Little Bigfoots

I admit I'm a little addicted to Finding Bigfoot on Animal Planet. The premise is utterly ridiculous, however it does seem plausible at the same time since there's so many things about our world we don't know. I have to say some of those videos that are out there are very convincing. A few are downright creepy and it does plant that little "what if" in the back of your mind. 

The one last night was a little different and interesting to me. The show went to Indonesia in search of the Orang Pendek which is supposedly a smaller version of the North American Bigfoot. They appear to look similar to an orangutan primate but have silver-blonde hair instead of the orange coloring of the orangutan. They appear to be bipedal and the locals seem to be able to get closer to them than us North Americans can to our Bigfoot. 


When I was watching this, it reminded me of Homo floresiensis; or also known as hobbits (sorry, not the Lord of the Rings kind). Although they lived on the Island of Flores (the Orang Pendek is said to live in Sumatra), I wonder if this could possibly some kind of variation? Either that or it's an evolved variation of the orangutan primate possibly? If they are smaller, perhaps it is easier for them to avoid humans more easily. Also since the locals generally lack the material things we US-ers have, video of the primate is not readily forthcoming. National geographic did pay for an expedition to try to produce photos of the Pendek, but nothing came from it (they have not given up, however). 

There has to be reasons these legends persist, and it can't be "just because". I have to admit I've started to believe these things really are out there, and maybe they really are just this smart to evade us. We know more about outer space than we do about our own ocean; perhaps there are still animals out there that we know next to nothing to. New species are still being discovered, so I hope that there is that possibility.

Information on floresiensis:

http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-fossils/species/homo-floresiensis

Information on Orang Pendek:

http://www.orangpendek.org/