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

Monday, Jan. 17, 2005

Lost Apes Of The Congo

A TIME reporter travels deep into the African jungle in search of a mysterious chimp called the lion killer

By STEPHAN FARIS



Ron Pintier was flying light and low above the northern wilds of the Democratic Republic of Congo when he saw a dark shape racing between two patches of tropical forest. "It was huge," says Pontier, a missionary pilot. "It was black. The skin was kind of bouncing up and down on it." From its bulk and color, Pontier thought it was a buffalo until he circled down for another look. "I saw it again just before it went into the forest," he says. "It was an ape--and a big one." Not buffalo size, but big.

What Pontier saw was a piece of a primatological puzzle, another splinter of anecdotal evidence for a mysterious ape with characteristics of gorillas and chimpanzees, an animal that has scientists in a furious debate over what it might be.

Bili lies in Congo's far north, about 120 miles east of the Ebola River, where deep tropical forest breaks up into patches of savanna. Civil war and neglect have left the region nearly untouched by man. Overgrown dirt roads with bridges of rough-hewn logs string together thatched-roofed villages. Nearly all freight is carried in by bicycle. Locals hunt with homemade shotguns and crossbows seemingly modeled on 16th century Portuguese design. "This area is the last part of Africa where there are still wild animals," says Pontier, who grew up in the region. "It's not a game park. It's not a reserve. The animals are really wild."

When Karl Ammann, a Swiss photographer crusading against the killing of wild animals for meat, first visited the region in 1996, he was looking for gorillas, hoping that the great apes still roamed its jungles. What he found surprised him. Locals had two names for the apes in their forests: the tree beaters, which stayed safe in the branches, and the lion killers, bigger, darker and so strong that they were unaffected by the poison arrows used by local hunters.

Ammann discovered a strange skull with the dimensions of a chimpanzee's but with an odd, prominent crest like a gorilla's. Motion-detecting cameras in the forest caught what looked like immense chimpanzees, and a photograph purchased from poachers showed hunters posing with an animal estimated to be twice the size of an ordinary chimp. Ammann measured a fecal dropping three times as big as chimp dung and footprints as large as or larger than a gorilla's.

Most intriguing were the gorilla-like ground nests found in the riverine swamps. Chimps normally make their nests in the high safety of trees. Why would they build their beds of branches and shoots on the ground? And why here, of all places? At night Cleve Hicks, 32, a Ph.D. student who observes the animals, regularly hears the laughs of hyenas and the guttural cries of leopards. Recently, his trackers filmed the footprints of a lion crossing a river. But the apes here--at least some of them--pulled together branches and shoots to make a bed on the ground. "We know [the apes] are a perfect target for leopards," says Hicks. "So how can they get away with that?"

The first scientist to see the Bili apes was Shelly Williams, an independent primatologist who visited the region at Ammann's invitation in the summers of 2002 and 2003. She says she documented separate groups of East and West African chimpanzee subspecies and what she calls the "mystery ape." The larger animal had a much flatter face and straight-across brow like gorillas and turned gray early in life. Females lacked chimps' genital swelling. Two or three would nest on the ground, with others low in nearby branches. They made a distinct vocalization like a howl and were louder when the full moon rose and set. "The unique characteristics they exhibit just don't fit into the other groups of great apes," says Williams. The apes, she argues, could be a new species unknown to science, a new subspecies of chimpanzee or a hybrid of the gorilla and the chimp. "At the very least, we have a unique, isolated chimp culture that's unlike any that's been studied," she says.

That last, least dramatic theory is the one preferred by most scientists who have visited the region, including Harvard ape expert Richard Wrangham, who thinks the ground nests are built by chimps looking to escape dampness during the day. When Hicks and Ammann describe the animal they are studying, they use "mystery ape" only with irony. Ammann is worried that Williams' sensational pronouncements have brought ridicule to his project. "If there's scientific data, that's one thing," he says. "But basing all of this on anecdotal stuff ..." Recently, he was emailed pictures of a chimp with a pug-dog's head and a seal sprouting a gorilla's face. "Clearly, someone thinks we're a joke," he says. An analysis of hairs found in the ground nests identified their mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) as East African chimpanzee. Williams counters that finding with three arguments: the DNA could have been contaminated, the use of human genetic markers might mask hidden differences, and mtDNA would not show variation in the paternal line. "Until we know the father's lineage, we can't say if it's a new species or not," Williams insists. No longer welcome in Ammann's camp, she says she will return to the area in March to set up her own project.

"I think people are going to be disappointed with the yeti in the forest," warns Hicks, who says the apes he has seen are clearly chimps, although some are strangely oversize. "The evidence doesn't point to [a new species]. I think what needs to be focused on is the cultural differences." In addition to building ground nests, the apes fish for ants with tools that are several times longer than those used by known chimp populations. For now, Hicks is concentrating on habituating the animals, getting them accustomed to the noisy, nosy presence of researchers. The science--and the videotapes--will come later.

"Genetically, they're not even a subspecies," says Hicks. "But behaviorally, we may be seeing the beginning of a departure from chimpanzee norms. We could actually be catching evolution in the act. That is, if they're allowed to survive."

That's an open question. The forests here have been hit hard by commercial poaching. Kalashnikov-wielding hunters stage raids from the Central African Republic and central Congo. Pontier, the missionary pilot, used to see herds of a hundred elephants when he first flew over the region in 1983. Now three together is a rare sighting. And with the big animals nearly gone, Ammann, who has set up a conservation project in the area, says the poachers are turning to hogs, antelopes, monkeys and chimpanzees. "The pressure on smaller game is increasing now that the elephants are gone," he says. If there's one thing all the scientists can agree on, it's that if this part of Congo goes the way of other African wild lands, the great apes could soon disappear. All that will be left of the Bili ape is the mystery.

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Copyright © 2005 Time Inc.

Source
 
New Congo Ape

Did anyone read the story about the super chimpanzees in the Congo? What I want to know is - if they have some sort of video footage of these apes, and photos of people posing with them, why not post that too?

It would strengthen the story, no?

Does anybody remember the hidden Ape City from the old DC comics? Wasn't is situated somewhere near the Congo?

-Fitz
 
LINK
Injured Primatologist Tells of Attack
Reported By: Jaye Watson

Dr. Shelly Williams broke her silence on Friday for the first time since she was left paralyzed, the victim -- and innocent bystander -- of a November shooting in Smyrna.

On Thursday, Smyrna police named three suspects in the shooting.Williams spoke with reporters Friday afternoon at the Shepherd Center, where she is convalescing. She is a scientist who dedicated her life to her work and recently she possibly discovered an entire new species of great apes.

She talked about how every aspect of her life has changed since she was shot four months ago. Dropping off some clothes at her tailor's in Smyrna, Williams was reaching into her back seat when she was shot.

“I just felt this thing coming through my body. It was very fast, but I literally felt it. I fell backwards,” Williams said. The bullet, still lodged in her liver, left her paralyzed from the waist down. Williams later learned that three men were making a drug deal in the same parking lot on Spring Road. One of those men fired a gun, hitting her.

Smyrna police have identified the three as 24-year-old Elliott Mitchell, who is in a South Carolina prison on unrelated drug charges, and 33-year-old Terrence Reid of Charlotte and 23-year-old Kendall Bolden of Nashville, both of whom are still at large. “They will suffer, hopefully, but I will have to live with it for the rest of my life. There won't be any change for me,” Williams said.

It makes for an agonizing reality for a woman comfortable with traveling solo to Africa, speaking the language of the local tribes, bartering with rebels in order to do her work, discovering a new breed of great apes. “I was in a more dangerous situation there than in Atlanta, so it's ironic that I come back to Atlanta and get shot,” said Williams.

Four months of surgeries and rehab have forced Williams to reset her goals. Her wishes are now more basic. “To be able to dress myself, to be able to move from my wheelchair to a bed or a chair,” Williams said.

She says strength comes from her husband. “He still always remembers to say, ‘I love you and I'll take care of you.’ His dedication and love for me,” she said. When asked about any words for her assailants, she is resolute.

“You took my life away, and you took something away from me that I was passionate about -- my research. I dedicated 22 years to my research, and now I won't be able to finish it,” Williams said. Williams may be able to return to her home in April. She says she plans to use her research notes and her diaries to write a book about her work and her discovery. She says the book will end with her shooting.
 
Man, that really sucks!! I hope they take those scum bags out - (If they put up any resistance). And if they live and make it to court, Life without parole (I hope thats a three strikes and your out state, which would give them a life sentence "not out till dead" then pee on 'em ) usually skum bags like this have a rap sheet a mile long.
 
Bili Ape is actually Chimpanzee

from New Scientist this week:
DNA tests solve mystery of giant 'lion-killing' apes
30 June 2006
Emma Young Adrian Barnett
Magazine issue 2558
A comprehensive investigation reveals that the supposed giant apes of Bili in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are in fact a recognised subspecies of chimpanzee
ARE they a giant new species of great ape, or a hybrid of a chimp and a gorilla? The mysterious population of apes living in the remote north of the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been the subject of a heated debate. Now genetic evidence and a comprehensive survey suggest that, despite their size and unusual behaviour, the apes belong to a recognised subspecies of chimpanzee, Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii.
People living around the town of Bili, about 200 kilometres east of the Ebola river, have long swapped stories of ferocious apes with a penchant for killing lions (New Scientist, 9 October 2004, p 32). The apes seemed too large to be chimps. From photographs, they were estimated to weigh up to about 100 kilograms, and their footprints at up to 34 centimetres long were bigger than a gorilla's.
To solve the mystery Cleve Hicks and colleagues at the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, spent a year in the field tracking the apes. During that time, Hicks logged an unprecendented 20 hours observation. "I see nothing gorilla about them," he says. "The females definitely have a chimp's sex swellings, they pant-hoot and tree-drum, and so on."
Analysis of mitochondrial DNA taken from faecal samples also puts the animals withing the P.t. schweinfurthii group. Hicks is now analysing samples of nuclear DNA in the expectation that this will rule out a chimp-gorilla hybrid. "I would say that possibility is negligible," he says.
Unfortunately you need to subscribe to get the rest of the article online, and I can't be arse typing the rest of it in. There's some discussion of the morphology, and the history of the Bili ape etc.

Actually, I think it's still too early to rule out a gorilla/chimp hybrid, as mitochondrial DNA is only inherited from the mother, so we might expect it to be very similar to others of the mother's species. Still, it's also possible they're just an inbred P.t. schweinfurthii population, in a similar way the original Neanderthal specimens were found to be. (Leading to the crests and even gigantism.)
 
Found: the giant lion-eating chimps of the magic forest

A new one on me.....


James Randerson, science correspondent
Saturday July 14, 2007
The Guardian

Deep in the Congolese jungle is a band of apes that, according to local legend, kill lions, catch fish and even howl at the moon. Local hunters speak of massive creatures that seem to be some sort of hybrid between a chimp and a gorilla.

Their location at the centre of one of the bloodiest conflicts on the planet, the civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo, has meant that the mystery apes have been little studied by western scientists. Reaching the region means negotiating the shifting fortunes of warring rebel factions, and the heart of the animals' range is deep in impenetrable forest.


Found: the giant lion-eating chimps of the magic forest


James Randerson, science correspondent
Saturday July 14, 2007
The Guardian

Deep in the Congolese jungle is a band of apes that, according to local legend, kill lions, catch fish and even howl at the moon. Local hunters speak of massive creatures that seem to be some sort of hybrid between a chimp and a gorilla.

Their location at the centre of one of the bloodiest conflicts on the planet, the civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo, has meant that the mystery apes have been little studied by western scientists. Reaching the region means negotiating the shifting fortunes of warring rebel factions, and the heart of the animals' range is deep in impenetrable forest.

Article continues
But despite the difficulties, a handful of scientists have succeeded in studying the animals. Early speculation that the apes may be some yeti-like new species or a chimp/gorilla hybrid proved unfounded, but the truth has turned out to be in many ways even more fascinating. They are actually a population of super-sized chimps with a unique culture - and it seems, a taste for big cat flesh.

The most detailed and recent data comes from Cleve Hicks, at the University of Amsterdam, who has spent 18 months in the field watching the Bili apes - named after a local town - since 2004. His team's most striking find came after one of his trackers heard chimps calling for several days from the same spot.

When he investigated he came across a chimp feasting on the carcass of a leopard. Mr Hicks cannot be sure the animal was killed by the chimp, but the find lends credence to the apes' lion-eating reputation.

"What we have found is this completely new chimpanzee culture," said Mr Hicks. Previously, researchers had only managed to snatch glimpses of the animals or take photos of them using camera traps. But Mr Hicks used local knowledge to get closer to them and photograph them.

"We were told of this sort of fabled land out west by one of our trackers who goes out there to fish," said Mr Hicks whose project is supported by the Wasmoeth Wildlife Foundation. "I call it the magic forest. It is a very special place."

Getting there means a gruelling 40km (25-mile) trek through the jungle, from the nearest road, not to mention navigating croc-infested rivers. But when he arrived he found apes without their normal fear of humans. Chimps near the road flee immediately at the sight of people because they know the consequences of a hunter's rifle, but these animals were happy to approach him. "The further away from the road the more fearless the chimps got," he added.

Mr Hicks reports that he found a unique chimp culture. For example, unlike their cousins in other parts of Africa the chimps regularly bed down for the night in nests on the ground. Around a fifth of the nests he found were there rather than in the trees.

"How can they get away with sleeping on the ground when there are lions, leopards, golden cats around as well as other dangerous animals like elephants and buffalo?" said Mr Hicks.

"I don't like to paint them as being more aggressive, but maybe they prey on some of these predators and the predators kind of leave them alone." He is keen to point out though that they don't howl at the moon.

"The ground nests were very big and there was obviously something very unusual going on there. They are not unknown elsewhere but very unusual," said Colin Groves, an expert on primate morphology at the Australian National University in Canberra who has observed the nests in the field.

Prof Groves believes that the Bili apes should prompt a radical rethink of the family tree of chimp sub-species. He has proposed that primatologists should now recognise five different sub-divisions instead of the current four.

Mr Hicks said the animals also have what he calls a "smashing culture" - a blunt but effective way of solving problems. He has found hundreds of snails and hard-shelled fruits smashed for food, seen chimps carrying termite mounds to rocks to break them open and also found a turtle that was almost certainly smashed apart by chimps.

Like chimp populations in other parts of Africa, the Bili chimps use sticks to fish for ants, but here the tools are up to 2.5 metres long.

The most exciting thing about this population of chimps though is that it is much bigger than anyone realised and may be one of the largest remaining continuous populations of the species left in Africa. Mr Hicks and his colleague Jeroen Swinkels surveyed an area of 7,000 square kilometres and found chimps everywhere. Their unique culture was uniform throughout.

However, the future for the Bili apes is far from secure. "Things are not promising," said Karl Ammann, an independent wildlife photographer who began investigating the apes 1996. "The absence of a strong central government has resulted in most of the region becoming more independent and lawless. In conservation terms this is a disaster."

http://environment.guardian.co.uk/conservation/story/0,,2126328,00.html
 
(Transplanted from the Almas thread ... )

oldrover said:
The Bili Ape is really interesting, but what they are isn't clear enough yet to draw any conclusions about the likelihood of their discovery, if you see what I mean. I do agree with you though it might well be a valid example.

Yes, the Billi Ape ! This was this gorilla-like chimp I had mentioned to you, and that I had promised to try to retrace in my FT collection. Well, I did try, with no result.

That being said, it is only a big chimpanzee :
http://parascientifica.com/articles.php?a=151

They are a local variation, whether they are a genuine sub-species remains to be seen. Although I understand that some would claim them as a cryptozoological success.
 
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Yes, the Billi Ape ! This was this gorilla-like chimp I had mentioned to you

Yes I remember that now. I'm finding it hard to get my head around this one, big chimps as you say but not outside the known size variation. Interesting to think though that they represent a different culture among chimps though. Unless I'm missing something though the evidence for that seems a bit scant.
 
There is a bizarre and tragic story associated with the discovery of the Bili Ape:

Bili Ape Discoverer Shot


What makes the Bili Ape discovery an improbable event is how it evaded detection for so long, you would think that someone would've noticed them long ago. It's not that people weren't paying attention to primates in that region, there were rumours of a mighty "lion killer" chimp in the area, it seems it was just a "needle in a haystack" situation.

The Denisovans are if anything even more strange, an entire humanity that flourished for millenia, utterly vanished, and was then dredged from oblivion by the chance discovery of a few crumbs of fossil tooth and bone. Like a missing piece of a puzzle, that no one even realized was missing.
 
There is a bizarre and tragic story associated with the discovery of the Bili Ape:

Bili Ape Discoverer Shot

What a bloody horrible thing to happen. You'd imagine she'd spent her working life in some dodgy places, only to be shot in her own country.
 
Although they were discovered some ~10 years backs. Isn't fascinating to think that a new great ape could still come out of the Congo as late as the 21st century. Nearly the size of a Gorilla but more like a chimp a totally new species, what else lurks in equatorial Africa? Could a dinosaur, giant monitor, or large rhino like cryptid still lurk in these hinterlands? Apologies these are Bili apes in the video, not the smaller Bonobo's which is what the original post stated.

 
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Aye, bonobo is a different ape.
 
Bonobos are more or less the same size as chimpanzees, though more gracile, and was discovered in the 1920s. I doubt it has much significance with regards to the possibility of large animals in the modern Congo. However, if large animals are still awaiting discovery anywhere, I imagine that's one of the most promising locations.
 
I originally posted the wrong name on the post. Apologies the larger Bili apes are on the video, not the small Bonobo's.
 
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Bonobos are more or less the same size as chimpanzees, though more gracile, and was discovered in the 1920s. I doubt it has much significance with regards to the possibility of large animals in the modern Congo. However, if large animals are still awaiting discovery anywhere, I imagine that's one of the most promising locations.

I don't completely agree there were legends for ages about a large rather aggressive ape that was thought to be the stuff of legend. At up to 6' tall I would consider them a somewhat large animal?
 
Byrdie is talking about the bonobos.
 
A friendly mod could change the title for you...
 
Ask Ramon Mercado or Mooksta or Stu Neville...
 
Well it's my fault for buggering up the name of the post
No, my Internet's a bit languid in my current location and I responded before it showed the attached video. I'll watch the video and respond if I actually have something relevant to say. :oops:
 
Although they were discovered some ~10 years backs. Isn't fascinating to think that a new great ape could still come out of the Congo as late as the 21st century. Nearly the size of a Gorilla but more like a chimp a totally new species, what else lurks in equatorial Africa? Could a dinosaur, giant monitor, or large rhino like cryptid still lurk in these hinterlands? Apologies these are Bili apes in the video, not the smaller Bonobo's which is what the original post stated.



All heaven rages to see animals in cages ( Excuse my misquote)...let the poor sods go.
 
There's plenty of space in North America for a large ape if you ask me....
 
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