30 



MUSEUM OF ANIMATED NATURE. 



[Apes 



air of brutish grossness. The head leans forward 

 on the chest, the neck is short ; and loose folded 

 skin hangs round the throat, except when the laryn- 

 gal sacs are inflated, this loose skin is then swollen 

 out, like a naked shining tumour, extending up 

 along the sides of the face under the small angular 

 ears, filling up the interspace between the chin and 

 chest, and encroaching upon the latter : the lips are 

 wrinkled, and possess extraordinary mobility ; the 

 animal can protrude them in the form of a snout or 

 proboscis, contracting the mouth to a circular ori- 

 fice, or, on the contrary, draw them back, and turn 

 them in various directions. The breadth of the 

 chest and shoulders conveys an idea of great 

 strength; the abdomen is protuberant; the hair, 

 which falls on the back and shoulders in long masses, 

 forms a covering to the animal crouching in repose, 

 necessary as a protection by day against the burn- 

 ing rays of the sun, by night against the heavy 

 dews, and during the rainy seasons as a shelter from 

 the falling showers. The palms of the hands have 

 lines and papillae, as on those of the human subject. 

 All the naked parts of the body, with the exception 

 of the orbits and lips, which are of sallow, coppery 

 tint, are silvery-grey or plumbeous. The thickness 

 of the incisor teeth, which in adults are worn 

 down to a flattened surface, as are also the molar 

 teeth, shows that they are put to rough work, and, 

 as Professor Owen remarks, it is probable that their 

 common use is to tear and scrape away the tough 

 fibrous outer covering of the cocoa-nut, and perhaps 

 to gnaw through the denser shell. The huge 

 canines are doubtless defensive weapons, which, 

 in connection with the muscular strength of these 

 animals, enable them to offer a more than suc- 

 cessful resistance against the leopard, and render 

 them formidable opponents even to the tiger. Of 

 the habits of the Orang in a state of nature our 

 knowledge is limited. It tenants the secluded 

 recesses of the forests in the hilly and central 

 districts of Borneo and Sumatra ; living, as it would 

 appear, a secluded life, and not being, like the Chim- 

 panzee, gregarious ; nor does it, like that animal, 

 build huts, but, in accordance with its arboreal pre- 

 dilections, it constructs a rude seat or platform of 

 interwoven boughs and twigs among the branches 

 of the tallest trees, on which it takes up its abode. 

 Here the adult male will sit, as is said, for hours 

 together listless and apathetic. His movements 

 aie slow and indolent: when attacked, he swings 

 himself from branch to branch, clearing vast inter- 

 vals with ease, but not with the rapidity which has 

 been imagined, and which is displayed by some of 

 the Gibbons. If at last driven to extremity, he 

 defends himself with determined resolution, and his 

 prodigious bodily powers and prowess render it dan- 

 gerous to venture on a close assault. The females are 

 devoted to their young. A few years since, Captain 

 Hall repaired to Sumatra purposely to obtain one of 

 these animals, but at his outset he experienced a 

 serious obstacle in the difficulty of procuring guides 

 to conduct him to their usual haunts : this proceeded 

 from the fears of the natives, who not only believe 

 that the orangs possess a natural dominion over the 

 great forests, but that they are animated by the 

 souls of their own ancestors. Succeeding at length 

 in this preliminary par*; at ' Ebe 



Captain : - wi1 ' i j 1 1 - ! ius 



hovin ■_■, been ' 



ftvfc feel in h ■■■' ' ■ yv&ved she was 



,,,:.<' u highest trees, with 



a , . .. | . :,:'. pon being wounded 



she uttered ^-jfiercing cry , and immediately lifting 



; e as* high as her long arms could 



reach, let it go among the topmost branches. 



;,ue party approached to fire again she made 



ho attempt to escape, but kept a steady watch, 



glancing her eye occasionally towards her offspring, 



and at last seemed to wave her hand, to hasten its 



departure, which it safely effected. 



The following summary is the result of our re- 

 peated observations upon young living specimens : — 

 The progression of the orang on the ground is slow 

 and vacillating, and is rather dependent on the 

 arms, which from their length act as crutches, sup- 

 porting the body between them, than upon the 

 lower limbs, which are ill calculated for such 

 service. When left entirely to itself on the floor, 

 the young orang, if incited to walk, supports its 

 weight o?i its arms, applying the bent knuckles to 

 the ground, which, from the length of the arms, is 

 an easy action. The lower limbs are at the same 

 time bowed outward, and the outer side of the fpot 

 is placed upon the floor. In this attitude it waddles 

 along, the arms being the main support ; when in- 

 deed it wishes to hasten its progress, it fairly swings 

 the body forward between the arms, as if impatient 

 of the hobbling gait to which the structure of the 

 lower limbs restricts it. The lower limbs, however, 

 are not incapable of supporting the body alone, and 

 it can waddle along very fairly, especially if it can 

 lay hold of anything by which to steady itself in its 

 process. In climbing it is at its ease, and confi- 



dent, but deliberate. It will suspend itself with its 

 head downwards, sometimes by the hand and foot 

 of the same side, the disengaged hand being 

 stretched to seize objects within its reach ; some- 

 times by the hook-like hands, or the feet alone, 

 varying its grotesque attitudes in the most singular 

 manner, and in all displaying the freedom of the 

 hip-joint. Its arboreal progress is not by bounding 

 like a monkey, but by swinging from branch to 

 branch, grasping them by its hands in succession. 

 Habitually dull and inanimate, it has still its times 

 of sportiveness, and will engage in play with those 

 to whom it has attached itself, following them to 

 court their notice, or pursuing them in mimic 

 combat. It has little curiosity, and is fond of sitting 

 covered up by blankets or other articles of defence 

 against the cold, and will wrap itself up with con- 

 siderable dexterity. To those who attend it it 

 becomes very affectionate, and readily obeys their 

 voice, recognising its name, and the words and 

 tones of command. Confinement is annoying to it 

 in the extreme, and disappointment irritating. 

 From these causes paroxysms of passion are often 

 exhibited, in which it will dash itself about, uttering 

 a whining ciy, and manifest every token of anger. 

 We have seen a young orang make the most stre- 

 nuous efforts to escape from his inclosure, striving 

 to force the door or the frame-work ; and then, 

 screaming with disappointment, swing from branch 

 to branch, and again repeat its endeavours, excited 

 to the extreme, and all because its keeper had left 

 it for a short time. Nothing but his return and 

 attentions would pacify it. 



Dr. Abel states that his young orang displayed 

 great alarm at the sight of some live turtles, and 

 also of a tortoise ; looking at them with horror from 

 a distant place, to which he had retreated for secu- 

 rity, and projecting his long lips in the form of a 

 hog's snout, while at the same time he uttered a 

 sound between the croaking of a frog and the grunt- 

 ing of a pig. The young chimpanzee which lived 

 in the year 1836 in the menagerie of the Zoological 

 Society recoiled with horror from a large snake in- 

 troduced into the room by way of experiment, and 

 also regarded tortoises with aversion; and a young 

 orang in the same managerie, before which a tor- 

 toise was placed, stood aghast in an attitude of 

 amazement ludicrously theatrical, gazing upon the 

 crawling animal with fixed attention and evident 

 abhorrence. On the other hand we have seen a 

 young orang play with a full-grown cat, drag it 

 about, put the animal on its own head, and carry it 

 from branch to branch, regardless of its scratching 

 and struggles to get free. Fred. Cuvier notices the 

 same fact, which we have ourselves verified. The 

 young orang may be taught to use a spoon, a cup, 

 or glass with tolerable propriety, and will carefully 

 put them down on the table, or hand them to some 

 person accustomed to receive them. To this point 

 F. Cuvier also alludes, as well as to the care it 

 takes in adjusting its bed, and covering itself warmly 

 with blankets and other materials when retiring to 

 rest. 



The young chimpanzee, in comparison with the 

 orang, is far more-lively, animated, and frqlicksqme ; 

 , [flupb more cunnsiiv being alive o 

 ing hi Is : ! plfti d ■" Bxarnin- 



i hittj ife reach with in 

 -<• ' jate a. smile in the face oiiiv 



gravest spectator. In alertness it exci 

 orang, and is to the full as gentle and affix! - 

 and more intelligent. The expression of intelli 

 gence is indeed well denoted by the vivacity of its 

 eyes, which, though small and deeply set, are quick 

 and piercing. 



Figure 129 is a portrait of the young orang-outan 

 in the menagerie of the Zoological Society in the 

 •warm dress which it habitually wore ; but in which 

 it was completely disguised. 



THE GIBBONS 



(Genus Hylobates). The gibbons differ from the 

 thickset orang in the slenderness of their form ; the 

 chest is indeed broad and the shoulders muscular, 

 but the waist and hips are contracted; there are 

 small ischiatic tuberosities hidden by the fur, on 

 which the animals often rest, the commencement, 

 so to speak, of a structural peculiarity carried out 

 to its maximum in the lower groups. The hands 

 and feet ar.e admirably formed for clinging with te- 

 nacity to the branches. The arms are of excessive 

 length, reaching in the erect attitude to the ankle- 

 joint; the hands are remarkably long and slender, 

 the naked palm is linear, expanding at the base of 

 the fingers, which are covered down the backs with 

 fur; the thumb of the fore-hands, though very short, 

 resembles the fingers in form and direction, and is 

 scarcely or not at all opposable to them ; it seems 

 to rise from the wrist, owing to the almost complete 

 separation of the metacarpal bone from that of the 

 first finger ; and the ball formed by its adductor 

 muscles" is trifling. The feet are long and slender, 



• and theijj thumb is greatly developed, so as to form 

 an antagonist to the other toes conjointly. In some 

 species the first and second finger of the foot are 

 more or less united 'together : this union in the Sia- 

 mang is carried to the last joint. The lower limbs 

 are short, and bowed in, and the ankle-joint has that 

 inward tournure so advantageous to an arboreal ani- 

 mal ; but the hip-joint is secured by the ligamen- 

 tum teres. In one species, the Siamang, there is a 

 large laryngal sacculus. The skull is well formed, 

 though the" forehead retreats. The rami of the 

 lower jaw are narrow. The incisor teeth are mode- 

 rate, the canines slender ; the molars moderate, 

 with the crown broad, and bluntly tuberculate. 



Dental formula (fig. 130.) 



nines, 



1-1 



Incisors, -r ; ca- 

 4 ' 



5-5 



, , molars, g — ^ = 32, 

 1 — 1' 5— o 



The gibbons 



are clothed with deep thick fur, softer in some 

 species than others : on the fore-arms it is in most 

 species reverted to the elbows ; in one or two it 

 is erect. The prevailing colours of these animals 

 are from black to brown, brown- grey, and straw- 

 yellow. 



The gibbons are distributed through Java, Borneo, 

 Sumatra, Malacca, and Siam, where they tenant the 

 forest branches, among which they display the most 

 astonishing activity. They sweep from branch to 

 branch with arrow-like velocity : their mode is to 

 suspend themselves by their long arms, and by an 

 energetic muscular movement to launch themselves 

 onwards, aiming at a distant branch, which they 

 seize with admirable precision. Most live in troops 

 or families ; some species frequenting the mountain- 

 ranges covered by forests of fig-trees, others keeping 

 to the forests of the plains. 



The head of the gibbon is small and of an oval 

 figure, and the face is depressed ; the expression of 

 the countenance being grave, gentle, and rather 

 melancholy. All utter loud cries, whence, in imi- 

 tation of the sound, has arisen the name of Wou- 

 wou, which appears to be common to two or three 

 species; Fred. Cuvier has applied it to the Agile 

 Gibbon, but Camper had previously appropriated it 

 to the Silvery Gibbon, said by Dr/S. Miiller to bo 

 called Oa-oa by the natives of Java, a word differ- 

 ing little in the sound from wou-wou, or woo-woo. 

 None of the gibbons attain to the stature of the 

 orang, about three feet being the height of the 

 largest species standing erect, an attitude which 

 they are capable of assuming on the ground or any 

 level surface, along which they waddle, at a quick 

 pace, in the manner of the chimpanzee, using the 

 arms as balancers, or occasionally touching the 

 ground with the fingers. 



131, 132, 133.— The Agile Gibbon ; 

 also known under the native titles Ungka-puti and 

 Ungka-etam (Hylobates agilis, F. Guv. ; Hylobates 

 Lar ; H. Rafflesii). 



This interesting gibbon is a native of Sumatra, 

 and owing to certain variations in colour, to which 

 it is subject, has been formed into two distinct 

 species, an error now corrected. M. Miiller, in 

 reference to this gibbon, states that it is curious to 

 observe its numerous variations. " Two individuals 

 are never precisely the same ; and we were therefore 

 iiisp ised to conclude, during the early part of our 

 m Sumatra, that there i vere really different 



both sexes and various ages, thai, Wffi came be 

 conclusion that the oengko-itam, or black oengko, 

 and the oengko- poetih or white oengko, of the 

 Malavans, were the same species." 



The general colour of this species varies from 

 black to brownish-yellow, and yellowish white ; a 

 white or pale stripe traverses the brow; and the 

 sides of the face and throat are often grey or flaxen : 

 in black or dark individuals the lumbar region and 

 crupper are usually of a pale rusty-brown or yellow- 

 ish ; the pale individuals have the throat, chest, and 

 abdomen of a darker brown. The pale-eolourea 

 females often produce black young, and the black 

 as often young of a pale colour. (See fig. 132.) We 

 have seen straw-white young. The fur is soft and 

 woolly : the two first fingers of the feet are united 

 together at the base. 



The Agile Gibbon usually lives in pairs, and is 

 timid and gentle : its activity and the velocity of its 

 movements are wonderful : it escapes pursuit almost, 

 like a bird on the wing. On the slightest alarm it 

 ascends rapidly to the top of a tree ; it there seizes 

 a flexible branch, swings itself two or three times 

 to gain the requisite impetus, and then launches 

 itself forward, repeatedly clearing, without effort 

 and without fatigue, as Mr. Duvaucel witnessed, 

 spaces of forty feet. 



Some few years since a female of this species was 

 exhibited in London. The activity of this animal 

 in the large compartment in which it exercised 



