This animal, of a quieter and more phlegmatic disposition than the
gorilla and chimpanzee, has a very strange appearance, with its
projecting head and short neck; its face widening in the middle
and tapering towards the forehead and chin; its tun-shaped trunk,
long, thin extremities, and shaggy coat. It differs widely from the
chimpanzee and gorilla in these particulars. In the young male the
compression of the forehead is less marked than in aged animals, and
the bony crests which conduce to raise the coronal arch in its upper
and hinder part are also absent. The supra-orbital arches are less
strongly developed, the jaws are less prominent, and the layers of fat
upon the cheeks are absent. The head is more detached from the neck,
the structure of the whole body is slenderer, the expression of the
countenance is milder. A small, conical nail, blunted at the end, may
generally be observed on the great toe.
In the adult female, as I have pointed out elsewhere, the physical
characteristics of the young male are repeated in an exaggerated form.
The skull, displaying only very small bony crests, is indeed high, but
more rounded than in the aged male; the face is prominent, but the head
is more detached from the neck than in the latter case. On account of
the greater width of the pelvis, the body is still more tun-shaped than
in the aged male. When giving suck, the breasts are distended in the
form of a half cone, but when this condition ceases they fall together
and only present two short, wrinkled, slightly prominent folds of skin;
the small, horny nipples are almost cylindrical; and the areola, of
which the traces are scanty at all times, altogether disappears. The
throat-pouch is less strongly developed than in the aged male, but the
limbs are as fully developed. The head of the young female is still
more rounded, with a more flattened though still projecting face, and
the limbs are slenderer, and thus still more out of proportion with
the thick trunk than is the case with a young male.
The orang-utan’s skin is of a greyish blue colour, sometimes mixed
with brown, but the greyish blue shade is predominant. A yellowish or
brownish grey is less common. Round the eyes, nostrils, upper lips, and
chin there is often a ring of a dirty, yellowish brown colour, forming
a strange contrast with the general bluish grey tone of the face. The
arms, legs, hands, and feet are black or greyish black, more rarely
brown or reddish brown.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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