Page:Babyhood of Wild Beasts.djvu/47

Rh male Orang is about 250 pounds." (Hornaday.)

These animals live wholly in the tree tops and seldom descend to the ground except for water. They cannot leap from bough to bough as do monkeys, because of their great weight; but swing underneath the branches with their long powerful arms in much the same manner as Seminole Indians travel through the Everglades.

When the Orangs are home in the jungles of Sumatra and Borneo they make a nest to sleep upon by breaking the leafy branches of trees, and laying them cross-wise in the top of a forked sapling. In this big nest it lies flat on its back and is rocked to sleep in its leafy cradle while in repose it grasps a branch in each hand and foot.

Unless attacked at close range in the forest the great apes are not dangerous to man. When attacked they fight like human toughs, by biting and scratching. They do not fight with clubs, as has been reported. When fighting each other the old males bite chunks out of the faces and the fingers and toes of their adversaries.

The Orang-Utan, Chimpanzee and Gorilla