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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."
I've already discovered a couple of those in my local pub.
. . . Peter Jackson began production on his remake of king Kong in the Congo last week . . .
"Developers, developers, developers!"
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
Wasn't this story reported -- and discussed here -- in august last year as well?
8 /1 0/0014206&tid=134&tid=14
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/0
(Of course, I didn't RTFA)
If the answers to these questions are yes, then we need to get a gorilla that understands sign language ASAP.
Do I read to much?* At least I never saw the movie.
*well, not TFA, apparently. ;-)
"Empathise with stupidity, and you're halfway to thinking like an idiot." - Iain M. Banks
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 :(
...that it wasn't just George Bush on vacation?
Bob
Listen to my latest album here
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.
An ape capable of killing lions ran away after a peek--that must have been one ugly face!
I for one welcome our new hitherto unknown giant congolese ape overlords
He/She/it's already on the US 'Do not fly' list
AT&ROFLMAO
I wonder why they stopped attacking when they saw her...
"Empathise with stupidity, and you're halfway to thinking like an idiot." - Iain M. Banks
Slashdot "libertarians": Small government for me, big government for those I disagree with. -1, I disagree with you
Wonder how long till they get turned into bushmeat
My email addy? should be easy enough.
I'm glad that the cliche about technology (it will be applied first in porn) does not apply to zoological discoveries too.
*phew*
Blearf. Blearf, I say.
this seems to be related and has pictures and better info - just look at the size of those footprints?
http://karlammann.com/bondo.html
Bigfoot ?
Nick...
Electronic Music Made Using Linux http://soundcloud.com/polyp
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.
In either case, primates aren't discovered every day
I discover primates every day! Why, just today, I discovered a bus full of them. They made incessant noises and smelled funny, but they were indisputably primates. However, when I tried to mimic one of their mating rituals, I was physically assaulted, a very disappointing turn of events for science.
Mod down posts with a "Free Mac Mini/iPod" sig, they're spam!
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.
Chimpanzee's do employ natural objects in order to get maggots in trees. I just want to know, how do these apes kill lions? Do they use stones? Jaws of animals? Sure they can probably use their fists, but if they used tools, well it'd certainly be something noteworthy.
Well, it would have made the day of the gorilla (gorilless?). Chimps are better hung than Gorillas.
I find it rather worrying that I know this.
_O_
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Try here.
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So, these chimps are the equivalent of the people from the Norse region?
If you look at humanity, you find a huge range of adult sizes along with a wide range of colorations. As closely related as apes are, I'd expect the same.
I don't read AC A human right
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
http://karlammann.com/bondo.html They printed the phylogenetic tree as well as wrote up the findings. I lazily skimmed the text but the phylogenetic tree makes it look not that exciting. A new subspecies but not very diverse from other known species. Enjoy~
for the faint at heart, the link contains a lot of pictures, among them a rather disturbing picture of a semi decapitated ape with a lot of blood. Given how human they look, it might not be suitable for all.
The war with islam is a war on the beast
The war on terror is a war for peace
They just get larger then most chimps, which is not totally uncommon.
In fact about half of all chimps are larger than most chimps!
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. -Aldous Huxley
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.
You're absolutely right, the standard mitochondrial DNA analysis places them in 'schweinfurthii' (which, geographically, they border with).
However, it has been pointed out that mtDNA analyses cannot always distinguish between closely related species, and the answer cannot be definitively known until a a full nuclear DNA analysis is performed.
Also, it's worth nothing that, whilst chimps can grow to various sizes, these apes are considerably larger than even the largest chimp on record, and their behaviour is substantially different from typical chimp behaviour
Rgasuya aata! : I have been coding Perl and cannot tell where my fingers are now!
So your plan is, you want to use a short range stun gun designed to briefly knock out a human, use it on an unknown species of ape which hunts in packs and may or may not be able to kill lions with its bare hands. And then you're going to stick your hands in it's mouth while it's 'stunned'.
Can't say I'm surprised no one has implemented your plan.
The Stevus Ballmerus.
Damce. monkey boy, dance!
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
APES and other Animals:
APES:
-Maybe these bad boys cross-bred with the Apes of India... and supposing this, she hollers, "Yoni-Yoni-Yoni-Yoni.... kamasalila-saspanda..."
--Maybe they wanted "dark meat" that day, rib-less and skinless?
OTHER ANIMALS:
As for "as everyone that hunted once in their life knows, wild animals run like hell at the sight of humans, no matter how 'dangerous' the animals are, like tigers, lions and whatnot.."
Tell that to a co-worker of mine. He told me in that once in his younger days he and friends went hunting.
A wild pig appeared and his "Mr.-I'm-Tough" friend confidently takes aim and BLAST! Off goes some pig skin.
Pig keeps charging.
Friends head for the trees.
BLAM! off goes more skin, and a chunk of flesh.
Wild pig keeps charging.
Shooter furiously reloads. BLAM!
Off goes a chunk of pig eye. Pig keeps coming.
Shotgun jams or is ammoless.
Shooter drops shotgun and does what friends did: hauls ass into the neares climbable tree and stays there.
Pig rams tree, squealing, snorting, gushing blood a few minutes or longer. Eventually it dies from bleeding to death more than from that choice of shotgun used for hunting.
Not ALL animals fear and run from humans. Nor should they. They SHOULD chomp, rip or slas our encroaching asses at least ONCE in a while, right? Right!
I don't hunt, on land or at sea, but if I did, I'd only dive if I had a razor-festooned and cyanid-loaded, multi-layer suit that would poison the creature that ate me. I may dive to take pics, but not take a stabe at animal. They do what they have to do to eat. I'll do what I have to do to not be dessert, or deserted.
Maybe a Bruce-Dern-/Black Sunday-like black box filled with needels could "fleschette" an attacking shark and defuse that attack/charge. But, woe be unta any diving partners on the wrong side of the firing line...
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