Strange doings in Malaysia

There have been a series of strange stories, some in the mainstream press, about an alleged "bigfoot" type of creature in Malaysia. There are always such stories from somewhere, it seems, but the difference this time is that detailed photographs are alleged to exist, and sketches based on them have been released. This has been enough to get one Malaysian government agency to publicly state it is involved in checking out the collection of reports, footprints, and other evidence. The indefatigable Loren Coleman has collected most of this material and put it on the Cryptomundo website. There's also a good discussion on the site about what should happen (and what probably will happen, which is not at all the same thing) if something as remarkable as a new species of ape is confirmed.

COMMENT: There's nothing inherently silly about a fairly large (1.2m or so) upright primate in the SE Asian region. This area of the world is extremely ape-friendly, with gibbons, siamangs, and orangutans sharing the habitat. There have been very serious searches on both the mainland and islands like Sumatra for such animals, known as orang-pendek and many other names. Dr. John MacKinnon of the WWF, an expert by anyone's standards, once reported primate footprints he couldn't identify. If I had to bet, I would say that the odds of the Malaysian reports being the real thing are, at least, better than those of sasquatch and the yeti. Here's hoping the alleged photographs turn up in the proper scientific hands.