Not so long ago, while studying the fauna of the rugged and uninhabited forests of Papua New Guinea on the slopes of Mount Mission, an expedition of the University of Sydney professor Harry Opit heard the roar of some creature.
Presumably a photograph of Yovi (fragment with high magnification)
It was impossible to immediately determine what kind of animal was publishing it. These sounds were heard at a distance of about a kilometer from the camp where the scientists were. After numerous disputes, the members of the expedition did not come to a consensus about which of the representatives of the local fauna could publish this growl.
After some time, one of the researchers again had a chance to meet with an unknown animal. A dark figure at dusk crossed the path about two hundred meters from the witness. At first, the scientist decided that it was a man, but the creature, making a loud crash through the branches, entered the forest. It became clear that it does not apply to intelligent beings. But in New Guinea there are no large primates, so the mystery about which species of animals this creature belongs to remained unsolved.
On his return to Australia, Professor Harry Opit spent a lot of time studying large monkeys at the Sydney zoos. He listened to the voices of chimpanzees, gibbons, and other primates, but he could not specifically determine what kind of voice he heard during the expedition.
Several years passed, and the professor forgot to think about this case, until one day he was called by his old acquaintance - journalist John Morrison. During the conversation, Morrison told Opit that he and his family were vacationing over the weekend with his family in a national park located in the north of New South Wales.
While walking in the park, his daughter found footprints on the ground, which were very similar to human ones, but very large, the length of the foot was about 60 centimeters. The distance from one track to another was about one and a half meters.
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The creature that left these marks had a lot of weight, since the prints were pressed into the soft soil by at least a couple of centimeters, the thumb on the prints was set slightly to the side. John and his family traced a chain of footprints along a dried-up stream bed for about a kilometer, then solid rock began. It is clear that the creature that left these traces passed here quite recently.
Morrison thought that these were the prints of a wild creature, the legend of which he had already heard more than once, and which in Australia is called Yovi. But I decided to turn to a zoologist for more detailed advice. Professor Opit could not give an exact answer to the journalist, so after talking with a friend, he began to study the Australian Yovi.
At the same time, in 1978, another case became known when this mysterious monkey was seen. The event took place in Springbrook in southeastern Queensland. While walking around the forest, the local forester Richard Gibson was led away by a huge horrill-like creature that emitted a deafening roar and had a disgusting smell.
The entire body of the primate was covered with black hair, but the muzzle was hairless with yellow eyes. Gibson also noted that the creature had very long arms and a thick mane. In local newspapers, there were reports of several more cases of people seeing yovee.
Harry Opit decided to check all these rumors and went to Springbrook. And then one night, December 5, 1978, when the professor was in the forester's house, he heard a loud roar.
These sounds were exactly the same as those he heard in the forests of New Guinea, but now the animal was much closer. This roar did not stop for several minutes, then the barking of dingo dogs was heard. It became clear that they were barking at some large animal.
During conversations with local residents, the scientist spoke with Frank Fieldon, who had seen or encountered Yovi more than once. Fieldon told the professor that this primate is a carnivorous animal and feeds mainly on the meat of small kangaroos.
Frank drew this conclusion from the fact that, walking in the trail of the yovi, he noticed shreds of wool and scattered entrails of eaten animals on the nearby bushes. Obviously, the dingo dogs did not do this, as Fieldon is very familiar with their habits. Dogs are always dragging their prey on the ground, and Jovi most likely eats on the go, tearing out entrails and scattering them in different directions.
Opith agreed with Frank's opinion that this monkey is a carnivore, otherwise traces of disturbed vegetation and feces would be visible in the primate's habitats. And yet, apparently, the Yovies prefer to hunt at night, and during the day they sit in secluded places.
Several years have passed, 1985 has come, now there are reports that mysterious creatures have been seen in Lamington National Park. In the month of July, while in his house, the forester heard heavy blows. Running to the window, he noticed how from the shed, which was in the courtyard, tools stacked there were flying in different directions: shovels, rakes, axes.
In the midst of all this rumble, the forester heard a loud growl. Thinking that some madman had attacked his shed, the forester barricaded the door of the house and called for help. When help arrived in the morning, nothing was found in the yard except scattered tools. Nobody was able to explain what happened.
In addition to tools, a pile of firewood, which was located not far from the house, was attacked. Arriving at the scene, Professor Opit saw that the logs in the stack were very thick and heavy, supported by stakes driven into the ground with a sledgehammer.
Yovi sculpture in Queensland
No man could have scattered all these logs without the help of technology. Clearly, it was Yovi's handiwork.
The scientist zoologist devoted a lot of time to studying the reports of various organizations and newspaper articles that mentioned a large mysterious monkey living in the forests of Australia.
It turned out that the first mentions of yovi appeared in the 18th century, at the time of the emergence of the first settlements of the British, and in the 19th century there was even more information about this creature. The natives knew well about this animal. But when Australia underwent more and more human settlement and large cities appeared, the number of many animal species declined, or even disappeared altogether.
The same thing happened with the Yovi: the population of this species began to decline greatly, and soon they left their usual habitats and began to live in more remote and less studied forests. However, soon after Australia adopted a government program for the protection of many species of flora and fauna and created national parks, the living conditions of the animals became much better. The Yovi population also increased and they even began to appear near human habitats.
It should be noted that many changes are currently being observed in the study of nature. The concepts of "man" and "animal" are getting much closer. Zoologists notice that there are great similarities in the anatomy and physiology of humans and apes.
A huge amount of information about wild people, yeti in the Himalayas, forest people in Indochina, yovi in Australia and many other creatures suggests that homo may not only be sapiens. Although, this is a controversial issue and not all scientists agree with this statement.
It is expected that a closer and more comprehensive study will provide an answer to this very interesting question.