What type of animal killed the women in 'The Murders in the Rue Morgue'?

An orangutan killed the women in Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Murders in the Rue Morgue.” The animal, described in the original story as an “Ourang-Outang,” escapes from its sailor owner and violently attacks Madame L’Espanaye and her daughter Camille.

The murders initially appear impossible because witnesses report hearing voices but disagree about the language spoken. C. Auguste Dupin studies the physical evidence, including an unusual strand of hair, and concludes that the killer is not human. The orangutan’s extraordinary strength explains the broken bones, strangulation, and body forced into a chimney.

Poe published the story in Graham’s Magazine in 1841. It is widely regarded as the first modern detective story, and Dupin’s reasoning helped establish conventions later associated with detectives such as Sherlock Holmes. The animal is sometimes misremembered as a gorilla or chimpanzee because those apes are also common in popular crime fiction, but Poe’s story explicitly identifies the murderer as an orangutan.