The first discovery of a complete skeleton of a fossil orang-utan in a cave of the Hoa Binh Province, Vietnam

• Published in: Journal of human evolution Vol. 41; no. 3; pp. 227 - 241
• Main Authors: Bacon, Anne-Marie, The Long, Vu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01.09.2001; Elsevier
• Subjects: Animals; Anthropology, Physical; Bone and Bones - anatomy & histology; Environmental studies; Fauna; Female; Fossils; Male; Methodology and general studies; Pongo pygmaeus - anatomy & histology; Pongo pygmaeus, northern Vietnam, Pleistocene, Holocene; Prehistory and protohistory; Skeleton; Tooth - anatomy & histology; Vietnam; Asia; Vietnam; Pongo pygmaeus, northern Vietnam, Pleistocene, Holocene; Cave; Late Pleistocene; Comparison; Morphology; Ape; Skull; Skeleton; Tooth; Finds study; Hominid
• ISSN: 0047-2484; 1095-8606
• DOI: 10.1006/jhev.2001.0496

Here we provide a description of the first complete adult fossil orang-utan skeleton from the Asian mainland. This specimen, and remains of a juvenile orang, were collected in a late Pleistocene cavern in the Hoa Binh Province of The Socialist Republic of Vietnam. The results confirm the suggestions by Hooijer (1948) Zool. Meded. Leiden29, 175–301 and later by Schwartz et al. (1995) Anthrop. Pap. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist.76, 1–24, that ancient orang-utans had bigger teeth than those of modern Pongo pygmaeus (P. p. pygmaeus and P. p. abelii), while the dental morphology is similar. Body proportions of the adult individual of Hoa Binh show a large skull with very large teeth but proportionally a small body. This individual is also singular in having high intermembral and brachial indices, in comparison with those of modern subspecies.