The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1891-10-22
GREAT APES OF BORN EO.
INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT
4 @ ANTHROPoIDS.

hDle-Bodled Orang-Outangs Who Live In
Tree'-It Takes Two Men to
| Shoot One-Their Peculiar
Method Of Fighting.
My acquaintance with apes has
oeen chiefly made in Borneo," said
Prof. a. Ward. the famous natur al
science collector Of Rochester to a
Washington Star reporter the other
day. THAT great island is the home
OF the orang which is the most arbor-
cal Of all monkeys. The animals live
in trees altogether, rarely, if eyer,
visiting the ground It takes two
good marksmen to shoot one. because
they dodge around the trunks. They
do all their fighting aioft and it is
great fun to see them drop the arm
fuls OF fruit they have gathered in con
tests for it's possession. They are
plentiful in the low lands near the
coast 1t Is rarely that anybody ven
lures into the interior, because there
the head-hunting natives prowl.
Among them each man is required to
have secured head before he is per-
| mltted to marry, and on this account
the young gentlemen savages are con-,
tinually looking about for somebody
to kill. This makes travelling disa-
greeable. E8 %
Zone OF the most noticeable features
OF the landscape Of Borneo is the nests
OF orangs which are scattered about
thlckly among the tall trees. From
their number one might get greatly
exaggerated impression of the plenti-
fitness of the Species unless it were
understood how and for what purpose
| these roosting places are constructed.
The beasts are greatly annoyed by
flies, from which they are able to pro-
tect the front part of their bodies with
their hands, but they cannot keep the
vicious insects from biting them IN the
rear, and so they gather quantity of
leaves and branches and make them
into couches to ,repose against among
the boughs. A protection of this sort
serves very well for while but pres
emily its material begins to decompose
and the decaying leaves attract the
files which the orang is so anxious to
get rid Of Then he is obliged to
make another nest of fresh stuff, and
so he may require dozens of them in
the course of a year. Inasmuch as he
does not take the trouble to remove
the old ones. they remain to adorn the
tree top in which he swings about. -
''Orangs have a very curious meth
cd of fighting. In : their conflicts
among themselves. which are frequent
their effort is always to seize the fin
gers of i their adversaries and bite
| them. A very beautiful group of
these animals at the National Museum,
mounted by Mr.. Hornaday, admirably
illustrates typical encounter of the
sort 1t is owing to this method of
battle that it is almost impossible to
procure a skin which does not lack
some Of the fingers. If defending
itself against a man the beast will
always attempt to grab the arms of his
human opponent SO as to chew off his
fingers. For this purpose its jaw is
excellently adapted, being enormously
powerful and equipped with large in
cisors. .=- IL : w. f.
''The favorite food of the orang is
the durion' fruit which is, perhaps
the most delicious in the world, u nit
ing, as it does the favors of the
| peach, the pear, and the strawberry
Like most things nearly perfect, how
ever this fruit has a drawback
namely, that it leaves taste in the
mouth the next day after it is eaten
which is more abominable than can
either be described or conceived. To
protect itself from the rain the orang
| crooks its arms over its head The
| hair on the orang's upper arm points
downward, while on the lower arm it
points upward, the apparent. purpose
being to shed the rain like thatch
| when the attitude I have described is
assumed.
The other great ape which makes
its home in Borneo, is the gibbon..
which is a small animal compared
with the orang, weighing only about
forty or fifty pounds. It is very frail
in it's bodily makeup. The head is
set squarely upon the shoulders, and
it looks upward. When walking on
the ground it balances itself along like
a walker on the tight rope. b. Its re-
markable power of grasp and dexterity
in using its hands. is equally with the
shape of its Uranium an index of it's
superior intelligence perhaps because
it is able to take hold of greater
number of things and examine them.