Well, there are thought to still be uncontacted tribes of humans. Even today, 2015, there are thought to be 50 tribes in South America with little or no contact with the outside word (Protecting isolated tribes). Some recently have been initiating contact, perhaps due to violence from illegal loggers or drug traffickers, and there's a lot of discussion about what to do in that situation because of their vulnerability to diseases and so forth. (Some Isolated Tribes in the Amazon Are Initiating Contact)
If there were a small group of non human, perhaps tiny, very shy hominids - well if intelligent they might be especially hard to spot.
And they would be too clever to get caught in traps for wild animals, or their friends would get them free. And hominids are very rare as fossils, so could easily not be in the fossil record, if the populations were small.
So, in theory, in wild and jungle areas - I'd have thought non human hominids could be undetected. Especially if tiny, and not making huts or such like.
This small species of lemur was discovered in 2013 in Madagascar.
Lavasoa Dwarf Lemur: New Species Found on Madagascar
That species was "hiding in plain sight" as it looked very similar to an already known species.
This is a better example
Callicebus miltoni: New Species of Titi Monkey Discovered in Brazil - also
New Titi Monkey Found: Fire-Tailed, With Sideburns
And new primates continue to be found every year - some almost identical in appearance and distinguished genetically, but some look different as well. See Primates described in the 2010s Also Meet the new species
Not saying it is likely :). Just as a matter of whether it is in principle possible, I don't really see why not.
For that matter, we know that a small group of non human hominids did live contemporary with modern humans as recently as 13,000 years ago.
Their skeletons were found on the island of Flores in Indonesia, in this cave:
Skull totally human looking
Adults only 1.1. meters high.
It's Homo floresiensis popularly known as "Hobbit man".
So, given this recent discovery, only in 2003, of non human hominids that survived until 13,000 years ago, could there be any others that survived longer?
Hobbit man could be mistaken for little humans, or children, at a distance, and if shy and wary, like Tolkien's Hobbits, you can imagine a small population in some jungle or on some remote rarely visited island somewhere escaping notice. If a lemur can, why not a tiny hominid?
I'd be as astonished as anyone if we did find a new species of hominid :). So again not saying it is at all likely, just answering "is it possible". It seems to be not totally impossible.
You can get this and many more of my answers now as a kindle book:
Simple Questions - Surprising Answers - In Astronomy
If there were a small group of non human, perhaps tiny, very shy hominids - well if intelligent they might be especially hard to spot.
And they would be too clever to get caught in traps for wild animals, or their friends would get them free. And hominids are very rare as fossils, so could easily not be in the fossil record, if the populations were small.
So, in theory, in wild and jungle areas - I'd have thought non human hominids could be undetected. Especially if tiny, and not making huts or such like.
This small species of lemur was discovered in 2013 in Madagascar.
Lavasoa Dwarf Lemur: New Species Found on Madagascar
That species was "hiding in plain sight" as it looked very similar to an already known species.
This is a better example
Callicebus miltoni: New Species of Titi Monkey Discovered in Brazil - also
New Titi Monkey Found: Fire-Tailed, With Sideburns
And new primates continue to be found every year - some almost identical in appearance and distinguished genetically, but some look different as well. See Primates described in the 2010s Also Meet the new species
Not saying it is likely :). Just as a matter of whether it is in principle possible, I don't really see why not.
For that matter, we know that a small group of non human hominids did live contemporary with modern humans as recently as 13,000 years ago.
Their skeletons were found on the island of Flores in Indonesia, in this cave:
It's Homo floresiensis popularly known as "Hobbit man".
So, given this recent discovery, only in 2003, of non human hominids that survived until 13,000 years ago, could there be any others that survived longer?
Meet "the Hobbit", Homo floresiensis, in The Human Journey. Photo: Staffan Waerndt. The Human Journey
Hobbit man could be mistaken for little humans, or children, at a distance, and if shy and wary, like Tolkien's Hobbits, you can imagine a small population in some jungle or on some remote rarely visited island somewhere escaping notice. If a lemur can, why not a tiny hominid?
I'd be as astonished as anyone if we did find a new species of hominid :). So again not saying it is at all likely, just answering "is it possible". It seems to be not totally impossible.
You can get this and many more of my answers now as a kindle book:
About the Author
Robert Walker
Writer of articles on Mars and Space issues - Software Developer of Tune Smithy, Bounce Metronome etc.Studied at Wolfson College, Oxford
Lives in Isle of Mull
4.8m answer views110.3k this month
Top Writer2017, 2016, and 2015
Published WriterHuffPost, Slate, and 4 moreHuffPost, Slate, Forbes, Newsweek, Business Insider, and Science 2.0