On the remote island of Flores Island in Indonesia, local people have long whispered of strange, small, hairy beings living deep in the mountains — “ape-men,” they call them.
According to a recent article in Popular Mechanics, these stories have drawn renewed attention from a retired anthropologist, Gregory Forth, who believes such accounts may hint at a surviving population of a long-extinct species, perhaps even Homo floresiensis.
The Discovery of the “Hobbit”
The interest in tiny human-like creatures on Flores stems from a remarkable discovery in 2003: in a mountain cave called Liang Bua cave scientists found skeletal remains of adults only about one meter tall — roughly the height of a small child — but with fully formed adult bones.
This species was named Homo floresiensis, nicknamed the “hobbit,” and stood out for its oddly small skull — about the size of a grapefruit — and a brain volume similar to that of a chimpanzee.
Over time, additional finds expanded the picture: more bones from dozen individuals, stone tools, and signs that these hobbits were not isolated anomalies.
They used tools, walked upright, and hunted or foraged in environments shared with now-extinct animals like pygmy elephants and giant rats.
Fossil evidence suggests Homo floresiensis lived on Flores from as far back as 700,000 years ago to as recently as around 50,000 years ago.
This discovery shook up conventional views of human evolution, showing that the genus Homo was far more diverse than once thought — including small, island-dwelling species.
Local Tales: They Are Still There
What makes the story even more intriguing are the tales from villagers and indigenous groups on Flores. During his fieldwork in the early 2000s, Gregory Forth heard consistent descriptions of small, upright-walking, hairy humanoids living in secluded mountain forests.
Locals spoke of occasional sightings — creatures about the size of the hobbit fossils, moving shyly, rarely seen, but remembered across generations.
In the language of the Lio people — one of the island’s indigenous groups — these beings are called “lai ho’a,” often translated loosely as “ape-men.” Some eyewitness reports date back to the 1960s, and a few as recent as the 2010s.
Forth argues these repeated testimonies deserve attention, particularly because islanders have a long history of knowing local fauna long before scientists ever arrive.
Forth doesn’t assert that these creatures are certainly living members of Homo floresiensis, but he suggests that the continuity of stories — across decades, among different villages — might indicate something real.
Perhaps a relict population of the species survived in the most remote, least-surveyed parts of Flores.
Scientific Skepticism
Despite the evocative stories, most paleoanthropologists remain deeply skeptical. The central problem: there is no physical evidence — no bones, no DNA, no footprints, no droppings.
As one critic pointed out, for a species to survive over thousands of years, there should be thousands of individuals, and such a population would leave ample biological trace. That we have none strongly argues against a surviving hobbit population.
Moreover, the so-called ape-men resemble the kind of creatures often found in folklore or cryptid stories: elusive, hairy, animal-like.
Some scientists suggest that what locals describe may simply be misidentified primates — monkeys or other wild animals — or mythic figures deeply rooted in cultural memory.
The biggest challenge remains: how could such a hominin species remain hidden for tens of thousands of years on an island that, while rugged, has been increasingly explored?
The lack of evidence — despite decades of interest — is a strong signal that the ape-men may be more legend than living population.
What If It Was True?
If, against the odds, a living descendant of Homo floresiensis—or a similar hominin—were discovered on Flores today, the implications would be profound.
It would mean that an entirely distinct line of the human family tree persisted alongside modern humans, unnoticed, surviving in isolation.
This would challenge long-held assumptions about human extinction and raise deep questions about what it means to be “human.” As Forth says, it would demand a rethinking of human evolution and the boundaries between myth, memory, and biology.
At the same time, such a discovery would give credence to the idea that indigenous stories — often dismissed by scientists — can contain vital clues about lost species or unrecognized biodiversity. It would highlight how much remains unknown about remote corners of our world.
