang-Utan, cited by Temminck, measured, when standing 
upright, four feet ; but he mentions having just received news of the capture of 
an Orang five feet three inches high. Schlegel and Miller say that their largest 
old male measured, upright, 1.25 Netherlands “el ;” and from the crown to the 
end of the toes, 1.5 el; the circumference of the body being about lel. The 
largest old female was 1.09 el high, when standing. The adult skeleton in the 
College of Surgeons’ Museum, if set upright, would stand 3 ft. 6-8 in. from crown 
to sole. Dr. Humphry gives 3 ft. 8 in. as the mean height of two Orangs. 
Of seventeen Orangs examined by Mr. Wallace, the largest was 4 ft. 2 in. high, 
from the heel to the crown of the head. Mr. Spencer St. John, however, in his 
“Life in the Forests of the Far East,’’ tells us of an Orang of “5 ft. 2 in., measur- 
ing fairly from the head to the heel,” 15 in. across the face, and 12 in. round 
the wrist. It does not appear, however, that Mr. St. John measured this Orang 
himself, 
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