Slashdot Mirror
A New Species Of Giant Ape?
jd writes "The New Scientist, The Age (an Australian newspaper), Daily Telegraph (a British newspaper), BBC, and the Discovery Channel are talking excitedly about a strange primate, found in the Congo. Locals say it is notorious for killing fully-grown adult lions. Optimists hope that it is a new species, maybe related to the gorilla. Pessimists claim it's an overgrown chimpanzee. In either case, primates aren't discovered every day, making this a rare find indeed."
Wonderful discovery but, now that we've found them, one wonders how long it'll be before we somehow manage to wipe the species out :(
imagine that the world isn't so small afterall. I hope that this isn't just some one of a kind oddity but an actual new species, it would give hope to all the cryptozooligists out there that perhaps their favorit mythical beastie is real.
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Can this realy be true? An ape which lives in the jungle known to kill lions that live on the plains - got to be a hoax....
from the Telegraph :
"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."
Seems like they figured an easy meal saw it wasnt what they expected and went away
42
If we found something interesting it would attract more investment. People would be more interested in conserving it.
That can't help but make me skeptical -- these people have a compelling reason to hype these reports in order to encourage conservation and protection of the area.
It would be pretty interesting if it's true, however -- my guess would be that a large animal capable of avoiding detection for so long in well-explored areas would be interestingly intelligent...
Disclaimer: I work for a company, but I don't speak for them.
If that isn't a sign of intelligence I don't know what is :)
Same category as the 39 foot python I think.
d _3 355000/3355089.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/animals/newsi
These apes have not been 'discovered', they have simply been newly categorised. The idea that they have never been seen before is a nice idea but nonsense.
We may not like to think it, but the world is a small place now. There are no really remote places anymore and the idea that there are big animals roaming around somewhere unseen and undiscovered is a romantic notion which might be reassuring but can't hide the simple sad truth that the number of species is diminishing daily as we trash the planet.
I'm sorry, but your ( and my ) unrelenting consumption is killing off wildlife apace. Don't let stories like this one make you think otherwise.
Most apes are curious creatures , the ones which are more intelligent are more cautious observers than curious imitators.
A strange creature that walks on two feet, carries a metal paddle that kills , and kills adult elephants is a creature to be afraid of (oh, I'm talking about the average african explorer).
Truthfully speaking , any sufficently intelligent species which closely observes humans in actions have everything to be afraid of them . Lions are comparitively innocous compared to a human . Even tigers turn tail and run from humans looking at them (or relatively good facsimilies of a face).
It takes brains, learning and experience to figure that out .Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur
Which would also be the logical conclusion from their behavior. Despite the stereotypes, male chimps are considerably more violent than gorillas, which are generally pretty laid-back if they're not threatened. If a female gorilla came anywhere near a troop of chimps, the males would most likely go ape-shit (pardon the pun) and chase her away. A lone female chimp would probably have a much better chance at approaching a group of gorillas.
It's interesting how the Animal Planet and Telegraph stories differ to the point of contradicting each other. Animal Planet makes these animals sound docile and peaceful, and only make a single mention about killing lions :
tales that the forests were inhabited by large ferocious apes that could kill lions.
The BBC also only makes one mention about killing lions:
capable of killing lions.
There's a big difference between "capable" and "does". Elephants can kill lions too, but that doesn't make them "Lion Killers", which is how the Telegraph article refers to these chimp-apes:
known to locals as the "lion killer"
Locals told him about giant apes with a reputation for killing lions, New Scientist magazine reports today.
The Telegraph portraits them as violent and aggressive:
The creatures are far larger and more aggressive than normal chimpanzees
they are unusually aggressive chimps
While Animal Planet describes them quite differently:
Unlike gorillas, which invariably charge when they see a threat, these apes turn around and silently slip away into the forest when encountered, Ammann said.
That doesn't sound too aggressive to me, for an animal that is supposed to go around killing lions for sport. Why for sport? Because they obviously don't eat them, according to Animal Planet:
Feces recovered from the nest sites indicated an animal with a diet rich in fruit, which is typical of chimps.
Rather odd to have such an aggressive and competent killer that doesn't eat meat. Either reporters are putting a big spin on this, or researches are trying to pique as much interest as possible to raise funding.
Dan East
Better known as 318230.
Kwyjibo
"Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart, he dreams himself your master."
either you're a troll or just really, really dim. You don't actually have to kill someone/something to get enough material of them for a dna analysis...it's just that you need to convince the ape to open wide while you scrape the inside of its mouth with a cotton swab. Oh wait, we have stun guns these day...
People replying to my sig annoy me. That's why I change it all the time.
Because apes possess many of the characteristics that we consider morally important, and should be extended some basic legal and ethical rights, like not being arbitrarily killed.
Geez. Jump right to killing one, not even considering a tranquilizer dart and a blood sample?
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | my blog
You cannot wash away blood with blood
Mmmm. And here I thought Crichton had just ripped off H. Ryder Haggard and Edgar Rice Burroughs, who both used most of the same elements as Congo. What *COULD* I have been thinking.
Um, no.
Animals are afraid of most other animals, unless they know what it is. Humans are naturaly afraid of other animals, too, unless we know what they are and that they won't hurt us. Especialy the ones that are just as big as us.
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
The latsest new scientist's article, only available online to subscribers, says that it's just mitochondrial DNA which has been analysed, although this does show the ape to be genetically indistinguishable from the local chimp subspecies.
This doesn't really explain their large size (not just larger than the average chimp, but larger than the largest previously known chimp), their unusual skull shape and behavioural differences.
Possible explanations for these include variations in the Y chromosome (although Shelly Williams says she has seen large females too) or simple genetic drift in other parts of the genome. The fact that mitochondrial DNA is only inherited from the mother leaves open the possibility that the apes are descended from the offspring of male gorilla and female chimp pairings.
Any time an animal is about to become extinct, the environmentalists should convince the restaurant industry that the animal tastes good. That way, the evil corporations would be "tricked" into funding breeding programs. They would have a vested business interest in ensuring the species' survival. Are chickens or cows going to be extinct any time soon? I, for one, am looking forward to a McChimp Deluxe or Gorilla Whopper. Long live the primates. Now pass the A1 sauce.
oh great. more outsourcing.