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Man and Jungle
The name 'orang-utan' is derived from two
separate Malay words: 'orang' meaning 'man'
and 'utan' meaning 'jungle'. They are members of
the family Pongidae, large anthropoid apes
related to the chimpanzees from the equatorial
Africa; gorillas also from equatorial Africa but
restricted to the lowlands in the west and the
more mountainous regions near Lake Victoria in
central Africa. Today, orang-utans are confined
to Sumatra and Borneo.
There are two subspecies
of orang-utan: the Bornean orang-utan Pongo
pygmaeus pygmaeus and the Sumatran orang-utan
Pongo pygmaeus abelii. Even an expert may not be
able to differentiate between these two subspecies
easily but members of the Sumatran subspecies
tend to be larger and lighter coloured than those
from Borneo.
It is possible that in ancient times,
orang-utans were found throughout Southeast
Asia. Remains of this creature have been
discovered in southern China, Vietnam and Java.
It is believed that during the Pleistocene
cooling-off period, the orang-utans migrated to
Indonesia from Indochina across temporary land
bridges. Fossil evidence suggests that the
orang-utans that first migrated to Sumatra were
about 16 percent larger than the present day form.
The extinct variety that once inhabit China are
somewhat bigger-possibly as much as 40 percent
larger.
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