Modern survival of Homo floresiensis

[Findthepin1]

There are reports of a thing called the Orang Pendek. Some biologists think it is a descendant of Homo floresiensis. Let the discussing begin!

[-Velocity-]

There are also reports of Bigfoot, Nessie, alien abductions, and Santa Claus. So as far as I'm concerned, reports from locals mean essentially nothing. Especially since the people in that part of the world still believe in magic, volcano gods, evil spirits, etc. If they have an [I]abnormal[/I] quantity of ancient legends about dwarves and tiny little jungle people, then that [I]might[/I] be evidence that they came into contact with Homo floresiensis at some point, but it could have been a long time ago. Edited November 20, 2015 by |Velocity|

[Kryten]

People in most parts of Indonesia are like people in most other places theses days; thanks to modern smart and features phones the majority have some kind of camera with that all times. They're also heavily pushing into forested areas for stuff like palm oil plantations, and the remaining areas are typically designated refuges which are quite heavily studied. And we still don't have any clear amateurs photos or camera trap images or corpses found in freshly-cleared fields of anything remotely resembling a relict hominid.

[-Velocity-]

I guess what I'm saying is that just because someone reported something doesn't mean anything. But if a whole lot of people reported something, then it might be worth investigating. I'm pretty sure that it was the former, not the latter.

[COLOR="silver"][SIZE=1]- - - Updated - - -[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[quote name='Kryten']People in most parts of Indonesia are like people in most other places theses days; thanks to modern smart and features phones the majority have some kind of camera with that all times. They're also heavily pushing into forested areas for stuff like palm oil plantations, and the remaining areas are typically designated refuges which are quite heavily studied. And we still don't have any clear amateurs photos or camera trap images or corpses found in freshly-cleared fields of anything remotely resembling a relict hominid.[/QUOTE]
Eh, just to be a little pedantic, I don't personally don't like the term "relic" hominid. I don't think it really fits with how evolution works, and we don't really know what they might have been like. Would you call chimpanzees relic hominids? Neanderthals had bigger brains than us, and their last common ancestor was probably Homo erectus, the same last common ancestor we shared with Homo floresiensis. Would you have called Neanderthals "relics"? 3% of me might be offended if you do :P

^^No, you don't really have to answer all that

Are we even really certain yet that Homo floresiensis was a real species?? The last I checked, there was still some controversy, but it's been a while.

[wumpus]

We call the coelacanth a "living fossil" even though it has been subject to as much evolutionary pressure as anything else (don't check whatever the coelacanth equivalent to an immune system is). It might not be too odd to call a small hominid population a relic when compared to an ~8,000,000,000 sized population.

As far as I know, there is only one sample of [COLOR=#333333]Homo floresiensis known. It is pretty much impossible to know that until you find enough samples in one place.[/COLOR]

[Kryten]

[quote name='|Velocity|']Eh, just to be a little pedantic, I don't personally don't like the term "relic" hominid. I don't think it really fits with how evolution works, and we don't really know what they might have been like. Would you call chimpanzees relic hominids? Neanderthals had bigger brains than us, and their last common ancestor was probably Homo erectus, the same last common ancestor we shared with Homo floresiensis. Would you have called Neanderthals "relics"? 3% of me might be offended if you do :[/QUOTE]
It's basically the same kind of cryptozooly perpetuated by Sanderson and Heuvelmans, where bigfoot is a Neanderthal (meaning something like a more upright gorilla) and sea monster sightings are plausibly scaly ribbon-necked plesiosaurs. 'Relict' works for it on multiple levels.
[quote name='|Velocity|']
Are we even really certain yet that Homo floresiensis was a real species?? The last I checked, there was still some controversy, but it's been a while.
[/quote]
It keeps coming out that way in phylogenies, and none of the 'diseased [I]H. sapiens[/I]' hypotheses are terribly credible. They all posit what would be crippling and rare disabilities, not the kind of thing you'd expect to find in a few specimens on a tiny island.
[quote name='wumpus']As far as I know, there is only one sample of [COLOR=#333333]Homo floresiensis known. It is pretty much impossible to know that until you find enough samples in one place.[/COLOR][/QUOTE]
While the first and most complete specimen seems to get almost all the press, there are at least six. Edited November 21, 2015 by Kryten

[YNM]

Being an Indonesian myself, it [i]is[/i] true that there are a settlement of shorter people near the discovery site. Even so, they're as short as the shorter part (excluding them) of the population in Indonesia. Gene accumulation maybe ?

[lajoswinkler]

[quote name='YNM']Being an Indonesian myself, it [i]is[/i] true that there are a settlement of shorter people near the discovery site. Even so, they're as short as the shorter part (excluding them) of the population in Indonesia. Gene accumulation maybe ?[/QUOTE]

Could be inbreeding over a long time. A common case.
When you combine this with rural people's common way of thinking, religion absurdities, myths and other social phenomena, having these stories is practically mandatory.
What they lack is evidence. Bussiness as usual, being Indonesia or any other country. :)

[YNM]

[quote name='lajoswinkler']Could be inbreeding over a long time. A common case.
When you combine this with rural people's common way of thinking, religion absurdities, myths and other social phenomena, having these stories is practically mandatory.
What they lack is evidence. Bussiness as usual, being Indonesia or any other country. :)[/QUOTE]
Documentations of them are available, often from "expeditions". Even so, they're not that significantly shorter or ........, nor isolated or afraid of foreigns... Indonesians are sometimes shorter anyway, finding an adult whose height only <=1.5 m isn't that hard. That's why tourists here more often looks more like poles in the crowd...