The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-06-09
III '~ts14 Ut UIiICS UFtE " > DdlIh-
Dr.. y. E. BENNETT.
143 n. Main St, Wichita, KS.
GIANT APES.
They Are Greatly Annoyed by Flies and
Make Nests to Escap pc Torment.

They Are Greatly Annoyed by Flies and
Make Nests to Escape Torment.
The great island of Borneo is the
home of the orang, the most arboreal
of all monkeys, and one of the most
ncticeab BILE features of the landscape is
the nests of the orangs, which are seat
tered about thickly among the tall
trees.
From their number one might get a
greatly exaggerated impression OF the
plentifulness of the species, unless it
were understood how and for what
purpose these roosting- places were con-
Structed.
The apes are greatly annoyed by
flies, from which they are able to pro-
tect the front part of their bodies with
their hands, but they can not keep the
VICIOUS insects from biting them in the
rear, and SO they gather quantity of
leaves and branches and make them
into touches to repose against among
the boughs.
A protection of this sort serves very
well for awhile, but presently its mate
rial begins to decompose and the decay
ing leaves attract the flies. 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.
lnasmuch as he does not take the
trouble to remove the old ones, they re-
main to adorn the tree top in which he
swings about.
Orangs have very curious method of
fighting. In their conflicts among
themselves, which are frequent, their
effort is always to seize the fingers of
their adversaries and bite. them. 1t is
owing to this method of Battle that it
which does not lack some of the fingers.
If defending itself against a man, the
orang will always attempt TO grab the
arms of his human opponent. so as to
chew off his fingers. For this purpose
its jaws are excellently adapted, being
enormously powerful and equipped
with huge incisors.
To protect itself from tn. 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 a thatch
when the attitude thus described is as
sumed
The other great ape which makes its
home in Borneo is the gibbor. which is
a small animal compared with the
orang, weighing only about forty or
fifty pounds 1t Is very frail in its
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. Its remark
able power of grasp and dexterity in
using its hands is equally with the
shape of its Uranium and index of its
intelligence, perhaps because
it is able TO take hold of greater
number OF things and examine them.
The gibbon is natural acrobat. Its
trapeze performances in trees are sim
ply marvellous The animals go in
1roves, whereas orangs live by families.
and one of the most interesting specta-
lies imaginable is to see group of glib
oons crossing great gap in the forest
oy throwing themselves in succession
through the air. each one taking a I
swing or two to gather momentum be- !
fore launching himself. So great is their |
agility that in executing feats of this /
sort they seem like birds.
Natives in the countries inhabited by !
great apes regard them ALWAYS as HUI /
nan beings of inferior types, and it is
Tor this reason that for long time it 1
vas found impossible to get hold of a .
.ntire gorilla skin. because the savages /
considered it religiously necessary TO
ut off the hands and feet of the ami
nails when they killed them. Just as
hey DO with their enemies, possibly for
ne purpose of rendering them harm
ess in case they should by any chance
.ome to life again.-Wayerly Magazine.