Apeman discovered in Sumatra

13.07.37: BIOLOGISTS CONFIRMED the discovery of a new species of intelligent ape on the Indonesian island of Sumatra this week.

Scientists had searched for many years for the creature that tribal legends described as the 'hairy man' in the woods. The creature's existence challenges the notion that man is the only intelligent animal walking the Earth. The ape, discovered by the English Fauna and Flora Survey, had long been suspected of existing; now corroborated sightings prove the creature to be real. It is described as standing about 1.3 m tall, and its native name, Orang Pendek, translates as 'little man' or 'short person'. The creature has pinkish-brown skin covered by short dark fur, with a mane of hair around the face flowing down the back.

Marco Polo visited Sumatra in 1295 and was allegedly presented with an ape-like man by local people. In 1923 a Dutch hunter called Van Herwaaden claimed to have spotted a creature which he felt unable to shoot because it looked so human. But the first real attempts to confirm the existence of the creature were led by British research teams in the late 1990s.

After unconfirmed sightings the investigators conclude