Another Precolumbian-Art Colombian Ape

This was posted to the wall at the Atlantis Empire Facebook group, which is recommended:
https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Atlantis-empire/240846125961670

It was described as: "Taironas,Pre-Columbian -  a Reptilian God !!!????"
Well no, the teeth are mammalian and the snake it is holding could well be intended as its next meal. Its way of squatting, overall appearance, drooping eyelids and bared teeth, are all exactly like a small ape: the drooping eyelids and bared teeth are a threat.

 

It is probably the same thing as the DeLoys Ape, Ameranthropoides,

and compare the fanges to those sported by this caged male Siamang

 

 

*Source

*Source

 

This male siamang is comparable to the gold monkey in question-the gold monkey's arms are not so long but the Siamang is burly enough to give a similar impression. The way the legs and feet are represented are very like the live animal. And the eyebrows and nose on the gold monkey are stylisations which do echo the siamang's features in an abstract sort of way.

 

The same creature would be the origin of reports of the "Male" Didis of the Guianans and parts of Brazil, which leave "Monkey tracks" said to be like the shape of a human hand. "Didis" are otherwise  Wildmen although a legend has grown up that the footprints without an Opposed toe belong to an "All-Female" species (Ivan Sanderson reported tracks of the more humanlike kind and basically dis not know what to make of them, Heuvelmans reported the more apelike Didi tracks)

Vietnamese "Batutut"

A couple of weeks ago this news item came out, which was interesting mainly in that it appeared to be a  mistaken use of the name for the Cryptid involved:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2172607/Paranormal-creature-hunters-claim-Vietnams-Bigfoot-TV-show.html

Why the big paws? Paranormal creature hunters claim to have found Vietnam's Bigfoot

By Matt Blake


PUBLISHED: 10:19 EST, 12 July 2012 | UPDATED: 02:11 EST, 13 July 2012

A television programme dedicated to hunting down supernatural phenomena believe they have found Vietnam's Bigfoot.

Destination Truth, fronted by paranormal researcher Josh Gates, travelled to the southeast Asian peninsular in search of the legendary Batutut, a man-shaped cryptid never before seen by human eyes.[This is of course an exaggeration: even saying "By American eyes" or "By Western eyes" is incorrect in that there ARE alleged witnesses who are informants-DD]

Using thermal imaging equipment Gates' team trekked through the jungle in a bid to track down the fabled creature of the night.


Scroll down for video.

Thermal image: Destination Truth, fronted by paranormal researcher Josh Gates, travelled to the southeast Asian peninsular in search of the legendary Batutut, a man-shaped cryptid ever before seen by human eyes

After some hours searching through forests and caves the team stumbled across what appeared to a set of very big footprints that they believed had to belong to Batutut himself.
Further investigation uncovered a lifeform through the undergrowth caught on their night-vision camera.

The evidence, however proved inconclusive and the team went home without their prized Bigfoot.


The Batutut, also known as Ujit, is thought to inhabit the Vu Quang nature reserve and other wilderness areas of Vietnam, Laos and northern Borneo.

It is described as being approximately 6 feet tall and covered with hair except in the knees, the soles of the feet, the hands, and the face. [Approximately human sized up to 6 feet tall-DD]

The hair ranges in color from gray to brown to black. The creature is said to walk on two legs and is most often sighted foraging for food from fruits and leaves to langers and even flying foxes.

A big foot? After some hours searching through forests and caves the team stumbled across what appeared to a set of very big footprints that they believed had to belong to Batutut himself

Bigfoot sighted: Further investigation uncovered a lifeform through the undergrowth caught on their night-vision camera

Get it: A frantic chase ensues as the team leap through the jungle in a desperate bid to catch the elusive beast of the night

Destination truth: They run through the undergrowth to find the Batutut

Out of sight: Despite searching even in the river, the creature eventually gives the team the slip

Now it would seem that the use of the name Batut or Batutut would be a mistake since the name is actually in use on the island of Borneo. There was a prior usage of the name in that sense that I knew of, however, and it came from friend and co-CFZ-member Tabitca:

The Batutut , ape , bigfoot or neanderthal?

Wednesday, 2 September 2009

 

There have been reported sightings of the Batutut ,sometimes referred to as the Ujit or Sedapa , since 1918 in the wilds of Vu Quang nature reserve Vietnam and Malaysia and Borneo. It is described as very hairy, about 4 or 5 feet tall with a protruding belly, thick shoulders and a leathery neck. The female Batutut are said to have long pendulous breasts. They are bipedal ,walking upright with an awkward gait. Village people in Barisan Mountains in Sumatra tell of an encounter with a Batutut. A hairy creature about 50 feet away stood and gravely stared at the people and then nonchalantly walked away. This was early in the twentieth century, and L. C. Westenek, a governor of Sumatra, received a written report about an encounter with the wildman. The overseer of an estate in the Barisan Mountains, along with some workers, observed the Sedapa or wildman.. The overseer said he saw "a large creature, low on its feet, which ran like a man, and was about to cross my path; it was very hairy and it was not an orang-utan; but its face was not like an ordinary man's. It silently and gravely gave the men a disagreeable stare and then ran calmly away" (Sanderson 1961, pp. 216-217).There are even reports that people were able to sit with a Batutut, offer the creature food and hear it murmur unintelligible words.

In 1918, a hunter, Mr. Van Heerwarden, reportedly saw tracks very similar to that of a bare footed human. He searched the area but failed to find any people in the forest.. Several years later in 1923 he saw similar footprints. He followed the prints and then spotted a wild man in a tree: "I discovered a dark and hairy creature on a branch. ... The sedapa was also hairy on the front of its body; the colour 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....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. ... There was nothing repulsive or ugly about its face, nor was it at all apelike" (Sanderson 1961 , pp. 222-223). After observing it for a while, Van Heerwarden allowed the creature to run away.

A 1947 sighting by a French colonist refers to the animal as a L'Homme Sauvage (wild man).

Dr. John Mackinnon claimed to have first observed tracks in 1970 that led him to believe that a hominid similar to the Meganthropus lived there. In his 1975 book In Search Of The Red Ape he described his experiences and findings. During an expedition to the Malaysian state of Sabah the British zoologist found several short, broad, human like footprints. “I stopped dead,” MacKinnon writes in his book ,“My skin crept and I felt a strong desire to head home” “farther ahead I saw tracks and went to examine them….I found two dozen footprints in all.” Mackinnon would later report that he was very happy to leave the scene of these footprints stating, “I was uneasy when I found them, and I didn’t want to follow them and find out what was at the end of the trail. I knew that no animal we know about could make those tracks. Without deliberately avoiding the area I realize I never went back to that place in the following months of my studies.”( He would later become renowned for his discovery of new mammals in Vietnam during the 1990’s).

During the Vietnam War, a group of soldiers reported seeing a 5 foot tall creature, covered in reddish fur, which they called a Rock Ape. This account was reported and retold in the 2001 book Very Crazy GI – Strange but True Stories of the Vietnam War, written by veteran P.J. Jorgenson.

In 1982, Tran Hong Viet of Pedagogic University of Hanoi reported that he had found similar footprints to those that MacKinnon discovered near Chu Mo Ray in the Sa Thay District while making an extensive post war inventory of natural resources. While collecting near Chu Mo Ray in Sa Thay District, he came across the prints. A photo of the cast of the print was later published by Fortean News of the World (Japan Fortean Information Society).(see photo left)

 

So an ape or a man? Some say it is a rare ape others a Neanderthal who still lives in remote areas. Most apes walking on two legs walk awkwardly so it could be an explanation but most of the people who saw the creature would be capable of recognising a local ape ,so the mystery remains.

Quotes from :Abominable Snowmen, by Ivan T. Sanderson, [1961]

Read the book for free here:

http://www.sacred-texts.com/lcr/abs/abs14.htm

Posted by Tabitca at 02:50

I reprinted this in my Yahoo Cryptozoology group, Frontiers of Zoology, along with another notice from a different site:

Nguoi Rung: mythical or missing ape
From: http://coombs.anu.edu.au/~vern/wildman.html

In 1982 Professor Tran Hong Viet, now at the Pedagogic University of Hanoi,
found and made a cast of a footprint measuring 28 by 16 centimeters. [11 inches by 6]

The footprint is as long as that of many people but it is much wider. It is said
that the toes of this footprint were much longer than those of a human. The
footprint was found on the slopes of Chu Mo Ray (Mom Ray mountain) in the centre
of the above picture. Chu Mo Ray is near the Cambodian Border in Sa Thay
District of Kontum Province.

Professor Viet only recently returned to his research on this subject, through
the instigation of Japanese Television which aired a show on the wildman
question in March, 1996. Fortean News of the World (Japan Fortean Information
Society) recently published an image of this footprint, shown during a recent
conference in Hanoi.

Professor Viet and some other Vietnamese scientists believe that this region,
the so called 'three borders' region where the borders of Vietnam, Cambodia and
Laos converge, is the centre of reports of the Vietnamese 'wildman'. So common
were reports that in 1974, during the height of war, General Hoang Minh Thao
commander of Northern forces in the Central Highlands, requested a scientific
survey of the region north of Kontum for 'Nguoi Rung'. Scientists who were part
of this dangerous expedition included Professors Vo Quy and Le Vu Khoi from
Hanoi University and Professor Hoang Xuan Chinh from the Institute of
Archaeology in Hanoi. No Nguoi Rung were found - though the expedition returned
North with a couple new elephants for the circus.

Reports of 'wildman' vary from large to small, with body hair from grey to brown
or black and may be alone or with others. But always they are said to walk
bipedally. They go by many names among highlands minority people, most are terms
of respect. The Vietnamese name is Nguoi Rung - "Forest People". This is the
direct equivalent of the name for an ape we do know from Indonesia, the Orang
Utan. The minority people of Kontum are certain that the forest people existed
in their forests in the very recent past. They differentiate their forest people
from forest spirits or genies, some of which they also describe as hairy bipeds.
Mr Vu Ngoc Thanh visiting areas near the Laotian border, discovered another
local term 'Khi Trau, literally 'buffalo monkey' or 'big monkey'.

Anthropologist, Professor Dang Nghiem Van, Director of Hanoi's Institute for
Religious Studies, has collected many stories of Nguoi Rung from northern
Vietnam to the central highlands. These include myths of small but very strong
beings knowing the use of fire and eating forest molluscs. There are also
stories of a different, much larger being.

Professor Van says that at night Nguoi Rung come to places where people have
fires. They sit beside men but do not speak, or speak unintelligable words.
There are stories of couples of Nguoi Rung moving rapidly, easily climbing
trees, shaking trees for insects, sleeping in grottos on mountain slopes.
Professor Van's detailed notes, some of them from locations in near Sa Thay,
have yet to be published.


But if Nguoi Rung exist, are they really apes or hominids? Some scientists like
Bernard Heuvelmans, a well-known cryptozoologist, and Dr Helmut Loofs-Wissowa of
the Australian National University, think that at least some forms may be
remnants of an early human population.

The figure to the right is from Bernard Heuvelmans' 1969 description of a
controversial specimen called the 'ice man', which he calledHomo pongoides. The
specimen was examined in a block of ice and has since disappeared. This has led
some commentators to disbelieve the comprehensive study Heuvelmans published in
1974. Dr Loofs-Wissowa suggests that few detractors have studied Heuvelmans'
original publications.

So there remain many questions. And so far no specimens have been recovered.
There have been several reports in the last 15 years in the region of Kontum -
Sa Thay alone. Those we recently began investigating are shown on this satellite
map (160k).

But perhaps these questions go well-beyond the veracity of the 'Minnesota ice
man' to the nature of scientific research. Some scientists are reticent even to
consider the possibility of the existence of an undiscovered hominoid. It is an
uncomfortable subject for us, since we lack incontrovertable evidence. We could
be seen to have fallen in with the unscrupulous and gullible.

Zoologist John Mackinnon (in McNeely and Sochaezowski, 1995) once described
finding short, broad, human-like but definitely non-human footprints of a
creature locals call the batutut in the forests of Sabah. MacKinnon recounts
seeing these footprints. "I was uneasy when I found them, and I didn't want to
follow them and find out what was at the end of the trail. I knew that no animal
we know about could make those tracks. Without deliberately avoiding the area I
realize I never went back to that place in the following months of my studies."

Perhaps we are limited in the end by our own 'scientific mythologies'. Mackinnon
went on to head expeditions into Vu Quang forest reserve in central Vietnam. He
and his colleagues found two new species: a goat like animal, dubbed the saola
from its long spindle-shaped horns and a robust muntjac deer. In early 1997, a
new, small muntjac species was discovered in the forests of Quang Tri province,
an region which suffered heavy bombing during the uears of war. These are the
first new large mammals discovered by science since early this century. Learned
opinion was that no new mammals could possibly have avoided detection so long.
Yet, learned opinion was wrong. Science is about keeping an open mind, not about
fitting the world into one's scientific or fantastic preconceptions.

Quang Tri is not far at all from Kontum Province and Chu Mo Ray.



Read more:
http://www.meta-religion.com/Paranormale/Cryptozoology/hominids/nguoi_rung.htm#i\
xzz0YjJddchL

Additional Note 1:
It is a notable fact that several of the tracks attributed to these Nguoi Rung
or Da Nhan correspond in description to Yeh-Teh or "Abominable Snowman" tracks.
Odette Tcherne speaks of the Russian Hominologists being aware of this fact in
her book In Pursuit of the Abominable Snowman, and I have had the description
given to me directly from some Vietnamese guys that I used to supervise at the IUPUI
library as well. Best Wishes, Dale D.

Additional note 2:

Incidentally I have been in contact with Tran Hong Viet recently and we discussed the track mentioned here [Tabitca's article, pictured] in particular. Critics say it is only the print of an ordinary human foot: I do think there is a direct connection between the Vietnamese version and the Batut or Sedapa and I told him that. Best Wishes, Dale D.

"Orang Pendek" track cast, Ape-type

2012 "Eastern Bigfoot" track in mud, seems to show an opposed big toe, photo on the left. Photo on the Right shows  "Swamp Creature" track from Arizona shows what looks like toes on its heels, a trait sometimes ascribed to the himalayan Yeti. This can happen when a knuckle-walking great ape leaves a composite print of both the forefeet and hindfeet togeter, and this type of track is also reported in Missouri and Florida "NAPES"these track photos come from JC Johnson.

 

Here is a useful psteup I just made for comparison: at the far left is a depiction of a Yeti (Mighu or "Wildman")from a recent Tibetan map I have reprinted before. Note that the feet look nothing like the Shipton "Yeti" tracks but instead look more like es type of tracknin Yeti track photo beside it also shows roughly the same sort of foot. The Tibetans "In the know" say that "Yeti" could mean a bear, but when Tibetans speak of "Wildmen" they mean something more definitely apelike, which comes in two forms: a big one like a gorilla and a smaller one like a chimpanzee. THe smaller one like a chimpanzee is the one that is shown here and is the one which Sanderson had said was comparable to the Orang Pendek. to the right is the outline of a foot from a very chimpanzeelike creature shown on a Japanese netsuke and illustrated on this blog before: note that the feet are once again ovoid overall and NOT like a monkey's tracks, which would have a more pointed type od heel. The hair on the sides of the feet is long enough that the creature can be walking on some of the hair sometimes, or at least that is what the artist seems to imply. And once again the same sort of Orang Pendek like track is indicated in Vietnam by the Destination Truth article. In which case it is all right to use the term Batutut  or Orang Pendek IF you mention that neither term is native to the area AND you make a definite distinction between the creatures which leave humanlike tracks and the creatures which leave the apelike tracks. And it does seem that the more apelike NAPES or Skunk Apes tracks from North America are very similar to these same types of tracks again.

Wildmen of Malayasia and Indonesia

In 1969, John McKinnon, who journeyed to Borneo to observe orangutans, came across some humanlike footprints. McKinnon asked his Malay boatman what made them. "Without a moment’ a hesitation he replied ‘Batutut,’" wrote McKinnon, "but when I asked him to describe the beast he said it was not an animal but a type of ghost. … Batutut, he told me, is about four feet tall, walks upright like a man and has a long black mane. … Like other spirits of the forest the creature is very shy of light and fire" (Green 1978, p. 134).

Later, in Malaya[Kalimantan, Malaya on the Island of Borneo], McKinnon saw some casts of footprints even bigger than those he had seen in Borneo, but he recognized them as definitely having been made by the same kind of creature. The Malayans called it Orang pendek (short fellow). McKinnon stated: "Again natives spoke of a creature with long hair, who walks upright like a man. Drawings and even photographs of similar footprints found in Sumatra are attributed to the Sedapa or Umang, a small, shy, longhaired, bipedal being living deep in the forest" (Green 1978, pp. 134-135). According to Ivan Sanderson, these footprints differ from those of the anthropoid apes inhabiting the Indonesian forests (the gibbon, siamang, and orangutan). They are also distinct from those of the sun bear (Sanderson 1961, p. 219).

From Forbidden Archaeology,
 http://archaeology.blogsome.com/2008/06/03/living-ape-men/trackback/

And then here is the descrption as given in George Eberharts' Mysterious Creatures:

Batûtût
Small Hominidof Southeast Asia.
Etymology: Unknown.
Variant name: Ujit.
Physical description: Height, 4 feet.
Behavior: Nocturnal. Bipedal. Feeds on river
snails and breaks open their shells with a rock.
Said to kill people and rip out their livers. Wary
of fire.
Distribution: Sabah  State,  Malaysia,  in  the
north of the island of Borneo, Kalimantan.
Tracks: Length, 6 inches. Width, 4 inches.
Toes and heel are humanlike, but sole is too
short and broad for a man. Big toe is on the op-
posite side of the arch of the foot.[uncertain]
Significant  sighting: British  zoologist  John
MacKinnon found two dozen footprints in the
Ulu Segama National Park, Sabah, in 1969.
Possible explanation: Niah Cave in Sarawak,
northern Borneo, has yielded archaic human re-
mains. The cranium of a young, adult female
found in 1958 is known as “Deep Skull” and
may be 40,000 years old, which may represent
the earliest anatomically modern remains in In-
donesia.[It is a Pygmy type of skull-DD]
Sources: Frederick Boyle, The Savage Life
(London: Chapman and Hall, 1876), p. 36;
John MacKinnon, In Search of the Red Ape
(New York: Ballantine, 1974), pp. 100–102.

There is an ongoing problem in thart practically all researchers continue to conflate a humanlike creature with a nonopposed big toe and an ape with an an opposed big toe throughout the area, and the researchers are not only not careful to make the distinction, they casually use names that are current in one area and apply them indiscriminately in another region where the names are not currently used. In this case the Batutut and Orang Pendek are evidently the same as the Da Nhan (not Nguoi Rung) of Vietnam, and the track indicated by Destination Truth is of the right type for that. A large male of the type is the size of a man of moderate height and has a footprint about a foot long:but smaller ones are commonly seen at down to 2 1/2 to 3 feet tall. These are probably younger ones. At the same time there is a general confusion with a Neanderthaloid type (More properly the Nguoi Rung) which is also called Orang Pendek (and by synonymous names) over much the same area. NONE of the internet references I have seen make this comment or distinction (Quite a few say "Batutut Borneo" as if that were the proper name, which is a mere filing error)

The Gibbon's Voice (Newsletter) of December 2001 (Vol 5 No 1), contains the article "Observations of Previously Undocumented Gibbons and Orangutans in the Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary" By Marc Ancrenaz, DVM, and this article mentions on p3
  " A very special gibbon has been observed several times at the KOCP study site. The general color of this individual is brown, like many other gibbons. But this special individual is about twice the size of the normal gibbon. Indeed, its size approximates that of an adult female orangutan. Once, this individual was accompanied by a grey adult gibbon who was about half of the size of the giant! There is no tale of the gigantic gibbon in the local traditions, and no scientific record of such a large gibbon has been found in the litera- ture so far. Thus, we hypothesize that this variation is an individual abnormality. However local tales frequently refer to a creature called Batutut. The Batutut is described as a large, black, hairy bipedal creature, walking upright on the ground and unable to climb up trees (or climbs with great difficulty). This creature is very aggressive, and many stories tell how people wandering in the forest are attacked by the Batutut. These observations are especially frequent close to the villages and the orchards where it comes to eat people’s fruits and vegetables. Some local people think that the Batutut could be a very old male orangutan, unable to climb up trees because of his disabilities. This would explain the dark color of the animal, the fact that it is seen walking on the ground close to the villages, and that it is not afraid of people. However, for some other local people, the Batutut would be some other very secretive creature still unknown to science and surviving in the deeps of the Bornean jungle. Who knows? "

During the time I was posting the selected articles reprinted above at my Yahoo Cryptozoology group originally, I felt the necessity to add this explanation:

What I said was that my understanding of the Orang
Pendek was based on Heuvelman's chapter in On the
Track of Unknown Animals, and that description
corresponded to certain Almas descriptions: I
mentioned when talking about reports from the Altai
mountains that some of the reports matched the Orang
 Pendek (in particular the Van Hervaarden description,
which I suppose to be the "Classic" description)
 And that the smaller type of Tibetan Yeti is geographically
intermediate between the two others

Some of these more recent "Orang Pendek" tracks and sightings
are NOT talking about that: when there are reports of a small
chimplike ape with a divergent big toe and a footprint structured
approximately like an Orangutan's, THAT would not be
the SAME Orang pendek: you have a situation where different
things are all called "Yeti". That part always puzzled
me because whoever got off the main track in reporting
these things apparently does not know what the term
originally meant. I do not know if the confusion is at
the local level, a confusion by certain natives as
opposed to certain other natives or what, but we
should be going by what the standard sources call the
Orang pendek. That would be what Heuvelman's checklist
defines as the type, apparently the same thing as what
was called the Nittaweo in Ceylon and more recently
Batutut in Borneo: what Ivan Sanderson defines as the
Proto-pygmy type.

My personal interpretation of the Proto-pygmy category
is ONLY that it represents the smaller form of Sanderson's
Subhuman category: and I had also mentioned that
Sanderson stated in PURSUIT his opinion that the Orang
Pendek was only the small form of the Proto-Malays (or
Bi'lan, on Heuvelmans' checklist). Which is actually
saying the same thing. In which case it would only be
the same thing as Homo troglodytes/Homo pongiodes,
Almas, Chinese Wildman and the smaller form
of the Iceman: all of these things would be synonyms.

The small Orangutan-type ape is not that type of Orang Pendek
but another type of "Orang Pendek" entirely. "Orang" in its
basic meaning is nothing so specific, it means "person", but
people who do not understand the language might use "Orang" to
mean "Orang pendek" or "Orangutan", as specific terms.

Which is unfortunate because it caused a
misunderstanding which need not have arisen.
Best Wishes, Dale D.




 

Alternative Info on the Orang Pendek

Alternative Info on the Orang Pendek

While browsing the internet and looking for folk art of Indonesian Nagas, I came across an art dealer's site which displayed this little woodcarving of a "Dwarf" (Pygmy)from the Banyuwangi region of Java: and the Banyuwangis claim to have been the ancestors of Balinese art. Here is the link to the page but the dealer is clearly only guessing as to the actual nature and meaning of the piece:
http://www.mcdurieux.com/indostan/indo/f033.html


Actually, after looking over this carving I was struck by several similarities to the famous description of the Sedapa (Orang Pendek)by Van Heerwarden in 1918, especially in the detailed description of the facial features. I have always felt from Van Heerwarden's description that there were populations of human pygmys involved in the sightings on Sumatra as well as more than one type of unknown apes. There are supposedly populations of Pygmies in the Andaman Islands, Malaysia, elsewhere in Indonesia and in the Phillipines, and from this wood carving's appearance, the Pygmies of Sumatra are of a very similar appearance.

Quoting from Ivan Sanderson's Abominable Snowmen: Legend Come to Life, pages 221-224:


Meanwhile, there was Mr. Van Heerwarden timber-cruising from the other side (the northeast) of the Barisans in Palembang province, but down in the swamp forests by the coast near the Banjoe-Asin River. In 1918 he spotted two series of tracks on the banks of a small creek in the Musi River district; one larger than the other, as if of a mother and child, as he remarks. These were perfectly human but exceedingly small. Later he discovered that a Mr. Breikers had also found such tracks in the same area. He then started making serious inquiries among—and this is of considerable significance in view of the Indonesian Government's statement given above—the Kubus; and he found three who had all, but unknown to the others, seen Gugus (i.e. Sedapas, or Orang Pendeks) in that region. Their descriptions agreed perfectly in that they were about 5 feet tall, walked erect, were clothed in black hair that formed a mane, and had prominent teeth. Van Heerwarden later heard that a hunter had found a dead one and tried to carry it back to his village but its body was much decomposed and the hunter himself died shortly afterward. Another, he learned, was said to have been spotted in a river and surrounded by locals in canoes but it dived adroitly and escaped.

By this time Mr. van Heerwarden was convinced that there really was some small hairy Hominid in these forests and he devoted much time to inquiries among the local hunters as to where they were most frequently seen. In time he was directed to a particular spot and decided to do exactly the right thing—namely, go there, sit down, shut up, and wait. And, he appears to have been well rewarded for, unless he is not only a complete but most adept liar, he got an extremely good look at one of the elusive creatures. He tells us that he was wild-pig hunting in an area of forest surrounded by rivers named Pulu-Rimau, in October, 1923, and, having failed to come up with the sounder (herd) decided to do this quiet sitting, and so went into hiding. For an hour or so nothing happened and then something in a tree caught his attention. He says:


"Then I happened by chance to look round to the left and spotted a slight movement in a small tree that stood alone. By now it was time for me to be going home, for it was not advisable to journey through such country after sundown. But all the same I was tempted out of curiosity to go and see what had caused the movement I had noticed. What sort of animal could be in that tree? My first quick look revealed nothing. But after walking round the tree again, I discovered a dark and hairy creature on a branch, the front of its body pressed tightly against the tree. It looked as if it were trying to make itself inconspicuous and felt that it was about to be discovered.

It must be a sedapa. Hunters will understand the excitement that possessed me. At first I merely watched and examined the beast which still clung motionless to the tree. While I kept my gun ready to fire, I tried to attract the sedapa's attention, by calling to it, but it would not budge. What was I to do? I could not get help to capture the beast. And as time was running short I was obliged to tackle it myself. I tried kicking the trunk of the tree, without the least result. I laid my gun on the ground and tried to get nearer the animal. I had hardly climbed 3 or 4 feet into the tree when the body above me began to move. The creature lifted itself a little from the branch and leant over the side so that I could then see its hair, its forehead and a pair of eyes which stared at me. Its movements had at first been slow and cautious, but as soon as the sedapa saw me the whole situation changed. It became nervous and trembled all over its body. In order to see it better I slid down on to the ground again.

The sedapa was also hairy on the front of its body; the colour 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. [Some of the Pygmy peoples in Indonesia have short curled hair like the African Pygmies and others have longer bushier hair, including "Afros"-DD] 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 the same colour as its hair and were very bushy. The eyes were frankly moving; they were of the darkest colour, very lively, and like human eyes. The nose was broad with fairly large nostrils, but in no way clumsy; it reminded me a little of a Kaffir's. 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 its 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 colour 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. This specimen was of the female sex and about 5 feet high. [The arms on the figurine are proportionately long and the legs proportionately short: this is recorded in normal Pygmy populations. Pygmies can also show abundant but short body hair-DD]

There was nothing repulsive or ugly about its face, nor was it at all ape-like, although the quick nervous movements of its eyes and mouth were very like those of a monkey in distress. I began to walk in a calm and friendly way to the sedapa, as if I were soothing a frightened dog or horse; but it did not make much difference. When I raised my gun to the little female I heard a plaintive "hu-hu," which was at once answered by similar echoes in the forest nearby.

I laid down my gun and climbed into the tree again. I had almost reached the foot of the bough when the sedapa ran very fast out along the branch, which bent heavily, hung on to the end and then dropped a good 10 feet to the ground. I slid hastily back to the ground, but before I could reach my gun again, the beast was almost 30 yards away. It went on running and gave a sort of whistle. Many people may think me childish if I say that when I saw its flying hair in the sights I did not pull the trigger. I suddenly felt that I was going to commit murder. I lifted my gun to my shoulder again, but once more my courage failed me. As far as I could see, its feet were broad and short, but that the sedapa runs with its heels foremost is quite untrue. "


This has always seemed to me to be a most straightforward report so it is interesting to note the reception it received when poor Mr. Van Heerwarden finally told of it. Even the equable Heuvelmans cannot restrain himself from quoting certain of these expressions by people who were neither there nor, in some cases had then ever been anywhere near Sumatra, and most notably those of the same Dr. K. W. Dammerman of Buitenzorg. This is so delightful that I herewith re-reproduce it for your edification and guidance as a glorious example of the sort of rubbish spouted by experts and for which you have to be constantly on the lookout. This savant, after saying that no white man except Mr. Van Heerwarden had ever so much as said that he had seen a Sedapa[Heuvelmans adds that this statement is untrue-DD], goes on to say: "But this writer is almost too exact in his description of the animal, so it does not seem impossible that the incident was either based on his imagination [i.e. that he was a liar—ITS], or, that he has written it strongly impressed by the stories about the Orang Pendek. But, even while admitting the general truth of the story [i.e. not daring to say that he was a liar—ITS], would it not be more likely that the animal in question was an Orang utan?" No it would not. I am wondering if Dr. Dammerman knew any zoology; I can hardly credit it.


Two Pygmy (Negrito) Women From the Philippines, about a Century Apart. (Woman Anthropologist to scale)

Now for the other side of the coin, there is the earlier report by Oostingh, which Sanderson mentions directly before Van Heerwarden's account:


In 1917, according to Westenek, a Mr. Oostingh, while in the Boekits and near the same mountain where Dr. Jacobson had been when the hunters said they saw a Sedapa, became "bushed." He wandered around in circles for several hours, as one invariably does if one gets lost in high forest. Suddenly, as his account goes, he came upon what he thought was a local man sitting on a log with his back toward him. Overjoyed to see any human being, as one also invariably is when so exhausted, he went forward but then got a profound shock. I let him tell about it in his own words, as taken from Westenek's account in De Tropische Natuur, and translated by Richard Garnett. This reads:


"I saw that he had short hair, cut short, I thought; and I suddenly realised that his neck was oddly leathery and extremely filthy. "That chap's got a very dirty and wrinkled neck!" I said to myself.

His body was as large as a medium-sized native's and he had thick square shoulders, not sloping at all. The colour was not brown, but looked like black earth, a sort of dusty black, more grey than black.

He clearly noticed my presence. He did not so much as turn his head, but stood up on his feet; he seemed to be quite as tall as I (about 5 feet 9 inches).

Then I saw that it was not a man, and I started back, for I was not armed. The creature calmly took several paces, without the least haste, and then, with his ludicrously long arm, grasped a sapling, which threatened to break under its weight, and quietly sprang into a tree, swinging in great leaps alternately to right and to left.

My chief impression was and still is: "What an enormously large beast!" It was not an orang-utan; I had seen one of these large apes a short time before at Artis [the Amsterdam Zoo].

It was more like a monstrously large siamang, but a siamang has long hair, and there was no doubt that it had short hair. I did not see its face, for, indeed, it never once looked at me."


Here again, the most obvious suggestion is, just as Mr. Oostingh himself says, that the creature was an enormous Siamang, perhaps a lone old one somewhat short on hair.
That it was more likely an ape than a Hominid is also perhaps further impressed upon us by the remark that it had "ludicrously long arm[s]." I do not know what to make of this report but I certainly wish that the creature had left some footprints. [Sanderson quote ends]


The part about the creature being short on hair is easily enough dealt with: several older male apes develop some degree of hair loss and this creature was going bald, as some individual chimpanzees are prone to doing. However the creature scarcely belongs with the other Orang Pendek reports because it is NOT SMALL. It is the size of a regular human being. I did a pasteup of a clip art Siamang illustration to point up the difference-the size is MUCH larger than any siamang should be expected to be. An Orang Pendek report would ordinarily be expected to be about the same size as an ordinary siamang. So on Sumatra it seems we have reports of both giants and dwarfs among both siamangs and orangutans, and human Pygmys as well.
[Ordinary-sized siamang compared to Oostingh's sighting]
Best Wishes, Dale D.