Various expeditions discovered a game trail used by a variety of animals. They documented a long series of enormous footprints 19 inches long and 10 inches wide. And the native guides confidently identified the prints as those of the orang dalam.

Owing to the credibility of the witness and the remote location in which these prints were found, fraud seems unlikely, but skeptics remain unconvinced. Though the ape-man carvings at Banteay Samre are merely depictions of Hindu deities, one can’t help but be reminded of the orang dalam, a very similar being with strong evidence in favor of its existence.

Not all of the mysterious creatures depicted at Angkor come from Hindu and Buddhist mythology.

Another creature has a small neck and four short legs with a long tail. On its humped back, a series of plates were clearly carved.

Similar circular carvings can be found all over Ta Prohm, but none of them show this same creature.

Local villagers witnessed the dinosaur-like creature when traveling in a canoe and it was glimpsed the following day by a Seventh Day Adventist pastor and a church elder. Clearly the creature did not match any wildlife indigenous to the region and to this day the sighting remains unexplained.

A more ordinary explanation for the carving found at Angkor is of course that the Khmer unearthed the fossilized remains of a stegosaurus 800 years ago and it was these fossils that prompted the carving. Alas people will probably never know what the real motivation was for showcasing this fascinating monster.

The plentiful stone carvings at Angkor (from dinosaurs to ape-men to giant snakes) offer much to ponder over. Although most visitors gaze in wonder at the massive towers and grand architecture, the subtle details of the intricate stone imagery offer a much more intriguing puzzle. Either the Khmer meant to incorporate depictions of fantastic animals they knew to exit locally or they were simply carving based on Hindu and Buddhist mythology, people may never know. Anyways, the carvings at Angkor rank among the best of the ancient world and can be appreciated by all.