JOHOR BAHARU, June 30 (Bernama) -- Malaysians may be in for the
biggest scientific discovery in human history if the theory of the
biodiversity expert Vincent Chow on the origin of the creature
called "big-foot" is proven true.
For those who are still unfamiliar with Vincent Chow's name, he is
the man who revealed to Bernama the possible existence of the
creature in the jungles of Johor, attracting the attention of the
world media and scientists.
And now, after undertaking studies on the evidence that he found,
he is ready to expound the theory that such creature really existed
in the state.
According to the theory, the Johor Bigfoot is probably a
pre-historic human, namely the Homo-Erectus, who lived between two
million and 400,000 years ago.
"It (Johor Bigfoot) is probably the remnants of Homo-Erectus. If my
theory on the connection between the Johor Big-Foot and
Homo-Erectus proves to be correct, it would be the biggest
discovery in present times. It is the biggest present by Malaysia
to the world," he said to Bernama here, Friday.
Homo Erectus existed before the emergence of modern man or Homo
Sapiens.
The first fossil find of Homo Erectus was made in the late 19th
century and early 20th century in parts of Indonesia and China.
Later, similar finds were made in Africa.
Two celebrated discovery of Homo-Erectus fossils in Asia were the
"Java Man" by Dutch researcher Eugene Dubois, at Trinil, Java, in
1891 and the "Peking Man" between 1923 and 1927 at Zhoukoudian in
China.
According to Chow, the theory that Homo-Erectus moved from place to
place might mean that they moved into Malaysia before proceeding to
Indonesia and China.
In ancient times, Malaysia, Indonesia and China formed a single
land mass.
"My theory is that the Homo-Erectus who stopped in Malaysia were
attracted to the pleasant surroundings including plentiful food,"
he said.
"They are the remnants of Homo-Erectus whom we call Bigfoot, and
the environment in which they lived could have caused some changes
to them compared to the other Homo-Erectus," creating what is
called "regional differences," he said.
He said the evidence found showed that the Johor Bigfoot had
similar traits with Homo-Erectus.
Chow said his theory would be explained in detail in his research
paper which he is working on with a local paleonthologist.
He urged the state government to regard seriously the possibility
of this discovery and to maintain the creature's habitat.
He also urged the government to allow foreign experts to conduct
research on Bigfoot.
-- BERNAMA
