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as they began to overpower it, it broke free, jumped out the It is now generally believed that the much larger Homo erectus, window and fled into the night. whose remains have been found throughout Southeast Asia, also Mr Moilan isn't the only person to report an attack by a hairy reached Flores about 840,000 years ago and survived there for little man. We have in our files a similar story from much further several millennia. H. erectus was powerfully built, bipedal, had south."* In September 1968, while working at Kookaburra, an _ protruding brow ridges and possibly was quite hairy. Some isolated saw-milling settlement on the Carrai Plateau, about 50 __ researchers think it possible that some of the creatures continued kilometres west of Kempsey, NSW, George Gray slept in a small southward to Australia, where they evolved into today's hulking hut surrounded by dense scrub. One dark night, between midnight — yowies. Flores is 700 kilometres (435 miles) from Australia, but and 1.00 am, he was woken by the during the ice ages when sea levels sensation of something pressing were considerably lower, island- down on his chest and realised he hopping would have been less was being attacked by a hairy difficult. creature. He said that although it There is one very appealing thing was only about four feet (1.2 about the Homo erectus = yowie metres) tall, it was broad and theory: it could account for both the powerful, and apparently was intent yowie and the junjudee legends. on dragging him outside. It had hair Mike Morwood and Peter Brown, "like a Phyllis Diller wig", a hairless the scientists who discovered the copper-coloured face, a big flat nose tiny Homo floresiensis skeletons on and round human-like eyes. Flores, believe that those little "The thing was looking straight people were descended from Homo into my face. The funny thing was, erectus, which, over the course of its it didn't seem to be angry. The hair 840,000 years on the small island, was a dirty grey colour [but] seemed slowly shrank in size. (Flores was to be clean. There was no smell. also home to elephants, which, over No smell at all. That's a funny a similar period of time, shrank to thing.” the size of cows.) There were other very odd details. Some of the characteristics of the The creature's big "stubby" hands H. floresiensis skeletons are were seemingly five-fingered, but interesting, in light of their possible its arms, though thick, seemed very connection to the yowie and short. Even stranger, "the junjudee mystery: they had skin. ..was sort of loose...like it had extraordinarily long arms, reaching no muscles...like trying to hold almost to their knees; their faces something slippery. I could feel the projected forward and, although bones. I couldn't feel the flesh at their skulls were very small, their all." It didn't make a sound, "didn't teeth were large and prominent. seem to be breathing". One of the most exciting things But it could still shake him like a about the "hobbits", as their dog. As they wrestled on the floor, discoverers dubbed them, is that the Mr Gray could see, in the bright present inhabitants of Flores say the moonlight, that the hairy horror little creatures survived there until seemed to have webbed toes. After about 300 years ago. According to 10 desperate minutes, it abruptly ran tribal tradition, the creatures, known out the door. His two young sons, locally as ebu gogo, had big eyes, in a nearby room, had heard the flat foreheads and hair all over their commotion but were too frightened bodies. to investigate. Even during the ice ages, island- hopping from mainland Asia to Where did they come from? Flores would have involved sea The most important question crossings for H. erectus of up to 24 about junjudees is this: are they merely juvenile yowies or are they kilometres. Morwood and Brown think H. erectus may have been an entirely different species? Our colleague Gary Opit points out —_ capable of building rafts, but such technology might not have been that none of the presumed junjudees seen by either Aborigines or necessary. Each crossing could have happened by accident. An artist's impression of Homo floresiensis. The creatures may actually have been covered head to foot in hair. (Illustration courtesy of Mike Morwood) non-Aborigines has been accompanied by full-sized yowie After the tsunami disaster of December 2004, several groups of "parents". This, to Gary, strongly suggests the little creatures are Indonesians were swept tens of kilometres out to sea. To island- a separate species. hop from Flores to Australia during the last ice age, H. erectus Despite the Aboriginal lore and the sighting reports from non- would have needed to make a crossing of 60 kilometres. That Aborigines, there isn't a skerrick of physical evidence to indicate seems like a rather long jump—until we consider what happened ape-like creatures, large or small, ever existed on the Australian to Rizal Shaputra, who drifted 160 kilometres on a tangle of tree continent. In 2004, however, relatively recent (only 18,000 years branches after the recent tsunami. He told his rescuers that for the old) remains of "junjudee-like" creatures, Homo floresiensis, were __ first few days of his ordeal, there were "many" other people with discovered on the Indonesian island of Flores." him. creatures may actually have i 9 paarhaaes ‘ Where did they come from? in hair. (Illustration courtes' The most important question about junjudees is this: are they merely juvenile yowies or are they an entirely different species? Our colleague Gary Opit points out that none of the presumed junjudees seen by either Aborigines or non-Aborigines has been accompanied by full-sized yowie "parents". This, to Gary, strongly suggests the little creatures are a separate species. Despite the Aboriginal lore and the sighting reports from non- Aborigines, there isn't a skerrick of physical evidence to indicate ape-like creatures, large or small, ever existed on the Australian continent. In 2004, however, relatively recent (only 18,000 years old) remains of "junjudee-like" creatures, Homo floresiensis, were discovered on the Indonesian island of Flores." APRIL — MAY 2007 NEXUS = 61 www.nexusmagazine.com