Bili Ape

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A juvenile Bili ape in the Gangu Forest (photo by Cleve Hicks).
A juvenile Bili ape in the Gangu Forest (photo by Cleve Hicks).

Bili Ape, also Bondo Mystery Ape, is the name given to a large primate that is said to inhabit Bili Forest in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[1]

"The apes nest on the ground like gorillas but have a diet and features characteristic of chimpanzees," according to a National Geographic report.[2] While preliminary genetic testing with non-nuclear DNA indicate a close relationship with the Eastern Chimpanzee Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii subspecies of the Common Chimpanzee,[3] a range of behaviors that are more closely related to those of gorillas have greatly intrigued primatologists from around the globe. The mixture of traits has led to questions of taxonomic classification. Initial results from mitochondrial DNA analysis of fecal samples indicate that the 'mystery ape' is a chimpanzee, although it may be a fifth sub-species.[4]

The Bili apes are currently under threat from an invasion of gold miners into the area, which began in June of 2007 [1].

Contents

[edit] The 'Lion Killers'

In local parlance, the great apes of the Bili Forest fall into two distinct groups. There are the 'tree beaters', who disperse high into the trees to stay safe, and who easily succumb to the poison arrows used by local hunters. And then there are the 'lion killers', who seldom climb trees, are bigger and darker, and who are unaffected by the poison arrows used by locals.

When Karl Ammann, a Swiss photographer and anti-bush meat 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 prominent crest like 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 bush meat 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.

[edit] 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.

Since a five year long civil war ended in 2003, it has been 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." [5]

“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."

In June of 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. Cleve reported that he saw "nothing gorilla about them", stating that "they pant-hoot and tree-drum, and so on," and adding that "the females definitely have a chimp's sex swellings". DNA samples recovered from feces also re-affirmed 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 [2][3].

Hicks has emphasized that the Bili apes do not howl at the moon, and there is little evidence suggesting that they are any more aggressive than other chimpanzees (predatory behavior being the norm for the species). Unfortunately, he has been misquoted in the press about this [4].

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 [5].

[edit] Behavioral characteristics

In some ways, the apes behave more like gorillas than chimpanzees. For example, they build ground nests as gorillas do, using interwoven branches and/or saplings, bent down into a central bowl. However, they frequently nest in the trees as well. Often ground nests will be found beneath or in proximity to tree nests. Their diet is also decidedly chimpanzee-like, consisting mainly of fruits (fruiting trees such as strangler figs are visited often). [6]

The Bili Apes do not howl at the moon. They pant-hoot and tree-drum like other chimpanzees. [7].

Behavior toward humans has baffled and intrigued scientists. There is little to no aggression, yet no fear either. "Gorilla males will always charge when they encounter a hunter, but there were no stories like that," about the Bili Apes, according to Ammann. Instead, they would come face-to-face with their human cousins, stare intently in half-recognition, then slide away quietly. Hicks' group later confirmed and somewhat expanded those observations, saying that when they encountered a large group of Bili Apes in the deep forests (far from the roads and villages), they not only approached the humans, but would actually surround them with intent curiosity.[8] Hicks clarifies the issue as follows: The apes within 20 km or so of the roads flee humans almost without exception. The adult males show the greatest fear. Further from the roads, however, the chimpanzees become progressively 'naive'. [9]

[edit] Morphology and physiology

The Bili Ape has been reported to walk upright, bipedally, at times, with the looks of a giant chimpanzee. Later observations by Hicks, however, reveal that they are knuckle-walkers like other chimpanzees that only occasionally walk bipedally. Their footprints, which range from 28 to 34 centimeters, are longer than the largest common chimp and gorilla footprints, which average 26 cm and 29 cm, respectively. Hicks' team has, in a year and a half of study, found no footprints longer than 30 cm, and most have been smaller.

According to Williams, "They have a very flat face, a wide muzzle and their brow-ridge runs straight across and overhangs. They seem to turn grey very early in life, but instead of turning grey-black like a gorilla, they turn grey all over." They have very flat faces, wide muzzles, brow-ridges running straight across and overhanging; uniform gray fur independently of age and sex, which suggests that graying takes place early in life-opposed to all known gorilla species, where only males gray as they age (graying restricted to their backs).

Bili Ape skulls have the prominent brow ridge and may have a sagittal crest similar to that of a robust great ape, or gorilla, but other morphological measurements are more like those of chimpanzees. However, chimpanzee skulls are 190 to 210 millimetres long, but four of five Bili Ape skulls measured more than 220 millimetres, well beyond the end of the normal chimpanzee range. It should be made clear that only one of the many skulls found at Bili had a sagittal crest, thus it cannot yet be considered typical for the population [10].

Female Bili apes, however, have genital swellings similar to other chimpanzees [11]

[edit] Habitat

The Bili Forest lies in the Congo’s far north, about 200 kilometers east of the Ebola River, where deep tropical rain forests are broken by patches of savanna. Dense Jungles, civil war and other barriers to mankind's encroachment have left the region relatively pristine. However, forests throughout the Congo have been hit hard by commercial poaching.

Unfortunately, the Bili area was invaded in June of 2007 by a large number of gold miners, putting at risk the continued survival of the chimpanzees, elephants and other megafauna [12].

[edit] See also

[edit] References

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ http://www.wasmoethwildlife.org/bili.php
  2. ^ Roach, John (2003-04-14). Elusive African Apes: Giant Chimps or New Species?. National Geographic News.
  3. ^ DNA tests solve mystery of giant apes, New Scientist (2006-06-30), subscriber only but reported in: AFP. “Mystery apes are chubby chimps, zoologists find” ABC News Online (2006-06-29). See also the letter from Cleve Hicks clarifying some points: Bili ape myths (2006-09-02)
  4. ^ Randerson, James. "Found: the giant lion-eating chimps of the magic forest". The Guardian (2007-07-14)
  5. ^ Young, Emma. “The Beast with No Name In the Depths of the Congo lives an elusive Ape unlike any other”. New Scientist (2004-10-09)
  6. ^ Faris, Stephan. “Lost apes of the Congo A Time reporter travels deep into the African jungle in search of a mysterious chimp called the lion killer”. TIME Magazine (2005-01-17)

[edit] External links

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