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 sapt- Fic. 140.—Gorilla (Gorilla). 
ens) is distinguished 
by the inability to oppose the big toe as he does his thuamb— 
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. 
