Congo's mystery killer could be a new type of ape

The Telegraph (UK) ^ | October 7, 2004 | By David Derbyshire, Science Correspondent

[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."

[jimtorr]

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.

Bingo! Chimps are known to hunt in an organized fashion, but as far as we know, they don't do it very often.

[sphinx]

Nothing to see here, folks -- just Democrats Abroad. The DNC already has them registered and they'll probably produce 112% turnout for Kerry.

[heckler]

I saw a Discovery show about about some really aggresive chimps in the Congo. They were hunting down and eating some type of monkey. It was really spooky to see these big pissed off chimps with blood all over their face gnawing on the end of a bloody bone, scary, kind of like that James Carville dude.....

[Tweaker]

I'm not sure where you find lions in the Congo, but it is a fact that Baboons attack and sometimes kill Leopards. Not for food but to protect their young.

[GodBlessRonaldReagan]

[millefleur]

Sasquatch !!

[ops33]

Individually or in groups. One of the great advantages early man had what that he could hunt very effectively in groups allowing them to take down prey that no individual could defeat.

[Hatteras]

"There are huge cultural differences among chimpanzees," he said.

Welcome to the real world...

[normy]

I would bet two or three Silverbacks could kill a Lion if they were inclined to do so. Lions are bad no doubt, but I would put money on a grizzley as the baddest.

[R. Scott]

Maybe they – like humans – have a gene for the predisposition to kill?

[Varda]

Cool! I remember seeing a show about a "humanzee", a chimp they thought was a human/chimp hybrid. Turns out he had some strange but thoroughly chimp DNA. Maybe this is his species, in the wild.

[Jonah Hex]

"Fascinating."

[bert]

The battle between the splitters and lumpers continues.

[beezdotcom]

Know what a two bagger is? A bag for her head, and a bag for yours in case her bag breaks...

[Sloth]

"My tracker made a sound of an injured duiker [antelope] and four came rushing through the brush towards me."

Boy, I know how that goes. Once I was mauled by a frenzied pack of rabbits after I made a noise like a bruised carrot.

[olde north church]

Actually, it's the intelligence to kill with discretion. It's been "proven" the carnivorous chimps are always male and always the most intelligent in the group.
To have framed that as a syllogism, would have no doubt caused distress amount the FRemales!

[beezdotcom]

"My tracker made a sound of an injured duiker [antelope] and four came rushing through the brush towards me.

Were these the apes?

[Law is not justice but process]

"No ape including gorillas should be able to kill an adult lion."

Humans do it all the time, and we aren't even as strong as a chimp. Chimps can even kill humans (and I've heard of them killing leopards). All the apes would need to learn is how to throw a rock. When I was in Africa I heard the story of a 5 year-old boy who was watching the family cattle when a big male lion came along. He chucked his little spear and ran for his life. By the time he got high enough in a tree to feel safe looking back, he saw he had killed the lion. The local chief, contrary to custom, even awarded the boy the lion's skin (which usually was turned over to the chief). You would be surprised what limited intelligence and simple tools can achieve (though a 5 year-old is probably still smarter than a chimp).

[Jonah Hex]

"My tracker made a sound of an injured duiker [antelope] and four came rushing through the brush towards me."

In America, we associate this behavior with lawyers.

[Elsie]

It must have been a MOOSE then!