Scientists are hair's breadth from the yeti
Find could solve centuries-old mystery

Copyright: The Herald, London, UK
September 5, 2002

A WORLD-renowned hair expert is on the verge of proving the existence of a yeti-like creature on an Indonesian island.

The tale of the orang-pendek, or Sumatran yeti, a creature first mentioned by Marco Polo after he visited the island in 1292, could soon pass from mythology to reality if studies of hair samples, discovered last year by a team of three amateur British explorers, continue to defy scientific
analysis.

If the find is substantiated, it could hold the key to the missing link between humans and apes.

Hans Brunner, an associate of Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia, has been analysing two hairs found by the explorers who spent three weeks in the rainforests tracking the creature.

The orang-pendek, or Little Man of the Forest, is reputed to resemble the orang-utan. It has chocolate-brown and orange hair and stands about 5 feet tall.

Its distinguishing feature is its human-like gait - walking upright on its back legs without the aid of its front fists, although it lives mainly on the ground. It is believed not to be dangerous to people.

Mr Brunner provided evidence, which helped prove the innocence of Lindy Chamberlain, the mother wrongly convicted of killing her baby, which she claimed had been stolen by dingoes in Australia in the 1980s.

Now he has volunteered his expertise after hearing about the find by Keith Towley, from Macclesfield, Adam Davies, from Stockport, and Andrew Sanderson, from Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

The three cryptozoologists take time off their day jobs to try to prove or disprove the existence of mythological creatures.

No match could be found when the mysterious hairs were tested against reference hairs from the orang-utan, chimpanzee, gorilla, sun bear, red leaf monkey, pigtail macaque, Malaysian tapir and humans.

Mr Brunner has yet to be donated hair samples from Thomas's leaf monkeys, native gibbons and langurs of western Sumatra, but he is confident they will be nothing like the hairs found by the British explorers. He said: "I feel these hairs will not change the present result which is that no hairs of species known to be in that place will match the ones found by Andrew, Adam and Keith.

"I want to make sure that I am not missing out any primate species from that area before I can conclusively say anything. "So far I have found that the two hairs which I have are different from any species which I have compared them with. "If nothing comes which looks like the same, I would have to say there could be an animal that we do not yet know about."

A digital reprint of a footprint found during the expedition was sent for analysis to Colin Groves, professor of primatology at Canberra University, Australia. He said he would not make his findings public until Mr Brunner releases a scientific paper on the hair analysis. However he has told Mr Sanderson he believes it will yield good news.

Mr Sanderson, 31, said: "The very fact the leading world-renowned hair expert has come forward and offered to analyse our findings shows we have credibility. The fact he has struggled to find a match for the hair is equally significant as it means this creature could exist." Mr Davies, 33, said the findings had dual significance.

Western Sumatra is under threat ecologically and such a discovery could generate scientific interest, which, in turn, could slow down the destruction, he said. During the team's three-week expedition, they employed locals to stop tiger poachers from hunting protected animals.

Mr Davies said: "If our discovery continues to bear up to scientific scrutiny, it would be a world-first find. If this in turn can find a focus, which would prevent the ecological destruction of western Sumatra, then that's a very positive thing.

"Secondly, scientists have always speculated about the existence of an unknown primate, now we are turning the corner . . .

"This could be living proof of how man evolved." Missing links of myth and mystery

One of the greatest myths of human evolution is that there is a "missing link" that will provide paleontologists with the final piece in the historical jigsaw of man. In fact, there are hundreds of thousands of missing links.

All over the world there have been reported sightings - even contacts - with creatures whose existence is unknown.

Yeti
The Himalayan yeti, the most famous of all X-creatures, has been an important part of Nepalese culture for centuries. The first reported sighting came from a British explorer. In 1923 a British newspaper dubbed it the Abominable Snowman.

Bigfoot
The American Indians call him sasquatch. He is a broad, man-like beast about 8 feet tall, covered in auburn hair, who walks with a stoop and lives in the woods. The first white men in America's north-west laughed at the stories until they saw him, then myth became mystery.

Toumai
Earlier this year, scientists found a seven million-year-old fossilized skull in Chad, in the southern Sahara, which pushed back the date when the ancestral line of humans diverged from the great apes by three million years.

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