Inside remote Indonesian island where tiny hobbit-like ancient human could still be roaming
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Could a tiny, hobbit-like 'ape man' have survived for a million years on a tiny Indonesian island... and still be alive today?. The idea sounds like the stuff of Hollywood fantasy, but anthropologist Professor Gregory Forth has spoken to dozens of local people who believe they have seen the tiny 'ape-man' in the flesh on the remote island of Flores.
![[The island of Flores is where the remnants of an ancient species of tiny humans just three foot seven tall and believed to have gone extinct 50,000 years ago]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/11/12/93873129-14262477-The_island_of_Flores_is_where_the_remnants_of_an_ancient_species-a-2_1736599229479.jpg)
A recent sighting by tourists could add more fuel to the idea that a possible human ancestor has survived for millennia. What makes the sightings even more remarkable is that Flores is where, in 2003, researchers discovered remnants of an ancient species of tiny humans 3ft 7in tall who were believed to have gone extinct 50,000 years ago.
![[A local villager explores the caves where the remains of homo floriensis were found]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/10/18/93873119-14262477-A_local_villager_explores_the_caves_where_the_remains_of_homo_fl-a-23_1736534772281.jpg)
Forth told DailyMail.com that he had heard stories about tiny 'ape men' from the local 'Lio' people on the island long before the remains of 'Homo floresiensis' were found, suggesting locals had not made up their stories after being inspired by that find.
![[On Flores, the secluded island's inhabitants tend to live near the coast]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/11/12/93873125-14262477-On_Flores_the_secluded_island_s_inhabitants_tend_to_live_near_th-a-3_1736599229552.jpg)
The remote island of Flores is the 10th largest island in Indonesia, and is home to Komodo dragons as well as the Flores giant rat, the world's largest: with mountain forests sloping steeply down to the sea, the inland areas of Flores are lightly populated.
![[A sculpted model of what homo floresiensis might have looked like in the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/08/15/93873667-14262477-image-a-5_1736350238480.jpg)
Professor Forth talked for decades to the Lio people, most of whom work as subsistence farmers and live near the coast. Dozens of them had stories of a similar-sounding creature, half-way between an ape and a man - but smaller than a human. Could a tiny, hobbit-like 'ape man' have survived for a million years on Flores?.
![[On Flores, the Lio people still largely live by subsistence farming]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/10/18/93873115-14262477-On_Flores_the_Lio_people_still_largely_live_by_subsistence_farmi-a-25_1736534772438.jpg)
