Popular Animals on the Travel Guide Malaysia

Orangutan
Orangutan: "Orangutan" is from Malay "orang hutan," "man forest."
Location: Borneo and Sumatra in southeast Asia.
Habitat: Arboreal. Tropical forests.
Description: The orangutan is tail-less, with small ears and a small nose. The coat is long and soft, and reddish brown in colour and the jaws are prominent. The head is pear-shaped, the eyes small, and the lips mobile. The arms are very long and strong, and its grasping feet give it a four-handed appearance. Standing height of the orangutan is about 55 inches, and it weighs about 165 lbs, with females about 80 to 85% the height and 50% of the weight of males.
Behaviour: The orangutan feeds mainly on fruit, especially on figs, but it also eats leaves, bark, shoots, and flowers. It is arboreal, rarely descending to the ground. It usually lives a solitary life, with mothers and offspring forming the only long-term bond. They are inordinately strong for their size, and have been trained to give sign language, which skill they are able to retain for years without practise.
Reproduction: The gestation period lasts between 233 and 263 days, and the single infant is nursed for many months.

Gibbons
Gibbon: "Gibbon" is a French word, possibly taken from a word of one of the languages in India. "Lar" is Latin for a "household god." Location: Most of southeast Asia.
Habitat: Equatorial forest, from sea level up to 8000 feet.
Description: Tail-less and long-limbed like all other gibbons, this small ape has long tapered hands. The coat is long and dense, varying in colour from black to pale brown and yellowish. The face is black, surrounded by white hair. Length of head and body is about two feet, and it weighs about 18 pounds.
Behaviour: This gibbon lives in family groups, consisting of one male, one female, and several young. The group has its own territory, varying in area from 30-100 acres. The gibbons are the most agile and fastest-moving of all the primates. Early in the morning they begin loud vocal battles. They are solely vegetarian, often hanging by one long arm while reaching with the other for food.
Reproduction: Gestation lasts about 200 days, and the female usually delivers a single young, which she nurses for several months.

Malayan snail-eating turtle
Turtle: "Turtle" and "tortoise" probably derived from the French word "tortue," which might mean "twisted."
Location: Thailand, Vietnam through Malaysia to Sumatra and Java.
Habitat: Aquatic, semi terrestrial. Marshes, canals, rivers.
Description: This turtle has a dark brown shell, with three distinct longitudinal ridges. The plates (scutes) of the breastplate, which is almost uniformly brown or blackish, have a narrow yellowish border. The head is fairly large and flat, with a prominent yellow or whitish stripe extending from the nostril over the eye to the neck. Length of the shell is up to fourteen inches.
Behaviour: The Malayan snail-eating turtle frequents stagnant or slow-flowing water in lowland areas. During the day it rests on banks or on floating mats of plants, but it is always alert, and at the least alarm dives into the water, vanishing into the vegetation on the bottom. It feeds mainly on molluscs, grinding them with its powerful jaws, but occasionally preys on crustaceans and insect larvae as well.
Reproduction: Females lay their eggs in holes dug in the sandy banks.

Malayan tapir
Tapir: "Tapir" is a Guarani name for the animal, Guarani evidently being a form of Spanish spoken in Paraguay.
Location: Southeast Asia.
Habitat: Terrestrial and semiaquatic. Tropical forest.
Description: The colour of the adult Malayan tapir is unmistakable: the forward part of the body and the hind legs are black, and the rest of the body is white. The tail is no more than a large stump, but the nose is extended. These tapirs reach six and one half feet in length and can weigh 600 pounds.
Behaviour: This tapir is primarily solitary, but sometimes lives in pairs in the thickest parts of the forest, where it can move about at considerable speed with minimal difficulty. It is mostly nocturnal. It feeds on tender plants, preferably near water, which is a necessity for this species. Tapirs like to remain submerged for hours on end.
Reproduction: Gestation lasts about 400 days, after which one young is normally born, although occasionally two.

Siamang Monkey
Siamang: "Siamang" is a Malay word for the animal.
Location: Sumatra and Malaysia in southeast Asia.
Habitat: Arboreal. Tropical forest at an altitude of 2000-7000 feet.
Description: Like the other gibbons, the coat is very dense and long. The fur of the Siamang is black and has dark red on the eyebrows. Its arms are very long (up to 4 ft), its head is small, and it has no tail. The Siamang has a laryngeal sac under its chin. This sac is hairless and puffs up when sounds are emitted. This animal reaches about 3 feet long and weighs up to 30 pounds.
Behaviour: The Siamang feeds on leaves, fruit, and other plant matter, often hanging by one long arm while reaching with the other. It lives in a family group, which has its specific territory. This is marked with shrill cries that resemble barking. The female initiates the cries and the male then joins in.
Reproduction: Gestation lasts for about 7 months and the female usually delivers a single offspring, which she nurses for several months.

Proboscis Monkey
Monkey: "Monkey" is of unknown derivation.
Location: Borneo in southeast Asia.
Habitat: Arboreal. Near waterways and in mangrove forests.
Description: The strangest feature of this monkey is its nose, which in the male adult is much enlarged and may hang down over the mouth. The colour of the coat varies from brown to pale reddish, and the lower parts of the body are gray or cream-coloured. This monkey is about 2 1/2 feet long. It weighs up to 50 lbs, with females about half this weight.
Behaviour: The proboscis monkey eats leaves and the shoots of aquatic plants. It lives in loosely cohesive groups of 12 to 24 monkeys, and moves with great agility among the branches of trees. Most activity is early in the morning. It is a good swimmer. Loud nasal honks are emitted by the males and are given a particular resonance by the long proboscis, which straightens out during each honk. The flesh of the proboscis monkey is regarded as something of a delicacy and it is actively hunted by the natives of Borneo, but with little success, because these monkeys are wary and they flee at the slightest sign of danger.
Reproduction: Unknown.