I am listening to an audio book by Thomas Friedman “Hot, flat and crowded”. The book talks about the need for energy efficiency and conservation. One example illuminating the implementation of projects along these lines takes the listener to Indonesia, which is home of the orangutans – a species that has been decimated significantly in recent years and which can only be preserved with measures for retaining their natural habitat. The author describes a bit how the orangutans live and at one-point states that they move around in the canopy of trees like Tarzan, to avoid the interaction with snakes, tigers and leopards. The story went on, but suddenly I found myself looking back. Orangutans move like Tarzan? One would think that the Orangutans have been here for a while longer! Turns out that the story “Tarzan of the apes” came out originally in 1912 and a first silent film based on it was shown in movie theaters starting 1918. Since then, it has been the origin of many series and also a Disney movie in 1999. The need to introduce the orangutans to the book’s listener with a reference to Tarzan perhaps confirms the fact that orangutans have become rare! I am not sure if they are still present in books and lectures in our schools. But I am sure that probably everyone knows Tarzan! Still, I maintain that the orangutans were there and real before that story was conceived.