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the 1920 Loys's "Ape" in Venezuela & other such enconters

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Brooke
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« on: February 25, 2007, 05:28:19 pm »



This photograph is the only one available of Loys's "Ape," taken after the primate was shot in 1920 by Swiss geologist François de Loys and his party in the Amazon forests of Venezuela.
- ---


In 1917, François De Loys, a Swiss geologist, set off on an expedition into the montane and lowland rain forests of Venezuela. His expedition lasted for three years, and encountered many difficulties, including sickness and hostile Indians. Only a few expedition members survived.

In 1920, in the forest along the River Tarra, Loys later reported that he and his companions encountered two tall monkeys which advanced toward them, walking upright and holding onto bushes. The monkeys appeared to be very angry, screaming, waving, and tearing off branches. They reportedly became so enraged that they defecated into their own hands and hurled their feces at the men. The group tried to shoot the male monkey, which was in front and was the most threatening of the two. However, it reportedly stepped aside and let the female charge, and it was the female which was killed by the guns of the expedition members. The male monkey fled. The dead female was carried to the riverbank, set on an oil crate, held upright by a stick placed under its chin, and photographed. The photograph shows a large monkey with a human-like facial expression. Upon Loys's examination, the monkey was found to have 32 teeth instead of the normal 36. (Platyrrhine (New World) monkeys have 36 teeth, except for the marmosets, which have 32 teeth. Catarrhine (Old World) monkeys and apes have 32 teeth-Editor)
The expedition's cook prepared and preserved the animal's skull, and put it into a salt box. It later dried and disintegrated in the heat, and little by little the pieces were lost forever; but the photograph has remained. It was reported that the monkey was almost 5 feet, 2 inches (157 cm) tall, and a new discovery for science. It appeared to be a tailless primate, with the arms longer than the legs, and it had a flattened chest. The primate became known as Loys's Ape, although, of course, apes are only found in the Old World. Only monkeys are found in the New World Neotropics.
This account was given in detail by Bernard Heuvelmans in his classic book, On the Track of Unknown Animals (Hill and Wang, New York, 1958). Since then, many have speculated about the possibility of Loys's monkey-as we will call it here--still existing in the Venezuelan rain forests. The most recent reports were made in the 1970's. However, stories have recently been spreading in the Venezuelan forests about encounters with this primate.

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« Reply #1 on: February 25, 2007, 05:30:21 pm »

After studying the history of these reports, we decided that the Ventuari and Orinoco Rivers, in the state of Amazonas, were the most likely places for present-day encounters. In October, 1990, the authors and three others, Bill Cacciolfi, Leon Childers, and Ken Wohlers, undertook an expedition to this area.
After meeting in Caracas, we proceeded by bush plane to the state of Amazonas. We landed near the Ventuari River, and were met by Piaroas Indians and Lorenzo Rodriguez, a well-known jungle pilot for over 25 years.



The expedition spent a great deal of time traveling a wide variety of rivers in this area, interviewing Indian villagers, and showing a variety of pictures of Loys's monkey in comparison to the African gorilla, and the American Sasquatch (Bigfoot). We embarked on a long journey up the Ventuari River and related tributaries. There we interviewed an older jaguar hunter who was a good friend of Rodriquez. When inquiring in regard to the giant monkey, he replied that, as a boy, he had captured such a monkey. It was over 3 feet (91 em) tall, and he had placed it in a cage and sent it to Puerto Ayacucho. He did not hear any more about this animal.

Several days later, while on the fiver, Khryztian (Marc Miller's daughter) became ill from heat stroke, and we had to rely upon a nearby village and our own travel medicines to restore her to a level at which we could carry on with the expedition. We then arrived at the Cabadc Las Piedras Waterfalls, and spent time in a local Indian village.

The inhabitants stated that, within the past year, four of them had been on the Ventuari River and had heard the cry of the giant monkey nearby. They became frightened and ran back to the village. Another of the Indians reported that he had seen giant monkey tracks, and had followed them; he said he saw a giant monkey grab a fish from the river, take its head off, and eat the fish. He tried to shoot it, but he panicked and ran. He stated that this happened a number of years ago.

Further inquiry suggested that, around 1980, two daughters of a nearby villager saw a giant monkey on the Orinoco River. This was at the village of Arrandagao.

Our stop at a village called Moro Coto also proved to be fruitful. Here the Indian hunters knew of this large monkey, and they said it runs in the mountains. They stated that they had found its tracks and heard its call many times. They call this large monkey salvaje, and say it cries and yells like a human, but has no language. They stated that it has not attacked people for many years.

During our evening campfire talks with Rodriguez, he told us about some of the many legends and stories of the jungle. The Indians talk of a giant anteater that will stand up to a jaguar, fighting with its claws. One of the Indians told us that he had seen a large animal--larger than a tapir--with large lips. Finally, Rodriguez told us that he himself had found footprints of the giant monkey on his airstrip about two years before. The prints were turned inwards and he estimated the animal weighed 80 to 100 pounds (3645 kg). The Indians had followed the tracks into the mountains. A hunter also came forth and told us that, approximately 10 years before, he had been sleeping in his boat on the Ventauri River, close to a village, when the giant monkey came down to the boat. This was at the village of Laja Pelada. There the monkey was known to sometimes come down from the mountains. The Indians do not kill the giant monkey, as they are fearful that it may have spiritual powers.

Rodriguez told us that in 1989 he had shot an anaconda snake over 21 feet (6.4 m) long. It had tried to attack two small Indian children in a river. He emphasized how the rivers hold many unknown species, and that the forests are full of legends. The next morning, Rodriguez showed us the exact spot on the landing strip where he had found the tracks of the giant monkey. He stated it was easy to follow the tracks, as they were imbedded in the sand of the airstrip.
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« Reply #2 on: February 25, 2007, 05:31:57 pm »

Our expedition then flew to Puerto Ayacucho, a small town onthe Orinoco River, where we planned to investigate further reports of the giant monkey. There we met with Oswaldo Calderson, whose mother had lived on the Casicalo River. She reported to us that she had seen the giant monkey over 25 years before. She told us of another local informant named Fernando Nives. He told us that he had seen the giant monkey 10 years before while hunting 25 miles (40 km) north of Puerto Ayacucho. He described a very strong odor as he came closer to the animal. He took his boat off to the side of the river, and saw three large monkeys standing over 5 feet (152 cm) tall. He described the animals as reddish-colored.

Another incident was relayed to us by a local resident: 15 years before, while using a bulldozer to clear an area for a road, the engine had stopped and he could hear the call of a monkey. He later saw it, and also described it as having reddish hair and standing over 5 feet (152 cm) tall. Khryztian, who speaks fluent Spanish, was able to accurately interpret the information being relayed to us.

The following day, we went by boat up the Orinoco River, which serves as a border between Colombia and Venezuela. The Orinoco has over 1,000 tributaries. Huge granite mountains rose throughout the area. We stayed at an Indian village, and the chief shared many stories with us, speaking in broken Spanish. The chief told us that only a few months before, while hunting with his blow gun, he had seen a giant monkey. He described it as having reddish hair, and that it stood as tall as himself; this would be approximately 5 feet (152 cm). He told us that he had shot the giant monkey, but did not take it back to the village as he was fearful it would be a bad omen.

The area is quite remote, and we introduced the village children to ice; it was very interesting to observe their reaction. The chief of the village had lost his left leg because of a snake bite, and now used a prosthetic device that he carved from wood.

The tributary where the giant monkey had been killed is called the Baruasa River. We stayed with the Bendare Indians in the area, and offered them a handsome reward if they could find the skeletal remains of this giant monkey which the chief had told us he had killed.
Zoologists will find it difficult to reach any conclusions from this expedition report. However, we believe that there is a high probability that some form of large, unknown monkey, from 3 to 5 feet (91-152 cm) tall, has been heard and seen by many Indian villagers and townspeople; and tracks have been reported by reliable sources, such as Lorenzo Rodriguez. All of the reports appear to contain the same description: a large monkey, somewhat thin in stature, with long arms, and having reddish hair.

It is our opinion that there are a wide variety of primates that have been labeled salvaje, didi, and a number of other names. Such reports have been made as far north as Central America, where some carvings by Mayan Indians have primate-like features.
Due to the almost impenetrable terrain and the vastness of the Venezuelan forest, further attempts to find Loys's "ape" or giant monkey (mono grande) would be very difficult. It is likely that there are a limited number of these large primates living in that part of South America. While rare, there are too many sighting reports from a wide variety of sources to discount this primate as myth only.
The Millers had no immediqte plans to conduct further fieldwork in this area.
© Marc E. W. Miller and Khryztian E. Miller, 1990
Also published in the ISC's "Cryptozoology," 10, 1991, 66-71

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« Reply #3 on: February 25, 2007, 05:33:29 pm »

François De Loys

When finally de Loys returned home with the only remaining evidence, the picture, which he had placed into his travel-notebook, he basically forgot about his encounter with the unknown monkeys. Years later his friend, French anthropologist Georges Montandon flipped the pages of de Loys' notebook, and discovered the photo. Montandon got an idea.

Although Professor Montandon was familiar with most of the monkeys discovered to that date, he had never seen one like that in de Loys' picture. Montandon speculated that the large monkey on the picture was a very human-like creature. It had no tail. Its size according to de Loys was 4 feet 5 inches. It had 32 teeth. It had all the features like the anthropoids in the Old World have and, therefore must be an anthropoid Ape. Not just any Ape, but an 'American' Ape -- a 'Missing Link!' He asked de Loys for more details, calculated some measurements by estimating and comparing the size of the box with the body on the picture, and in 1929, convinced de Loys to tell the story to the Illustrated London News (Loys, 1929 op. cit.: Keith, 1929; Heuvelmans, 1959; Hill, 1962) Shortly therafter, Montandon published his statement in the Journal de la Societe des Americanistes (Montandon, 1929a); then wrote another note which he presented at the French Academy of Sciences in Paris. (Montandon, 1929b). 'Montandon went so far as to create a new genus Amer-anthropoides for the reception of the new animal, giving it the specific name loysi in honor of its discoverer.' (Hill, 1962).

At the meeting of The French Academy of Sciences Montadon tried to present some convincing 'evidence' about his major discovery of the American Ape, a so far unknown 'American version' of the African chimpanzee and gorilla, and the Asian orangutan. He and de Loys, - who under Montandon's pressure also tried to support the new discovery hypothesis, - had to face with numerous questions at the Academy. Naturalists and anthropologists questioned them very suspiciously. They raised many questions about the photograph: the size of the monkey sitting on the box, about her 'missing' tail, her set of only 32 teeth, her spider-monkey-like face (Joleaud, 1929), her female sex organ - that resembled that of a male spider monkey. (Female spider monkeys have a long, bulbous clitoris, that people, even today often mistaken for the male sex organ).

The skepticism and some of the criticisms resulted in heated debates, often ridiculing Montandon's alleged hypothesis as a fraud (Keith, 1929 op. cit.; Heuvelmans, 1959). When Montandon ran out of more convincing arguments in order to support his fancy hypothesis, he tried to bring up some anecdotes based on stories of Indian tribes like about the guayazi, the di-di, and the vasitri or 'big-devil' that believed to attack women.

These stories were similar in nature, to those, that people were attributing to gorillas in Africa (Heuvelmans, 1959). A. de Humboldt, who did not believe any of these stories, attributed these alleged attacks to the spectacled bear (Tremarctos ornatus) and Marquis de Wavrin mentions these creatures as 'marimunda' which were later also identified as spider monkeys: Ateles belzebuth (Wendt, 1956; Heuvelmans, 1959; Hill, 1962). Montandon was defeated in scientific circles, but the story created some ambiguity, which led into more investigations for years to come, and in the mind of some, even today, that there are still some large, yet mysterious creatures of several kind, like Bigfoot, Yeti and Snowman still roaming the wilderness.

There is also a drawing of a creature by the naturalist George Edwards in "A STUDY OF ANTHROPOID LIFE" on page 19. This primate bears an uncanny resemblence to the one shot by de Loys. The text under the drawing says, "The painter-naturalist Edwards (1758-64) stands as a somewhat notable figure in the history of anthropoid knowledge because in addition to writing a readable popular description of the 'man of the woods' he illustrated it with a figure entitled 'The Satier, Sauage, Wild-man, Pigmy, Orang-outang, Chimp-anzee, A.D. 1757, Geo. Edwards, Delin.et Sculp.,' in which he so skilfully mingled the structural characters of oran-outan, chimpanzee, and gibbon that one cannot more exactly name the figure than by the synonyms which the artist himself used...It is but natural then that we should find it difficult to think of him as an anthropoid authority." This primate is almost certainly the same species that was later encountered by de Loys.

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_De_Loys"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_De_Loys

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« Reply #4 on: February 25, 2007, 05:35:00 pm »

Ameranthropoides loysi

"Ameranthropoides loysi" (otherwise known as de Loys' Ape) is the unofficial name for a large primate supposedly encountered by François De Loys in South America. Apart from one photograph, no other evidence for the existence of this animal has ever been found. Controversy continues about the authenticity of the animal, with critics contending the de Loys' Ape is a hoax and that the photograph shows only a posed spider monkey carcass, though cryptozoology enthusiasts and a few others support the notion that Loys did indeed encounter an unknown primate.

Controversy

A spider monkey (Ateles geoffroyi), for comparisonAfter this publicity, Loys’ account was deemed unreliable by several critics, notably Sir Arthur Keith, a prominent anthropologist. Keith suggested de Loys was trying to pass off a normal spider monkey as something more exotic. The photograph did not clearly indicate the creature's size, and Keith also noted that by not photographing the creature’s posterior, de Loys had left open the question of whether or not it had a tail.

According to the highly notable cryptozoological researcher, Ivan T. Sanderson, the particular area of South America in which de Loys allegedly found the ape has no reports of oversized hominids. Sanderson believes it to be nothing more than a spider monkey. He says of the mystery surrounding the ape, "it is an outright hoax, and an obnoxious one at that, being a deliberate deception." [1]

Another cryptozoologist, Loren Coleman, also supports the hoax theory, and even goes as far as to say that Montandon perpetrated it in order to support his views on human origin. Montandon had suggested the name Ameranthropoides loysi to propose that the specimen was a missing link ancestor of the Western Hemisphere's "red" people. He had previously stated that Africans evolved from gorillas and Asians from orangutans.[1]

Others have argued that de Loys could have encountered an unknown creature. The crate the creature was posed on was similar to ones commonly used for transporting gasoline, which measured just under 18 inches tall. Assuming this crate was the common type, its size would appear to support de Loys’ measurement of the creature, although, others say the crate is only 15 inches tall and the ape would measure under 4 feet - smaller than de Loys' claims. Researcher Michael Shoemaker, while noting some similarities to spider monkeys, argues that the creature has a few pronounced differences: its chest and hands are different; its face is much more oval than the spider monkey's distinctively triangular visage; it lacks the spider monkey’s pronounced underbite; and has a much higher forehead than spider monkeys.

Furthermore, it has been noted that occasional reports of similar creatures have been made from South America; such creatures have sometimes been dubbed Mono Grande or 'Large Monkey'.


Sources

Jerome Clark, Unexplained! 347 Strange Sightings, Incredible Occurrences, and Puzzling Physical Phenomena (Visible Ink Press, 1993).
Bernard Heuvelmans, On The Track Of Unknown Animals (Hill and Wang, 1958).
Michael Shoemaker, "The Mystery of Mono Grande", Strange Magazine, April 1991.
^ Newton, Michael. (2005). "De Loys's Ape". Encyclopedia of Cryptozoology: A Global Guide: 128-129. McFarland & Company, Inc.. ISBN 0-7864-2036-7.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ameranthropoides_loysi"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ameranthropoides_loysi

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« Reply #5 on: February 25, 2007, 05:36:26 pm »

Montandon was defeated in scientific circles, but the story created some ambiguity, which led into more investigations for years to come, and in the mind of some, even today, that there are still some large, yet mysterious creatures of several kind, like Bigfoot, Yeti, Chupakabra, and Snowman still roaming the wilderness.

References:

Heuvelmans, B. (1959). ON THE TRACK OF UNKNOWN ANIMALS (Transl. from French by Richard Garnett) Hill and Wang, New York

Hill, W. C. O., (1962). PRIMATES Comparative Anatomy and Taxonomy Vol. 5 Cebidae, Part B. Edinburgh University Press

Joleaud, L. (1929) 'Remarques sur l'Evolution des Primates Sud-Americains, a propos du Grand Singe du Venezuela' Rev. sci., Paris, pp. 269-273, 11 May 1929

Keith, Sir A. (1929) 'The Alleged Discovery of an Anthropoid Ape in South America' Man (London) 29: 135-136. Loys, F. de (1929) 'A Gap filled in the Pedigree of Man?' Illustrated London News, London, 15 June 1929, p. 1040

Montandon, G. (1929a) 'Decouverte d'un Singe d'Apparence Anthropoide en Amerique du Sud' J. Soc. Americanistes Paris, n.s. 21

Montandon, G. (1929b) 'Singe d'Apparence Anthropoide en Amerique du Sud' C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris, 11 March 1929

Wendt, H. (1956) NOE NYOMABAN Az allatok felfedezese - AUF NOAHS SPUREN Die Entdeckung der Tiere by G. Grote sche Verlagsbuchandlung, Hamm. (Westf.)[Transl. from German by Auer Kalman, 1972] Gondolat, Budapest, Hungary

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« Reply #6 on: February 25, 2007, 05:37:56 pm »

Protopithecus brasiliensis Lund, 1838
Caipora bambuiorum Cartelle and Hartwig, 1996


'There is no smoke without fire' says the proverb. There really have been some larger primates in South America. The evidence consists of the fossil remains of two species of extinct giant primates in South America, which keeps paleo-primatologists and evolutionary primatologists extremely busy and excited today.

These fossil remains, however, other than the size of their bones indicating that they possibly belong to either a large howler (Alouatta), woolly (Brachyteles) or spider (Ateles) monkey (Hartwig and Cartelle, 1996; Cartelle and Hartwig, 1996) have nothing to do with the way these were discovered. In fact, they were found far from the region of Sierra de Perija, where Dr. de Loys originally encountered and then shot his spider monkey, more than 2800 miles southeast in the state of Bahia in Brazil.

A limestone cave system near the town of Lagoa Santa ('holy pond') about 20 miles north of Belo Horizonte ('beautiful horizon') (Simpson, 1984). This cave system has been a Mecca for anthropologists and paleontologists, where numerous mammal remains, such as ground-sloth, giant armadillo, bear, capybara and human remains have been found (Walter, 1948).

The Protopithecus brasiliensis remains (part of a femur and a humerus) were originally discovered by the Danish naturalist, Peter W. Lund in 1836 (Lund, 1836), but was largely misrepresented and ignored for more than 150 years (Hartwig, 1995). A complete skeleton of the same species has been found in another cave, Toca da Boa Vista near Campo Formosa in Bahia, Brazil in 1992. The remains indicate an animal of approximately 25 kg (about 50 pounds) mass of body size, which is twice the weight of the largest spider monkey live in South America today (Hartwig & Cartelle, 1996). The Caipora bambuiorum skeleton, which was also found in the same cave estimated to weight 20,5 kg (roughly 45 pounds) (Cartelle & Hartwig, 1996), but still considerably heavier than the biggest living spider monkey recorded so far (Peres, 1994).

These new findings indicate that these monkeys were substantially larger than their descendants today; certainly giants among the New World monkeys, but they fall far behind the mass weight of the chimpanzee, orangutan and gorilla, and they are not Apes.

References:

Cartelle, C. & Hartwig, W.C. (1996) A new extinct primate among the Pleistocene megafauna of Bahia, Brazil. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 93:6405-6409.

Hartwig, W. C. (1995) A giant New World monkey from the Pleistocene of Brazil. J. of Human Evolution 28:189- 195

Hartwig, W. C. & Cartelle, C. (1996) A complete skeleton of the giant South American primate Protopithecus. Nature 381(6580):307-311.

Lund, P. W. (1838) Blik paa Braziliens dyreverden for sidste jordomvaeltning. Det Kong. Danske Viden. Selsk. Natur. Matem. Afhand. 8:61-144.

Peres, C. A. (1994) Which are the largest New World monkeys? J. of Human Evolution 26:245-249.

Simpson, G. G. (1984) DISCOVERERS OF THE LOST WORLD. New Haven: Yale University Press

Walter, H. W. (1948) THE PRE-HISTORY OF THE LAGOA SANTA REGION, MINAS GERAIS. London: Alfred Wilson

Michael Seres seres@rmy.emory.edu

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