This great red ape was mentioned by Linnaeus in 1766, and at the beginning of the last century a specimen living in the Prince of Orange's collection was described by Vosamaer.
There are three varieties of the ORANG, called by the Dyaks MIAS-PAPPAN, MIAS-RAMBI, and MIAS-KASSU, the third of which is smaller, has no cheek-excrescences, and very large teeth. Some naturalists recognize a pale and dark race.
Most of our information is due to Raja Brooke and Dr. Wallace. The species is confined to Borneo and Sumatra, but fossils have been found in India of this genus, as well as of a chimpanzee. The orang is less man-like than the chimpanzee and gorilla. In height the male varies from 3 feet 10 inches to 4 feet 6 inches, the female being a few inches shorter. it is a heavy creature, with a large head- often a foot in breadth- thick neck, powerful arms, which reach nearly to the ankles, and protuberant abdomen. Its legs are short and bowed. the forehead is high, the nose fairly large, the ears very human. The throat is ornamented with large pouches, and there are often callosities on the cheeks. The fingers are webbed, the thumb small, the foot long and narrow, the great toe small and often without a nail. The brain is man like, and the ribs agree in number with those of man; but there are nine bones in the wrist , whereas man, the gorilla, and the chimpanzee have eight. The canine teeth are enormous in the male. The hair, a foot or more long on the shoulders and thighs, is yellowish red : there is a slight beard. the skin is gray or brown, and often, in adult, black.
The orang is entirely a tree-living animal, and is only found in moist districts where there is much virgin forest. On the ground it progresses clumsily on all-fours, using its arms as crutches, and with the side only of its feet on the ground. In trees it travels deliberately but with perfect ease, swinging along underneath the branches, although it also walks along them semi-erect. it lives alone with mate and young, and builds a sleeping place sufficiently low to avoid the wind. Its food is leaves and fruit, especially the durian; its feeding-time, midday.
No animal molests the mias save- so say the Dyaks- the python and crocodile, both of which it kills by tearing with its hands. It never attacks man, but has been known to bite savagely when brought to bay, and it is very tenacious of life, one being found by Mr. Wallace still alive after a fall from a tree, when "both legs had been broken, its hip-joint and the root of the spine shattered, and two bullets flattened in neck and jaws."
In captivity young orangs are playful and docile, but passionate. less intelligent than chimpanzees, they may be taught to eat and drink nicely, and to obey simple commands. One in the Zoo at present has acquired the rudiments of drill. they will eat meat and eggs, and drink wine, beer, spirits, and tea. An orang described years ago by Dr. Clarke Abel was allowed the run of the ship on the voyage to England, and would play with the sailors in the rigging. When refused food he pretended to commit suicide, and rushed over the side, only to be found under the chains. The orang is the least intelligent of the three great apes; he lacks the power and brutality of the gorilla and the intelligence of the chimpanzee. "The orang," said a keeper to the writer, "is a buffoon; the chimpanzee, a gentleman." It is worth remark that, although all these apes soon die in menageries, in Calcutta, where they are kept in the open, orangs thrive well.
