A mysterious humanlike creature reported to inhabit the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The orang-pendek is usually contrasted to other Sumatran animals such as the gibbon, the orangutan, and the sun bear. It is described as being between 76 and 152 centimeters (2½ – 5 feet) tall, covered with short hair, and possessed of a bushy mane on its back. Its arms are shorter than those of most anthropoid apes. It is most often reported on the ground rather than the trees. Its footprints are very human like but slightly broader. Although the orang-pendek has been reported by Dutch settlers throughout the 20th century, the lack of a viable specimen has led many primatologists to discount the species’ existence. They have attributed the stories to misidentifications or hoaxes
The issue of the existence of the orang-pendek was raised anew in 1989 by British travel writer Dorothy Martyr. While visiting southwest Sumatra, she was told about the orang-pendek and began to collect stories of sightings. She was shown footprints that resembled those of a child but were much too broad. She took a cast and gave it to the local authorities. It was sent to the Indonesian National Parks Department but later disappeared. Indonesian zoologists reject the existence of the orang-pendek, but cryptozoologists are still trying to establish its existence.