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Ameranthropoides LoysiAmeranthropoides Loysi, (otherwise known as Loys's Ape), an otherwise unknown primate encountered in South America. Controvery continues about the authenticity of the existance of this primate, with critics contending it was a spider monkey; others support the notion that Loys did indeed encounter an unknown primate. Encounter Franois De Loys, a Swiss oil geologist led an expedition from 1917 to 1920, searching for petroleum in an area along the border between Colombia and Venezuela, primarily near Lake Maracaibo. The expedition was unsuccessful, and furthermore suffered greatly due to disease and skirmishes with natives; of the 20 members of de Loys group, only four survived. In 1920, while camped near the Tarra River, two large creatures approached the group. Initially, de Loys though they were bears, but then noted they were monkeylike, holding onto shrubs and branches. The creatures--one male, one female--seemed angry, said de Loys, howling and gesturing, then defecating into their hands and flinging feces at the expedition. Fearing for their safety, the expedition shot and killed the female; the male then fled. Loys and his companions recognized they'd encountered something unusual. The animal resembled a spider monkey, but was much larger: 1.57 meters tall, while the largest spider monkeys are just over a meter tall. Loys counted 36 teeth (most new world monkeys have 32 teeth), and noted the creature had no tail. They posed the creature by seating it on a crate and propping a stick under its chin. After taking a single photograph, de Loys reported, they skinned the creature, intending to keep its hide and skull. Both items were later abandoned by the troubled expedition. After de Loys returned to Europe, he kept the story of the giant monkey to himself until 1929. That year, his friend, anthropologist George Montandon, was perusing de Loys files, seeking information about South Americas native tribes. Montandon discovered the photograph, and thought it very important. Finally, de Loys related his account in the Illustrated London News of June 15, 1929, and three scientific articles regarding the creature were published in French journals. Montandon suggested a scientific name name for the creature: Ameranthropoides loysi. After 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. Keith also noted that by not photographing the creatures posterior, de Loys left open the question of whether or not it had a tail Others have argued that Loys did indeed encounter 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. Researcher Michael Shoemaker, while noting some similarities to spider monkeys, argues the creature has a few pronounced differences: The creatures, chest and hands are different; its face is much more oval than the spider monkey's distinctively triangular visage, lacks the spider monkeys pronounced under bite, and that de Loys creature has a much higher forehead than spider monkeys. Furthermore, its 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.
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