Does the Bili Ape Exist?

[Pckts]

Bili ape, also Bondo mystery ape, is the name given to large chimpanzees that inhabit Bili Forest in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[1]

"The apes nest on the ground like gorillas, but they have a diet and features characteristic of chimpanzees", according to a National Geographic report.[2] While preliminary genetic testing with non-nuclear DNA indicates a close relationship with the eastern chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) subspecies of the common chimpanzee,[3][4][5][6] a range of behaviors that are more closely related to those of gorillas have greatly intrigued primatologists from around the globe. Though their taxonomic classification has been clarified[citation needed], the need for further information about these chimpanzees persists.




In local parlance, the great apes of the Bili Forest fall into two distinct groups. There are the "tree beaters", which disperse high into the trees to stay safe, and easily succumb to the poison arrows used by local hunters. Then there are the "lion killers", which seldom climb trees, are bigger and darker, and are unaffected by the poison arrows.
When Karl Ammann, a Swiss photographer and anti-bushmeat campaigner, first visited the region in 1996, he was looking for gorillas, but instead discovered a skull that had dimensions like that of a chimpanzee, but with a prominent crest like that of a gorilla. Ammann purchased a photograph, taken by a motion-detecting camera, from poachers that captured an image of what looked like immense chimpanzees. Ammann also measured a fecal dropping three times as big as chimp dung and footprints as large as or larger than a gorilla's.
In 2000, Ammann returned to the area described by the bushmeat hunter with a group of ape researchers. Although they did not find a live Bili ape, they did find several well-worn ground nests, characteristic of gorillas rather than chimpanzees, in swampy river beds.

Scientific field research

In 2001, an international team of scientists, including George Schaller of the Wildlife Conservation Society and Mike Belliveau of Harvard University were recruited by Karl Ammann to search for the elusive Bili ape, but the venture came up empty.
After a five-year-long civil war ended in 2003, it was easier for scientists to conduct field research in the Congo. The first scientist to see the Bili apes, and also recruited by Ammann, was Shelly Williams, PhD, a specialist in primate behavior. Williams reported on her close and chilling encounter with Bili apes, "We could hear them in the trees, about 10 m away, and four suddenly came rushing through the brush towards me. If this had been a mock charge they would have been screaming to intimidate us. These guys were quiet, and they were huge. They were coming in for the kill – but as soon as they saw my face they stopped and disappeared."[7]
"The unique characteristics they exhibit just don't fit into the other groups of apes", says Williams. The apes, she argues, could be a new species unknown to science, a new subspecies of chimpanzee, or a hybrid of the gorilla and the chimp. "At the very least, we have a unique, isolated chimp culture that's unlike any that's been studied", she says.[6]
Scientists believe they are dealing with a very inbred population, in which even a large number of animals could share identical or near identical haplotypes. Bili ape reports have also been investigated by Esteban Sarmiento, who has said "I would think there is a strong possibility that south of Bili on the other side of the Uele River there may be gorillas, and this would seem an important area to turn our attention to." Scientists working within these forests south of the Uele, however, have found no such evidence, nor heard any such reports from local communities. It remains an important region, however, based on the discovered presence of other flagship species, like chimpanzees and elephants.[8]
In June 2006, British Science Weekly reported that Cleve Hicks and colleagues from the University of Amsterdam had completed a year-long hunt for these apes during which they were able to observe the creatures a total of 20 full hours. Hicks reported,"I see nothing gorilla about them. The females definitely have a chimp's sex swellings, they pant-hoot and tree-drum, and so on."[9] DNA samples recovered from feces also reaffirmed the classification of these apes in the chimp subspecies Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii.
Hicks encountered a large community of the apes to the northwest of Bili that displayed interest in him and his colleagues reminiscent of previous reports (this was misreported in the New Scientist as being 18 km from Bili, but it was actually considerably farther from the village. This was the first group of Bili apes to be encountered where the adult males did not flee immediately upon seeing the humans). The apes, including adult males, would surround their human visitors and show curiosity towards them, but would not attack or become threatening.[10][11]
Hicks has emphasized that there is little evidence suggesting that they are any more aggressive than other chimpanzees (predatory behavior being the norm for the species). However, he has been misquoted in the press about this.[5]
Further study was undertaken by Hicks between July 2006 and February 2007, accompanied by Jeroen Swinkels of the University of Amsterdam. A new base camp was established in the Gangu Forest.[12]

*This image is copyright of its original author

DNA tests solve mystery of giant apes
By Emma Young and Adrian Barnett
ARE they a giant new species of great ape, or a hybrid of a chimp and a gorilla? The mysterious population of apes living in the remote north of the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been the subject of a heated debate. Now genetic evidence and a comprehensive survey suggest that, despite their size and unusual behaviour, the apes belong to a recognised subspecies of chimpanzee, Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii.
People living around the town of Bili, about 200 kilometres east of the Ebola river, have long swapped stories of ferocious apes with a penchant for killing lions (New Scientist, 9 October 2004, p 32). The apes seemed too large to be chimps. From photographs, they were estimated to weigh up to about 100 kilograms, and their footprints at up to 34 centimetres long were bigger than a gorilla’s.
To solve the mystery Cleve Hicks and colleagues at the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, spent a year in the field tracking the apes. During that time, Hicks logged an unprecedented 20 hours observation. “I see nothing gorilla about them,” he says. “The females definitely have a chimp’s sex swellings, they pant-hoot and tree-drum, and so on.”
Analysis of mitochondrial DNA taken from faecal samples also puts the animals within the P. t. schweinfurthii group. Hicks is now analysing samples of nuclear DNA in the expectation that this will rule out a chimp-gorilla hybrid. “I would say that possibility is negligible,” he says.
The Bili apes are, nevertheless, unusual. Their skulls have a gorilla-like sagittal crest, but also many chimp-like features. Recordings reveal that they howl during the full ...

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg1...iant-apes/




Others say they are just E. Chimpanzees

Published on Jan 21, 2014
Lukuru Foundation, Democratic Republic of Congo
http://www.lukuru.org

This video footage offers a small window into a mystery crafted by time and the vast, isolated forest block of northern DRCongo.
In 2003 John Roach (National Geographic News) wrote : "The detective story began in 1908 when a Belgian army officer returned home with several gorilla skulls from near the town of Bili on the Uele River and gave them to the Belgium's Royal Museum for Central Africa in Tervuren. In 1927 the museum's curator classified the skulls as a new subspecies of gorilla, Gorilla gorilla uellensis. "
Yet these skulls were collected thousands of miles/kilometers away from any documented presence of gorillas. What followed were tales of a mythical beast; tales that tantalized primatologists around the world with images of a new species of giant ape, yet to be formally discovered.
Roach wrote: "In 1996, Swiss-born, Kenya-based wildlife photographer and conservationist Karl Ammann embarked on a quest to rediscover the mysterious gorillas."
The media flocked to the story and told of a huge creature, part chimp / part gorilla, known to be fearless and free from any predators, including man. This mythical monster that sleeps in big ground nests, was alleged to kill and eat lions, leopards or hyenas. It was reported to howl at the rising and setting of the moon.
In 2001 two of the worlds' leading authorities on chimpanzees ventured into the Bili forest in search of the Bili Ape. They returned home with no answers.
In the summer of 2003 fecael and hair samples were collected in order to analyze the DNA of this potentially "new ape" compared to gorillas, chimpanzees, and bonobos.
The results were far less spectacular than the magical forest lore.
The Bili apes are eastern chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii).

This camera trap footage was a result of a joint 1 year project by the Panafrican Research and Monitoring Program at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, The US Fish and Wildlife Service, and The Lukuru Foundation, with additional funding provided by The Lucie Burgers Foundation for Comparative Behavior Research, Arnhem, The Netherlands, The Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics at the University of Amsterdam, and The African Wildlife Foundation. Cleve Hicks led the survey mission and Karsten Dierks served as Panafrican Team Leader in charge of the camera trap project. They were accompanied by a team of six guards from L'Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature. Reply