Yowiehunters Forum

Wonder how many different types of yowies there are in Australia....has this ever been categorised?America claims to have at least eight different species.Are there differences between species because of habitat adaptation?It's surprising our yowies are not hairless during our hot summers but all reports they have thick hair which would like other species attract fleas,ticks etc.

I guess it depends if you count colour as a type or not. The Aboriginals have different names for different regions. I think researchers count 3 or 4 types which Rusty covered real well in another thread in this section . Theres the tiny mythical (?) Kuritjah as well if you want to count them in. Personally i think the big yowies are just the tip of the iceberg so to speak. We could have all sorts of weird things out there!

I's have to assume that there is more than 2...the little guys and the big guys. Thats what the Aboriginals say anyway...thats a pretty good start.

I imagine that ones in QLD would differ slightly to those found in Vic and NSW simply because of diversity . I am just guessing obviously.

A word or two about diversity and how many types of Yowies there could be.
What is diversity?
In this context it means that different populations have discernable differences in appearance due to genetics.
In order for there to be genetic differences there must have been separation of an original population into 2 or more populations.
If each population continues to keep largely to itself then differences become more noticeable.
So diversification is really evolution at work and, given long enough, different groups become different species.

The different races of humans are each a result of adaptations to different environments. If the races had stayed isolated (that is, if travel remained slow and difficult) eventually humanity would have evolved into several species which would have then been unable to breed. But that would take quite a long time.

But back to the original question: how many types of Yowie are there?
Given the Aboriginal reports and names for them, plus modern reports, I would guess only the one type, or possibly two if the small "Brown Jacks" are not simply juvenile Yowies. I doubt there would be enough difference in habitat from Queensland to Victoria to "force" Yowies to diversify. Let's not forget also that Yowies are likely to be highly mobile and perhaps nomadic and may walk long distances to mix and mingle.

All just speculation.

Mad Academic

Trawling through the the reports I've noticed lots of the brown jacks are prevalent on the Mid North coast which I agree could be juveniles but the reports from Queensland are mostly7ft+.Apart from height there is also differences in facial features eg some have hair over entire bodies and some have a hairless face and differences in numbers of toes. According to aboriginal lore yowies were the original inhabitants and so have had plenty of time to adapt to the environment but one thing doesn't add up.....why aren't there more of them they are obviously the apex predator and have had at least 50+ thousand years to build up numbers....they theoretically should be outnumbering humans by now.Family units with two juveniles have been often sited and could have a lifespan of 30+years so IMO there should be a larger population.

There probably is a large population out there. Theyre just smart enough to stay away from us humans.


Dont forget also that there are thousands of unreported sightings and maybe more unreported. Not everyone is going to share their encounter.

Good point Yowie bait not everyone reports sightings.....and they have plenty of bushland to stay hidden..but there must be more than a few thousand of them given they have no predator to thin out their numbers.

Lozza62 wrote:....they theoretically should be outnumbering humans by now.Family units with two juveniles have been often sited and could have a lifespan of 30+years so IMO there should be a larger population.

Small pox.

I tend to believe they were once fairly numerous and very common throughout the world, Europe included.
Then the good ol Black Death came along and decimated thier numbers in Europe.

When Europeans came to the Americas in any numbers smallpox had already gone before them, wiping out entire villages and upwards of 80% of the total Indian population.

Here in Australia the same thing happened (whether intentional germ warfare or not is irrelevant to this discussion).

The surviving homo ferus in all cases would have had fewer offspring than 'normal' survive because of forced inbreeding, perhaps contributing over time to the diverse anatomies described in different areas (particularly USA).

I tend to think the numbers are only now recovering, leading to the huge growth of reports, especially in the US. Here in the wonderful land of oz human population is still largely confined to coastal areas and relatively small compared to the US so encounters are relatively few and far between.

Hi wolf ...I thought of diseases as a possible cause of low numbers which could be right if they are a hominid.If they are a type of ape do human diseases affect them the same way?

Lozza62 wrote:Good point Yowie bait not everyone reports sightings.....and they have plenty of bushland to stay hidden..but there must be more than a few thousand of them given they have no predator to thin out their numbers.

I only say that Lozza as i know 7 people who have had encounters or possible encounters, maybe more. 3 people from my youth who matter of factly talked about the yowies in their areas or homesteads plus 4 people ive known for years.

2 of them didn't have a visual but im sure one of them definetely had a yowie that was following him..up a mountain!

Out of these 4 only one reported it .

Theres also local researchers who have had frequent encounters with "something" with red eyeshine and large bulky shillouettes which they dont report as sightings.

Im sure there are other researchers that dont report their encounters publicly for obvious reasons like revealing their locations.

Also of course theres Deans statistics of unreported encounters which i think he predicted was in the thousands on another thread.

I could be mistaken buti think one forum member once stated
( Mad Academic perhaps?) that there would need to be thousands of yowies to sustain a breeding population.

Lozza62 wrote:Hi wolf ...I thought of diseases as a possible cause of low numbers which could be right if they are a hominid.If they are a type of ape do human diseases affect them the same way?

The Great Apes get sick from many human diseases.

Lozza62 wrote:Good point Yowie bait not everyone reports sightings.....and they have plenty of bushland to stay hidden..but there must be more than a few thousand of them given they have no predator to thin out their numbers.

Arguably they have the greatest predator on the planet...

... humans have far more weapons than disease and to use to keep down wildlife populations... as the many species going extinct as we speak could tell us...

Lozza62 wrote: According to aboriginal lore yowies were the original inhabitants and so have had plenty of time to adapt to the environment but one thing doesn't add up.....why aren't there more of them they are obviously the apex predator and have had at least 50+ thousand years to build up numbers....they theoretically should be outnumbering humans by now.Family units with two juveniles have been often sited and could have a lifespan of 30+years so IMO there should be a larger population.

I respectfully disagree, Lozza. I don't believe they are "apex predators" at all. IMO they are largely vegetarian, but take a little meat when they can easily get it (eg, road kill). As vegetable matter is quite nutrient poor (especially Australian vegetation), they would have had to spend a lot of their time foraging and may have needed to move about a lot to find adequate food. (At least, prior to the advent of roadkill.)

Their offspring would be a large investment in resources (similar to humans) but, as they do not appear to live in communities, births would of necessity be spaced well apart, so that adequate resources could be devoted to each juvenile. Thus, their numbers would be quite stable and not prone to increase much. That being said, perhaps their numbers may be on the increase if they are taking advantage of a new source of protein in the way of road kill.

Cheers,

MA

Yowie Bait,

Nope, wasn't me.
I could be wrong but I think a viable population could be maintained with just a couple of hundred.
It would depend partly on the diversity of the founding population and also how well they "mix".
If they did not mix well then localised inbreeding could occur. That could lead to problems due to lack of diversity down the track, but not necessarily.
All Leopards in the world are very closely related (almost like siblings) and yet they survive.
Tasmanian Devils are similarly very close genetically. That is why the Facial Tumour Disease is so virulent...none of them recognise it as foreign tissue and mount an immune response. Yet they still survive.

Cheers,

MA

Mad Academic wrote:Yowie Bait,

Nope, wasn't me.
I could be wrong but I think a viable population could be maintained with just a couple of hundred.
It would depend partly on the diversity of the founding population and also how well they "mix".
If they did not mix well then localised inbreeding could occur. That could lead to problems due to lack of diversity down the track, but not necessarily.
All Leopards in the world are very closely related (almost like siblings) and yet they survive.
Tasmanian Devils are similarly very close genetically. That is why the Facial Tumour Disease is so virulent...none of them recognise it as foreign tissue and mount an immune response. Yet they still survive.

Cheers,

MA

Thanks for the correction Mad Academic. I would guess they would take care of each others young as well from one report i have read of three babies left under a tree. Unless of course they give birth to three at once!