ORANG'-IITAN' (Malay. titan-of-the-woods1. One of the three great anthropoid apes ( satyrus). It inhabits Borneo and Sumatra. and differs in several important respects from its African relatives. the chimpanzee and gorilla (qq.v.). Its individual features are the height of the skull, the long arms, nine bones in the wrist and sixteen dorso-lumbar vertebrae, of which twelve bear ribs. In external appearance the orang is not so Iranian as the gorilla, time reddish-brown hair with which the body is clothed, the long arms, with a very short thumb, and the long slender hands and feet, combining to emphasize the resemblance to monkeys. The head is more anthropoid, as the skull lacks the prominent supereiliary ridges of the gorilla and is strikingly brachyeephalie; Moreover, the open ings of the nostrils are more pea r-slmped than in the other apes. The brain is noticeably like that of man, more so than that of either the gorilla or chimpanzee, as the cerebral hemi spheres are much convoluted. The teeth, how ever, are more ape-like than human, for the canines, especially of the male, are strongly de veloped. The formation of the larynx is extraor dinary, as there is a large sac, developed from its united ventricles, which hangs down in front of the trachea. The thumb and big toe arc very small and often lack nails, and sometimes even the terminal phalange is missing. The body is bulky and the legs are short and comparatively weak, but the arms are so long that they reach to the ankles when the animal is erect, and arc exceedingly muscular. In walking the weight is horn on the knuckles of the hands and the outer sides of the feet, so that neither the palms nor the soles are placed squarely on the ground. Only when assisted by some artificial support do these apes walk on the feet alone. In height the orang is about 50 inches or less, the males being much the larger.
These apes are now inhabitants of the swampy forests of Borneo and Sumatra alone, but there is reason to believe that species of this genus formerly inhabited the southeastern portion of the Asiatic eontinent. They have few natural
enemies, of which large serpents and crocodiles are the most important, but even for these the orangs have little fear, nor are they alaromd at the appearance of man. They are arboreal in their habits and rather deliberate in their move ments, but are agile and very much at home in trees. They build nests or platforms of branches at a height of 30 or 40 feet from the grmind. and there they are said to sleep, being diurnal in habit. The female also brings forth her single young one in such a home, which it is said the male builds for her. Wounded orangs, build such shelters for when escape by flight is impossible. These apes are purely vegetarian in diet, living chiefly on fruit and young, tender shoots, and they rarely have occa sion to go to the ground for food. Sometimes, however, they go in search of water and are thus obliged to travel on the earth. They ordinarily go on all fours, hut may raise themselves on their feet, and, by grasping overhanging branches I with their hands, progress rapidly in an ereet po sition. In traveling in this way or from tree to tree, they make as much as live or six miles an hour, They are not gregarious, but are usually found single or in pairs. Though naturally peaceable, they can make a fierce resistance when cornered and compelled to defend themselves. When taken young, they can be readily tamed, j and are frequently seen in zoiilogical gardens.
Consult: Hartman, Anthropoid A pes (New York 1886) ; Wallace, Malay Archipelago (New York, 1869) ; Hornaday, Two Years in the Jungle (New York, 1885) ; Forbes, Monkeys, in Allen's "Naturalist's Series" (London, 1894) ; Ilaeckel, A us Insulin* (Bonn, 1901), See Plate of AN TIIROPUID APES, with APE.