SCOTTIE 'RETRIEVERMAN' WESTFALL WRITES...

I sent you something earlier about the ancient form of African ape that was announced today called "Ardi." This sounds something like an orang pendek, though a bit larger.

This is Ardi's foot:

Compare it with the orang pendek track:

Ardi's anatomy suggests that the original African apes from which we, chimps, bonobos and gorillas descend were bipedal but still had the grasping toe. Ardi was the size of a chimp, which is consistent with the description of the orang pendek that the CFZ team saw.

Perhaps the orang pendek represents a relic primitive ape species.

SUMATRA EXPEDITION IN THE DAILY TELEGRAPH

The team of four British explorers and their Indonesian guide tracked through dense and treacherous jungle in the Kerinci National Park of Sumatra where two of them caught a glimpse of the Orang Pendek - or short man.

The team have brought back hair samples and a piece of palm they hope will provide DNA evidence of the Orang Pendek - a creature sighted in the area since colonial times and reputed to be immensely powerful....

Read On

EARTHQUAKE WEATHER

As you may have seen in the news, a massive earthquake has hit the city of Padang where Adam, Chris, Dave and I were staying just a few days ago before our return to the UK.

I have heard that the Dippo Hotel, where Chris, Jon Hare and I stayed on our 2003 and 2004 expeditions, and of which I was very fond, has been destroyed.


Thankfully Sahar and his family, and Dally and the other guides are all safe as they were well out of the area. Dally is on Facebook and I spoke to him last night. The death toll has now reached 529. Padang is not a well-built city so I can well imagine how much of it must have been flattened.

As Padang is a Mecca for surfers, a charity called Surfaid is raising money for earthquake relief. You can donate here:
http://www.surfaidinternational.org/site/pp.asp?c=ekLPK4MOIsG&b=5493943

HOLIDAYS IN THE SUN

The Sun online

MORE LINKS TO THE SUMATRA STORY

The Centre for Fortean Zoology (CFZ), the world’s largest mystery animal research group, has made an interesting find in Sumatra....

Story at :http://parabook.wordpress.com/2009/09/29/expedition-spots-mystery-ape-in-sumatra/

GRAHAM INGLIS INTERVIEWS DAVE ARCHER

PICTURES FROM AN EXPEDITION: The Lake of Seven Peaks

Gunung Tuju or 'the lake of seven peaks', is a large, deep lake in the caldera of an extinct volcano in Kerinci National Park. It is biologicaly impoverished with only one species of fish and one species of freshwater crab. However, it is in the surrounding jungles that most orang-pendek sightings come from. In these jungles Dave and Sahar saw the creature and we found footprints, hair and chewed rattan vine.

The jungles are cool and damp, much like the one inhabited by mountain gorillas in Africa. Adam found fresh tiger tracks in the jungle and thought the beast was only a few hundred yards away from our camp.

Twice, whilst crossing to the far side of the lake, the antiquated fisherman's canoes sprung leaks and were almost swamped when the lake's waters became choppy. The holes had to be plugged with black paper bags and we had to bail out the water.

PICTURES FROM AN EXPEDITION

A few days ago some ill informed guttersnipe complained that there had been no pictures released from the Sumatra expedition. This is because they were still in the jungle at the time. However, beginning today, we shall be releasing pictures and/or video each day as we process them. This is the first trenche.

Adam and Chris crammed into a ridiculously over-crowded minibus

from Bangko to Kerinci. The rest of the team are there also, but you

cannot see them for the mass of people.

Richard with a kubu hunter who had witnessed OP about
three years previously. He motioned that it had been about four feet tall,
black and walked upright like a man. Its face was like that
of a macacque. He was adamant that it was not a monkey, a gibbon, or a sun bear.

Sahar Didmus - the guide on three of, and five of Adam's expeditions

The Sumatran rainforest - home of the orang-pendek

A half eaten coconut that the expedition found by the side
of the trail in Gunung Tuju. Teeth marks are clearly visible.
Could it have been nibbled upon by orang-pendek?

More tomorrow....

EXPEDITION PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release 29th September
EXPEDITION SPOTS MYSTERY APE IN SUMATRA

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.

Pictures are available from the expedition, and more information will be released over the next few days. For pictures from Sumatra or Ireland, or to interview personnel from either expedition please telephone Jon or Corinna on 01237 4531413.

NOTES TO EDITORS

* The Centre for Fortean Zoology [CFZ] is the world’s largest mystery animal research organisation. It was founded in 1992 by British author Jonathan Downes (and is a non-profit making (not for profit) organisation registered with H.M. Stamp Office.
* Life-president of the CFZ is Colonel John Blashford-Snell OBE, best known for his groundbreaking youth work organising the ‘Operation Drake’ and ‘Operation Raleigh’ expeditions in the 1970s and 1980s.
* CFZ Director Jonathan Downes is the author and/or editor of over 20 books. Island of Paradise, his first hand account of two expeditions to the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico in search of the grotesque vampiric chupacabra, will be published in the next few weeks.
* The CFZ have carried out expeditions across the world including Russia, Sumatra, Mongolia, Guyana, Gambia, Texas, Mexico, Thailand, Puerto Rico, Illinois, Loch Ness, and Loch Morar.
* CFZ Press is the world’s largest publisher of books on mystery animals. They also publish Animals & Men, the world’s only cryptozoology magazine, and The Amateur Naturalist, Britain’s only dedicated magazine on the subject.
* The CFZ produce their own full length documentaries through their media division called CFZtv (www.cfztv.org). One of their films, Lair of the Red Worm, which was released in early 2007 and documents their 2005 Mongolia expedition, has now been seen by nearly 50,000 people.
* The CFZ is based in Jon Downes’s old family home in rural north Devon, which he shares with his wife Corinna (52). It is also home to various members of the CFZ’s permanent directorate and a collection of exotic animals.
* Jonathan Downes presents a monthly web TV show called On the Track (http://cfzmonthly.blogspot.com/), which covers cryptozoology and work of the CFZ.
* The CFZ are opening a Visitor Centre and Museum in Woolsery, North Devon.
* Following their successful partnership with Capcom (www.capcom.com) on the 2007 Guyana expedition, the CFZ are looking for more commercial sponsors.

Pic: L-R Sahar Didmus, Dr Chris Clark, Dave Archer, Adam Davies, Richard Freeman, Donny (guide)

THEY ARE BACK

They are back in the country and Richard will be at the CFZ later today. I spoke to him this morning and was shocked to hear how the information that was leaked on Friday managed to percolate across the internet. The information had been told in confidence to a friend of Adam's who was not supposed to release it. It was certainly not supposed to have been published in the way that it was, which because those in certain quarters were engaged in a selfish Gadarene rush to pip us to the post as far as releasing the news is concerned, could have had very nasty consequences for the boys in Sumatra.

This, I hope, also answers the many online detractors who have sneered at the fact that no pictures were released with the sketchy story. That is because the story was never meant for publication, and the expedition were not even back in the country at the time. I hope that we shall be able to release pictures later today.

It is at times like this that I despair for the future of the cryptozoological community....

EXPEDITION SUCCESS

Yesterday this letter arrived from Richard, and I think you will agree with me that it is astounding news:

Hi Jon,

We are just back from the jungle and have amazing news but don't release it till tomorrow when we will be out of Indonesia.

Dave Archer and Sahar the guide saw orang-pendek!

It was squatting in a tree around 100 feet from them. It was the size of an adult chimp and dark brown in colour. They could not see the face, hands or feet. Its head was shaped more like a gorilla's than a chimp's and it lacked the long mane of hair some witnesses describe. A darker strip was visible on the back. It had broad shoulders and the upper half of the body, including the head, was 40 inches (we measured afterwards). The coat was thick like a mountain gorilla's. We have hair samples and rattan that the orang-pendek was chewing on. Sahar saw it jump down and walk away on two legs. Dave missed a photo opportunity when he tried to get a better vantage point.

We found and photographed very clear footprints in a different area but could not cast them as we couldn't get hold of any plaster of Paris. We collected many hairs from this area.

Dampness screwed the moving camera's battery. It was virtually dead within 48 hours of us reaching Gunung Tuju. We took lots of photos. Dave's moving camera was drained by humidity too. We have some film but not a vast amount. We filmed a big cat sequence.

Loads of adventures happened including almost sinking in flooded canoes, thinking we had OP cornered up a tree and clothes being soaked in raw sewage!

The rattan will probably have OP DNA on it like a mouth swab. These are the best results from any expedition ever.

Cheers,

Rich

I followed Richard's instructions to the letter and didn't release it until today now the team are - hopefully - out of Indonesia. There could be a number of reasons for Richard's request, not the least being due to the instability of the region the possibility of the four brave CFZ boys finding themselves getting into trouble as a result of the news having been leaked. So we stayed schtum.

However, the news was leaked out last night. I don't know who did it or why, and I don't particularly care: this is about the advancement of science, not scoring cheap points over other people by getting the news out first. A considerable number of our readers and members emailed, telephoned and IM'd me last night to tell me that the news had been proliferated across the Internet, and to ask why there was no mention of the CFZ in any of the reports. Are there some people, they asked, who prefer not to give the CFZ any publicity at all if they can possibly help it? And would these people be happier if we just gave up and went away?

All I can say, my dears, is that you might well think that, but I could not possibly comment

Slainte

NEWS UPDATE

We have just heard from the Sumatra expedition. They are alive and well. There is some exciting news but for reasons that will no doubt be explained anon they have asked us not to publicise it until they have left Indonesia tomorrow.

It is one of the most frustrating things about my job that when an expedition is in the field I often have little or no communication with them, and it is horribly frustrating not to know what is going on. It is even more frustrating to know what has happened but be unable to tell you. What with this and the embargo on the Irish lake monster video until after I have tried to flog it, I hope that you guys aren't too cross with me....

RICHARD WRITES

This arrived several days ago (while I was in Ireland) and turned up in my spam filter. Hi Jon et al, I'm in an internet cafe en route to Banko. We have been on the road for 8 hours and have another 2 to go. Should arrive in Banko at 2 am. Will be meeting with the Kubu tribe tomorrow. Apparently there have been a lot of orang-pendek sightings in this area recently. We will be putting up baited camera traps. All the best, Rich

LATEST PRESS RELEASE

BIPEDAL APE COULD GIVE CLUES TO HOW MANKIND EVOLVED

An unknown species of Indonesian ape could shed light on how our own human ancestors began to walk erect. The orang-pendek of Sumatra is said to be a powerfully-built ape that walks on two legs like a man. Both native people and western explorers, including two noted scientists, have reported the creature from the deep jungle.

This week four English scientists and explorers will brave the rainforest in search of the orang-pendek. The team from the Centre for Fortean Zoology will spend two weeks in Sumatra working with the Kubu people, the island’s original inhabitants, who will help them track the mysterious ape.

The expedition comes shortly after the announcement of the discovery of a fossil hominid in Georgia. The Dmansis hominids lived 1.8 million years ago and had legs like modern humans, but primitive arms. Their early occurrence has made scientists rethink how hominids moved out of Africa to colonise the rest of the world.

Richard Freeman, the team’s zoologist, says…

“It was once thought that our ancestors became bipedal when they descended from the trees and moved onto the grasslands of East Africa in order to exploit new food sources. However, now it seems that many apes and hominids were moving ‘bipedally’ whilst they were still rainforest dwellers.

As well as being a major zoological discovery, the orang-pendek could give us some clues on how bipedalism developed.”

The group’s trip will be recorded on the Centre for Fortean Zoology’s website at

http://www.cfz.org.uk/

NOTES TO EDITORS

* The Centre for Fortean Zoology [CFZ] is the world’s largest mystery animal research organisation. It was founded in 1992 by British author Jonathan Downes and is a non-profit making (not for profit) organisation registered with H.M. Stamp Office.

* Life-president of the CFZ is Colonel John Blashford-Snell OBE, best known for his groundbreaking youth work organising the ‘Operation Drake’ and ‘Operation Raleigh’ expeditions in the 1970s and 1980s.

* CFZ Director Jonathan Downes is the author and/or editor of over 20 books. Island of Paradise, his first-hand account of two expeditions to the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico in search of the grotesque vampiric chupacabra, will be published in the next few weeks.

* The CFZ have carried out expeditions across the world including Russia, Sumatra, Mongolia, Guyana, Gambia, Texas, Mexico, Thailand, Puerto Rico, Illinois, Loch Ness and Loch Morar.

* CFZ Press are the world’s largest publishers of books on mystery animals. They also publish Animals & Men, the world’s only cryptozoology magazine, and The Amateur Naturalist, Britain’s only dedicated magazine on the subject.

* The CFZ produce their own full-length documentaries through their media division called CFZtv at www.cfztv.org. One of their films, Lair of the Red Worm, which was released in early 2007 and documents their 2005 Mongolia expedition, has now been seen by nearly 50,000 people.

* The CFZ is based in Jon Downes’s old family home in rural North Devon, which he shares with his wife Corinna (52). It is also home to various members of the CFZ’s permanent directorate and a collection of exotic animals.

* Jonathan Downes presents a monthly web TV show called On the Track (http://cfzmonthly.blogspot.com/), which covers cryptozoology and the work of the CFZ.

* The CFZ are opening a Visitor Centre and Museum in Woolsery, North Devon.

* Following their successful partnership with Capcom www.capcom.com on the 2007 Guyana expedition, the CFZ are looking for more commercial sponsors.

A FEATHER IN OUR CAP

Before they left the UK Adam Davies emailed me. He was very excited because it appears that none other than Todd Disotell from New York University (a world leader in his field) has offered to do some of the DNA testing on any samples that we bring back. They will be split between him and our old compadre Lars Thomas in Denmark, who is currently working on a molar and a toe bone from the Elmendorf blue dog.

Dr.Darren Naish will also be working with Adam and the team on a more comprehensive scientific analysis upon their return.

NO NEWS IS....

Somewhere between here and Singapore are four intrepid travellers from the CFZ. I have not heard a dickybird from them since they left, but one has to assume that everything is OK. I always think that an expedition in transit is almost like Schrödinger's eponymous Cat in that it exists in a state of almost quantum indeterminacy until it finally gets to its chosen destination and makes its existence obvious.

So as I always do under these circumstances, I quote a few lines from Patriot (a single) by Scott Walker from his glorious 1995 album Tilt, which I would love to say is a CFZ favourite, but in fact everyone hates it except for me and Max:

The good news you cannot refuse/The bad news is there is no news

Don't know what I am talking about? Watch this:

INTERVIEW WITH RICHARD FREEMAN ON THE EVE OF THE EXPEDITION

SO, THE GAME IS AFOOT

The team sail tonight for Singapore, and (by the way) we're all as mad as hatters here...

SOSTRATUS ON SUMATRA

Hello there,

I’m sorry I’ve not been in touch for some time. Our household is ridiculous at the moment. The youngest member is very sick, the pets are behaving oddly and generally speaking it’s all over the place.

I wanted to say congratulations on the Sumatra expedition, though, and good luck, also! Such excursions are never without reward to a certain extent, though sadly, it is rare for such rewards to include the actual locating of live specimens, I know from experience. I do not have your level of professional expertise, however, so perhaps you will bring back the orang-pendek after all. That certainly would be something to see!

Oh, and by the way, I am still working on my friend about the Bigfoot cast. I have not forgotten; nor did I make the suggestion idly, without intention of following through. He does owe me a favour but is reluctant to see it as yet!

Kindest regards,

Sostratus Winston

RICHARD ON RADIO FIVE LIVE