Unusual Gorilla
A giant ape has
been seen in remote forests in central Africa, sparking speculation it could be
a new species of primate.
Such a finding would be the most astonishing wildlife discovery in decades.
A report published in New Scientist says the mysterious creatures have been seen
in forests around the towns of Bondo and Bili, in the far north of the
Democratic Republic of Congo.
From rare eyewitness sightings, bone discoveries and a video recording, the
animals are thought to have large, black faces, are up to two meters tall and
weigh between 85 and 102kg.
That would put them in the size category of gorillas. But the region lies 500km
from the edges of the known habitats of the western and eastern species of
gorilla.
The creature's face is gorilla-like and has a sagittal crest, or a long bony
ridge, typical of gorillas.
But other aspects of the skull morphology are that of a chimpanzee, according to
Colin Groves, an expert at the Australian National University in Canberra.
As for behavior, the apes make nests on the ground like gorillas, whereas
chimpanzees prefer to make their homes in the trees.
But, unlike gorillas, which hate water and build a new nest every night, these
primates make their beds in swampy ground and reuse them night after night.
Feces recovered from the nests indicate they have a diet rich in fruit, which is
typical of chimps.
Shelly Williams, a US primatologist affiliated to the Jane Goodall Institute in
Maryland, captured the apes on video in 2002 with the help of local people and
was once briefly confronted by a group of four of them in dense forest.
This, along with other evidence, makes her think that there is a chance the
animals could be a new species of great ape.
Other possibilities are that it is a gorilla-chimp hybrid, or a new sub-species
of chimp that would be 50 per cent bigger than its larger cousins.