|Other name(s)||Ujit, Nguoi Rung|
|Country||Vietnam, Laos, and Borneo|
|Region||Vũ Quang (Vietnam)|
|Habitat||Jungle and forest|
The Batutut or Ujit or Người rừng, sometimes also known as "forest people", is a proposed hominid cryptid, reputedly similar to the bigfoot, thought to inhabit the Vũ Quang nature reserve and other wilderness areas of Vietnam, Laos and northern Borneo. The Vũ Quang has been the source of a number of newly discovered mammals by Dr. John MacKinnon. Mackinnon claims to have first observed tracks in 1970 that led him to believe that a hominid similar to the Meganthropus lives there (instead, cryptozoologist Loren Coleman believes that the Batutut are a surviving population of Homo erectus or Neanderthal.). Mackinnon's 1975 book In Search Of The Red Ape describes his experiences and findings. A 1947 sighting by a French colonist refers to the animal as a L'Homme Sauvage (wild man). Vietnamese scholars refer to the animal as the Người Rừng ("forest man").
It is described as being approximately 1.8 m (6 ft) tall and covered with hair except in the knees, the soles of the feet, the hands, and the face. The hair ranges in color from gray to brown to black. The creature walks on two legs and has been reported both solitary and moving in small groups. The creature is most often sighted foraging for food from fruits and leaves to langers and even flying foxes.
Sightings during the Vietnam War
In his book Very Crazy G.I. - Strange but True Stories of the Vietnam War, Kregg P. J. Jorgenson relates a sighting of such a creature by a team of US soldiers. The men referred to it as a "Rock Ape" reporting it as being small in stature, about 5 feet tall and having a reddish tinge to its fur.
Two Người Rừngs were reportedly captured by tribesmen near Đắk Lắk Province in 1971. In 1974 a North Vietnamese general, Hoang Minh Thao, requested an expedition to find evidence of the creatures, but it was unsuccessful.
A professor Tran Hong Viet of Pedagogic University of Hanoi, a researcher of Người Rừng, reported in 1982 finding similar footprints to those of MacKinnon in 1970, measuring 28x16 cm., of which he made casts. He had been making an extensive post-war inventory of natural resources, and while collecting specimens near Chu Mo Ray in Sa Thầy District, he came across the prints. A photo of the cast of the print was later published by Fortean News of the World (Japan Fortean Information Society).
On the 5th season premier of Syfy's Destination Truth, host Josh Gates and team go to Vietnam in search of the Batutut. Gates interviews a local primatologist, Vu Ngoc Thanh, and examines his casting of a footprint. Later in Ke Bang National Park, Gates's team find several large humanlike footprints and make a casting of their own which is taken back to the U.S. and examined by noted Bigfoot researcher, anthropologist Jeffrey Meldrum. Meldrum called the print "a significant discovery" and one of the best pieces of evidence he has seen.
- *The Field Guide to Bigfoot and Other Mystery Primates (NY: Anomalist Books, 2006, ISBN 1-933665-12-2)
- "In Search of the Red Ape (9780345245250): John Mackinnon: Books". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2012-01-25.
- ""L'Homme Sauvage" De Kontum". Coombs.anu.edu.au. Retrieved 2012-01-25.
- "Bigfoot: The Nguoi Rung GI Story 2001 and Rock Apes". Bigfootencounters.com. 2000-11-25. Retrieved 2012-01-25.
- Newton, Michael (2005). "Batutut". Encyclopedia of Cryptozoology: A Global Guide. McFarland & Company, Inc. pp. 39–40. ISBN 0-7864-2036-7.
- Sever, Al. "Very Crazy, G.I.!: Strange but True Stories of the Vietnam War (9780804115988): Kregg P. Jorgenson: Books". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2012-01-25.
- "Nguoi Rung, Vietnamese Forest People". Coombs.anu.edu.au. Retrieved 2012-01-25.
- "Nguoi Rung footprint". Coombs.anu.edu.au. 1996-08-29. Retrieved 2012-01-25.
- Hairy Hominids: Batutut
- The Nguoi Rung..a GI's Story by Kregg P. J. Jorgenson
- Nguoi Rung, Vietnamese Forest People, Wildman: mythical or missing ape