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L’orang-outan fossile de Hoà Binh (Viêt-nam) : poids corporel et hypothèse locomotrice

Anne-Marie BACON & Vu THE LONG

en Comptes Rendus Palevol 2 (4) - Pages 251-259

Published on 30 June 2003

The orang-utan of Hoà Binh (Vietnam): body weight and locomotor hypothesis. The discovery of the first complete skeleton of an adult orang-utan (Pongo pygmaeus), probably a female, in the Hoà Binh province, Vietnam, brings original data about the evolution of these primates. We have predicted the body weight of this orang-utan by using two parameters : dental (crown area of cheek teeth) and skeletal (lengths of femur, radius and tibia). The dental dimensions give plausible predicted estimates of body weights that range between 70.9–112.4 kg for M1 (with a mean of 89.3 kg) and 67.9–98.1 kg for M1 (with a mean of 81.6 kg). From the observations of Sugardjito and van Hoof [21] on modern orang-utans, heavy body weights have some influence both on the employment of certain types of locomotion and on travelling heights.


Keywords:

Pongo pygmaeus, Vietnam, body weight, teeth, long bones

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