HABITS OF THE ORANG-OUTANG. 



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were adults, nine being males and seven females. The large adult males only varied 

 from four feet one inch to four feet two inches in hight, measured fairly to the heel, so 

 as to give the hight of the animal as if it stood perfectly erect. The extent of the 

 outstretched arms was from seven feet two inches to seven feet eight inches ; and the 

 width of the face from ten to thirteen and a half inches. The largest orang measured 

 by Temminck was four feet high. Of twenty-five specimens collected by Schlegel 

 and Miiller, the largest measured four feet one inch ; and the largest skeleton in the 

 Calcutta museum was four feet one and a half inch. My specimens were all from the 

 north-west coast of Borneo, those of the Dutch from the south and west coasts ; and 

 no specimen has yet reached Europe exceeding these dimensions, although the total 

 number of skins and skeletons must exceed a hundred." 



The orang is a formidable opponent. *' One day," says Wallace, some Dyaks 

 saw a large orang feeding by the river side. On being alarmed he fled to the jungle, 

 and a number of men armed with spears and choppers ran out to intercept him. The 

 man in front tried to run his spear through the animal's body ; but the orang seized it 

 in his hands, and in an instant got hold of the man's arm, which he seized in his 

 mouth, making the teeth meet in the flesh above the elbow, which he tore and lacerated 

 in a dreadful manner. Had not the others been close behind, the man must have 

 been more seriously injured, if not killed, for he was quite powerless ; but they soon 

 destroyed the creature with their spears and choppers. The man remained ill for a 

 long time, and never fully recovered the use of his arm. The Dyaks declare that the 

 orang is attacked by only two creatures. One old chief, of whom I inquired, said to 

 me, * No animal is strong enough to hurt the mias, and the only creature he ever 

 fights with is the crocodile. When he goes to seek food by the river, the crocodile 

 sometimes tries to seize him ; but the mias gets upon him and beats him with his hands 

 and feet, and tears him and kills him. I once saw such a fight, and believe that the 

 mias is always the victor.' Another chief told me, 'The mias has no enemies; no 

 animals dare attack it but the crocodile and the python. He always kills the croco- 

 dile by main strength, standing upon it, pulling open its jaws, and ripping up its 

 throat. If a python attacks a mias, he seizes it with his hands, and then bites it, and 

 soon kills it. The mias is very strong ; there is no animal in the jungle so strong 

 as he.' " 



The habits of the orang, as described by Wallace are somewhat peculiar: "In 

 making his way through the forest, he walks deliberately along some of the larger 

 branches, in the semi-erect attitude which the great length of his arms and the shortness 

 of his legs cause him naturally to assume ; and the disproportion between these limbs 

 is increased by his walking on his knuckles, and not on the palm of his hand, as we 

 should do. He seems always to choose those branches which intermingle with an 

 adjoining tree, on approaching which he stretches out his long arms, and seizing the 

 opposing boughs grasps them together with both hands, and then deliberately swings 

 across to the next branch, on which he walks along as before. He never jumps or 

 springs, or appears to hurry himself, and yet manages to get along almost as fast as 

 a person can run through the forest beneath. He makes a nest in which to sleep, by 

 breaking ofi^ boughs and laying them across each other. The natives say that he makes 

 a new one each night, but I think this hardly probable, or their remains would be 

 much more abundant. The Dyaks say that when it is very wet, he covers himself 



