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The Yowie

I don't think we are dealing with a typical cryptid however. I think they are full of tricks, such as infrasound, illusion and mimicry, and might well be very intelligent in a rather alien way. I am inclined to think that the sheer number of people who have seen such creatures, and continue to see them despite repeated debunkings, tells me that they are likely to exist.

Hmm, that argument stands for fairies, too. Are they likely to exist? It's important not to disregard the cultural context of these reports.

The world hide-and-seek champion claims are special pleading. They can't hide every mark upon the world as noted above. Infrasound? To communicate, well maybe, but I hope you don't mean the nonsensical "stun" claims that some Bigfooters use. This creep towards nearly supernatural qualities for cryptids is more obviously seen as an excuse to hold on to the belief, not great at justifying its reality.
 
Hmm, that argument stands for fairies, too. Are they likely to exist? It's important not to disregard the cultural context of these reports.
I admit, I thought that one might equally claim Snow White and all the seven dwarfs exist, by the current line of reasoning...

Infrasound? To communicate, well maybe,
It's irrelevant to this discussion, but elephants do use infrasound to communicate, plus they are surprisingly sneaky when required.
 
The problem I have with the Yowie - or the Big Hairy Fella to give it its more revealing colloquial moniker - is just that it is too large and too shaggy for such an envionment.

I'm no zoologist, but surely it is significant that most indigenous wildlifein Australasia is somewhat small and lean of limb. What would be the evolutionary advantage to being large and very hairy in an environment where much of it is arid and desert, with temperatures up to 25C in the summer and where bush fires are not uncommon?

The same objection might apply to some american bigfoots - but not to the Yeti. Yeren and wildmen of the Himalyas, Nepal, Central Asia and Siberia and so on.

Perhaps the Big Hairy Fella is exactly that: an outcast aborigine.
 
This creep towards nearly supernatural qualities for cryptids is more obviously seen as an excuse to hold on to the belief, not great at justifying its reality.

Aye, there's the rub. If you look at Yowie (Bigfoot etc) encounters, they often have great similarities with fairy and UFO encounters. Throw in min-min lights etc, and the whole thing gets pretty weird pretty quickly. That's why I was pointing to the "Believe" podcast earlier. Or you can listen to Timothy Renner about how Bigfoot and UFO encounters often go together on "Strange Familiars".

Even people who had Yowie/Bigfoot encounters themselves weren't sure if they were flesh and blood type creatures.

So I will stay an interested but ultimately undecided observer - until I encounter one myself. (Highly unlikely in the 'burbs of Sydney, though)
 
But, we KNOW there are people in costumes and ghillie suits that are either intentionally or inadvertently misinterpreted as Bigfoot-like creatures. It really doesn't take much to make people think they saw something very weird when they are surprised in the dark. There is lots of evidence for this. Obviously, this only applies in some situations, but it really is far more likely because I don't have to invent a relict hominoid to account for it. I'm going with many and various possible explanations for sightings, including the "damned if I know" option. But it's too much of a leap to speculate it's an unknown hominin.
Yes that's true, but happens seldom such 'sightings'are in poor conditions from a distance. Most ape suits are poor on close inspection (one notable exception is Bollo from The Mighty Boosh). Your average monkey suit is going to convince nobody close up. Also this is Australia and anybody dressed as a gorilla for any length of time is going to get heat stroke.
 
The problem I have with the Yowie - or the Big Hairy Fella to give it its more revealing colloquial moniker - is just that it is too large and too shaggy for such an envionment.

I'm no zoologist, but surely it is significant that most indigenous wildlifein Australasia is somewhat small and lean of limb. What would be the evolutionary advantage to being large and very hairy in an environment where much of it is arid and desert, with temperatures up to 25C in the summer and where bush fires are not uncommon?

The same objection might apply to some american bigfoots - but not to the Yeti. Yeren and wildmen of the Himalyas, Nepal, Central Asia and Siberia and so on.

Perhaps the Big Hairy Fella is exactly that: an outcast aborigine.
Australia was full of mega-fauna once. 25-foot lizards, rhino sized wombats, 10 foot birds. The yowie is far from being at the top of my list of mystery primates (the Asia ones, yeti, orang-pendek, yeren etc) are more likley but i'm not willing to dismiss the yowie out of hand. The alternatives being put forward by skeptics are much harder to believe than the existance of a relic hominin.
 
Watch: 'Yowie' Hidden in Australian Promotional Videos

Why not market the big guy whilst you're at it? I know it's not a tourist campaign, though if it draws in a dollar or two from tourists or curiosity seekers or those who think ''Let's go there'' then what was lost in doing so? Plus it's amusing.

Promotional videos from a community in Australia feature a pretty clever Easter Egg in the form of a 'Yowie' lurking on the periphery. The pair of amusing pieces intended to update residents on repair projects throughout the area reportedly come courtesy of the Narrabri Shire Council. Perhaps hoping to garner more eyeballs on the fairly mundane footage of construction workers and bridges or simply in service of a good prank, officials decided to pay homage to rumors that the region is rife with the Australian version of Bigfoot by having the creature make an appearance.
https://www.coasttocoastam.com/article/watch-yowie-hidden-in-australian-promotional-videos
 
Watch: 'Yowie' Hidden in Australian Promotional Videos

Why not market the big guy whilst you're at it? I know it's not a tourist campaign, though if it draws in a dollar or two from tourists or curiosity seekers or those who think ''Let's go there'' then what was lost in doing so? Plus it's amusing.


https://www.coasttocoastam.com/article/watch-yowie-hidden-in-australian-promotional-videos
I'm shocked. A bloke in a 'Yowie' suit? Ridiculous. Far more plausible that it was a real Yowie.
 
I admit, I thought that one might equally claim Snow White and all the seven dwarfs exist, by the current line of reasoning...

Wellllll....

Once upon a time a museum in a charming old German town was given a very important, long-lost gravestone.
It was that of Maria Sophia von Erthal, a baroness who is believed to have inspired the Brothers Grimm to write Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.


https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-49234674
 
Ye Only Way Is Essex ?

Where the girl is discovered in bed with seven hairy little men.

And immediately offered a part in 'Love Island'.

All declared she was the best bang since the Big One.
 
I was searching through our local newspaper, 'The Southern Highlands News' when I came across this article from 2012:

Searching for Bowral's Bigfoot

A BLUE Mountains cryptozoologist is seeking information on sightings or evidence of a “Bowral Bigfoot”.

Self-proclaimed “Yowie Man” Rex Gilroy said he was preparing to search in the Bowral-Canyonleigh scrublands after claims of sightings of ape-like (i.e. Australopithecine-type) hominids by farmers and others in past months.
“If anyone believes they have seen a Yowie or found whatever traces of their presence we are eager to hear from them,” Mr Gilroy said.
https://www.southernhighlandnews.com.au/story/130912/searching-for-bowrals-bigfoot/
 
A guy who claims Yowies may be visiting his campsite.

He says: 'This video tells the story of my realisation that maybe, just maybe, I have been getting visits by Yowies at my basecamp - I've had no idea about any of this until recently. I've got possible evidence of Yowie visitation, habitation and even audio of possible real Yowie call!'
 
The 'genius' Rex Gilroy.

Rex got a mention in our local newspaper a few years back:

Searching for Bowral's Bigfoot

“Yowie Man” Rex Gilroy with a cast of hist right foot compared with a left opposable big-toed Australopithecine-type footprint, cast from a Blue Mountains location. There have been claims that such footprints have been found in the Bowral district for generations
https://www.southernhighlandnews.com.au/story/130912/searching-for-bowrals-bigfoot/
 
There is an article in the Australian Museums magazine (its on their website)

1940 Vol 7 no 04

`Mystery animals of Australia`

Mostly on the bunyip but mentions hairy men.

(lots of other thrills in this mag.)
 
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