"If our discovery continues to bear up to scientific scrutiny, it would be a world-first find." — Explorer Adam Davies

Early in September 2002, the British media — led by the BBC — exploded with 4 news stories about a group of explorers who were on the verge of proving the existence of "Yeti." Of course, they got the name wrong —the Yeti-like creature is really the small anthropoid named the orang-pendek — but in essence the excitement was appropriate.The three-man team — Adam Davies, Andrew Sanderson, and Keith Towley — had found hair samples and footprints in Western Sumatra, and they were being analyzed by experts in Australia to confirm whether a new species was involved. Davies had been in touch with me for months, and the embargo on the news is finally being lifted. Here are some of the behind-the scenes details.Dr. Hans Brunner, a world-renowned hair expert and associate of Deakin University in Melbourne, is studying two hairs found by the team. Brunner provided testimony, which helped prove the innocence of Lindy Chamberlain — the mother wrongly convicted of killing her baby in the 1980s. No match could be found when the samples were tested against orangutan, chimpanzee, gorilla, sun bear, red leaf monkey, pigtail macaque, Malaysian tapir, and human hair.

Brunner has yet to check the hair samples against other native species from Western Sumatra but is confident they will not resemble hairs found by the explorers.According to Davies, Brunner feels the confirmation of a new species of primate is "in the bag," and Brunner's forthcoming formal paper in a scientific journal will discuss the new animal.

Meanwhile, a digital reprint of the footprint found on the expedition is being analyzed by Dr. Colin Groves, professor of primatology at the University of Canberra, Australia. He will not make his findings public until Brunner releases his scientific paper on the hair analysis, but the inside word is that Groves is set to reinforce the confirmation that no known species left these footprints.

Dr. Brunner is planning to say, point blank, that the orang-pendek does certainly exist and its profile is certain: It is in fact a unique derivative of the orangutan!

The Orang-pendek — a Best Bet for Discovery

In 1999, Patrick Huyghe and I wrote in The Field Guide to Bigfoot, Yeti, and Other Mystery Primates Worldwide:

"So the question naturally arises: which of this field guide's unknown hairy hominoids are most likely to be discovered in the next century? "We believe that the most likely candidate is the orang-pendek."

Of all the Bigfoot, Sasquatch, Abominable Snowmen, and other hairy hominoids being reported around the world, the orang-pendek appears to be the one that is most likely to be "discovered" very soon.The orang-pendek is said to be a five foot-tall creature with chocolate-brown, reddish-brown hair. Orang-pendek means "short man of the forests." In Borneo, the orangutan, a confirmed great ape, is known as the "old man of the forest." If its existence is proved, it could spark major anthropological debates about its zoological placement between apes and humans.Indeed, the orang-pendek or sedapa (another native name for it) is a small unknown primate which some cryptozoologists say may be related to the orangutan. Others, such as W. C. Osman Hill, have pointed to a possible link to the fossils of the Java man, Homo erectus.Sightings of orang-pendeks have been logged for decades. The definitive incident for Westerners took place in October 1923, on the island of Poleloe Rimau, State of Palembang, Sumatra. The witness, a Dutch explorer named Van Herwaarden, had been hunting for wild pig when he was startled to see a slight movement in a lone tree. When he investigated, he spotted a creature clinging motionless to the tree. Van Herwaarden gave one of the most detailed descriptions of these creatures ever:

"The sedapa was also hairy on the front of its body; the color there was a little lighter than on the back. The very dark hair on its head fell to just below the shoulder blades or even almost to the waist. It was fairly thick and very shaggy. The lower part of its face seemed to end in more of a point than a man's; this brown face was almost hairless, whilst its forehead seemed to be high rather than low. Its eyebrows were frankly moving; they were of the darkest color, very lively, and like human eyes. The nose was broad with fairly large nostrils, but in no way clumsy... Its lips were quite ordinary, but the width of its mouth was strikingly wide when open. Its canines showed clearly from time to time as it mouth twitched nervously."They seemed fairly large to me, at all events they were more developed than a man's. The incisors were regular. The color of the teeth was yellowish white. Its chin was somewhat receding. For a moment, during a quick movement, I was able to see its right ear, which was exactly like a little human ear. Its hands were slightly hairy on the back. Had it been standing, its arms would have reached to a little above its knees; they were therefore long, but its legs seemed to me rather short. I did not see its feet, but I did see some toes, which were shaped in a very normal manner."The specimen was of the female sex and about five feet high. There was nothing repulsive or ugly about its face, nor was it at all apelike..."

Van Herwaarden put his gun down again and climbed the tree. This caused the orang-pendek to run out onto a branch that dropped some nine feet to the ground. Van Herwaarden dashed back to the ground, but as he raised his gun to shoot the creature, he found himself unable to fire. Watching the flowing hair from the fleeing orang-pendek, he realized he would feel like a murderer if he killed so human-like a creature.Like so many before him, Van Herwaarden was to return to Europe with a good sighting but no proof. One museum curator even rejected Van Herwaarden's account on the grounds that it was "too exact."

Media and Martyr

In my new book, Tom Slick: True Life Encounters in Cryptozoology (Fresno: Linden, 2002), I note that Slick was one of first modern researchers to look into the mystery of the orang-pendek. Due to my 1980s writings on Slick and the orang-pendek, I was approached by British travel writer Deborah Martyr to assist her entrance into Sumatra by writing a letter supporting her visa. As an American university professor who has done research on the orang-pendek, I was able to lend my support to her efforts and glad to do so. The story of Debbie Martyr will unfold with the story of this amazing ape in the coming years, I'm sure.Since the late 1980s, Martyr has led various expeditions into the Kerinci region of southwestern Sumatra. According to native reports gathered by Martyr, the orang-pendek of that region has a large pot belly and various colors (dark gray or black in some cases, yellow or tan in others).Early in October 1997, newspapers from London to Melbourne related the following sensational story:

"The creature stumbled across the wire, triggering the camera shutter, capturing its image on film . . . This was a picture of an ape walking almost erect, a creature with a long red mane, that could be man's nearest cousin, a new species of primate that could rewrite the books on evolutionary theory. As the pictures filtered out to the world's zoologists and anthropologists, the debate began."

Unfortunately, the newspapers got the story wrong. Expedition members informed me that they had seen and cast, footprints, but they had no dear photograph. Indeed, the two earlier fuzzy pictures referred to in other press reports were suspect from the beginning, though expedition members had to investigate for months to confirm that they were fakes.Orang-pendeks have not been seen there since 1996, and none have been near the expedition members for some time, let alone walked through a camera trap.Other researchers have been conducting research in Sumatra for years, and their under-publicized efforts should be noted. Claude Petit, professor and biologist, has been looking into the reports since 1980. As the personal friend of Kerinci National Park Director Kurnia Rauf, Dr. Petit was able to examine the plaster casts that were held by the national park office before it was burned. This unfortunate fire was the result of arson, and the status of the "orang pendek foot cast collection" is now uncertain. Petit says that this cast was "about 30 centimeters long, 6-7 cm broad, the toes were not noticeable and no arch of the foot was evident." Petit was skeptical of its authenticity, suspecting it was something concocted "for the tourists." On the positive side, he collected a fair amount of compelling and consistent testimony from witnesses, who agreed that the creature of the forests east of Lake Kerinci is four feet tall and bipedal. Additionally, south of Lampung, in the area of Liwa, a huge earthquake in 1995 caused some disruptions in the wildlife. Petit found that the local people were reporting that animals that looked like orang-pendeks were coming out of the forest briefly, frightened by the seismic activity.Meanwhile, on the other side of the bogus "discovery" reports of October 1997, Martyr found footprints she considers valid, apparently made by the same individual orang-pendek. Various people showing off "footprints" of the orang-pendek may, in fact, be looking at "handprints,” Martyr cautions. In 1998, she was back into the same area where she and one of her expedition members saw a large primate in a tree.Another researcher, French botanist Yves Laumonier, also has collected convincing reports from the area during the 1990s. Martyr, Petit, and Laumonier are continuing their respective quests, hoping all the while for a physical discovery or clear-cut photographs that will end the controversy.

Meanwhile, this news from the Adam Davies group is intriguing, and hopefully will lead to some firm scientific declarations on these animals. The orang-pendek might become the next "official" large primate discovery during the coming decade, and the unfolding drama deserves Cryptozoology's ongoing attention.

This story continues to amaze, and we will revisit it from time to time.

© Fate Magazine, November 2002 Loren Coleman's Column

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