Hence we who are accustomed to think of ourselves as the
only erect animals must revise our opinion, for we find in the gibbon an
organism that is nearly, if not quite, as advanced in this respect as we
are. One peculiar difference may be pointed out,--the walking gibbon
stretches out its great long arms to the sides in order to preserve its
balance. The animal seems awkward to us, perhaps, but it is possible that
the human method of balancing the body by vigorously swinging the arms
might seem quite as awkward to a gibbon as its grotesque posture does to
us.
The orang-outang comes next in this series. It inhabits the islands of
Borneo and Sumatra, where we find two distinct species. It is a reddish
colored animal standing about four feet four inches high, with rather long
hair. It is bulky, slow and deliberate in action, and when it walks in a
semi-erect position it rests its knuckles upon the ground, swinging its
long arms as crutch-like supports. Like the gibbon, it does not walk upon
all four feet in the way that the monkeys and baboons do, and we find in
the still further development of the brain and the higher arch of the
cranium the reasons for its semi-erectness. It cannot remain with its
hands and feet upon the ground and bend back its head so as to direct its
vision forward.
Pages:
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217