Bigfoot
Bigfoot
- Details
| Malaysia denies capturing baby 'Bigfoot' |
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| 20 April 2006 11:10 | |||
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Malaysia to Send Expedition Into Rainforests to Find Bigfoot
March 30 (Bloomberg) --
Malaysia's Johor state government is mounting a scientific expedition next month to track down a gap-toothed Bigfoot, or ape man, in the 248 million-year-old rainforests near Singapore.
The hunt was sparked by reports last year of three strange creatures spotted walking beside a river by workers in Johor, which revived tales of Bigfoot sightings in the jungle among the indigenous people who live in the forests. Discussions on the Internet including the Web site of the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization fueled the hype.
``Myths do not leave footprints,'' said Vincent Chow, a member of the Malaysian Nature Society, who has measured and photographed large footprints at the sites of reported Bigfoot encounters in Malaysia.
Tales of Bigfoot from the Sasquatch in the U.S. to the Himalayan Yeti haven't yielded concrete proof of the creature's existence. In the U.S. and elsewhere, no Bigfoot body has ever been found, and many of the footprints and sightings reported over the years have turned out to be hoaxes, the National Geographic said in 2003. Still, the search for the creature in Johor may boost tourism to the state's national parks.
``It has created a lot of excitement,'' said Freddie Long, the chairman of Johor's Tourism and Environment Committee. There is ``great potential'' for tourism.
Finding evidence of Bigfoot in Malaysia will be challenging, given the size of the rainforests in the country, Chow said. The Endau Rompin national park, where the Johor government plans to focus its search, is the size of neighboring Singapore, he said.
Needle in Haystack
It will be like ``looking for a needle in a haystack,'' Chow said. ``If you want to do this kind of research, it must be long term.''
Others expressed doubts Bigfoot exists in the Johor jungle.
``I don't know what to believe, whether it's the government hyping it up so that they'll get more tourism in that area,'' said June Rubis, a 29-year-old researcher for the Wildlife Conservation Society Malaysia, who has worked on primate projects for about five years. ``It just seems so incredulous.''
WWF-Malaysia, the World Wide Fund for Nature's Malaysian chapter, declined to comment on the Bigfoot search, saying it's focusing on its conservation projects.
That won't stop the state government from trying. Next month, it will send an expedition consisting of scientists, zoologists and animal nutritionists from local universities to search different areas of the national park, Long said, without providing more details.
Expedition
That's after a ``preliminary expedition'' by a team of national park rangers, forestry officials and Orang Asli, or indigenous people, into the state's forest reserves in March, Long said. A report is being compiled, he added.
The hunt follows the discovery of at least 35 previously undocumented species, including frogs, butterflies and plants, in the mountains of Indonesia's Papua province. The discoveries were made during an expedition by a team of U.S., Indonesian and Australian scientists who in December visited the remote Foja Mountains in Papua, the Washington D.C.-based environmental group Conservation International said on its Web site in February.
The government is counting on local accounts of sightings of a Bigfoot-like creature. The Orang Asli of Johor say the lush Endau valley in which they live was once inhabited by a tribe of hairy giants called ``Serjarang Gigi,'' or People with Widely Spaced Teeth.
Orangutan
Modern Malaysian villagers have reported seeing a tall ape- like creature they call the Mawas, an Indonesian name for the orangutan, which is indigenous to Borneo but not the Malay peninsular, Chow said.
Based on eyewitness accounts collected by Chow, a 58-year- old horticulturalist, the Malaysian Bigfoot is six to 12-feet tall and the shorter ones have reddish brown fur while the taller ones are almost black.
``They have an upturned nose, the eyebrow ridge is very high and protruding. There seems to be some depression on the top of the head meaning their cranial cavity is probably rather small,'' Chow said. ``It walks like a very sad old man, and it has piercing red eyes.''
Johor Chief Minister Abdul Ghani Othman said in February he believed Bigfoot was roaming the jungles of his state because the indigenous people who have reported Bigfoot encounters wouldn't make up stories.
The possibility of an undiscovered ape species is ``really cool and exciting, but whether it's in Johor, I don't know, I'm not too sure,'' Rubis said. ``Based on what we have right now, I can't say for sure there is Bigfoot.''
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000080&sid=aQK7tFR8AHoI&refer=asia
Malaysian Bigfoot = Surviving Homo Erectus?
The following information was sent to Cryptomundo by Peter Loh from Singapore.
As promised, I?m back with a report on the news conference I attended this afternoon and what I found out from my interview with Mr. Vincent Chow.
Before I begin, I must warn you that what you are about to hear is so incredible that it would take lots of faith to believe, and I?m not surprised if I?d be bombarded with skeptical responses from many of you. At any rate, I?m just reporting what I?ve seen and heard?
Mr. Chow, IMHO, is a man who comes across as a very learned and experienced 59 yr-old guy who exudes an air of confidence that could only have come from a man who knows exactly what he?s talking about and is dead sure that he has solid evidence. I could tell that this self-confessed "nature man" is also passionate about wildlife and conservation- he has a deep respect for nature. In short, he seemed to me, while we chatted, to be a straight-forward, nature-loving person who didn?t beat about the bush when questions were thrown at him. He spoke with such authority and sincerity that I was convinced that this man was serious and very likely telling the truth.
Here?s the statement he made that either makes him a very confident man or a very insane one. Shortly after he arrived at the conference, he announced this: A book will be launched sometime soon (in June, he told me), revealing all they know about the Malaysian Mawas from their 11 years of study of the animal. And -get this- they have clear close-up photographs of male, female and juvenile animals!? Now, when I asked Vincent if he had seen the creatures himself, he said he had seen the photographs that could not have been faked. They were real animals, with even genitalia visible. Mr Chow also said the photos were so clear that he could see the wrinkles on their faces. The point to note here is that Mr Chow believes this to be surviving members of Homo erectus. When I asked him if they were anything close to Gigantopithecus, he said that they were a very distinct form. Here?s his description of the male animal:
Head: Protruding brow with thick and bushy eyebrows.
Sloping forehead.
Ears large, as in some monkeys.
Distance between nose and lips about 2.5 times that of a man.
Nose flat, somewhat like a gorilla?s, nostrils very prominent.
Eyes are human-like but bloodshot and protruding out of their sockets, giving them a "sinister" look. (According to Vincent, they looked very intimidating).
Facial hair - almost none.
Body: Broad shouldered, barrel-chested, very well-built.
Adults up to 8, 9 or 10 ft. Juveniles up to 5 ft.
Large adults walk with a slight hunch due to height and weight.
Not as hairy as one would imagine (eg. orangutan) or the American Bigfoot (Vincent believes, due to different climate and environment, the Asian species has adapted).
Most hair at back of head and shoulders.
Hair on body only about 3 inches (he indicated with his forefinger and thumb).
Juveniles have very dark hair, almost black. Adults have lighter, reddish brown hair. As they grow older, the coloration lightens.
When a member of the press reminded Vincent that the Sultan of Johor was skeptical about these creatures? existence, he explained that the Sultan changed his mind right after he saw the photographic evidence. These photos were supposedly taken by an elderly man who has been observing these creatures for years. "He took them with telephoto lenses," said Vincent.
The book is now in the works and, apparently, there are three co-authors involved, one being a reporter from a well-known paper (I shouldn?t reveal here). The photos will also be published in that book. So?what now??
One of the photos I took -the famous footprint cast.
Vincent mentioned an orang asli sighting in which a "mawas" was seen floating on its back, moving downstream in a river. This was brought up when I asked him if they were afraid of the water since some articles had mentioned their fear of the rain getting into their nostrils. Apparently, the creatures have acquired this technique of swimming so that their faces do not touch the water!
Another thing mentioned was their diet of tropical fruits and fish. It seems that one could easily attract a "mawas" if fish was fried in the jungle?
The fruiting season from June to July would be a great time to catch sight of these creatures?
Mr. Chow explaining his theory on Homo erectus migration while SPI?s Kenny assisted?
Is this how it looks like??
My sketch of the Malaysian Bigfoot based on Vincent Chow?s descriptions.
Living specimens of Homo erectus? Not that far-fetched, according to Vincent?
DNA analysis of hair sent to the US showed they were human. This could mean they are genetically very close to us. I also asked Mr Chow if the creatures looked anything like Patty and if he thought the Patterson footage was a hoax. To that, he simply said he didn?t want to put down others to gain credibility. But, if you asked me, I?d say he definitely has something which will astound the world of science!
May 2006 ? Copyright Peter Loh
All Rights Reserved
All photos, sketches and text used with written consent of Peter Loh.
To access all past postings on Cryptomundo on this subject, click on Malaysian Bigfoot.
Peter will be sending us updates from Malaysia.
January 2, 2006
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- Authorities began searching the jungles of southern Malaysia for the mythical "Bigfoot" after a reported sighting of three giant human-like beasts, officials said.
Wildlife authorities may set up cameras in the 309-square-mile Endau Rompin National Park in Johor state to see if the creatures do exist, they said.
Park director Hashim Yusof ventured into the jungle Friday to survey the site where three fish farm workers reportedly saw the beasts -- two adults and a young one -- last month, Hashim's secretary said.
The fish farm workers were in the jungle to clear an area for a fish pond. They alerted their employer, who photographed what appeared to be footprints measuring up to 17 inches, said Lim Teong Kheng, the chairman of the Malaysian Nature Society in Johor.
He said brown hair reeking of body odor was also reportedly retrieved nearby, and a broken tree branch at the site appeared to indicate the creatures were some 10 feet tall.
Lim welcomed the investigation by the national park, saying "Bigfoot" sightings have been reported for decades in the area.
"Nobody dared say anything in case people say they are out of their minds," Lim said.
"Bigfoot" is a popular name given in the United States to giant hairy creatures walking on two legs. Sightings of such beasts are reported in many parts of the world but never confirmed.