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The Bili Ape (aka Bondo Mystery Ape; 'Lion Killer')

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Pygmy Gorilla?

Ok so I dont know if this is exactly a cryptid:

But: When I was a kid I distinctly remember reading that in addition to the 4 "well known" pongid great apes (chimp, bonobo, gorilla, orangutan) there was a 4th, the so called Pygmy Gorilla. I think the genus name of it was Pseudogorilla and the species name might have been something like mayema. It was only known from the one type specimen, which was about the size of a chimp, but had facial features like a gorilla, and it was reddish brown in colour. I think this specimen was from West or Central Africa possibly Congo or Zaire. The skin was supposed to be in a museum in Europe (Amsterdam? Brussels?)

The wierd bit is, I recently visted my parents house, and found in their loft most of the books (my dads old zoology textbooks, mostly) that I loved reading as a kid, and flicked thru the book I had thought the pygmy gorilla was in, Desmond Morris`s "Checklist of World Mammals". No mention whatsoever of great apes besides chimp, bonobo, orangutan and (regular) gorilla. I also looked in a couple of books on primates my dad had, still no pygmy gorilla. So where did I read about this animal? I have quite a detailed memory of it (as above), surely I didnt just make this up?

I tried a google search and could only find a GI Joe toy "Jungle Playset" which included a figure of a "pygmy gorilla". Doesnt prove much as toy manufacturers have no legal obligation to only make toys of creatures that really exist, and anyway the toy just looks like a small but otherwise normal gorilla. No mentions of pygmy gorillas in any sites about primates or zoology as far as I could see.

So - is/was there such a creature as a pygmy gorilla? Does anyone know? If the species is not recognised as valid, what happened to the type specimen? Was it just an unusually coloured young gorilla, or a chimp with unusual facial features? Could it be connected to the cryptid "Koolookamba" which some Africans in (I think) Cameroon say is a hybrid between chimp and gorilla (and which the famous "Missing Link" Oliver might be an example of)? Or was the skin lost? Or did I just imagine it? Any info or theories would be highly appreciated.
 
From Karl Shuker (1993), The Lost Ark, HarperCollins, London, p22

...Conversely, the so-called pygmy gorilla, dubbed Pseudogorilla mayema in 1913 by Dr Daniel G. Elliott and known from several skins, is not recognised today as a genuinely distinct form.
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This is the only reference I can find at the moment, if I find any more I'll post it.
 
From The Jaw of the Piltdown Man, Gerrit S. Miller, Jr. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collection 1915 (reproduced here)

In the most recent complete work on the order, Elliot's "Review of the Primates," New York (1912), June, 1913, four genera are recognized: Pongo Lacépède for the orangs, Gorilla I. Geoffroy for the gorillas, Pseudogorilla Elliot (l.c. vol. 3, p. 224) for an animal supposed to be the Gorilla mayema of Alix and Bouvier, and Pan Oken for the chimpanzee. The genus "Pseudogorilla " was based on two specimens of true Gorilla, an immature male with all the teeth in place but with the basal suture open and the temporal ridges separate (l.c. pl. 32), and a mature female with the basal suture closed and the temporal ridges joined (l.c. pl. 33). Three valid genera are thus left in the group
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From http://www.angelfire.com/bc2/cryptodominion/primates.html

Pygmy gorilla (Gabon AFRICA): Adult gorillas that are much smaller than normal have been seen on the Gabon coast. Either a pygmy race, like most animals from that area, or a whole new pygmy species. This is where pygmy chimps, pygmy elephants, pygmy crocodiles, and human pygmies come from; why not pygmy gorillas?
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Saturday I was at an animal park that has europes biggest amount of gorillas. They also had a lot of other monkeys. (Yes, I know they are apes, stop picking)

Where the orangutans were, they wrote that they had the latin name Pongo Pygmaeus for a while. Pongo being the gorilla group and Pygmae meaning little. Just thought maybe it would come in handy one day.

At the orangutans I also understood that I don't want to meet an orang pendek late at night in Florida. One of the males swung around next to me and it was huge!
 
sorry to resurrect yet another of my own threads, but i just found this:

http://www.npr.org/programs/re/archivesdate/2001/mar/010326.biliape.html

Researchers have long wondered about a large primate skull found a century ago in the northern Congo. Gorillas have never been reported in this region. But there are stories of very large apes -- and recent evidence suggests that something unknown may be there.

Intrigued by the possible existence of a new species of ape -- news that would rock the world of science -- some of the most renowned ape researchers in the world agreed to undertake an expedition to the Bili forest.
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I assume this refers to the "pseudogorilla" skull... unfortunately i have no speakers on my PC so cannot listen to the radio report...
 
New African Ape?

In the Congo, signs have been found of what could be a new chimp species.

It nests on the ground, like a gorilla, not in the trees, and its skull has a crest similar to (but different from) that of a gorilla's skull. But like other chimps, it eats mainly fruit, from analysis of droppings recovered.
 
Very interesting... could this be the mysterious "pygmy gorilla"? I posted a thread about it a while ago [now merged with this one - rynner], but no one seemed to know much, but there was also this link, which mentions the "Bili ape"...
 
read all sites posted by

Goldstein and rynner..amazing. If we can just get to them before they are all killed off...weird how some of these unknowns are always where "smarter?" humans are doing genocide on each other .
 
Bump! Yes, Goldstein, it sounds like the same crittur, so I've merged the two threads.
 
Giant chimps in the Congo

news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/04/0414_030314_strangeape.html
Link is dead. No archived version found.

Elusive African Apes: Giant Chimps or New Species?

A mysterious group of apes found in the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo in central Africa has scientists and conservationist scratching their heads. The apes nest on the ground like gorillas but have a diet and features characteristic of chimpanzees.

The apes are most likely a group of giant chimpanzees that display gorilla-like behavior. A far more remote possibility is that they represent a new subspecies of great ape. Researchers plan to return to the region later this month to collect more clues to help resolve the mystery.

The detective story began in 1908 when a Belgian army officer returned home with several gorilla skulls from near the town of Bili on the Uele River and gave them to the Belgium's Royal Museum for Central Africa in Tervuren. In 1927 the museum's curator classified the skulls as a new subspecies of gorilla, Gorilla gorilla uellensis.

Intrigued by the subspecies, Colin Groves, now an anthropologist at the Australian National University in Canberra, examined the skulls in 1970 and determined that they were indistinguishable from western gorillas, one of the two known species of gorilla. No further specimens of this gorilla from Bili have since been found.

In 1996, Swiss-born, Kenya-based wildlife photographer and conservationist Karl Ammann embarked on a quest to rediscover the mysterious gorillas.

To date, Ammann has not found the gorilla. But he has collected a wealth of information including skulls, ground nests, hair and fecal samples, footprints, and, most recently, photographs of what appears to be a chimpanzee that behaves like a gorilla.

Scientific analysis of this data is still being conducted. Ammann awaits the results before making an official announcement about the finds. Meanwhile, he continues to recruit scientists to study the case.

Shelly Williams, an independent primate behavior specialist in Atlanta, Georgia, who has a doctorate in experimental psychology, spent two months in the northern Democratic Republic of Congo last year trying to determine the identity of these apes. She said "at the very least, we have either a new culture of chimps that are unusually large or hybrids with unusual behaviors."

Williams and Groves will meet Ammann in Kenya this month before traveling to the Congo to conduct further studies on the mysterious apes.

Ground Nesting Chimp?

Since Ammann launched his quest, he has led expeditions into the Bili forest in the northern Democratic Republic of Congo where the original skulls were recovered. On his first trip, Ammann recovered a skull which had a pronounced ridge on its forehead characteristic of gorilla. The rest of the measurements link the skull to that of a chimpanzee.

For the next several years civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo made travel to the Bili forest difficult. Ammann recruited a bush meat hunter from Cameroon to visit and survey the area. The hunter returned with photographs and reports of gorilla ground nests in an area north of Bili.

In 2000, Ammann returned to the area described by the bush meat hunter with a group of ape researchers. Although they did not find a live ape, the group did stumble across several well-worn ground nests in swampy river beds.

Ground nests are characteristic of gorillas. Chimpanzees are thought to prefer to sleep in trees. However, an analysis of feces found in the nests suggests that whatever left them was eating a diet rich in fruits, a diet characteristic of chimpanzees, not gorillas.

Other evidence collected from the site includes hair samples, which have been sent out to various laboratories for DNA analysis. The initial results indicate they belong to a chimpanzee. All of this evidence is causing the researchers to believe that what Ammann has found is a chimpanzee that behaves like a gorilla.

"It is a chimpanzee," said Esteban Sarmiento, a functional anatomist at the American Museum of Natural History in New York who traveled to the region with Ammann in 2000. "There are presently three recognized subspecies of common chimpanzee Pan troglodytes and it could represent a fourth subspecies or change our present understanding of where to draw the divisions between subspecies."

Giant Chimps

Local hunters in the region added to the mystery when they told Ammann and his colleagues about two kinds of chimpanzees in the region. Normal chimps, so-called "tree-beaters," are easily killed with poisonous arrows when they feed in trees.

Another, large chimpanzee seldom climbs trees and does not succumb to the poison arrows shot by the hunters. Called "lion killers," these big chimpanzees flee through the thick forest and disappear when shot at by hunters.

Evidence for these giant chimpanzees collected by Ammann includes a photograph of a cadaver alongside the hunter that killed it and casts of some large footprints. The pronounced ridge, called a sagittal crest, on the skull that Ammann found in 1996 is thought to be formed to support large jaw muscles, an indication of large body size.

"Giant chimpanzees occasionally occur here and there in the central and eastern subspecies, but evidence so far indicates that Karl [Ammann] may have a population of giants in his area," said Groves. "Presumably their giantism is relevant to their ground nesting behavior."

This group of what appear to be a distinct culture of ground-nesting chimpanzees is the now focus of Ammann's research. "Work has started on habituating one of the ground nesting chimp groups. This is done by provisioning them with sugar cane," he said.

This habituation will allow the researchers to document this new culture of chimpanzee as the researchers await the results of nuclear DNA analysis to determine if what they have is indeed a new subspecies of chimpanzee or simply a unique culture. Either way, the scientists are intrigued.

"Discovering an isolated group of apes exhibiting unusual cultural behaviors is just as important as identifying new DNA profiles. That's why continuous observation, habituation, and surveying are so important," said Williams.

Additionally, researchers have not yet given up on the possibility of finding gorillas in the area.

"I would think there is a strong possibility that south of Bili on the other side of the Uele River there may be gorillas, and this would seem an important area to turn our attention to," said Sarmiento.
 
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Re: Giant chimps in the Congo

Fascinating, but:-

Ogopogo said:
However, an analysis of feces found in the nests suggests that whatever left them was eating a diet rich in fruits, a diet characteristic of chimpanzees, not gorillas.
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... Don't mountain gorillas subsist on leaves, etc., while lowland gorillas eat, mainly,... fruit?

And, if there's space for another species of gorilla, might that not leave space for large, hairy hominids in other parts of the world?

(My, Grandma, what big feet you've got....:D )
 
very cool

still mysteries out there. Hope they can get a mating pair before gone.
 
Re: very cool

ruffready said:
still mysteries out there. Hope they can get a mating pair before gone.
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Well, they seem to be doing OK up to now. By all means observe them, document them, photograph them, and then just leave them the f*ck alone. And don't publish directions to their front garden in National Geographic :hmph:
 
I feel like Dr Dolittle in the land of Oz
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What... he can talk to winged monkeys?!

Interesting stuff, hope it pans out into something interesting and not another Ananova pile o'crap. Anyone got any more info?
 
I think this is related to the new species of chimp discovered a while back.

Basically, they were giant chimps with characteristics of gorillas, such as a skull ridge and ground nesting.

These chimps were roughly 2-3 times bigger then normal chimps.

When the article first debuted (in national geographic web site), I believe there was still debate as to whether they were a sub species, a new species, or a hybrid of chimps/gorillas.

DNA evidence, photos, and dung/hair samples had been recovered.

This was months ago, btw. So it may be another ape species discovered... Will look for the article.

**EDIT**
Yes, same ones.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/04/0414_030314_strangeape.html

There was another article as well, from the researcher who discovered them, with size comparison shots. These chimps mass as much as a large male human, which is much larger then the average male size of 45 kilos of normal chimps.

2nd edit:

Here's a website with photos which provide scale comparison. Note, the two hunters are most likely small by western standards. Still, a damned big chimp.

http://www.karlammann.com/
 
At Last!

Well, correct me if I'm wrong (it's been known to happen), but it looks to me like we may have stumbled on the long-lost Agogwe, the hairy men of the Congo, first encountered by Europeans around the turn of the last century.

It does stand to reason, at least, that if there has been a mystery ape reported from the Congo for the last 100+ years that matches the basic description of this mystery ape, found in the same area, then the two should be, in fact, the same creature! Am I right?

I think this goes to show that there can still be large, undiscovered primates out there, especially in the jungles.
 
A new Great Ape species in Africa?

Giant ape may be new species

From correspondents in Paris
07oct04

AN elusive giant ape has been spotted in remote forests in central Africa, sparking theories that it could be a new species of primate - a finding that would be the most astonishing wildlife discovery in decades, New Scientist says.

In a report published in next Saturday's issue, the British weekly says the mysterious creatures have been seen in forests around the towns of Bondo and Bili, in the far north of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

From the rare eyewitness sightings, bone discoveries and a video recording, the animals have large, black faces, are up to 2m tall and weighs between 85-102kg.

That would put them in the size category of gorillas - but the region lies 500km from the edges of the known habitats of the western and eastern species of gorilla.

The creature's face is gorilla-like and has a sagittal crest - a long bony ridge - that is typical of gorillas.

But other aspects of the skull morphology are that of a chimpanzee, according to Colin Groves, an expert at the Australian National University in Canberra.

As for behaviour, the apes make nests on the ground like gorillas, whereas chimpanzees prefer to make their homes in the trees. But, unlike gorillas, which hate water and prefer to build a new nest every night, these primates make their beds in swampy ground and reuse them night after night.

Faeces recovered from the nest sites indicated an animal with a diet rich in fruit, which is typical of chimps.

Shelly Williams, a US primatologist affiliated to the Jane Goodall Institute in Maryland, captured the apes on video in 2002 with the help of local people and was once briefly confronted by a group of four of them in dense forest.

This, along with other evidence, makes her think that there is a chance the animals could be a new species of great primate - in other words, an undiscovered genetic relative of humans.

Other possibilities are that it is a gorilla-chimp hybrid, or a new sub-species of chimp that would be 50 per cent bigger than its largest cousins.

Anecdotal evidence about the unusual apes dates back to photos taken by European hunters in 1898, when the region was the Belgian Congo.

The trail was then picked up in 1996 by Karl Ammann, a Kenyan-based Swiss photographer, who was intrigued by local tales that the forests were inhabited by large ferocious apes that could kill lions.

Unlike gorillas, which invariably charge when they see a threat, these apes turn around and silently slip away into the forest when encountered, says Mr Ammann.

The discovery of these apes "reveals just how much we still have to learn about our closest living relatives," New Scientist notes, expressing concern that animals could be "poached out of existence" unless conservation measures are urgently taken to protect them.
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http://www.theadvertiser.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,10997667%5E1702,00.html
 
I think there are threads already existing on the Bili Ape... will try to find them...

Consensus seems to be that they are a giant species/subspecies of chimp which has, presumably due to its size, taken to nesting on the ground like a gorilla... which, if it's got the temperament of a chimp rather than a gorilla, would make it a pretty scary animal...

Actually makes me wonder, now that this thing has been found and the size estimate has gone up from "somewhat bigger than a chimp but not as big as a gorilla" to "full grown gorilla size", if this has anything to do with the very old gorilla reports (when gorillas were themselves first discovered) of them killing and mutilating humans, when gorillas are very placid animals, whereas normal size chimps are well known to hunt, kill and "ritually" tear apart the bodies of smaller primate species...
 
Goldstein said:
I think there are threads already existing on the Bili Ape... will try to find them...
Click to expand...

Well spotted I'd not made the connection - there were two threads on this (as well as the one I started) so I've merged them).
 
'New' giant ape found in DR Congo

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3730574.stm
Scientists believe they have discovered a new group of giant apes in the jungles of central Africa.
The animals, with characteristics of both gorillas and chimpanzees, have been sighted in the north of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

According to local villagers, the apes are ferocious, and even capable of killing lions.

The UK magazine New Scientist is to publish its report about the mysterious creatures next week.

If they are a new species of primate, it could be one of the most important wildlife discoveries in decades.

The discovery of these apes "reveals just how much we still have to learn about our closest living relatives," New Scientist says.

'NEW' GIANT APE
Large, black faces (like gorillas)
Up to two metres tall (6.5ft)
Weigh 85kg-102kg (187lb-224lb)
Males make nests on the ground (like gorillas)
Diet rich in fruit (like chimps)

They stand up to two metres tall, the size of gorillas, and like gorillas, they nest on the ground, not in trees.

But they live hundreds of kilometres away from any other known gorilla populations, and their diet is closer to that of chimpanzees.

Primatologist Shelly Williams is thought to be the only scientist to have seen the apes.


During her visit to DR Congo two years ago, she says she captured them on video and located their nests.

She describes her encounter with them: "Four suddenly came rushing out of the bush towards me," she told New Scientist.

"If this had been a bluff charge, they would have been screaming to intimidate us. These guys were quiet. And they were huge. They were coming in for the kill. I was directly in front of them, and as soon as they saw my face, they stopped and disappeared."

Mystery

The discovery has baffled scientists.

There are three controversial possibilities to explain the origin of the mystery apes:


They are a new species of ape

They are giant chimpanzees, much larger than any so far recorded, but behave like gorillas

They could be hybrids, the product of gorillas mating with chimpanzees.

So far, researchers have little to go on, but they now plan to return to northern DR Congo to study the apes further.

In the meantime, there are fears that unless measures are taken to protect them, poaching could threaten this new group of primates before the mystery of their identity is resolved.

"This is a lawless area," says Kenyan-based Swiss photographer Karl Ammann, who tipped Ms Williams off about the apes.

"The government has practically no control over hunting. If we found something interesting it would attract more investment. People would be more interested in conserving it."
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Re: Re: very cool

stu neville said:
Well, they seem to be doing OK up to now. By all means observe them, document them, photograph them, and then just leave them the f*ck alone. And don't publish directions to their front garden in National Geographic :hmph:
Click to expand...

Too late mate. They've more or less done that in this weeks New Scientist.
 
'New' giant ape found in DR Congo

Scientists believe they have discovered a new group of giant apes in the jungles of central Africa.

The animals, with characteristics of both gorillas and chimpanzees, have been sighted in the north of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

According to local villagers, the apes are ferocious, and even capable of killing lions.

The UK magazine New Scientist is to publish its report about the mysterious creatures next week.

If they are a new species of primate, it could be one of the most important wildlife discoveries in decades.

The discovery of these apes "reveals just how much we still have to learn about our closest living relatives," New Scientist says.

'NEW' GIANT APE
Large, black faces (like gorillas)
Up to two metres tall (6.5ft)
Weigh 85kg-102kg (187lb-224lb)
Males make nests on the ground (like gorillas)
Diet rich in fruit (like chimps)
Click to expand...

They stand up to two metres tall, the size of gorillas, and like gorillas, they nest on the ground, not in trees.

But they live hundreds of kilometres away from any other known gorilla populations, and their diet is closer to that of chimpanzees.

Primatologist Shelly Williams is thought to be the only scientist to have seen the apes.

During her visit to DR Congo two years ago, she says she captured them on video and located their nests.

She describes her encounter with them: "Four suddenly came rushing out of the bush towards me," she told New Scientist.

"If this had been a bluff charge, they would have been screaming to intimidate us. These guys were quiet. And they were huge. They were coming in for the kill. I was directly in front of them, and as soon as they saw my face, they stopped and disappeared."

Mystery

The discovery has baffled scientists.

There are three controversial possibilities to explain the origin of the mystery apes:

* They are a new species of ape

* They are giant chimpanzees, much larger than any so far recorded, but behave like gorillas

* They could be hybrids, the product of gorillas mating with chimpanzees.

So far, researchers have little to go on, but they now plan to return to northern DR Congo to study the apes further.

In the meantime, there are fears that unless measures are taken to protect them, poaching could threaten this new group of primates before the mystery of their identity is resolved.

"This is a lawless area," says Kenyan-based Swiss photographer Karl Ammann, who tipped Ms Williams off about the apes.

"The government has practically no control over hunting. If we found something interesting it would attract more investment. People would be more interested in conserving it."

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/sci/tech/3730574.stm

Published: 2004/10/10 08:27:28 GMT

© BBC MMIV
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Re: A new Great Ape species in Africa?

Emperor said:
Anecdotal evidence about the unusual apes dates back to photos taken by European hunters in 1898, when the region was the Belgian Congo.
Click to expand...

I couldn't find any of those photos (does anyone know if they're online?), but I found these interesting links: -

Bondo Ape

Karl Shuker On the Bili Ape
 
I'm quietly confident about this one, it seems to be taken seriously.

Should zoos be stocking up on Um Bongo just in case?
 
This story has been kicking around since 1998. Why haven't any solid conclusions been drawn and made public? DNA samples, skeletal samples, photographs, observational data, and no one is saying anything new.

Perhaps this should be moved to the conspiracy section. A possibly new great ape has been discovered, and no one seems to be doing much in regards to classifying it?
 
More Apery

King Congo

Scientists probe tales about new gorilla species

November 4, 2004
By Michael Hanlon

They are 2.2m tall, weigh more than 90kg and are fond of lion for breakfast. They make their home in the darkest reaches of the Congolese jungle and hunt in packs, silently stalking their prey for hours, then breaking cover and overcoming the terrified creature before it has a chance to flee.

Wildlife experts and scientists are baffled: are they simply a more aggressive family of gorillas with a propensity for violence? Or are they a new species - a new great ape and one of the most sensational zoological discoveries for decades? There have been tales of mysterious and fearsome creatures living in remote places for as long as there have been Western explorers visiting them.

Hundreds claim to have seen the yeti in the mountains of Tibet. Then there is the sasquatch, a hairy man-beast said to inhabit the US Rockies. According to legend, the oceans are home to ship- devouring sea serpents and surviving dinosaurs roam forgotten parts of the planet. And, of course, we should not forget Scotland's Loch Ness monster.

Most scientists agree that these creatures are no more than over-active imaginations or the product of science fiction. There are no convincing photographs, no DNA samples, no documented sightings.

But the Congolese super-gorillas (if that is what they are) are different. There is growing evidence, in the form of photographs, videos and even DNA samples, as well as first-hand testimony from a respected primatologist, that suggests an unknown primate is lurking in the jungles of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

So could a giant killer ape really exist? And if so, how could it have been undetected for so long?

Shelly Williams, a primatologist affiliated to the renowned Jane Goodall Institute, has revealed her close - and chilling - encounter with the creatures in the current issue of New Scientist.

"We could hear them in the trees, about 10m away, and four suddenly came rushing through the brush towards me. If this had been a mock charge they would have been screaming to intimidate us. These guys were quiet, and they were huge. They were coming in for the kill - but as soon as they saw my face they stopped and disappeared."

She described them thus: "They have a very flat face, a wide muzzle and their brow-ridge runs straight across and overhangs. They seem to turn grey very early in life, but instead of turning grey-black like a gorilla, they turn grey all over."

Her report has been greeted with some scepticism, but the history of this part of the world shows it would be foolish to dismiss out-of-hand reports of a new great ape.

When sightings of a massive hairy beast living high in the cool mists which drape the volcanic peaks of Rwanda and the Congo were mooted in the late 19th century, few took them seriously. Explorers described a powerful yet gentle, celery-munching ape living at altitudes of more than 10 000ft.


But it wasn't until 1902 that Robert von Beringe, a German army officer, made detailed observations of the animal which now bears his name, Gorilla gorilla berengei, the famed mountain gorilla. It is not, therefore, impossible that yet another species has managed to remain undetected until now.

Indeed, as far back as 1898, there were hints of another large ape existing undetected in the Congo basin after a Belgian expedition returned from the region with three skulls. Initially, they looked similar to a known species - the Western Lowland Gorilla.

But there was something odd about them. The shape of the brow-ridges and jaw was different to that of a true gorilla, but they remained unidentified until 1996, when a Swiss journalist called Karl Ammann decided to go in search of these "lost gorillas" of the Congo.

He travelled to a place more than 700km from the known ranges of either mountain or lowland gorilla, and met locals who told him strange tales. They spoke of a huge, ferocious ape which was capable of hunting - and killing - lions.

Furthermore, the animals' behaviour towards people was baffling: "Gorilla males will always charge when they encounter a hunter, but there were no stories like that," Ammann says. Instead, these apes would come face-to-face with their human cousins, stare intently in half-recognition, then slide away quietly. No aggression, yet no fear either.

Three years ago, a major expedition was dispatched to the region to investigate. The scientists did not find any giant apes, but they did discover strange, abandoned nests on swampy ground.

Chimps sleep in trees, gorillas build nests on the ground but always well away from water and swamps. Another indication of a new species.

Then Shelly Williams made her recent trip to the Bili region, where the apes were reputed to live, and not only encountered these elusive animals close up but videotaped them, too.

Williams believes these creatures could be a new subspecies of chimpanzee, a gorilla-chimp hybrid, or they could be a wholly new species. There is probably no biological reason why chimps and gorillas could not mate and produce viable offspring.

At present, only eight of these fascinating creatures have been seen by scientists, and none has been captured for study.

Whatever they are, they are fortunate to be living in one of the world's most remote places, and yet unfortunate enough to be threatened by one of the world's nastiest civil wars.

It would be a tragic irony if these creatures, so new to science, are hunted to extinction before they are properly studied.
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Source

A bit big on Greystokes and low on new data for my liking, but interesting none the less
 
And so it continues.

Can someone "in the know" give possible explanations for the paucity of new data?
 
Ath said:
And so it continues.

Can someone "in the know" give possible explanations for the paucity of new data?
Click to expand...

'Cos most scientific researchers keep it to themselves until they can publish in Nature or a similar journal.(That is if it dose'nt clash with accepted ideas):rolleyes:
 
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