Posted on 10/07/2004 1:15:07 AM PDT by aculeus
An elusive new species of great ape, known to locals as the "lion killer", may have been discovered in remote forests of the Congo.
The creatures are far larger and more aggressive than normal chimpanzees and have provoked much debate among experts. Some believe that the lion killers are a previously unknown species and should join the other great apes: the chimp, bonobo, gorilla and orang utan.
But others say they are unusually aggressive chimps with odd gorilla-like characteristics.
Legends of lost apes of the Congo basin go back more than a century and inspired the 1980 novel Congo by Michael Crichton. In the 1990s, Karl Ammann, a Swiss photographer, travelled to the Democratic Republic of Congo to track them.
Locals told him about giant apes with a reputation for killing lions, New Scientist magazine reports today. Their ridged skulls were typical of gorillas but they behaved like chimps, and unlike either they made permanent nests.
Last year Shelly Williams, an independent primatologist affiliated to the Jane Goodall Institute in Maryland, in the United States, became the first scientist to see the creatures close up and is sure that they are a new species.
"We could hear them in the trees, about 20 feet away," she said. "My tracker made a sound of an injured duiker [antelope] and four came rushing through the brush towards me.
"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."
However, Dr Colin Groves, of the Australian National University, Canberra, who has studied their skulls, said: "There is no doubt from the measurements that this is the skull of a chimp, although the crest is strange."
Dr Andrew Whitten, of St Andrews University, questioned whether behavioural differences were enough to suggest a new ape. "There are huge cultural differences among chimpanzees," he said.
"I do not think that behaviour makes a good marker for sub-species in great apes as flexible as chimps."
Okay now, this is just cool. Zoology BUMP!
Okay now, this is just cool. Zoology BUMP!
No ape including gorillas should be able to kill an adult lion.
The tracker must be fun at parties.
I was directly in front of them, and as soon as they saw my face, they stopped and disappeared."
What a sad personal comment, but at least she's in no danger of being raped....
Yeah.... but how about 10 of them using clubs or spears?
So now we have two stories about thickheaded, agressive, ape like creatures? I mean John Edwards was enough, but now these things?
Anyway, its remarkable to think about brand new mammals that we've never seen.
"...as soon as they saw my face, they stopped and disappeared."
....and this suprises whom?
Tarzan the great white ape, bump.
Hard to imagine there's a mammal we don't know about yet but still a cool story.
Sasquatch. ;)
[ /jesting ]
No, since the apes killed them all!
QED
Mark
How long before they form a union and start voting democrat?
They're liberal, too.......
I thought Michael Moore's family came from Michigan...
If they have seen their nests and studied their skulls why haven't we heard about this before? They would have video cameras with them if they were on an expedition to find them. Where are the videos? Do they have pictures of these skulls? This may not be a hoax but scientist have been known to do them in order to promote themselves (funding, prestige) and/or their theories. I want to see the proof myself.
Not alone, no. Apes, including humans, don't typically hunt alone, however. Note the researcher had four of the things come at him. Chimps, when they hunt, keep in contact by calling out to one another. Some get behind the prey and the rest drive the prey onto them.
I agree--unless they're granted a hunting license.
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