Comments on: Bili Ape Update

By: Mnynames

Mnynames — Sat, 08 Jul 2006 23:18:42 +0000

Rebo429 (first name Max?) brings up a good point. What the question really serves to highlight, however, is the difficulty of determining just exactly what a species is. Undoubtedly they are a recent branching, and surely are close enough to mate with other Chimps, and probably still inclined to as well. Some say that the fact that they can breed with other chimps makes them at best a subspecies, but Lions and Tigers breed with one another, and Mountain Lions and Leopards too, and science accepts that they are all different species. In entomology, if you got a beetle with the same morphology but a slightly different shade of green, likely you could get away with calling it a different species. In the case of these Chimps, they seem to have the same cultural habits, but a different morphology, which in my mind at least makes them eligible for species status.

Science has always seemed reluctant to add to the number of recognized higher primates, while not even blinking twice to question new insect species, just look at the ludicrous notion that Homo floresiensis is really just a dozen or so microcephalic dwarf skeletons that happened to have lived in the same cave.

Templarknight, I suppose as long as you’re not a lion, you’ll be fine…

By: rebo429

rebo429 — Sun, 02 Jul 2006 03:57:57 +0000

I’m new here, but i couldn’t help but wonder, if humans are 96% or so genetically identical to chimpanzees, wouldn’t a closer relative to the chimp have DNA so close it could be found to be identical if one was not looking for very minor differences? I’m not terribly familiar with primates but it seems like there are quite a lot of differences for this to be a case of population variation. Are there more than one family group of these in the area?

By: English Boy

English Boy — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 12:10:34 +0000

jjames1

oh ok thanks for that yes i realised now just read it again.

By: TemplarKnight21c

TemplarKnight21c — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 01:55:29 +0000

I’m not sure I’d want to go looking for these things in the wild, knowing the stories about them killing lions.

By: twblack

twblack — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 01:39:12 +0000

Thanks for keeping us up to date on this subject. I bet their will be more coming in the future on this story.

By: Jeremy_Wells

Jeremy_Wells — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 17:30:01 +0000

hmmm, checked out Ammann’s site and his letter to the Omaha Zoo… apparently, despite what the articles are saying, they don’t “howl at the full moon” but are more vocal at that period (what the real difference is beats me). But, nonetheless, it’s interesting the misinformation and confusion going right from the get go on this. Also interesting is Ammann’s assertion that certain extenuating circumstances have led to what he considers premature revelation of some material. (Also interesting that he has Bigfoot and Yeti links at the bottom of his page.)

Cryptozoologists should take note of these issues arising with the Bili/Bondo apes and keep them in mind to avoid any future problems of this sort should any conclusive evidence of Yeti, Sasquatch, Orang Pendek, etc. ever come to light.

By: Jeremy_Wells

Jeremy_Wells — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 15:30:08 +0000

Wow, that looks an awful lot like some of the Mawas prints (superficially anyway)… hmmmmmm

By: jjames1

jjames1 — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 14:24:29 +0000

English Boy:

The apes aren’t “Paris apes.” The article has a Paris byline because the story was issued from there.

Here’s one of the pictures I’ve seen of a Bili ape, and it’s not very clear at all.

By: English Boy

English Boy — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 12:03:37 +0000

has anyone got pictures of the Paris apes in Democratic Republic of Congo i dont know what they look like ?