#2577 - Gregory Forth

Gregory Forth began fieldwork on Flores in 1984 to study local culture, not to find a hominoid. Nage people told him of the Obugogo, small human-like creatures said to have lived near a mountain cave and disappeared 200–300 years ago; accounts described them attending feasts and eating food, and people called them animals rather than spirits. Forth later judged an early story that ancestors wiped them out to be shaped by familiar narrative themes. Before Homo floresiensis was announced in October 2004, he had also heard a Leo-region account from someone claiming a sighting. A 1933 Leo-German dictionary, drawing on 1920s research, included “Leihor” in examples Forth considered consistent with local reports.

Forth recorded more than 30 encounter reports, interviewed about 32 people who said they had seen the creatures, and discussed local knowledge with roughly 120–130 people overall. He said the clearest, most detailed descriptions closely resemble standard reconstructions of Homo floresiensis, while allowing that some witnesses could have mistaken monkeys for hominoids or that the resemblance could be coincidental. Reports are concentrated in eastern Flores, especially high-altitude mountain forest away from settlements, though Forth said there is no clear boundary to the area where people know of the creatures. Flores has no native apes or monkeys; its long-tailed macaques were introduced by people a few thousand years ago.

Fossils from central Flores, including jaws and teeth dating to about 700,000 years ago, are smaller than Homo floresiensis and may belong to its ancestors. Stone tools may indicate that something made artifacts on the island about one million years ago or earlier, but some proposed tools could be natural stones, and artifacts cannot be securely attributed to Homo floresiensis without associated remains. The species’ youngest Liang Bua Cave fossils were initially dated to 12,000–13,000 years ago, surprising paleontologists, but geological reassessment put them at roughly 50,000–60,000 years ago. That revision is uncertain and comes from one site; the evidence nevertheless indicates survival for at least 50,000 years, while the true extinction date remains unknown.

How early hominins reached Flores is unresolved because no land bridge is known. Forth considered accidental rafting on large vegetation or tsunami-displaced debris possible, although a founding group would have needed multiple individuals of both sexes. He also argued that hominins were unlikely to have occupied only a small part of the island over such a long period. The timing of animal arrivals is disputed: monkeys were introduced by people, while Komodo monitors and stegodonts are said to have reached Flores by swimming. Dogs arrived several hundred to about 1,000 years ago according to evidence, though Forth thinks they were present earlier.

Forth is not a firm believer, but considers a scientific search worthwhile. He studied the Leo hominoids in earnest from 2005 to 2018, when his age and physical condition made mountain searches impractical. He suggested using fit fieldworkers, primatologists, zoologists and camera traps, with drones also under consideration. In March 2019, two British hikers independently reported an encounter on a Flores mountain: one described a bipedal human-like figure with monkey traits, while the other saw an unusually large monkey. They had not read Forth’s work beforehand, and their differing descriptions echoed variation in local reports. The largest reported Flores ape-man was about 1.4 meters tall, according to a second-hand account.

Forth focuses on what modern Flores people experienced and how to interpret their reports. He distinguishes forest spirits, described as invisible and unseen, from animals or modern humans, and knows of no psychedelic drug use or intoxication associated with the sightings. A seemingly fantastic story about a tree-climbing creature that grew extra testicles may, he suggested, describe a palm civet whose glands were mistaken for testicles. He also cited a friend’s 1980s report of upright, tailless, big-monkey-like creatures in Sumbawa, and Sumba traditions of much larger beings, while judging the Flores evidence stronger. He considers Homo floresiensis more credible than Bigfoot because fossils, regional ecology and evolutionary history support its existence; he does not find Bigfoot credible, though he would not rule it out entirely. He said North American claims are complicated by hoaxes and incentives for fame or money, whereas Flores villagers have little prospect of fame.