Yeren
Encyclopedia
Hominidae
The Hominidae or include them .), as the term is used here, form a taxonomic family, including four extant genera: chimpanzees , gorillas , humans , and orangutans ....
residing in the remote mountainous forested regions of western Hubei
Hubei
' Hupeh) is a province in Central China. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Lake Dongting...
.
Description
Witnesses typically report the creatures to be covered in reddish colored hair. Some white specimens have also been sighted. Their height is estimated to range from six to eight feet, although some colossal examples allegedly in excess of ten feet tall have been reported. Overall, it is smaller than the American Bigfoot. Like Bigfoot, the yeren is peaceful and will generally quietly walk away when encountering people in the ZhejiangZhejiang
Zhejiang is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. The word Zhejiang was the old name of the Qiantang River, which passes through Hangzhou, the provincial capital...
province.
Explanations
Some cryptozoologists have drawn a link between the Yeren and the extinct hominid GigantopithecusGigantopithecus
Gigantopithecus is an extinct genus of ape that existed from roughly one million years to as recently as three hundred thousand years ago, in what is now China, India, and Vietnam, placing Gigantopithecus in the same time frame and geographical location as several hominin species...
, which formerly inhabited the general region. It has also been suggested that the Yeren is actually a new species of orangutan
Orangutan
Orangutans are the only exclusively Asian genus of extant great ape. The largest living arboreal animals, they have proportionally longer arms than the other, more terrestrial, great apes. They are among the most intelligent primates and use a variety of sophisticated tools, also making sleeping...
, one that is ground-dwelling, bipedal and native to mainland Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
instead of Borneo
Borneo
Borneo is the third largest island in the world and is located north of Java Island, Indonesia, at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia....
or Sumatra
Sumatra
Sumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the sixth largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 with a population of 50,365,538...
.
It is also thought that the Yeren might just be a legend
Folklore
Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...
. The Yeren apparently dwells in a region already rich with superstition and strange phenomena, including an inordinate occurrence of albinism
Albinism
Albinism is a congenital disorder characterized by the complete or partial absence of pigment in the skin, hair and eyes due to absence or defect of an enzyme involved in the production of melanin...
in the local fauna, adding to its mystique. It has been connected with ancient Chinese legends of magical forest ogre
Ogre
An ogre is a large, cruel, monstrous, and hideous humanoid monster, featured in mythology, folklore, and fiction. Ogres are often depicted in fairy tales and folklore as feeding on human beings, and have appeared in many classic works of literature...
s and man-like bears.
Most reputable scientists, Chinese and Western, who have studied the Yeren case agree that almost all the physical evidence and sightings claimed by local people are unreliable and often fabricated, and that given the absence of any reliable evidence pointing that the yeren is likely to not exist
In popular culture
- Wildman of China is Monster in My PocketMonster in My PocketMonster in my Pocket is a media franchise developed by Morrison Entertainment Group, headed by Joe Morrison and John Weems ....
#119. - The Chinese Wild Man shows up in John Carpenter'sJohn CarpenterJohn Howard Carpenter is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, editor, composer, and occasional actor. Although Carpenter has worked in numerous film genres in his four-decade career, his name is most commonly associated with horror and science fiction.- Early life :Carpenter was born...
film Big Trouble in Little ChinaBig Trouble in Little ChinaBig Trouble in Little China is a 1986 American martial arts comedy film directed by John Carpenter. It stars Kurt Russell as truck driver Jack Burton, who helps his friend Wang Chi rescue Wang's green-eyed fiancee from bandits in San Francisco's Chinatown...
. - Yerens appear as monsters in Iron Lore EntertainmentIron Lore EntertainmentIron Lore Entertainment was a computer game developer that was founded in October 2000 by Brian Sullivan and Paul Chieffo....
video game Titan QuestTitan QuestTitan Quest is an action RPG developed by Iron Lore Entertainment. It was released worldwide by THQ on June 26, 2006. The game was released on Steam, along with the expansion Titan Quest: Immortal Throne, on July 17, 2007...
. They can be found in Act III(Orient mission) of the game. - The Syfy channel's show Destination TruthDestination TruthDestination Truth is a weekly American paranormal reality television series that premiered on June 6, 2007 on Syfy. Produced by Mandt Bros. Productions and Ping Pong Productions, the program follows paranormal researcher Josh Gates around the world to investigate claims of the supernatural, mainly...
searched for the Yeren in episode 12 of season 3.
See also
- Almas (cryptozoology)Almas (cryptozoology)The Almas, Mongolian for "wild man" , is a purported hominid cryptozoological species reputed to inhabit the Caucasus and Pamir Mountains of central Asia, and the Altai Mountains of southern Mongolia. The creature is not currently recognized or cataloged by science...
- BigfootBigfootBigfoot, also known as sasquatch, is an ape-like cryptid that purportedly inhabits forests, mainly in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. Bigfoot is usually described as a large, hairy, bipedal humanoid...
- Bukit Timah Monkey ManBukit Timah Monkey ManThe Bukit Timah Monkey Man, commonly abbreviated as BTM or BTMM, is a cryptid said to inhabit Singapore, chiefly in the forested Bukit Timah region. The creature is often cited as a forest-dwelling hominid or primate, and is also accounted for as being immortal; however, its exact identity remains...
- Orang MawasOrang MawasOrang Mawas or Mawas is a hominid cryptid reported to inhabit the jungle of Johor in Malaysia. It is described as being about 10 ft tall, bipedal and covered in black fur, and has been reported feeding on fish and raiding orchards...
- Orang PendekOrang PendekOrang Pendek is the most common name given to a cryptid, or cryptozoological animal, that reportedly inhabits remote, mountainous forests on the island of Sumatra....
- Pangboche HandPangboche HandThe Pangboche Hand is an artifact stolen from a Buddhist monastery in Pangboche, Nepal. Supporters contend that the hand is from a Yeti, a scientifically unrecognized animal purported to live in the Himalayan mountains...
- Wild manWild manThe wild man is a mythical figure that appears in the artwork and literature of medieval Europe, comparable to the satyr or faun type in classical mythology and to Silvanus, the Roman god of the woodlands.The defining characteristic of the figure is its "wildness"; from the 12th century...
- YetiYetiThe Yeti or Abominable Snowman is an ape-like cryptid said to inhabit the Himalayan region of Nepal, and Tibet. The names Yeti and Meh-Teh are commonly used by the people indigenous to the region, and are part of their history and mythology...
- YowieYowieThe Yowie is a creature from Australian folklore.Yowie may also refer to:*Cadbury Yowie, a confectionery from the Cadbury-Schweppes company*Yowie Bay, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney, Australia...