On the jungle trail of the legendary Malaysian 'snaggle-toothed ghost'

BANGKOK - The Malaysian state of Johor has announced it is to organise an official search for one of its most famous - and elusive - inhabitants: the legendary ape-man Bigfoot.

Local authorities are planning to allow scientists to rig camera-traps deep in the rainforests in order to verify recent purported sightings, which enthusiasts claim prove the existence of the fabled primate.

The hairy hominids are known by a variety of names throughout the world: Bigfoot, Sasquatch, the Yeti or the Abominable Snowman.

But Malaysia, where tribal people call the creatures Siamang, Mawas, or Hantu Jarang Gigi (snaggle-toothed ghost), will be the first country to openly endorse an official attempt to track them down.

Johor's Chief Minister, Abdul Ghani Othman, said the state was prompted to seek physical evidence of the animals after a spate of sightings late last year, when an outsized footprint found in the mud at one wildlife reserve measured 45cm - equivalent to a man's size 20 shoe - and broken branches overhead suggested that, if the animals reared up on their hind legs, they would measure between 2.5 to 3 metres tall.

"The mystery of Bigfoot's existence has attracted a lot of interest," Ghani said. "We hope the expedition will be able to prove its existence."

Malaysia has been gripped by Bigfoot fever since November when, just weeks before the release of Peter Jackson's epic "King Kong" in Kuala Lumpur's cinemas, three labourers digging a fishpond said they glimpsed a Bigfoot family of three on a riverbank in Kota Tinggi reserve. They dropped their tools and fled, but returned with an educated colleague to inspect and photograph the enormous footprints.

A clump of brown fur, drenched with sour-smelling perspiration, was also said to be recovered from the site, along with scattered fishbones.

Some local news reports speculated that these were all that remained of the Bigfoot family's picnic.

Last August a frog catcher from the Orang Asli tribe claimed he encountered an auburn-haired tropical Yeti scratching itself on a tree.

Hamid Mohd Ali, 31, stopped about 10 metres short of the creature which was double his height.

"I could see its teeth but I did not wait to find out if it was smiling at me or whether it saw me as its meal," he told the New Straits Times.

"In this year alone, four villagers have claimed to have seen it and we think this is because of the shrinking jungle," he added.

And while the Johor authorities have, not surprisingly, been accused of hyping up Bigfoot to entice wealthy eco-tourists from abroad, the theories on its existence are backed by some wildlife experts.

While sceptical about the existence of giant apes, Johor's National Park Director, Hashim Yusof, is refusing to rule out the possibility.

"The Endau-Rompin National Park covers 800 square kilometres," he acknowledged. "We only have information on half of the flora and fauna inside it."

And Jane Goodall, one of the world's most distinguished primatologists, is an unashamed Bigfoot and Yeti enthusiast.

"You'll be amazed when I tell you that I'm sure that they exist," she said in a 2002 interview with National Public Radio in the US.

"I've talked to so many Native Americans who all describe the same sounds, two who have seen them. The existence of hominids of this sort is a very real probability."

There have been scores of sightings of Sasquatch in North America, with the Rocky Mountains and the Great Lakes apparent hotbeds of hominid activity.

The most famous sighting was in 1967, when Roger Patterson and Robert Gimlin claimed to have captured a hairy, bipedal figure on film.

They rounded on critics who said the image captured was obviously a man in an ape suit.

Scientists suggest that these shy Malaysian mega-apes might descend from Gigantopithecus, a huge primate that roamed southern China more than 300,000 years ago.

Douglas Lim, a researcher, said: "We should keep open minds and investigate this famous cryptozo-ological myth inside out."

- INDEPENDENT