New Great Ape Discovered?

DrLudicrous writes "CNN is running a story about sightings of an ape in central Africa that doesn't seem to fit the description of known apes. Pictures of the animal are rare, but it seems slightly taller than most gorillas, with a flatter face. One woman even reported seeing it walk upright on two legs. It has been hypothesized that the ape might be a new species, a subspecies, or perhaps a hybrid between two other species."

Here are more pictures.

[rkz]

This is another picture of the great ape in its natural habitat [google.com]

That explains it...

[Call Me Black Cloud]

I wondered why CowboyNeal hasn't been showing up in the polls...he's been out camping!

Let me say that I like CN and think he should be in all the polls. This post is intended to be good natured and not mean spririted.

_Clever_ tricks?

[errl]

From the article:

"""
Williams and the trackers used some clever tricks to lure the mystery apes.
Pictures of the 'mystery ape' are rare because the animals are skittish and aggressive. Here a researcher captured an image from afar of one of the animals with her offspring.

"One of my trackers made the sound of a duiker, a small antelope, as if it were in pain," said Williams. Four or five of the mystery primates fell for the ruse and came running to kill it.
"""

I'd classify that as a stupid trick. Come on, sounding like something the animals want to kill doesn't seem clever at all methinks :).

Only explanation

[Compact Dick]

RMS is trekking in Africa.

What in the world.......

[Millbuddah]

Has the good the good Dr. Jane Goodall been doing down there with all her research? Do not let the insanity continue good Doctor, leave the apes alone!

Here are some pictures

[Anonymous Coward]

Here's a list of pictures [anvari.org] of this ape compared to other species. The new ape is the one on the left.

finally...

[el_salvador]

they found the early ancestor of the linux programmer

Obligatory reply

[Eric Ass Raymond]

I for one welcome our new ape masters.

Re:_Clever_ tricks?

[Queuetue]

It's all relative. It's more clever than making a sound like an angry elephant or a machine gun.

In Related News...

[1s44c]

...SCO have claimed the ape as their property and have started legal action against National Geographic for breaking the terms of their licence.

Re:Here are more pictures.

[tkittel]

> This is another picture of the great ape in its natural habitat

and here [caldera.com] is yet another great ape...

Hot news

[simgod]

George Bush has been switched with an ape by a mistake during his recent trip to Africa explained the State Department today. They have all been wondering for some time why the president shaves every six hours.
The "real president" was discovered by a CIA expedition which was able to locate the president by using an ultra-sensiteve sound recorder to match the sounds in the jungle with his distinctive sounds "terrorist, daddy, oil"

Re:How do they know?

[Anonymous Coward]

Of course they hoot when the moon rises and sets - dont YOU?? I know I do!! ALL of us great apes hoot at any given stimulus - I even hoot when the ads start during will and grace!

Re:Yeti at home

[jackb_guppy]

I just do not get why the science community is so surprised...

Do not the Bigfoot and Abominable Snowman Clans need time off for vacation from time to time.

Ape Video

[spudchucker]

Mpeg video evidence of the of the ape has been floating around the web since the mid 70's. [50megs.com]

Re:Here are some pictures

[Anonymous Coward]

How dare you insult the intelligence of apes!

More American jobs lost

[hackrobat]

Shucks, more of these monkeys means more American jobs lost to outsourcing [newtechusa.com]. Heck, even Indian coders can barely compete with this new programming paradigm (I looked up the dictionary before posting).

Re:good news for anthropologists

[qwertyatwork]

This can lead to only one thing...a race of super apes to enslave humanity. And I for one welcome our new ape overlords!

Re:_Clever_ tricks? or Expendible trackers?

[IDigUNIX]

Take note how it says "One of my trackers made the sound". It makes no mention of how far away the researcher was. The natural scientific explaination is that the trackers are expendible and easily replaced.

This hypothisis was demonstrated beatifully in the old "Mutual of Omaha Wild Kingdom" shows when I was a kid. The host would always be standing well out of range of the king cobra while saying "Now watch as my assistant charms the snake using body motions".

Wrong Ape movie

[AndroidCat]

And the mystery apes hoot when the moon rises and sets, something chimps don't do for fear of attracting lions and hyenas, Williams said.

Obviously these are apes like Moon-Watcher, but were in the john or something when the black monolith taught everyone to throw bones.

Re:_Clever_ tricks?

[MrHanky]

Of course, the right thing to do is to make the sound of a close relative shouting: 'Developers! Developers! Developers!' That usually makes the impression of a loveable company.

Mediumfoot

[gelfling]

Clearly it's the mythical Mediumfoot known to tramp around the forests of Africa

Steve Ballmer

[GQuon]

Just what I was thinking.
Dance [flamingmailbox.com] monkey boy [flamingmailbox.com]!

Re:_Clever_ tricks? or Expendible trackers?

[bj8rn]

The trackers use their great knowledge of animal sounds to secretly negotiate with those animals into letting them (ie trackers) go for the price of a few (expendable) researchers.

Hybrid?

[sin(theta)]

Alright, who's been having sex with gorillas?

Other Clever Ideas they had...

[Dareth]

"She'll camouflage her skin because the animals have not seen light-skinned humans."

Oh come now, if they have never seen white people, they won't know that, "they come to take your land".

Nah ...

[zonix]

Nah, that's just a Ferengi in the gorilla suit!

z

Another candidate?

[Anonymous Coward]

Am I the only one who sees this as a possiblity as another candidate for California Governor?

Don't know what it is

[smallfeet]

but I hear it is running for governor of California.

Re:_Clever_ tricks?

[Anonymous Coward]

Different species, that's the balled ape.

Re:_Clever_ tricks? or Expendible trackers?

[AndroidCat]

I thought his assistant always just poked the animal with a stick until it did something interesting.

(There is no truth to the rumour that Marlin Perkins was found poked to death.)

Re:_Clever_ tricks?

[Anonymous Coward]

Reminds of show about "dangerous encounters" I saw on TV once. A stupid hunter had covered himself in doe urine. His wife was filming with a camcorder as a buck came up to him and started "attacking" him. My SO and I were watching this "attack", laughing our asses off. The buck was trying to mount him repeatedly. The poor buck was probably wondering why this "doe in heat" was being so difficult to "get it on" with.

Re:That explains it...

[bj8rn]

CowboyNeal is the leader of the infamous group of guerilla gorillas also known as the Attack Monkeys, who have earned their ill reputation by generating the Slashdot front page.

Re:_Clever_ tricks?

[S.Lemmon]

Well no I can't, but I can make the sound of a duiker filled with ennui.

Re:_Clever_ tricks? ???

[Anonymous Coward]

1. Find new ape species
2. Play stupid tricks
3. ???
4. Get Darwin award

Re:its not a hybrid

[tunesmith]

jesus christ. all right, I'm not one to flame spelling, but you are the laziest typer I've ever seen.

Covering all your bases?

[Tony Hoyle]

It has been hypothesized that the ape might be a new species, a subspecies, or perhaps a hybrid between two other species.

About the only thing left out of that list is 'existing species'... if you add that then you can just rewrite:

It has been hypothesized that the ape might be an ape :)

Homer!

[Drakker]

First thing that got into my head was Homer running covered with mud. Homer Simpsons is the great Ape!

It was in one of the first episodes, everyone must have seen it at least once. ;)