(Original headline: Malaysia May Make Biggest Scientific Discovery, Say Experts )
JOHOR BAHARU-- Malaysians may be in for the biggest scientific discovery in human history if the theory of the biodiversity expert Vincent Chow on the origin of the creature called "big-foot" is proven true.
For those who are still unfamiliar with Vincent Chow's name, he is the man who revealed to Bernama the possible existence of the creature in the jungles of Johor, attracting the attention of the world media and scientists.
And now, after undertaking studies on the evidence that he found, he is ready to expound the theory that such creature really existed in the state.
According to the theory, the Johor Bigfoot is probably a pre-historic human, namely the Homo-Erectus, who lived between two million and 400,000 years ago.
"It (Johor Bigfoot) is probably the remnants of Homo-Erectus. If my theory on the connection between the Johor Big-Foot and Homo-Erectus proves to be correct, it would be the biggest discovery in present times. It is the biggest present by Malaysia to the world," he said to Bernama here, Friday.
Homo Erectus existed before the emergence of modern man or Homo Sapiens.
The first fossil find of Homo Erectus was made in the late 19th century and early 20th century in parts of Indonesia and China. Later, similar finds were made in Africa.
Two celebrated discovery of Homo-Erectus fossils in Asia were the "Java Man" by Dutch researcher Eugene Dubois, at Trinil, Java, in 1891 and the "Peking Man" between 1923 and 1927 at Zhoukoudian in China.
According to Chow, the theory that Homo-Erectus moved from place to place might mean that they moved into Malaysia before proceeding to Indonesia and China.
In ancient times, Malaysia, Indonesia and China formed a single land mass.
"My theory is that the Homo-Erectus who stopped in Malaysia were attracted to the pleasant surroundings including plentiful food," he said.
"They are the remnants of Homo-Erectus whom we call Bigfoot, and the environment in which they lived could have caused some changes to them compared to the other Homo-Erectus," creating what is called "regional differences," he said.
He said the evidence found showed that the Johor Bigfoot had similar traits with Homo-Erectus.
Chow said his theory would be explained in detail in his research paper which he is working on with a local paleonthologist.
He urged the state government to regard seriously the possibility of this discovery and to maintain the creature's habitat.
He also urged the government to allow foreign experts to conduct research on Bigfoot.
