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

There's plenty of space in North America for a large ape if you ask me....
Not, another unwelcomed addition to our southern ecosystem "likely the only place warn enough would Florida". Wasn't the recent addition of the Capybara sufficient?
 
I was under the impression that the Bili apes are chimps, large chimps, but just chimps nonetheless
 
A very large chimp some have said they have a bit of gorilla in them but they are classified as a rather different branch on the chimpanzee line of apes.
 
A very large chimp some have said they have a bit of gorilla in them but they are classified as a rather different branch on the chimpanzee line of apes.

They aren't classified like this. In fact they don't seem to have been classified as anything, as there doesn't seem to be any formal description of them, or any studies at all whose findings have been published.

There do seem to be a few internet myths surrounding them though.
 
They aren't classified like this. In fact they don't seem to have been classified as anything, as there doesn't seem to be any formal description of them, or any studies at all whose findings have been published.

There do seem to be a few internet myths surrounding them though.
Their is some ambiguity of weather or not they are closer to chimps or gorilla or ?. They are said to have characters of both apes. You were the one who classified them as a chimp only.
 
Slightly off topic, but is it true that chimps are more closely related to humans than they are to gorillas?
 
Their is some ambiguity of weather or not they are closer to chimps or gorilla or ?. They are said to have characters of both apes. You were the one who classified them as a chimp only.

No, I'm not Jim. This is an amendment to the New Scientist article by Cleve Hicks, the Dutch primatologist who studied the animals in 2006.

"Two points in your article about our work on Bili’s “giant apes” require correction (1 July, p 14). It is an exaggeration to say that the chimps’ skulls have a sagittal crest. Only one skull has been found with a small sagittal crest. You also state that recordings exist of the Bili apes howling at the moon. If these recordings exist, we would very much like to hear them. It must be stated very clearly: the Bili apes do not howl at the moon.

One of the main goals of this study has been to puncture the myths surrounding the Bili apes and paint a more realistic portrait of the genetics, behaviour and ecology of these chimpanzees, which, it is now clear, are not a hybrid or a new species".

https://www.newscientist.com/letter/mg19125670-500-bili-ape-myths/

And as far as I'm aware the results of this study haven't been published.
 
Apologies if this nothing new here; it was news to me. The Wikipedia article on Bili apes states they’re “reported to be bipedal.” I suspect they’re only occasionally reported to be bipedal; the only purported video I’ve found of Bili apes shows them knuckle walking. The article says they look like giant chimpanzees, 5- to 5.5-feet tall. The size and alleged bipedalism remind me of sightings of smaller bigfoot-type creatures in the USA, mostly in the South. Some Bili apes, but not all, have sagittal crests such as reported in many bigfoot sightings, and, ahem, rather big feet compared to chimps — up to 34 centimeters long, or about 13.6 inches. I would love to see video of them walking bipedally; I’m not sure if there is any video of them. There is a purported photo of one taken by a camera trap and one of a dead one (shown below). Their behavior is markedly different from gorillas and especially the big chimps, which can be horrifically violent and extremely cruel to their own kind.

Wiki: Behavior toward humans has baffled and intrigued scientists. There is little to no aggression, yet no fear, either. "Gorilla males will always charge when they encounter a hunter, but there were no stories like that" about the Bili apes, according to Ammann. Instead, they would come face-to-face with their human cousins, stare intently in half-recognition, then slide away quietly. Hicks's group later confirmed and somewhat expanded those observations, saying that when they encountered a large group of Bili apes in the deep forests (far from the roads and villages), they not only approached the humans, but also would actually surround them with intent curiosity.[11] Hicks clarifies the issue as follows: the apes within 20 km or so of the roads flee humans almost without exception. The adult males show the greatest fear. Further from the roads, however, the chimpanzees become progressively "naive".[11]

1563900934033.jpeg

Photo of dead Bili ape obtained by Karl Ammann. The man on the left is supposedly 5 feet 10 and weighs 175 pounds.
 
Giant chimps in the Congo
news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/04/0414_030314_strangeape.html
Link is dead. No archived version found.

The MIA National Geographic article was originally cited here on our forum in relation to the photo it included.

Here is the photo which originally appeared with the MIA article.

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