While searching for evidence of modern humans’ migration from Asia to Australia in 2003, scientists stumbled upon it instead. small and unpublished skeleton complete with an extinct human species on the Indonesian island of Flores, known as as “Homo floresiensis” or “The Hobbit” because of the size.
The species was originally thought to have lived 12,000 years ago, but new research has put the marker back at least 50,000 years ago. Today, however, a retired professor of anthropology at the University of Alberta says in an opinion piece in The Scientist: there is a possibility that the hominid in question is still alive.
The professor in question is Gregory Forth, whose article coincided with the publication of his new book on the subject. The scientist wrote, “Eyewitness testimonies of more than 30 eyewitnesses, all of whom I spoke directly to, seem to have seen a non-sapiens humanoid surviving on Flores to date or very recently.“
Lio people live on the island identifying these creatures as animals, which, despite their uncanny resemblance to our own species, lack the complex language or technology we do. “I think our first instinct is to think that Flores’ existing human-apes are purely fictitious. But taking seriously what people were saying about Lio, I couldn’t find a good reason to think so.‘ says the professor.
In short, Forth does not exclude that Homo floresiensis species may still be alive, but relying on testimonies does not in the least reflect the rigorous scientific method..
Source: Every Eye