Hobbit-like creature that went extinct 50,000 years ago could still be alive, scientist claims

Anthropologist Gregory Forth believes that a species which is half human and half ape could still be residing in the mountain cave on Indonesia’s Flores Island, Popular Mechanics reported. These beings are like a hairy animal that is also a short human. It is an early type of human that he thinks has survived for 50,000 years, alienated from the rest of the world. Paleoanthropologists discovered its bones in the Liang Bua limestone cave and are sure that Forth's theory has an extremely tiny chance of being true. These experts study human evolution based on evidence and state that no evidence backs the claim that this extinct "ape-men" species could still be living anywhere on Earth.

Scientists first found this species in 2004, with a study in the journal Nature stating that this early human walked upright, had a small body structure and large feet. They named it Homo floresiensis (nicknamed Hobbit), and all the body parts came from a single female. They went on to find bones of 12 more Hobbits, and the tools revealed that they belonged to the Late Pleistocene era. They were only about 3.5 feet tall with large teeth and feet, and a small skull that housed a tiny brain.

While Forth thinks that there is still time before we find evidence of them being alive, others dismiss his claims. "Bear in mind that a lot of species have been known to local people (in the vicinity of Flores, for example, the Komodo dragon) before they were accepted by scientists,” he told the outlet. He admits that scientists need to see a specimen to be sure about it. However, since the idea that this human species could still be alive doesn't fit in with existing beliefs, no one is actually spending time looking for them, Matthew Tocheri, from the Smithsonian Institution’s Human Origins Initiative, said.

“I would be one of the most excited people in the world if Homo floresiensis were still around,” he admitted. However, he says it is highly unlikely that they are still living on Earth. He thinks this would be similar to folklore about Bigfoot or Sasquatch, whom people claim to have seen, but have never found any evidence.

About Homo floresiensis, or the hobbit

They appeared similar to Australopithecus afarensis, a species that went extinct 2.8 million years before the hobbit, leaving scientists puzzled. Researchers believe that one human species started living in Flores about one million years ago and went extinct nearly 50,000 years ago. A study published in the journal Science Advances on July 3 revealed that they neither hunted nor used fire.

But earlier analysis showed that they hunted Stegodons, extinct creatures similar to today's elephants. But anthropologists soon found that the marks on their bones did not come from stone tools, but were from the Komodo dragon, and the hobbits likely ate the leftovers. Further studies showed that they were carnivores and ate "plants, fruits, animals, possibly nuts or insects as well."