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The four-strong team and their Indonesian guide were tracking through dense jungle in Sumatra when two of them caught a glimpse of the famous Orang Pendek — or short man.

The group brought back a hair sample and a piece of chewed palm from the island’s Kerinci National Park they hope will provide DNA evidence of the beast.

They also snapped a strange footprint thought to belong to the creature.

Sightings of the hairy human-like monster have been made in the area since colonial times — and it is alleged to be immensely powerful.

The explorers hope the sample of rattan palm, which is thought to have been munched on by the Orang Pendek, will contain some of its cells. The palm and hair sample have been sent for testing.

Elusive

Witnesses have described the beast as being about 5ft tall and say that it walks on two legs.

It is thought to be extremely powerful — with reports of onlookers seeing it ripping apart logs.

After a spate of sightings around Lake Gunung Tuju, in the Kerinci national park, a team from the Devon based Centre for Fortean Zoology — which investigates unknown species of animals — embarked on a two-week mission to the region to see if they could obtain evidence of the creature.

The elusive Orang Pendek shares its habitat with the Sumatran Tiger, pythons, and Saltwater crocodiles.

Richard Freeman, the expedition zoologist and zoological director at the Centre for Fortean Zoology, said he believes the creature is an unidentified species of ape.

“We are not talking about a unicorn or a griffin, we are talking about an ape that’s unknown to science,” he said.

“It’s name means ’short man’ in Indonesian.

“It’s supposed to be a powerfully built upright walking ape.

“It walks on two legs rather than four – like a man, about five foot tall with dark fur – immensely strong.

“It’s been seen since colonial times.

“It’s quite possible that in some museum there are skull and bones of the Orang Pendek that have been labelled orangutan.”

The team, who have just returned from their two-week expedition, hailed it a success and are awaiting the results of the DNA tests.

Source: thesun.uk

The Centre for Fortean Zoology (CFZ) is the world’s largest mystery animal research group. Only a week after releasing footage of what appears to be anomalous animals in an Irish lake, a group of four British explorers and scientists from the CFZ have just returned from the jungles of Sumatra having spent two weeks in the rainforest on the track of the orang-pendek, an unknown species of upright walking ape. They have brought back some incredible news.

CFZ member Dave Archer and local guide Sahar saw the creature at a distance of around 100 feet as it squatted in a tree. Dave describes it as broad shouldered, with a large head, black skin and dark brown hair. A line of darker fur was visible on the spine. He likened the coat of the creature to that of a mountain gorilla. Sahar saw the creature jump down from the tree and walk away on its hind legs. It was the size of an adult male chimpanzee.

Next to the tree was some rattan vine that the animal was apparently chewing. Expedition leader Adam Davis has preserved part of the plant in ethanol in the hope that it contains cells from the animal’s mouth.

The team also found and photographed several sets of tracks made by creatures. Expedition zoologist Richard Freeman confirmed that they matched no known creature in the area. The prints were six to seven inches long with a narrow heel and wider front. The big toe is well separated.

Hair samples were taken from a tree close to the tracks. A number of the hairs contain medullas that the team hopes will contain orang-pendek DNA. The samples will shortly be sent off to experts around the world for analysis.

If the samples turn out to be from a new species Freeman suggests the scientific name of Pongo martyri in honour of the English researcher Debbie Martyr who has done more than anyone else to look into this zoological mystery.

Footage from the expedition and from the Irish lakes are being submitted for inclusion in a major BBC documentary about the CFZ, which is being made by Minnow Films, an award winning British film production company, over the next eight months.

Source: cfzsumatra09

SCIENTISTS believe this incredible footage could show a mysterious monster lurking beneath one of the deepest lakes in the British Isles.

Jonathan Downes, 50, spotted the “creature” thrashing around in one of the Lakes of Killarney in County Kerry, Ireland, while on holiday last week.

His eerie sighting was in the Upper Lake one of three interlinked lakes that make up the area.

The mystery comes just a few years after bizarre unexplained sonar recordings showing a large body were made in the adjoining Muckross Lake.

Along with his wife and friends who also had cameras, Mr Downes, from Crediton, Devon, managed to capture shapes moving across part of the lake.

Mr Downes, who is director at the Centre for Fortean Zoology, said that he had heard of the sonar reading before visiting the lake, but was “ridiculously” lucky to see anything.

He said: “I was actually there with my wife and a friend on holiday.

“All I knew is what I’ve read and having spent an hour on Thursday night looking down on it.

“What we saw was a thing about nine to 10ft long.

“I’d love to say I saw long necks and humps and things but I didn’t.”

Mr Downes, who studies cryptozoology – which investigates unknown species of animals, described seeing what he see described as appearing to be “a long thin eel-like creature appearing about 10ft long”.

“I believe it must be a large eel,” he said. “It was a pale colour.

“What I saw didn’t actually really come out on the picture as well.”

Pat Foley, deputy regional manager of National Park and Wildlife Service, which oversees Killarney National Park, said that there has been some unusual readings taken about six years ago, which indicated an unknown figure in Muckross Lake.

“I think it was about 2003 there was a survey taken,” he said.

“They were getting some sort of strange picture coming back.

“The image was a large and dark blob which I presume, for economic reasons, was described as a monster.”

The Lakes of Killarney have much in common with Loch Ness – home of the world’s most famous monster – just across the Irish Sea in Scotland.

Both are large very deep lakes with similar fish species including Arctic char.

Loch Ness is the deepest lake in Britain, whilst Muckross Lake measures up to 70m deep, is along with Lough Leane, Ireland’s deepest lake.

At the time of the sonar findings in Muckross Lake in Paddy O’Sullivan, Killarney National Park manager for the National Parks and Wildlife Service said: “I am very excited by these findings and am delighted that the ancient fish community of these lakes are being examined by the Irish Char Conservation Group and scientists from around the world.

“These interesting findings can only be good for Killarney from a public awareness and a tourism point of view.

“Whatever the thing turns out to be it will be afforded our fullest protection under EU law as the Muckross forms part of a Special Area of Conservation.”

Source: thesun.uk

There are reports that an object visible in Loch Ness on Google Earth could be the Loch Ness monster.

A search of the loch, using the website’s satellite images, reveals what appears to be a light coloured object with a rounded front and a number of protrusions.

The object can be seen in the middle of the loch, across from the village of Invermoriston.

Over the years a number of theories about the existence of the Loch Ness monster have been put forward, including the possibility that sightings are a result of mis-identification of regular animals, birds, or objects such as trees.

Others maintain that there is a so-far unknown type of creature in the loch, possibly a surviving example of an otherwise-extinct type of dinosaur, or else a previously-unknown species of a known animal like a seal.

Over the years the loch has been subject to analysis and exploration using a number of means, including sonar, underwater video and unmanned submarine. While many of these projects recorded nothing unusual, others produced results that could be interpreted as proof of Nessie’s existence, including a picture of what could be the fin of a large creature as well as sonar contact with what could be a large object moving underwater.

Source: news.stv