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Geographical Index > United States > Indonesia (International) > Article # 318
Media Article # 318
Wednesday, September 4, 2002 Tests being carried out on 'yeti' hair orange-today.co.uk
A world-renowned hair expert is on the verge of proving the existence of a "Yeti-like" creature on an Indonesian island.
Hans Brunner is studying hair samples discovered in Western Sumatra which have baffled other scientists.
The tale of the Orang Pendek, or Little Man of the Forest, is a well known legend in the region.
Brunner, an associate of Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia, has been analysing two hairs which were found by a team of British explorers who followed the trail of a primate which has long lived in the folklore of tribes people on the island.
He has volunteered his expertise after the story of three part-time explorers discovering unknown hairs and a cast of a footprint was published worldwide.
Adam Sanderson, Adam Davies and Keith Townley are crypto-zoologists who take time off from their day jobs to prove, or disprove, the existence of mythological creatures.
They sent the hair samples they found in Western Sumatra to Australia for analysis and the findings have been little short of startling.
No match could be found when they were tested against reference hairs of orang-utan, chimpanzee, gorilla, sun bear, red leaf monkey, pigtail macaque, Malaysian tapir and human.
The Orang Pendek is said to be a 5ft tall creature with chocolatey-brown, orange hair. It's distinguishing feature is its humanlike gait - walking upright on its back legs without the aid of its front fists.
If its existence is proved it could spark major anthropological debates about a potential "missing link" between apes and humans.
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