Orang Pendek: Sumatra's Forgotten Ape [Paperback]

Richard Freeman has done what few people have - chased his cryptozoological quarries to all four corners of the globe with a tenaciousness and singlemindedness shared by few.

This book is the culmination of his many years' worth of expeditions to the Indonesian island of Sumatra in search of the so-called Orang pendek (literally meaning 'short person' in the native tongue), thought to be an unknown species of ape and reported since the Dutch first set foot on indonesian soil and - temporarily - claimed the territory for their own.

Richard has spoken to just about anyone and everyone who has had anything to do with tracking this Southern Hemisphere enigma. And - I should declare this upfront - I myself have accompanied him on one of his expeditions and can attest it's not for the faint-hearted (or the unfit!).

While concrete definitive evidence of the animal remains, for now, elusive, it can't be far off. On an island that still harbours an amazing diversity of creatures that includes leopards, tigers, orangutans, rhinos and many others, an undiscovered species of ape isn't as far-fetched as it might otherwise sound.

I wholeheartedly recommend this book - the most comprehensive study to date on the Orang pendek.

Orang-pendek is a mysterious short bipedal ape thought to live in the jungles of Sumatra. It is one of the most likely cryptozoological creatures not only because of the high number of clear and concise reports from reliable eyewitnesses and numerous findings of physical traces the creatures leave, but also because of the fact that the environment in question possesses excellent conditions for such a creature and the local orang-utans represent clear examples of relatives to the creatures.

The first part of the book describes orang-pendek and discusses various eyewitness reports.
The second part of the book discusses various similar creatures reported from all over the world. Some are, as the author acknowledges, of questionable authenticity but many others are quite well supported.
The third part of the book describes the author's own trips to Sumatra in search of the orang-pendek. Interestingly enough, a couple of his companions actually saw an orang-pendek and the team managed to successfully collect what appeared to be orang-pendek hairs.

The author considers the orang-pendek to be an undiscovered species of orang-utan, that evolved a ground dwelling lifestyle and bipedal gait. Near the end of the book there are some brief speculations on the evolutionary events that led to orang-pendek. I find the author's reasoning to be quite sound and share his view that the orang-pendek is most likely a type of orang-utan. Undiscovered orang-utan species are probably also the most likely candidates for the identity for a number of other Asian mystery primates, such as the yeh-teh (common yeti), as well.
Contrary to some opinions, it is extremely unlikely orang-pendek is a surviving Homo floresiensis, as beyond its bipedal gait its features are not at all human-like. However, the book does briefly discuss another mystery creature from Sumatra called the orang-kardil, who are far more human-like in both appearance and behaviour (they, for instance, make tools and fire and live in small tribes). It is possible that the orang-kardil are in fact a small surviving population of Homo floresiensis.

One of the most interesting things in the book is the final appendix, where the hair samples from Sumatra, thought to have come from an orang-pendek, are compared to the hair of various primates and non-primates from both Sumatra and elsewhere. As it turned out the hair collected was different from all the hairs it was compared to. This provides further support for the idea that there could well be an undiscovered ape species living in the jungles of Sumatra.