Yeren
The Yeren (chin. Yěrén 野人; more rarely also Xueren , Yeh Ren , Yiren ) is a legendary ape-man who is said to inhabit the mountain forests of the Hubei province , and more rarely other regions of China . The Yeren is a cryptid . Its existence is not proven and is considered highly questionable. Later transfigured sightings of the golden snub-nosed monkey are used as a possible explanation for the Yeren myth .
His name can be translated from Chinese as Wilder Mann .
Alleged appearance and behavior
Different reports provide different information about the alleged appearance of the Yeren. He will always be a great, walking upright ape described with long, dangling arms. Yeren is said to be two meters tall when standing, according to most reports. Occasionally, however, information is also found that the creature should be significantly larger, up to approximately three meters, or significantly smaller, just under one meter tall.
With the exception of the eyes and nose areas of the face, the Yeren is said to have a thick coat all over its body . The coat color is usually indicated as red, more rarely as brown or grayish. The Yeren's face is often described as human-like. His ears should be big; its forehead is described as being higher than that of other great apes.
In terms of its appearance, the Yeren therefore largely resembles other legendary ape-men such as the Yeti , the Bigfoot or the Yowie .
Yeren are generally described as being aggressive towards humans. According to some reports, the Yeren is also believed to have killed and consumed people. Even kidnapping and rape of women have been linked to Yeren. There are isolated reports of human-Yeren hybrids that are said to have originated in this way. There are comparable reports about the Caucasian Alma , an equally scientifically unproven ape-man. However, there are also statements according to which the Yeren behaves peacefully in the presence of humans.
Reports of existence and attempts at explanation
Yeren has been part of folklore in China's Hubei province for over 2000 years . Descriptions of ape-like beings that were associated with him can already be found in the ancient Chinese writer Qu Yuan . The first sightings later documented as such occurred in the 1940s. However, none of these sightings can be considered scientifically reputable.
Efforts to prove the existence of the yeren were unsuccessful, as was the case with other supposed ape-men. Noteworthy in this context are the large expeditions of more than 100 participants that took place in Hubei in 1976 and 1977. After the sighting of a strange, red-furry creature near Shennongjia Forest was announced in May 1976 , there was increased public interest in the existence of the yeren. Within a short period of time, groups of scientists, reporters and the military organized themselves, started several large-scale searches and questioned the population of the region about the cryptid. Despite the scope of the undertaking, there were no actual indications of its existence.
Alleged Yeren carcasses have been consistently identified as known species of monkey during investigations. In 1980, for example, a report was issued that the existence of the yeren had been proven on the basis of the hands of a specimen shot in 1957 that had been preserved in brine . Later, however, these could clearly be assigned to a macaque .
Therefore, the Yeren is generally viewed as a mythical creature and not a real primate species. The reason for the Yeren legend could be sightings of the golden snub-nosed monkey in both antiquity and modern times , which were later transfigured.
Some cryptozoologists point out that the Yeren myth, as well as that of the yeti and other ape-men , could go back to Gigantopithecus populations that survived into historical times . These great apes have been found in fossils in the People's Republic of China. The most recent finds have been dated to an age of 100,000 years. The supposed size of the Yeren and its often described red fur also led to the assumption that it could be a previously undiscovered species of orangutan on the Asian mainland.
See also
literature
- Harald Gebhardt, Mario Ludwig: Of dragons, yetis and vampires. On the trail of mythical animals . BLV, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-405-16679-9 .