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Orang pendek
Description: The orangpendek or sedapa as it is sometimes called is ape-like, it is not over one meter tall and it has black, dark grey, yellowish or reddish hair. The hair is sometimes longer or mane-like on it's head. It has a stocky build and has sometimes been reported to have a pot belly. Its eyes are small and it has a broad nose. Its arms are long, its legs are somewhat short and it has strong, broad shoulders.
Location: Sumatra, Island of Poleloe Rimau.
What Are They: Most likely a divergent of orangutan evolution that evolved the ability to walk upright while keeping its specialized feet for good climbing skills, as they have been reported many times to climb trees. Professor W.C. Osman Hill, a primate expert, thought they might be small versions of Homo Erectus. They more than likely aren't. Sumatran Governor, L.C. Westenenk hypothesized that the orang pendek was an very large gibbon. He thought what his men seen (see below) could be an extremely old and large gibbon, shunned from his group for some reason. Bernard Heuvelmans somewhat agrees with Westenenk's theory, cautiously wondering if it really could be an undiscovered species of gibbon. There has been extensive, serious research done on orangpendek, led by Deborah Martyr in the Kerinci region of Sumatra.
Reports: "The sedapa was also hairy on the front of its body; the colour there was a little lighter than on the back. The very dark hair on its head fell to just below the shoulder blades or even almost to the waist. It was fairly thick and very shaggy. The lower part of its face seemed to end in more of a point than a man's; this brown face was almost hairless, whilst its forehead seemed to be high rather than low. Its eyebrows were the same colour as its hair and were very bushy. The eyes were frankly moving; they were of the darkest colour, very lively, and like human eyes. The nose was broad with fairly large nostrils... Its lips were quite ordinary, but the width of its mouth was strikingly wide when open... The colour of the teeth was yellowish white. Its chin was somewhat receding... Its hands were slightly hairy on the back... This specimen was of the female sex... When I raised my gun... I heard a plaintive 'hu-hu,' which was at once answered by similar echoes in the forest nearby."
-From Dutch settler Mr. van Herwaarden on an encounter he had in 1923.
"A boy from Padang employed as an overseer by Mr. van H-- had to stake the boundaries of a piece of land for which a long lease had been applied. One day he took several coolies into the virgin forest on the Barissan Mountains near Loeboek Salasik. Suddenly he saw, some 15m away, a large creature, low on its feet, which ran like a man ... it was very hairy and was not an orang-utan; but its face was not like an ordinary man's..."
-Recorded by Sumatran Governor L.C. Westenenk in 1918.