The RELICT HOMINOID INQUIRY 9:1-2 (2020)

Book Review

Beyond the Secret Elephants: Of Mystery, Elephants and Discovery. By Gareth Patterson. Bryanston, South Africa: Tracey McDonald Publishers. ©2020. ISBN-13: 978-0-639929-3-8. 205 pp. R270 (trade paperback).

Beyond the Secret additional accounts related by local witnesses, Elephants, is by Gareth a familiar profile emerges – an upright ape- Patterson, award-winn- like hominoid (although one witness suggests ing wildlife expert and a more human-like affinity) standing between author of numerous 5.5 to 7 feet tall, covered with hair described books, known interna- variably as from beige or russet to brown- tionally for his efforts to black; often nocturnal, secretive and elusive, protect the lions and but sometimes curious, and capable of elephants of Africa. In retreating swiftly into the undergrowth. Their this book we have the alleged footprint is rather human-like, with a sequel to The Secret non-divergent hallux. Elephants (2009), which focused on the Patterson draws well deserved attention to discovery and two-decade study of a relict the concept of relict hominoids, suggesting population of elephants, the Knysna elephants. optimistically that it is gaining mainstream Thought to have been extinct, a small number momentum. In the past, such interests were of these elusive bush elephants linger in the often kept largely to oneself. We learn that dense Tsitsikamma Forest and mountain Dr. C. K. “Bob” Brain, an esteemed paleo- fynbos (shrublands) along the Cape Fold anthropologist, had conscientiously investi- Mountains of southeastern South Africa. gated reports of the waterbobbejaan, a These legendary animals are “so rare, they possible living relict hominoid in South border on the mythical.” Beyond the Secret Africa. The waterbobbejaan is described Elephants continues the story of Patterson’s much like the otang as over six feet tall, search for and eventual intimate familiarity upright, bipedal, with long arms and covered with the remaining Knysna elephants, while with reddish hair. also revealing in much greater detail the Patterson highlights the Relict Hominoid presence of perhaps an even more legendary Inquiry (www.isu.edu/rhi) and members of its creature, a relict hominoid known to the editorial board. One of those, Ian Redmond, indigenous people as the otang. primatologist and wildlife conservationist, The revealation began when a forestry wrote the foreword to Beyond, opening with department scientist asked Patterson, “Gareth, the admonition, “An open mind is central to while you are out walking in the forests and science.” Yet Redmond cautions that the mountain fynbos, have you ever come across a scientific establishment can turn hostile in the type of furry upright walking ape?” Indeed, in face of extraordinary and controversial the pages of Beyond we learn of at least three allegations. While anticipating that some will firsthand encounters with the enigmatic otang scoff at the suggestion of a relict hominoid, he by Patterson. When combined with several challenges the reader to consider the evidence.

© RHI

JEFF MELDRUM 2

Patterson cites from Meldrum (2016) interest in the wake of the recent discovery of addressing the increasing bushiness of the the diminutive and rather recently persisting known hominoid family tree, modifying the hominin, Homo floresiensis in Indonesia. perception of the pattern of human evolution. Throughout we find a theme of scientists No longer conceived of as a single-file march and wildlife professionals that are not quick to from hominoid to Homo sapiens, our simply reject the possibility of the otang and phylogeny is complex and ramified with other relict hominoids merely because they numerous persistent branches, even inter- “cannot exist.” Instead we see multiple lineage genetic introgression. He notes the examples of scientifically curious minds that startling recognition of the recent age of Homo remain open and objective when considering naledi, a rather primitive hominin whose what might be out there. As Patterson notes, “I remains have been suprisingly dated to did not discover the Otang, rather I became between 236,000 and 335,000 years ago, ‘aware of’ their existence.” overlapping the emergence of Homo sapiens. Such a realization makes the prospect of relict Jeff Meldrum hominoids in Africa far less incredible. Idaho State University Patterson devotes a chapter to the less Pocatello, Idaho, USA known examples of possible African relict hominoid, known by such names as Agogwe, References Kakundakari, Fudu, and Ogo. A brief chapter on the more notorious “Bigfoot” provides a Meldrum DJ (2016) Sasquatch and other snapshot of why he feels serious research and wildmen: the search for relict hominoids. popular interest have become more main- Journal of Scientific Exploration 30:355- stream in the past decade and a half. Another 373. chapter addresses the orang pendek of Patterson G. The Secret Elephants. South southeast Asia, which has garnered renewed Africa: Penguin Books, 2009.