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| He's NOT a chimp, a bonobo, a gorilla, a human, OR a sasquatch, but this orangutan is definitely in our extended primate family |
Unfortunately, the poor guy was found the day before the photo op, with air gun pellets imbedded in his body. All, sadly, the work of a certain apex predator species of extant hominids commonly referred to as "mankind." But then, that image of the poor orangutan, and the caring Indonesian medical professional attending him, is also a very hopeful picture in many ways, I guess. Because it shows that even though human beings are often highly destructive, we are also equally capable of animal husbandry, and numerous feats of great kindness to the creatures of the natural world around us.
As the NBC News excerpt describes, "The orangutan was rescued the day before. The center has cared for over 280 orangutans rescued from palm oil plantations, poachers and pet owners and over 200 have been reintroduced into the wild. The critically-endangered primate population is dwindling rapidly due to poaching and rapid destruction of their forest habitat as it is converted into palm oil plantations."
Once again... humans and their poaching, pet owning (not that responsible pet owning is a bad thing, mind you), and relentless encroachment on the environments of pretty much every extant species of animal on the face of the Earth. Well, maybe not all species. Surely not, right? Well, at least not most of the ones we know of. But what about the ones we're not even sure exist or not?
At least orangutans have been scientifically clarified and classified as an extant species for quite a number of years now. And like most of us in the great ape family, they really are remarkable creatures. Yet even when standing briefly up on two legs, orangutans are really not all that easily misidentified as bears, or anything other than what they are; one of a number of scientifically verified, highly intelligent (and clearly human-like) great apes.
And like their more or less closely related brethren, the bonobos, chimps and gorillas, orangutans, despite all their highly human-like qualities (I mean, just LOOK at those eyes), are apparently, simply not intelligent enough in most cases, to avoid being repeatedly abused by us so-called "modern" humans.
But what if there really were even more members of the great ape family out there, somewhere, just waiting to be officially classified by the all knowing (presumably), all seeing (certainly not) scientific community? What if it wasn't just us humans, chimps, bonobos, orangutans, and gorillas? What if other highly intelligent and more or less human-like species of hominids existed in remote, densely wooded areas of places like North America, Southeast Asia, Russia, and even Australia?
In fact, there are ever growing numbers of eye witness accounts, and a steadily accumulating pile of hard evidence (though perhaps not proof positive, beyond the shadow of a proverbial doubt), that Bigfoot and other unclassified hominids really do exist in the uncharted wilds, and the growing body of evidence really does strongly suggest the existence of such creatures.
So, as the old paranormal themed saying goes, "we are not alone." No, we are definitely not alone.
Despite periodic hoaxes perpetrated by individuals or groups seeking publicity and good old pranking fun, and the occasional miss-identification of bears and other known animals, there may actually be entire families and tribes of hominid creatures such as Sasquatch, and the less frequently reported "Dogmen," somewhere out there, lurking just beyond the current scientific reach of mankind.
Even more frightening, perhaps, is the fact that, if even a small fraction of the reports are credible, most of these animals tend to be much larger than us frail little humans when fully grown.
But... if THEY really do exist, why haven't US big brained smartypants humans captured one by now? Why haven't we got at least one in a zoo, or in the cold storage section of a morgue somewhere? Screw that! Why haven't we got any BONES, for crying out loud?
Maybe they don't even exist at all.
Putting the issue of not having tons of (or even just a few) skeletal remains aside for a moment, maybe the various above mentioned cryptid primate species are actually big brained hominids very similar in intelligence to modern humans. Maybe they actually bury (or otherwise dispose of) their dead in ways that we don't yet understand.
Yes, maybe, despite their hirsute appearance and relatively large size, Sasquatch and similarly unclassified primates are actually very, very much like us. They're just real, real hairy - like our own species used to be a long, long time ago in our own prehistory. Wait! Looking down at my own forearms just now, I see that some of us are still just a tad hairy, and therefore still sport some of the vestigial physical characteristics of our evolutionary forebears, AND the extant primate cousins in our extended great ape family who still bear these characteristics. Hmm.
And if these hypothetical unclassified primates really are that closely related to us, maybe they ain't no dummies. Maybe they know, not necessarily what a man made firearm is, but certainly what one does to any animal that can't outrun the pint sized modern predator known as man.
Perhaps by sheer necessity, the unclassified hominid cousins among us big brained human types, though certainly not "rocket scientists," are actually pretty darned smart. Maybe they're so intelligent, in fact, that they are masters of concealment.
If the growing evidence is in fact credible, they could also be incredibly good mimics, who use fake coyote howls, bird calls, and other natural sounding vocalizations to alert one another when potentially harmful predators (namely, modern humans) are nearby.
In other words, supposing that these animals do in fact exist, then in North America alone, the Sasquatch would definitely be an apex predator unlike any other (except us highfalutin humans, of course), who need not fear even the larger species of bears. In which case, ONLY modern humans would be a real threat to these highly evolved animals.
Hence, the NEED, the bald faced NECESSITY even... to hide, whenever possible, from predatory, poaching, encroaching, polluting, serial killing, nasty humans.
Recent discoveries even suggest that Sasquatch and similarly unclassified cryptid species may even utilize some type of rudimentary language - despite the fact that they do not wear clothes or build shelters like modern humans. They do reportedly build simple looking structures in the woods however, and may even use foliage to leave other obscure but certainly telltale signs of their physical presence, probably to warn one another of the possible encroachment of man, or simply to mark their territory.
So if Sasquatch and other, similarly as yet unclassified primate species that may very well be on the loose somewhere out there really are that intelligent (say, somewhere between man and our as yet nearest known primate relatives, the chimpanzees - which, although it still wouldn't make them as smart as we are, it WOULD make them pretty damn smart), it's highly possible that unless some dumb human out traipsing through the forest were to unwittingly get a little too close, and therefore appear to threaten their young (for just one example), therefore prompting a typical primate style defensive confrontation out in the open, then the average, casual forest exploring human (or even some of the most experienced human hunters amongst us), would most likely not even know that one of these highly elusive creatures was even anywhere in the near vicinity.
Therefore, whether or not it suits a given individual's sense of religious self righteousness, or healthy, but decidedly "skeptical" pseudo-scientific, pseudo-intellectual sense of superiority, its really beginning to look like this phenomenon isn't just a hoax.
And no matter how many pranksters routinely get into gorilla suits, or strap fake big feet to their shoes and stomp around the woods, all those isolated acts of fakery can never explain more than a small fraction of ALL the physical evidence that continues to mount. Nor can it explain away all of the numerous eye witness sightings, and even up close encounters with these hairy hominid type creatures. Many of the eye witness reports even go back for literally centuries - almost certainly even before recorded history.
Kindly also consider the fact that even the DNA of many modern humans is a hybridization of both Cro-magnon and Neanderthal species of early hominids. So there really has been more than one species of bipedal primates co-existing on Earth in the past, and those early ancestors were actually able to interbreed. And, yes, current scientific data does in fact strongly support this.
In fact, every single year, more and more archeological evidence accumulates that strongly indicates that not only were there more than one type of hominid species roaming the Earth at the same time in our prehistory, but there were probably many, many types of these creatures. Many more, in fact, than various members of the vaunted scientific community were at first willing to believe actually once did exist.
Wait! Just hold on a second here, buster! You're not saying that science is BIASED, are you? Uh... no. Categorically no. This writer is simply suggesting that flawed individuals within the scientific community are absolutely, totally and at times, most certainly, capable of applying good old (or bad old) human bias to the academic discipline known as science.
'Cause science is neither "skeptical," nor a community. Science is an academic discipline. It is PEOPLE (aka homo sapiens sapiens) that filter scientific data through the flawed prism of human perception. And they do it quite often. Probably a lot more than any of us would like to "believe."
Anyway, Sasquatch! We're talking about Sasquatch and other potentially real and extant (as opposed to mythical and/or extinct) crytozoological animals. So let's get back to it, shall we?
So anyway, many of the primate cousins of modern man died out a long, long time ago. But some of them, just like some of us, may still be out there, not waiting to be discovered necessarily, but perhaps hoping beyond all primitive (or somewhat highly evolved, rather) hope, that they can continue to stay the hell away from the hyper intelligent, but also hyper destructive beast known as "modern" man.
At any rate, when considering the issue of interbreeding between early human ancestor populations, the percentage of many of us that is Neanderthal is in fact so small, that there are some groups of modern humans who have no signs of Neanderthal DNA whatsoever. But the fact that roughly 4 out of 5 modern humans have Neanderthal DNA shows that, at one time, at least, mixing between these groups of bipedal hominids was not only possible, but that it did, in fact, undeniably, occur.
So this particular humble writer is left to beg the question: Just who ARE we anyway? I mean, really? Who are we to say that some of our primate cousins (that highfalutin scientists among us haven't managed to clarify and classify yet) don't actually exist? Better yet, who are they, these illusive hairy bipedal creatures that only some of us have only brief encounters with once in a great while?
And if they really do exist, why is it that we don't know more about them anyway?
More importantly, if all us modern humans really are interrelated enough to one another to interbreed (and we certainly are), and if Neanderthals and Cro-Magnon species were closely related enough to have interbred in our remote past (because the evidence shows that they certainly did), then maybe... past, present or future notwithstanding, it really is a matter of being "all in the Great Ape family."
So, no matter how closely or distantly related our cryptid hominid relatives may or may not be, is it possible that there is actually some of us in some of them? Or conversely, that there is some of them in some of us. Scary? Perhaps. Or, it could all just be purely scientific, purely empirical. Like us, the big, hairy, scary ones somewhere out there may not even be truly "mythical" at all. Something to ponder, I guess. Until, that is, the often snooty scientific community finally, at long last, starts to take a lot closer look at this particular phenomenon.
Oh well. As a species of collective, interrelated hominids, we, and all the members of our extended primate family, have all been around on this Earth for a more or less very, very long time. Established scientific evidence verifies that we all existed in one form or another for eons before the modern intellectual discipline known as science helped us to better define ourselves and our place on this planet, and in the universe at large. So I guess we really are still evolving as just another class of Earthbound animals, that ourselves just happen to fall under the scientific classification "homo."
And I guess most of us still have to wait until we ALL can agree on just exactly who is and isn't part of our own extended primate family. Whenever that day may finally come. If ever.
Hence, the NEED, the bald faced NECESSITY even... to hide, whenever possible, from predatory, poaching, encroaching, polluting, serial killing, nasty humans.
Recent discoveries even suggest that Sasquatch and similarly unclassified cryptid species may even utilize some type of rudimentary language - despite the fact that they do not wear clothes or build shelters like modern humans. They do reportedly build simple looking structures in the woods however, and may even use foliage to leave other obscure but certainly telltale signs of their physical presence, probably to warn one another of the possible encroachment of man, or simply to mark their territory.
So if Sasquatch and other, similarly as yet unclassified primate species that may very well be on the loose somewhere out there really are that intelligent (say, somewhere between man and our as yet nearest known primate relatives, the chimpanzees - which, although it still wouldn't make them as smart as we are, it WOULD make them pretty damn smart), it's highly possible that unless some dumb human out traipsing through the forest were to unwittingly get a little too close, and therefore appear to threaten their young (for just one example), therefore prompting a typical primate style defensive confrontation out in the open, then the average, casual forest exploring human (or even some of the most experienced human hunters amongst us), would most likely not even know that one of these highly elusive creatures was even anywhere in the near vicinity.
Therefore, whether or not it suits a given individual's sense of religious self righteousness, or healthy, but decidedly "skeptical" pseudo-scientific, pseudo-intellectual sense of superiority, its really beginning to look like this phenomenon isn't just a hoax.
And no matter how many pranksters routinely get into gorilla suits, or strap fake big feet to their shoes and stomp around the woods, all those isolated acts of fakery can never explain more than a small fraction of ALL the physical evidence that continues to mount. Nor can it explain away all of the numerous eye witness sightings, and even up close encounters with these hairy hominid type creatures. Many of the eye witness reports even go back for literally centuries - almost certainly even before recorded history.
Kindly also consider the fact that even the DNA of many modern humans is a hybridization of both Cro-magnon and Neanderthal species of early hominids. So there really has been more than one species of bipedal primates co-existing on Earth in the past, and those early ancestors were actually able to interbreed. And, yes, current scientific data does in fact strongly support this.
In fact, every single year, more and more archeological evidence accumulates that strongly indicates that not only were there more than one type of hominid species roaming the Earth at the same time in our prehistory, but there were probably many, many types of these creatures. Many more, in fact, than various members of the vaunted scientific community were at first willing to believe actually once did exist.
Wait! Just hold on a second here, buster! You're not saying that science is BIASED, are you? Uh... no. Categorically no. This writer is simply suggesting that flawed individuals within the scientific community are absolutely, totally and at times, most certainly, capable of applying good old (or bad old) human bias to the academic discipline known as science.
'Cause science is neither "skeptical," nor a community. Science is an academic discipline. It is PEOPLE (aka homo sapiens sapiens) that filter scientific data through the flawed prism of human perception. And they do it quite often. Probably a lot more than any of us would like to "believe."
Anyway, Sasquatch! We're talking about Sasquatch and other potentially real and extant (as opposed to mythical and/or extinct) crytozoological animals. So let's get back to it, shall we?
So anyway, many of the primate cousins of modern man died out a long, long time ago. But some of them, just like some of us, may still be out there, not waiting to be discovered necessarily, but perhaps hoping beyond all primitive (or somewhat highly evolved, rather) hope, that they can continue to stay the hell away from the hyper intelligent, but also hyper destructive beast known as "modern" man.
At any rate, when considering the issue of interbreeding between early human ancestor populations, the percentage of many of us that is Neanderthal is in fact so small, that there are some groups of modern humans who have no signs of Neanderthal DNA whatsoever. But the fact that roughly 4 out of 5 modern humans have Neanderthal DNA shows that, at one time, at least, mixing between these groups of bipedal hominids was not only possible, but that it did, in fact, undeniably, occur.
So this particular humble writer is left to beg the question: Just who ARE we anyway? I mean, really? Who are we to say that some of our primate cousins (that highfalutin scientists among us haven't managed to clarify and classify yet) don't actually exist? Better yet, who are they, these illusive hairy bipedal creatures that only some of us have only brief encounters with once in a great while?
And if they really do exist, why is it that we don't know more about them anyway?
More importantly, if all us modern humans really are interrelated enough to one another to interbreed (and we certainly are), and if Neanderthals and Cro-Magnon species were closely related enough to have interbred in our remote past (because the evidence shows that they certainly did), then maybe... past, present or future notwithstanding, it really is a matter of being "all in the Great Ape family."
So, no matter how closely or distantly related our cryptid hominid relatives may or may not be, is it possible that there is actually some of us in some of them? Or conversely, that there is some of them in some of us. Scary? Perhaps. Or, it could all just be purely scientific, purely empirical. Like us, the big, hairy, scary ones somewhere out there may not even be truly "mythical" at all. Something to ponder, I guess. Until, that is, the often snooty scientific community finally, at long last, starts to take a lot closer look at this particular phenomenon.
Oh well. As a species of collective, interrelated hominids, we, and all the members of our extended primate family, have all been around on this Earth for a more or less very, very long time. Established scientific evidence verifies that we all existed in one form or another for eons before the modern intellectual discipline known as science helped us to better define ourselves and our place on this planet, and in the universe at large. So I guess we really are still evolving as just another class of Earthbound animals, that ourselves just happen to fall under the scientific classification "homo."
And I guess most of us still have to wait until we ALL can agree on just exactly who is and isn't part of our own extended primate family. Whenever that day may finally come. If ever.
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