00:00Hobbits might actually exist in real life, but these tiny people don't live in cozy,
00:06round homes built into hills like in The Lord of the Rings.
00:10They're probably on an isolated island in Indonesia, climbing mountains and hiding in
00:15dense forests.
00:16Hold up, are they even human?
00:19Well, the place we're talking about is the island of Flores, a paradise-like spot in
00:25the Indian Ocean.
00:27Today, it's famous for being home to the Komodo dragon, the largest lizard in the world.
00:34But in the past, it was also home to a very small human species, known as Homo floresiensis.
00:41In 2003, experts excavated a cave called Leong Boa and found over a hundred fossils of this
00:49species.
00:50This discovery was huge because it completely challenged our understanding of human history.
00:56I mean, previously, most experts thought that Homo sapiens, aka our species, were the
01:02only ones that had managed to travel beyond the Southeast Asian mainland towards New Guinea
01:07and Australia.
01:08But if that's true, how did these ancestors get to Flores Island?
01:14Before you answer by boat, let me just say that it's very unlikely that an ancient human
01:18species could have created vessels strong and big enough to cross the ocean.
01:23Maybe they swam there or even teleported.
01:26Jokes aside, the truth is we still don't know exactly how or when Homo floresiensis ended
01:32up over there.
01:34A recent study suggests they might have descended from Homo erectus, one of the first human-like
01:39species we know of.
01:41According to this theory, they probably traveled 450 miles east from an island called Java
01:47and made it to Flores about a million years ago.
01:51Since living isolated in Flores, their bodies shrank over the years and they ended up becoming
01:56really short.
01:57But that's just one theory, and there isn't much solid evidence to back it up yet.
02:02What we can say for sure is that they were really short compared to modern humans.
02:07At first, we thought they'd be about 3 feet 6 inches tall.
02:12But that changed in 2016 when experts found new fossils, including a tiny arm bone and
02:19some teeth that showed they were even smaller, about 2.4 inches shorter to be exact.
02:26These hobbits also had a very small skull and a tiny brain, about a third the size of
02:32ours.
02:34They had wide hips and shoulders, short legs, and big, flat feet.
02:39Overall, their bones were so small that at first experts thought they might belong to
02:44kids.
02:46But nope.
02:47Since they had wisdom teeth, it was clear they were definitely dealing with adult skeletons.
02:52Very small adults, though.
02:55Because of their tiny and curious appearance, the media started calling this ancient species
02:59the real-life hobbit, just like the characters created by J.R.R.
03:03Tolkien, you know, Lord of the Rings.
03:06Frodo Baggins?
03:08Anyway, why were they so small?
03:12There are two main theories.
03:13The first one, they weren't a different species at all.
03:17Some experts believe they could actually be Homo sapiens, just like you and me, but with
03:21a condition that causes the brain to develop smaller, kinda like microcephaly.
03:27However, many specialists rejected this idea because the anatomy of people with these kinds
03:32of growth conditions today doesn't really match what we see in the little people from
03:36Flores.
03:37Moving on!
03:39The second theory is something people call island dwarfism.
03:43Basically, when large animals live on isolated islands, they tend to get smaller because
03:49the food supply is limited.
03:51For example, there's this dwarf elephant that lived in Sicily and Malta a long time
03:56ago and it only measured about 3 feet tall.
04:00Meanwhile, its relative on the European mainland was about 13 feet tall.
04:05With a pocket-sized body, these animals need less food, which means they have a better
04:10chance of surviving on an island.
04:13Another factor that leads to this type of dwarfism is that these animals don't have
04:17to worry about defending themselves from large predators.
04:20I mean, if you're on an isolated island with no lions or tigers around, there is really
04:26no need to be huge.
04:28So this could be what happened to the Hobbit people.
04:32Studies show they lived in Indonesia at least 100,000 to about 50,000 years ago.
04:38But after surviving for so long, these short people mysteriously disappeared.
04:44It's possible that they vanished after 8 massive volcanic eruptions hit that region.
04:50This idea came up after researchers found a thick layer of volcanic ash right above
04:55where the fossils were first found.
04:58Even with this evidence, no one can say for sure if the eruptions were the reason for
05:02their disappearance.
05:04And recently, an anthropologist questioned this theory by saying they might still be
05:09alive today.
05:10Wait, what?
05:12It sounds crazy, but he actually talked to dozens of local people who believe they've
05:17seen a tiny Hobbit-like man in the flesh on the remote island of Flores.
05:23In fact, mysterious stories about sightings have been told long before the remains of
05:28Homo floresiensis were even discovered.
05:31So it's not like they made up these stories after hearing about the fossils.
05:37At least 30 people living there claim they've seen, with their own eyes, a creature that
05:41is halfway between an ape and a human.
05:45It had an ape-like face and was definitely smaller and hairier than a person, but it
05:49walked completely upright with both feet on the ground, just like a human.
05:55Locals call it Laihoa.
05:57But what should we call it?
05:58I mean, can this creature be our famous Homo floresiensis?
06:02Well, maybe.
06:05Anthropologist Gregory Forth has been working on the island of Flores since the 80s, and
06:08he says the locals' descriptions are strangely similar to what we imagine these ancient,
06:14short humans might have been like.
06:17You might be wondering if the Laihoa is just a legend, like a campfire story meant to scare
06:22people.
06:23And yeah, some of the descriptions definitely seem to go against basic science.
06:28Some people say that after they saw the creature, it just flew off or disappeared like magic.
06:34But the researcher points out that a lot of locals also gave very detailed physical descriptions
06:40of the creature.
06:41Sure, the details varied a bit, which is pretty normal with different people witnessing the
06:46same thing, but they didn't mention anything about the creature having crazy superpowers.
06:52Now, Forth is starting to wonder if we really are the only species of humans left on the
06:58planet.
06:59They could be, in fact, real-life hobbits.
07:02And that brings us back to a question from earlier in the video.
07:05Are they even human?
07:07Hmm, maybe yes, maybe no.
07:10It is possible that the creature spotted on the island of Flores is actually an uncontacted
07:15population of modern humans, but it could also be an unknown species of monkey.
07:21However, since there's no other evidence for either of these ideas, the best guess right
07:25now is that a creature similar to an ape-man could still be out there.
07:31Okay, but if this creature shares the planet with us, how come no one's ever taken a photo
07:36of it?
07:37Well, the ape-man is part of that island, just like other rare creatures like Komodo
07:43dragons.
07:44And, unlike Bigfoot believers, locals probably don't go out actively searching for this creature.
07:50According to the anthropologist, they have no reason – financial, social, or otherwise
07:55– to find an ape-man.
07:57And since they're mostly unaware of scientific research, or any theories saying these creatures
08:02don't exist, they don't really care about trying to prove the scientific world wrong.
08:09Smith wrapped up his research in 2018, but the anthropologist says that since then, other
08:14people have seen the strange creature walking around the island of Flores.
08:18Two young guys from the UK went there, mostly for a snorkeling trip.
08:22But at some point, they hiked up a mountain and saw something that really looked like
08:27the ape-man.
08:28So, who knows?
08:31Maybe you'll also get a chance to see the real hobbit when you visit Indonesia!
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