'260 GORILLAS AND CHIMPANZEES 



The orang-outan, as he is called in his own 

 country, is known to zoology by the first of these 

 terms alone. He is a native of Borneo and Sumatra, 

 and opinions differ as to whether there are two 

 species or only one. 



The general plan of the skeleton of the orang is 

 very much the same as in the other apes. The chief 

 points of difference are that it has one bone more in 

 the wrist and one joint less in the spinal column than 

 is found in man. He has thirteen pairs of ribs, 

 which appear to be more constant in their number 

 than in man. His arms are longer and his legs 

 shorter in proportion to his body than the other two 

 apes. The type of the skull is peculiar, and combines 

 to a certain extent more human-like form in one 

 part with a more beast-like form in another. The 

 usual height of an adult male, is about fifty-one 

 inches. 



I have never had an opportunity of studying this 

 ape in a wild state, and have only had access to four 

 of them in captivity, all of which were young and 

 most of them inferior specimens. He is the most 

 obtuse or stupid of the four great apes. And were 

 it not for his skeleton alone he would be assigned 

 a place below the gibbon, for in point of speech 

 and mental calibre he is far inferior. The best 

 authorities perhaps upon the habits of this ape in a 

 wild state are Messrs. W. T. Horniday and R. A. 

 Wallace. 



The first and last in order of the anthropoid apes 

 is the gibbon ; he is much smaller in size, greater in 



