The MonsterQuest Search for the Last Living Dinosaur

Numerous eyewitnesses have reported seeing a living dinosaur in the jungles of Cameroon. The locals refer to the creature as Mokele-Mbembe and it may be the last living sauropod dinosaur. The dinosaur sightings report a creature with a heavily armored body, a fringe of scales down its back, three foot circumference footprints, long neck, snake like head, a body as big as an elephant, claw-like feet and a long tail. In the MonsterQuest Episode “The Last Dinosaur”, the team goes to Africa in search of this last living dinosaur.

The Background

For hundreds of years, people native to the Cameroon and Congo areas of western Africa have reported sightings of Mokele-Mbembe. Its name means “one that stops the flow of rivers”. The descriptions of this creature closely resemble the family of dinosaurs known as the sauropods. This family of large plant eating dinosaurs contained the famous brontosaurus and brachiosaurus dinosaurs. Fossils of these dinosaurs have been found on every continent other than Antarctica. Sauropods had long necks, small head, big bodies and claw like feet. These dinosaurs are believed to have gone extinct over 65 million years ago.

The first western account of this creature came from French missionary Abbe Lievain Bonaventurein in 1776. While in the Congo River area, he noted finding large footprints. He did not see the creature that made the prints but said it “must have been monstrous: the marks of the claws were noted on the ground, and formed a print about three feet in circumference.”

In 1870, Englishman Alfred Smith speaks of Cameroon in saying, “… there’s things living we know nothing about. The Jago-Nini they say is still in the swamps and rivers. Giant diver it means.” He goes on to say the creature comes out of the water to devour people and that it has footprints the size of large frying pans with three claws instead of five.

The native people of southeast Cameroon willingly share numerous stories of Mokele-Mbembe sightings. Mokele-Mbembe theory supporters point to the strong similarities in most of the stories. They report seeing a creature that is 25 to 30 feet in length, reddish in color, a long neck with a frill running across it, able to submerge in water and walk on land.

In May of 2001, Edimo Ferdinand saw the Mokele-Mbembe on the Dja River. He says that he saw the creature come out of the water from about 150 meters away. He described it as being elephant like with a long neck. The creature fed on some leaves and returned to the water.

In 2006, another Mokele-Mbembe sighting occurred on the Dja River in southeast Cameroon. While preparing his nets for fishing, Nawouya Bernard sighted this dinosaur like creature walking in the river. He was struck with fear by this creature that he described as having a long neck, long sharp teeth, and a spine running down its back.

Some experts believe that it is possible for a living dinosaur to be hiding in the jungles of Cameroon and the Congo. Dr. Roy Mackal is a retired professor of biology from the University of Chicago. In the 1980s, he made a couple of trips to Africa and was convinced of the existence of the Mokele-Mbembe by the sincerity and consistency of the local population’s sightings. He believes that with over 55,000 square miles of unexplored jungle to hide in that it is not strange that we have not found the Mokele-Mbembe.

In 2004, science teacher Peter Beach traveled to Africa in search of a living sauropod dinosaur. He was able to find prints on the bank of a remote river in Cameroon that he believes were made by Mokele-Mbembe. The prints were a few feet apart with an apparent diameter of one foot. He was able to make plaster casts of the prints along with photographs. He also photographed another interesting aspect of the site. The foliage above the bank appeared to have been eaten away up to a height of 18 feet. No known animal in this area could have reached foliage at that height.

Dr. Donald Prothero does not believe that a creature like Mokele-Mbembe could exist. Prothero is a professor of geology at Occidental College. He states that there is an excellent fossil record showing that the sauropods died out even before the other dinosaurs. In order for this dinosaur to survive there would have to be a large breeding population. Even in the remotest areas of Africa, there would be more evidence if a large population of dinosaurs existed. He states that remote African cultures have a different view on what is real and what is legendary then western cultures do.

The Investigation

The MonsterQuest team conducted two investigations in its search for Mokele-Mbembe. The first involved sending an expedition to Cameroon in search of Mokele-Mbembe. The second involved expert analysis of the casts and photos made by Peter Beach.

The Cameroon Expedition

The Cameroon expedition is headed up by Cryptozoologist Bill Gibbons. Gibbons has made six trips to Africa in search of the Mokele-Mbembe. Joining Gibbons will be researcher Bob Mullin who is on his third Mokele-Mbembe expedition. Pierre Sima joined the team as the local guide and translator.

This expedition searched for Mokele-Mbembe in the nation of Cameroon. This country is located on the western coast of Africa and is about the size of California. The team concentrated its search in area where the Dja, Boumba and Nkogo Rivers meet. This area of southeastern Cameroon can be a very dangerous area with crocodile, poisonous snakes and armed militias from the Congo. To make the 450 mile trip from the capital city of Yaounde to the base town of Moloundou took three days.

The team met up with many local villagers that shared stories of the Mokele-Mbembe. To determine if the villagers were able to distinguish between a dinosaur like creature and known animals the team utilized a process known as comparative observation. They would flip through a series of local and unfamiliar animals to see if the villagers would recognize them. They did not recognize non local creatures like a bear but they did identify all of the local ones including a rendition of a sauropod dinosaur.

The expedition returns to the site where Peter Beach took the casts of the Mokele-Mbembe tracks in 2004. They do not find any fresh tracks or any other recent signs of the creature. Before leaving they place a motion sensing camera trap that should capture pictures of Mokele-Mbembe if it returns. They scout out additional areas on the Dja River to place more camera traps that they will retrieve at the end of the expedition.

The team theorizes that Mokele-Mbembe may hide in cave formations along the river during the dry season. This behavior is not uncommon in semi aquatic creatures and may help explain the limited sightings of Mokele-Mbembe. At some of the bends in the river they find cave formations that appear to be dug out by some creature. Some of these formations have air vents at the top that go deep into the ground. The soil is hardened almost like cement so the team can not dig into them without heavy equipment.

The team searched the river way with sonar and underwater camera equipment. The sonar finds several unexplained large shapes but the water is so murky and stirred up by recent storms that they can not obtain any good camera shots of the object. The team also attempts a night search of the area but do not see any signs of Mokele-Mbembe.

The team eventually shifts its search to the Boumba River so that they can concentrate on deeper waters. This river runs along the border with the Congo so it is an extremely dangerous area. Once again the team finds some sonar contacts but is unable to get any good camera shots of what is creating them.

The team retrieves the camera traps and reviews the pictures. Unfortunately, there are no pictures of Mokele-Mbembe on any of the pictures. The team could not find any good evidence of this dinosaur like creature. The findings of the cave structures with air vents may be of importance for any subsequent expeditions in search of Mokele-Mbembe.

The Peter Beach Evidence Analysis

The photographs and track casts made by Peter Beach in 2004 are analyzed by Dr. Donald Prothero. He believes that the tracks are approximately one foot across where as sauropod tracks usually measure between 1 ½ and 3 feet across. The claw marks indicated in the tracks appear to be quite different than the claw marks found in sauropod tracks. Sauropod dinosaurs were very heavy creatures that weighed between 40 and 50 tons so their tracks were rather deep. Preserved ancient sauropod tracks were from two to three feet deep in soft soil whereas these tracks from the river bank appear to be much shallower.

Dr. Prothero is totally unconvinced that these tracks came from a sauropod dinosaur remnant. While it is unknown what created them, he is very certain that it was not a living dinosaur.

Conclusions

The search for Mokele-Mbembe did not turn up any hard evidence but it is still intriguing. The volume of sightings by the local people indicates that there may be something out there even if it is not a living dinosaur. Westerners dismissed the tails of mountain gorillas and Komodo dragons as native fantasies until they were discovered in the 20^th century.

MonsterQuest Episode: The Last Dinosaur

Original Air Date: 24 June, 2009

The MonsterQuest Search for Black Panthers in New York

Recently, New York residents have been reporting an alarming number of black panther sightings. Eyewitnesses describe these big cats as muscular, approximately 8 feet long, 130 pounds, rounded ears, long tails, and with razor sharp teeth. Experts agree that there has not been an indigenous big cat population in New York for over a hundred years. The MonsterQuest Team investigates what is behind these big cat sightings in the episode entitled “Tigers in the Suburbs”.

Background

Residents of the Palisades, New York area reported over a dozen big cat sightings in early 2009. Dorian Tunnel saw two black panthers in New York’s Tallman State Park on 17 March, 2009. He was bike riding with his son when he heard a thrashing sound in the woods. He then saw a large black panther jumping over a rock about 25 yards away. He spotted a second big cat crouched as if waiting in ambush. He states that both cats had a very shiny black coat of fur. He was able to retreat from the area with his son without incident.

Grace Knowlton of Palisades New York had heard the stories of the black panther sighting but did not give them much thought. Then on 14 March 2009, she spotted a large black panther crossing her lawn. She states that it was much larger then any domestic cat. She describes the animal as being pitch black with a shiny coat.

Professional tracker Shane Hobel believes that he has found proof of these black panthers in the Palisades, New York area. He has found the tracks of what he believes to be a big cat. The tracks were found in an area where he has found more and more deer kills that are different from the normal coyote kills. Hobel has also located what he believes to be the claw marks of a large cat on a tree in the area.

The black panther term is used to describe a big cat with black fur. It is not a species of cat but rather a descriptive phrase that may be used on members of different species. The two species that can produce black panthers are leopards and jaguars. The Leopard is not native to the Americas at all. The jaguar was once found in the southwest United States but was eradicated by farmers in the late 1800s. Currently, jaguar populations are found only in central America and South America. In the MonsterQuest episode Lions in the Suburbs, there was evidence presented that jaguars may be returning to the southwest United States.

The only big cat that is thought to be indigenous to the United States is the mountain lion. This cat is also known by the name of cougar. The current range of the mountain lion is from Washington State to western Texas. The east coast did at one time have a mountain lion population but they were eradicated. New York’s mountain lion population was eliminated by 1900. Mountain lions have never been documented with black fur and experts agree that this mutation is unlikely.

Scott Lope is the Director of Big Cat Rescue and he believes that many of the New York big cat sightings may be a result of misidentification. He believes that it is hard to judge the size of a creature from a distance. If it is at night, dusk or dawn, the judging of size becomes even more difficult. The eyewitnesses may be seeing a black lab or a large domestic cat.

Lope believes that another possible explanation is that the witnesses saw an escaped exotic animal. 15,000 big cats are kept in captivity across the United States with only a fraction of them housed in accredited zoos. It is believed that there are more big cats in captivity in the U.S. then are in the wild throughout the world. Many states do not regulate the ownership of exotic animals. New York City is the home of 103 registered big cats and there are probably many more undocumented ones.

The first captive big cat brought to the United States was a leopard that was displayed in New York in 1768. Since that time, the number of captive big cats has grown along with the number of escapes and attacks. In 2000, a four year old boy was bitten by a 40 pound pet serval that was being taken for a walk by its owner. In 2003, a 400 pound Bengal tiger was found in a New York City apartment by authorities after injuring its owner. A four year old was mauled in upstate New York by her grandmother’s caged cougar.

Scott Lope explains that these animals start out as cute cubs and quickly grow into fearsome predators that their owners may not know what to do with. If one escapes, the owner may not report this to authorities out of fear of liability.

The story of Donald Blakney demonstrates the dangers of captive big cats. Blakney had raised cougars on his farm in Princeton, Minnesota for 3 ½ years. On 1 October 2001, he was attacked by one of his 250 pound cougars. He was bit in the head repeatedly by the two inch fangs of the cougar. The cougar eventually broke off the attack and Blakney was able to call for help. He was airlifted to a hospital in critical condition. The big cat attack left him with 96 stitches and a metal replacement for part of his jaw.

These escaped big cats may be even more dangerous than their counterparts in the wild. Brian Werner is the Executive Director of the Tiger Missing Link Foundation and he believes that inbreeding may be causing serious damage to the captive big cat population. Many “backyard breeders” of pet big cats pay no attention to genetic diversity and may be severely inbreeding their cats. Inbred big cats can display a number of health problems in addition to abnormal and aggressive behavior.

The Investigation

The MonsterQuest Team undertakes two investigations in this episode. The first is an expedition to New York to search for the mysterious black panther. The second is the genetic testing of captive big cats to find the degree of inbreeding in the population.

Palisades, New York Expedition

Monsterquest sends four experts to Palisades, New York to investigate the black panther sightings. Animal tracker Mark Peterson, photographer/technology expert Jeremy Holden and wildlife expert Dick Pearson will be conducting the search for a black panther. Mammal expert Dr. Esteban Sarmiento will be examining their findings as well as examining the evidence presented by local tracker, Shane Hobel.

The team places motion sensing wireless cameras throughout the area. They use areas near rock outcroppings and game trails as these would be good locations for an ambush predator like a big cat. To help with seeing the reported dark coloration of the black panther, they install infrared LEDs with the cameras.

The team will attempt to use an air gun with DNA darts in order to collect proof of the black panther sightings. The DNA darts are able to extract a dermal and epidermal samples from the target. The gun is fitted with a light intensifying night scope.

On the first night, they set up in a blind near a river bank. The area has game trails around it so they believe it may be a good spot. They use decoy calls in order to try to attract big cats to the area. On subsequent searches, they use a canoe to glide along the river in search of the big cat. Their night searches turn up no cat sightings.

Sarmiento meets with Hobel to examine the big cat signs that he has found. Sarmiento agrees that the tracks and claw marks belong to a big cat. The tracks appear to be too small for a tiger or lion and Sarmiento believes they could belong to a leopard. Leopards can be black which would fit with the local black panther sightings.

Review of the camera traps does not show any black panthers but it does provide some supporting evidence. The photos show that the area has an overabundance of potential food for a big cat. The white tail deer population is extremely plentiful and would more than support black panther population.

The team reviews all of the evidence and agrees that it is possible that an escaped exotic cat is in the area. The most likely species would be a leopard. The terrain and food supply would allow the creature to survive in the area.

Captive Tiger Genetic Profiling

MonsterQuest arranges to check the DNA profiles of 30 captive tigers for signs of inbreeding. Will Gergits of Therion International LLC conducts the DNA tests from obtained blood samples. Results of the test indicate that over half of the tigers showed signs of moderate to severe inbreeding. This situation could lead to more aggressive behavior in the captive big cat population.

Conclusions

While no definitive proof of a black panther could be found in New York, many experts agree that it is possible for this creature to exist. The most likely explanation would be an escaped big cat from a private owner. Increased numbers of privately held big cats have made this more and more likely. Genetic tests of captive big cats have shown that this type of creature may be even more dangerous than their wild counterparts.

MonsterQuest Episode: Tigers in the Suburbs

Original Air Date: 19 August 2009

A MonsterQuest Look at Real Dragons

Early humans shared the continent of Australia with a carnivorous lizard known as Megalania Prisca. This predator was as long as a bus and weighed over a ton. Many still believe that a giant lizard is still prowling the western Pacific area. Eyewitness reports describe a 30 foot long dragon-like reptile with an elongated neck and skull. The MonsterQuest team searches for a remnant population of Megalania Prisca or a giant Komodo dragon in the episode entitled “Real Dragons”.


The Background


Megalania Prisca was a real monster that inhabited Australia during the Pleistocene era. This huge member of the monitor lizard family was up to 23 feet in length and weighed up to 4,300 pounds. Fossil remains show that this creature lived from about 2 million years ago to as recently as 40,000 years ago. This would have brought the early aboriginal settlers of Australia into contact with this huge carnivore.


These early encounters between humans and Megalania Prisca must have been terrifying. Aboriginal cave paintings depict a reptilian creature that is much larger than a human. Some depict stories of reptiles that brought fire and destruction with them. Many of these cave paintings are thought to be less than 10,000 years old.


Author and journalist Peter Hancock is an expert on the Aboriginal legends of Megalania Prisca. He relates one story of a Megalania that wandered into the ocean. The Megalania is attacked by a great white shark. The Megalania kills the shark and drags it to shore. Hancock notes that it is strange that these stories and paintings are so fresh with Aborigines tens of thousands of years after Megalania Prisca supposedly went extinct.


Author and Cryptozoologist Rex Gilroy believes that the stories are fresh with the Aborigines because Megalania Prisca has not gone extinct. He relates the story of how the Australian town of Euroa was terrorized by a giant lizard in 1890. The story tells of a 30 foot reptile raiding farms and killing livestock. Many eyewitnesses reportedly saw the creature before it retreated back into the bush.


Gilroy has chronicled some more modern Megalania Prisca sightings. In Alice Springs, a group of aborigines reported seeing a giant reptile come through their camp. Another sighting by a scout master and boy scouts report a 22 foot long lizard.


One Megalania sighting did yield some proof. In the winter of 1979, Gilroy received a call from a farmer in Moruya. This farmer reported seeing a 20 foot long lizard that left tracks. Gilroy was able to make a plaster cast of one of the tracks. In January of 2008, Gilroy found additional tracks on a forest trail about 185 miles from Moruya. He made a cast of these lizard-like tracks and found them to be very similar to the tracks from 1979.



Most experts do not believe that these Megalania sightings are real. John Long is a paleontologist with the Museum Victoria in Melbourne, Australia. He believes that in order to survive Megalania Prisca would need to have a large breeding population that would be hard to hide.


A recent discovery with Megalania’s cousin, the Komodo dragon, may provide a possible solution to the large breeding population problem. In 2006, it was discovered that Komodo dragons could reproduce through a process known as parthenogenesis. Through this process, unfertilized eggs laid by a female can incubate and hatch with no interaction with a male Komodo dragon. It is theorized that this helps the species survive in isolated areas. This process will only work for one generation as only male hatchlings are produced in this manner. It does, however, show that the size of a viable breeding population of Megalania may be much smaller than previously believed.


Some believe that the giant lizard sightings may be attributed the presence of a giant Komodo dragon. The Komodo dragons of Indonesia are the largest known lizards in existence today. They can reach a length of up to 10 feet and weigh up to 370 pounds. They are dangerous carnivores with poisonous saliva. They are efficient predators that have been known to attack anything including humans.


Komodo dragon attacks are becoming more common as they come into contact more often with humans. In June 2007, an eight year old boy from Komodo village was attacked and killed by a Komodo dragon. In June of 2008, a group of divers became stranded on an island and were attacked by a group of Komodo dragons. Known Komodo dragons are intimidating but some believe that there could be giant Komodo dragons in the wild.


If an unknown giant lizard was going to be found, Indonesia would be a good possible location. Indonesia is made up of 17,508 islands with only about 6,000 of them inhabited. The Komodo dragon remained hidden to western eyes until 1910. Dutch administrator Lt. van Hensbrock was investigating reports of a 20 foot lizard when he became the first westerner to encounter the Komodo dragon.


Trooper Walsh is a retired biologist from the Smithsonian National Zoo and an expert on Komodo dragons. He believes that Megalania Prisca and the Komodo dragon probably shared a common ancestor. Walsh also notes that this type of lizard can mutate and adapt quickly. He believes that a much larger version of a Komodo dragon could evolve in a few generations.


The Investigation


The MonsterQuest team takes on the search for Megalania Prisca and giant Komodo dragons. They will send expeditions to the Indonesian islands and Wollemi National Park in Australia. MonsterQuest will arrange for Gilroy’s Megalania track cast to be analyzed by an expert.


The Komodo Dragon Expedition


The search for a giant Komodo dragon is led by Achmad Ariefandy from the Komodo Survival Program. The expedition starts with the known Komodo dragon population on the remote island of Rinca.


The team hangs a goat carcass from a tree. The carcass is placed up high enough that the dragons will not be able to get to it but the smell will draw them in. When they return to the carcass, they find a group of males has been drawn in to it. They are able to capture one of the larger ones and he is over seven feet long. They then notice an even larger male approaching the area. This large Komodo dragon is captured with some difficulty and he is over nine feet long.


They next go to Komodo Island in search of a giant dragon. The island is teaming with wild deer and boar that serve as the main food source for the Komodo dragon population. They are able to find additional dragons but are not able to locate any giants.


The Megalania Prisca Expedition


A MonsterQuest expedition is sent to the Wollemi National Park in search of a Megalania Prisca. Rex Gilroy leads the expedition to the area where he found his Megalania Prisca tracks in 2008. He is joined by wildlife expert Gary Opit, who is an expert in animal tracking and identifying.


The final member of the team is American biology professor and reptile expert Tony Gerard. He believes that some of the Australian sightings could be Perentic lizard which is a known type of monitor lizard on this continent. Reptiles can grow for their whole lives and Perentic lizards have been known to grow up to eight feet in length.


Gerard finds the Wollemi National Park area to be a good area for a possible Megalania Prisca population. The area has food sources like kangaroo and wombat along with the terrain that would help an ambush predator. The area has termite mounds which are used by monitor lizards for egg incubation.


The teams place camera traps in numerous locations in hopes of capturing photographic evidence of a Megalania Prisca. They bait the camera traps with fresh meat hung from trees. Members of the monitor lizard family are active scavengers that can smell food from over a mile away so the meat should draw in any lizards in the area.


The expedition is unable to find any evidence of Megalania Prisca. The camera traps do not show any evidence of a giant lizard. Opit is unable to locate any signs of the creature in the area.


Megalania Track Casts


The casts of purported Megalania Prisca tracks taken by Gilroy are sent to Melbourne for analysis. Paleontologist John Long examines the casts and does not believe the tracks were formed by a Megalania Prisca. The shape of the foot from known Megalania fossils does not match the shape of the cast. Long believes that the symmetry of the track is too perfect as if it was made up.


Conclusions


The MonsterQuest team was unable to find any evidence of a modern day Megalania Prisca or a giant Komodo dragon. It is fascinating to think that humans shared their world with a monster like Megalania Prisca in the recent past. With the relatively recent discovery of Komodo dragons and the realization in just the last couple of years about their reproductive quirks, the possibility of a mystery lizard is still out there.




MonsterQuest Episode: Real Dragons


Air Date: 5 November, 2008

Gigantopithecus Blacki and the Search for Bigfoot

Anthropologists agree that humans have shared their world with a 10 foot tall, 1200 pound ape creature called Gigantopithecus Blacki. Giganto coexisted with humans for tens of thousands of years in Asia. Many believe that a remnant population of these apes may be behind the Bigfoot and Yeti sightings of the modern era. In the episode entitled “Giganto: The Real King Kong”, the MonsterQuest team takes a look at Gigantopithecus Blacki as it relates to the search for Bigfoot.

The Background

Ralph von Koenigswald discovered the first evidence of Gigantopithecus Blacki in 1935 at an apothecary shop in China. Chinese apothecary shops would grind up what they called dragon bones into different medicines. Koenigswald discovered that these dragon bones were actually fossils of different animals. He was able to obtain and identify some fossilized teeth of what he later named Gigantopithecus.

University of Iowa paleoanthropologist Dr. Russell Ciochon explains that only three jaws and 1,100 isolated teeth have been found from Gigantopithecus Blacki. From that minimal evidence, they are able to determine that Giganto was the largest ape to ever live and the only one to go extinct in the Pleistocene era (2.5 million years ago to 10,000 years ago). Giganto was so big that it would come up to the eves on a one story house. It is believed that this ape was a relative to the orangutan and could be almost 10 feet tall and weigh up to 1200 pounds.

Gigantopithecus Blacki was believed to have roamed the jungles of southeastern Asia for around a million years. Most scientists believe that it suddenly died out around 300,000 years ago. The only fossilized evidence is some jaws and teeth that have been found in cave sites. It is not believed that Giganto lived or died in the caves, but that they were brought there by porcupine that eat bones for calcium. The rest of the bones would have been consumed but the top parts of the teeth and the thick jawbones would have escaped consumption.

Dr. Jack Rink is a geochronologist at McMaster University. He wonders about the possibility of Gigantopithecus being related to any of the reported Bigfoot sightings in North America.

Wildlife Consultant John Mionczynski points out that there is an abundance of evidence that shows Asian animals migrating over land bridges to North America. Mionczynski believes that a remnant Gigantopithecus Blacki population may be responsible for the tremendous number of Bigfoot and Yeti sightings.

Professor of Anatomy and Anthropology Dr. Jeff Meldrum finds the modern day sightings of giant apes in North America and Asia to be very interesting. He believes that there are some similar environmental aspects of the sighting areas of Asia and North America.

Dr. Russell Ciochon believes that there is no connection between Gigantopithecus Blacki and the Bigfoot or Yeti. He states that Gigantopithecus was a real ape form the Pleistocene era with evidence of its existence.

Whether or not a remnant population of Gigantopithecus Blacki is still among us, the fear of large apes is a common fear. Psychiatrist Gregory Bambeneck believes that great apes are scary to humans because they are so similar to us. He states that with the number of Bigfoot sightings, there should be some sort of investigation. If it is some type of mass hysteria, that should be investigated as well.

The fear of large apes was immortalized in the 1933 King Kong movie. Movie historian Robert Burns says that King Kong was truly frightening as he might not just kill you right away. Kong might carry you off or your girlfriend off and hold you captive.

According to anthropologist Dr. Esteban Sarmiento, gorillas are known to carry off humans. While studying gorillas in 1994, he was charged by three gorillas that started to drag him off. He did make his escape and says that he was never worried because gorillas do no eat meat.

If North America does not have any great ape population, it is hard to explain the Native American Bigfoot stories. They would not have had interaction with the large ape populations of Africa. According to U.S. Forest Service archeologist Kathy Moskowitz Strain, Native Americans had over 100 names for a Bigfoot like creature. Common traits of this animal included shyness, human like face, five toed feet, foul musty smell, fear of humans and rock throwing.

Washington State wildlife science veterinarian Dr. Briggs Hall believes that the forest of Washington could be home to a mystery ape. Many sightings have occurred in the Cascade Mountain area and Hall believes a clever nocturnal animal could remain undiscovered for a long time. Historian Chris Murphy points out that up until the 20^th century, Europeans thought that the mountain gorilla of Africa was a myth.

Many credible eyewitnesses report Bigfoot sightings that could be a remnant Gigantopithecus Blacki population. In 1982, police officer Daniel M. Gordon encountered one of these creatures near Whitehall, New York. He came around a corner and saw a Bigfoot type creature walk in front of the cruiser. He got out of the cruiser but could not locate the creature again.

In 1988, a retired National Forest Ranger named Roger Blain had a Bigfoot sighting. He was driving down a road that had been closed for an extended period due to a washed out bridge. He observed a very large manlike figure step out into the road. When he stopped to look, the creature grabbed a tree and was able to clear a six to eight foot embankment.

President Theodore Roosevelt may have had an encounter in 1890. He was visiting the Cascade Mountains on a hunting trip and had heard a lot of the Native American stories of the Bigfoot type creatures. As he went to bed one evening, his hunting party was startled by the low rumbling roar of some creature. He described the noise as not being from any bear or beast that he had heard before. As an avid hunter, Roosevelt was familiar with most animals but this was some creature unknown to him.

Wildlife consultant John Mienczyski had a Bigfoot sighting in 1972 while on a research trip. While sleeping in his tent, he thought that a bear was pushing his nose against the outside of his tent. Mienczyski attempted to frighten the bear off by slapping at the nose of the bear. He found the object that he struck to seem much harder then a bear nose but the creature did seem to go away.

Soon after the creature came back to his tent and this time he could tell it was not a bear. When the shadow moved over the tent, he could see the shadow of a hand that looked two to three times bigger than his own. He grabbed his gun and got out of his tent but could not see the creature. He built a fire and could hear something moving in the trees. The creature did not come back to the campsite but it did begin to throw pine cones towards Mienczyski. The pine cone throwing continued for about 45 minutes and then stopped.

The Investigation

The MonsterQuest team follows two investigations related to these great apes. The first one starts out in China trying to gain more information on the relationship of Gigantopithecus Blacki to other primates and the dates of its existence. The second investigation is to the Cascade Mountains of Washington State. This search for Bigfoot will try to obtain evidence of a Bigfoot or a modern day Giganto.

The Washington State Expedition

Professor of Anatomy and Anthropology Dr. Jeff Meldrum leads an expedition searching for Bigfoot to the Northern Cascade Mountains of Washington State. Meldrum is the head of the North American Ape Project and he is looking for photographic or DNA evidence (hair, scat, etc…) of a Bigfoot type creature that may be related to Gigantopithecus. He believes that most Bigfoot sightings are seasonal in nature and occur in areas that could sustain an ape population.

Joining Meldrum is wildlife consultant John Mienczynski. Mienczynski believes that he and other scientists have a responsibility to research the Bigfoot sightings and try to determine what is behind them. He believes that some relative of Gigantopithecus may have made it to North America.

The team concentrates on an area that has been cut off from human influence for several years due to bridge washouts. Prior to this time, the area was the location of numerous Bigfoot sightings by loggers and hikers.

The team sets up snag traps that are hidden in lichen and set above the height of known animals. If a tall bipedal animal was to walk through and brush up against one of these traps, it should gather hair evidence. Mienczynski believes that lichen may be a possible food source for any great ape in North America.

The team also sets several camera traps along rock strewn river areas in hopes of capturing photo evidence. Many Bigfoot sightings have occurred near river beds. The cameras are set in fake rocks to be inconspicuous.

This search for Bigfoot is unable to obtain any photographic or DNA evidence but they do find some useful information. The team conducted a survey of food sources in the area and they believe that this area is capable of supporting the diet of a great ape population.

The China expedition

Dr. Russell Ciochon leads an expedition to the Guangxi region in China. He hopes to find additional fossil records that may yield ancient DNA or protein structures. He would utilize this evidence to pinpoint the position of Gigantopithecus Blacki on the evolutionary tree and gain insight on how this creature lived.

This area is the home to many of the caves that have yielded Gigantopithecus evidence. One cave that he searches was the location of the 1965 discovery of 12 Gigantopithecus Blacki teeth. These teeth were the largest Giganto teeth ever found. Ciochon explains that Giganto did not live in these caves. The fossils were either washed in or dragged in by porcupines.

Joining Ciochon in China is geochronologist Jack Rink. Rink has developed a method of measuring the radiation that the teeth would have received during their burial. He hopes to use this to better determine the age of the teeth. He also uses an electron spin resonance meter to try to date what he believes to be the youngest of the Gigantopithecus caves. He will also use the teeth of other mammals found in the same level of sediment where Gigantopithecus teeth were found. The age classification of these teeth will help determine the age of the Gigantopithecus fossil remains.

Unable to locate any new samples, Ciochon travels to Frankfurt, Germany. This is where the only Gigantopithecus tooth samples are kept outside of China. He would like to extract DNA from one of the tooth samples. The sample would need to be less than 100,000 years old if it was to have any hope of providing DNA. The chance of DNA extraction will depend on the results of Rinks experiments.

Rink returned to Canada with the fossils found in the same sediment layer as Gigantopithecus teeth. He grinds the fossils in order to measure the magnetic resonance signal inside the fossil. He is able to determine results for five sites with the oldest being around 1,000,000 years old and the newest being 300,000 years old. This means that the known Gigantopithecus teeth would be too old for DNA testing.

Ciochon is still able to obtain a Gigantopithecus tooth for a micro CT scan. Paleoanthropologist Anthony Olejniczak of the Max Plank Institute conducts the micro CT scan. The process involves putting multiple images together in order to obtain a three dimensional image of the tooth. The images of the tooth show that it has the thickest enamel of any primate tooth. The Gigantopithecus tooth is similar in construction to modern apes and may have had a similar diet. Ciochon believes that he tooth is most similar to an orangutan indicating an herbivore. Dr. Meldrum disagrees and believes that the tooth is more similar to a generalist omnivore like the chimpanzee.

Conclusions

The fossil records of Gigantopithecus pose as many problems for Bigfoot believers as it does answers. While the existence of this extremely large ape shows that a 10 foot tall ape could exist even in the relatively speaking recent past. Why would we have fossil evidence of Gigantopithecus and no physical proof of its more recent relatives? Could the early human contact with this type of fearsome creature leave a primal fear that leads to modern Bigfoot sightings? The Washington State expedition gave some evidence that a Bigfoot population could survive in the Cascade Mountains so there is still a slim possibility that can make us ssometimes think “what if?”.

A MonsterQuest Look at Killer Chimps in America

Chimpanzees are not the fun and cute animals that are seen in commercials and movies. They can be unpredictable and violent like any other wild animal. With four times the strength of a man, a chimpanzee attack is vicious and devastating. With recent captive chimpanzee attacks in the news, a number of sightings of chimpanzees in the wild have been reported. In the episode entitled “Killer Chimps in America”, the MonsterQuest team took a look at what is behind these chimpanzee sightings.


The Background


There is a growing concern that there may be a population of wild chimpanzees in Florida. Since 2000, there have been over 70 reports of sightings by eyewitnesses. In the fall of 2003, Steve T. Keller reported seeing a chimpanzee like creature while he was driving on a road near the Green Swamp in Florida. Scott Marlow reported seeing a wild chimpanzee in the Orlando area of Florida in 1982. With Florida having the only tropical climate in the United States, it has become the home to numerous escaped exotic animals. If the chimpanzees are among these new residents of Florida, they may be one of the most dangerous ones.


In February of 2009, Sandy Herold’s pet chimpanzee, Travis, had escaped. Travis had starred in some television commercials and had always been friendly. When Herold and her friend, Charla Nash, tried to get Travis back inside the house, the chimpanzee began to attach Nash. Herold was unable to control the chimpanzee and contacted 911 to get assistance. Captain Richard Conklin of the Stamford Connecticut Police Department described the scene of the attack as being especially gruesome. The area was extremely bloody with clothing strewn around. The chimpanzee had ravaged Nash biting her repeatedly and tearing at her. Nash lost her nose, upper and lower lips, eyelids and both hands in the attack.


When the patrol car responded to the 911 call, the chimpanzee turned its attention towards it. The chimpanzee ripped a side mirror off the car and attempted to open the passenger side door. When it could not open that door, the chimpanzee went to the driver’s side door and opened it. At this point, the responding officer shot the chimpanzee four times and it still managed to make it back to the house before dying.


Another similar attack had occurred in March of 2005. St. James and LaDonna Davis had raised a chimpanzee named Moe from birth. While visiting the chimp sanctuary where Moe was kept, four other chimps escaped from their enclosures. A large male chimpanzee attacked LaDonna and bit off her thumb. As second chimpanzee began to attack, St. James pushed LaDonna under a picnic table. The chimps then turned on St. James and brutally attacked him. He had fingers bitten off, an eye gouged out, his nose bit off, five bites to the head, four bites to the neck, his testicles were ripped off, the bottom of his left foot bitten off, and nerve damage that has left him unable to walk. A sanctuary worker eventually shot and killed the two chimpanzees.


Three years after the Davis attack, Moe escaped from the same chimpanzee sanctuary. The search for Moe was led by Martine Colette, the Director of the Wildlife Waystation. Colette says that the search lasted for five to six weeks and utilized dogs and helicopters. When no signs of Moe were found, he was presumed dead. According to Grace Hilario, this may not be the case. In July of 2008, Hilario became lost for three days while hiking in the Gorgonio Mountains. While resting on some rocks, she saw a monkey-like creature moving through the wilderness. Many believe that this may have been Moe surviving in the wild.


Scott Lope is the Director of Operations for Big Cat Rescue and is an expert on dangerous exotic pet species. He believes that it is possible for chimpanzees to be at large in wilds of Florida. Due to liability issue, many owners do not report the escape of chimpanzees. Chimpanzees and exotic animals are not well regulated, with 13 states having no laws at all about their ownership. Lope states that chimpanzees can live to be 50 years old and are very powerful and dangerous creatures once they are sexually mature.


Terry wolf is the Wildlife Director of Lion Country Safari and he believes that it would be difficult for an escaped chimpanzee to remain undetected. Any escaped chimpanzee would be familiar with people and associate people with food. This would lead to the chimpanzee to seek out contact with humans. He does agree that these chimpanzees would be dangerous as they are unpredictable. Being raised by humans, a chimpanzee would not display normal chimpanzee or human behavior.


Cryptozoologist Scott Marlow believes that Florida has a long history of escaped chimpanzees in the wild. For years roadside zoos and carnivals have wintered in Florida and many of them had escaped chimpanzees. As early as 1896, PT Barnum was displaying chimpanzees in Florida. When many of these attractions went out of business in the 1940s, they may have released chimpanzees in Florida. In May of 1952, a chimpanzee named Congo escaped from a zoo by biting his handler and scaling a six foot wall. It took a search party of 200 people to track down the animal and kill it. In December of 1963, Florida police pulled over a car that was being driven by a trained chimpanzee.


The Investigation


MonsterQuest investigates the possibility of chimpanzees existing in the wilds of Florida. They launch an investigation to search for the animals and determine if the food resources exist to support a population. They also use a cartography study to determine the similarities between Florida and a known chimpanzee habitat.


Digital Cartography



MonsterQuest utilizes the service of Stace Wright, the senior cartographer of Eureka Cartography. Wright used digital cartography to compare the Green Swamp area of Florida to the known chimpanzee habitat in Mali, Africa. Digital cartography provides a visual representation and comparison of numerous geographic and environmental conditions. Wright takes into account factors such as temperature, rainfall, vegetation and human influence. The findings indicate some minor differences with Mali being about 10 degrees warmer, at a higher altitude, and with different trees and vegetation. Overall, the two areas seem to be very similar and Wright believes that they should be able to support similar species.



Green Swamp Expedition


MonsterQuest sends an expedition to the Green Swamp of Florida in search of a wild chimpanzee population. The Green Swamp is an area of 560,000 acres between Tampa Bay and Orlando. It is home to wild boars, bob cats, alligators, cotton mouths, rattlesnakes and many eyewitness sightings of chimpanzee-like creatures.


Expert animal tracker Mark Peterson will be leading the expedition. He will be joined by Hogan Sherrow who is a professor of anthropology at Ohio University. Sherrow has spent over 3000 hours observing chimpanzees in Africa.


Peterson conducted an aerial search of the swamp using a gyro plane aircraft to find the best areas for camera traps. They decided to concentrate on areas with good water holes because a severe draught had limited water resources in the area. The watering holes gave Peterson a chance to study the tracks of animals that were in the area and he did not find any uncommon tracks near the sites.


Buckeye wireless camera traps allowed Peterson to download images from 1 ½ miles away so that human scents would not be reintroduced to the areas of the cameras. The camera trap areas were baited with chimpanzee pheromone chips in order to attract the curiosity of any chimpanzees. Recordings of chimpanzee vocalizations were used to try to attract chimpanzees to the areas of the camera traps. They also used thermal cameras on an evening search for chimpanzee nesting areas in the forest canopy. Unfortunately, all images that were captured showed known swamp dwelling creatures.


Sherrow examined the area to determine if it could support a chimpanzee population. Sherrow states that an environment needs to have a temperature without extremes, good water sources, heavy vegetation and plentiful fruit supplies in order to sustain a breeding population of chimpanzees. While the expedition did find some citrus trees, Sherrow did not think that the area had adequate fruit supplies to sustain a chimpanzee population.


Conclusions


The MonsterQuest team did not find any evidence that Florida had a breeding population of wild chimpanzees. While the area has many similarities with the natural habitat of chimpanzees it probably does not have adequate food resources. The possibility still remains that escaped chimpanzees could survive for a time in this area but there was no signs of them. Chimpanzees can be extremely dangerous and unpredictable when taken out of their natural environment and are not a good choice for a pet.

A MonsterQuest Look at American Werewolf

Wisconsin has been the location of over 200 sightings of a half-man half-animal creature known as the Dogman. Eyewitnesses have seen three different varieties of this Dogman with reports of a wolf-like creature, bear-like creature and a Bigfoot-like creature. Dogman eyewitnesses report that the creature is between six and eight feet tall, fur covered with the hands and feet of a human. In the Monsterquest episode entitled “American Werewolf”, the team focuses its investigation into the sighting of the wolf-like Dogman.

The History

Between 1450 and 1700, hundreds of people in Europe were tried and executed for being witches or werewolves. While we know today that these people were mostly if not all innocent, there was one man who did not seem to deny being a werewolf. Peter Stubbe of Bedburg, Germany admitted to killing and eating 14 children and two pregnant women. Stubbe claimed that the devil had given him a belt that allowed him to turn into a devouring wolf with monstrous strength. The confession was obtained under torture so it can be viewed rather dubiously. University of Minnesota Professor Anatoly Liberman is an expert in Germanic folklore. Liberman stated that Stubbed believed he was a werewolf and that when he put on the belt he had the strength to perform the deeds that he admitted to.

In modern times, we are aware that a confession to being a werewolf does not make one a werewolf. Author Linda Godfrey believes that many people who confessed to being werewolves in the middle ages may have suffered from a disease known as Saint Anthony ’s fire. This disease was caused by a fungus that grows on rye which was a staple food for the peasantry in that time period. Symptoms of Saint Anthony ’s fire include delusions, strange behavior and sometimes death.

Psychiatrist and wildlife biologist Dr. Greg Bambeneck believes that most werewolf confessions were a result of more commonly known mental disorders. According to Bambeneck, a psychiatrist in the late 1600s realized that confessions of witches and werewolves were the result of mental disorders and these people started to be looked at as insane instead of as criminals. Today Lycanthropy or the belief that one is a werewolf is a recognized psychiatric condition. Since the advent of anti-psychotic drugs, this condition has all but disappeared.

Many believe that the werewolf is now relegated to the realm of horror films and Halloween but that is not the case in Wisconsin. This area has been the focal point of an increasing number of sightings of the Dogman. The Dogman is a werewolf like creature that author Linda Godfrey wrote about in her book, The Beast of Bray Road. Godfrey has collected over 100 accounts of this creature. Some claim that these witnesses saw a Bigfoot type creature or simply misidentified a known creature but Godfrey claims that they are sincere in what they believe they saw. In 2005, Godfrey received a hair sample from an anonymous woman who claimed to have recovered it when a Dogman creature that had jumped off her roof.

Wisconsin was settled by many immigrants of German descent in the mid 1800s. Many of these people may have brought tales and superstitions about werewolves with them when they settled the area. Both Germany and Wisconsin had wolves and conflict would often arise between humans and native wolf populations. Wolves were eliminated from Wisconsin by the 1960s but they have recovered to a population of around 600 since then. The increase in Dogmen sightings seems to coincide with the return of the wolf population but many witnesses believe that what they saw was definitely not a wolf.

Don Young is a veteran hunter and guide in Wisconsin. He claims to have encountered the Dogman five times since 2002. He is familiar with bears and wolves and is positive that what he saw was something different. He describes the creature as between six and seven feet tall, with human looking feet, and black eyes. He states that he observed the creature make a 12 foot leap. While armed with a rifle at the time of his encounters, he says he never shot at the creature because of the fear that it was a man in some type of suit.

In 1977, Kim Del Rio was only seven when she and her mother heard screaming coming from the front yard. When they got to the front yard area, they saw a neighbor clutching her child and screaming at some dog-like animal. She remembers the animal as being like a dog but with human-like fingers. Her mother would later only refer to the animal as that “dog thing”.

In 1994, David and Mary Pagliaroni claim that they saw the Dogman in Honey Creek, Wisconsin. While driving home, the couple saw a creature standing on a bridge. They stopped the car 20 to 25 feet away from the creature and describe it as around 7 feet tall, 600 to 700 pounds, brown fur and dark eyes. The creature jumped from the side of the bridge and disappeared into the night.

In 2004, Katie Zahn and two friends encountered a group of Dogmen in Rock County, Wisconsin. They had gone to investigate an area where others had reported seeing the Dogman. They were walking in the woods when they came across a group of three Dogmen drinking from a stream. According to Zahn, the creatures behaved like humans but they definitely were not human. When the Dogmen began to approach the group, they ran away from the area.

In the fall of 1981, Marv Kirschnik was driving in Elkhorn, Wisconsin. He saw some sort of creature behind a tree and stopped to look at it. At first he thought it was a dog but as the creature looked back at him he changed his mind. The creature seemed to have the human-like characteristics of the Dogman. It looked very canine with human hands.

In 2003, Matt Wakely was driving past a graveyard in Wisconsin. He saw a six foot tall hairy creature standing upright in the graveyard. He describes the creature as a cross between a wolf and a caveman.

The Investigation

MonsterQuest investigated the Dogman testimony, evidence and locations as part of the show. Witnesses will undergo hypnotic regression or polygraph tests to check out their stories. Hair samples will be tested. An expedition will be sent to the area of numerous sighting to try to find evidence of the Dogman.

The Godfrey hair sample

MonsterQuest obtained a portion of the hair sample that author Linda Godfrey had received from an anonymous woman. The women had claimed that a Dogman left the hair behind when it had jumped from her roof. MonsterQuest had wildlife biologist Dr. Lynn Rogers analyze the hair sample for species identification. Rogers states that the hair sample came from a common domestic cat.

The Dogman Expedition

Psychiatrist and Wildlife expert Dr. Greg Bambeneck is leading a MonsterQuest expedition to Wisconsin in a search for the Dogman. Dr. Bambeneck believes that Dogmen sightings are the result of witnesses misidentifying a known creature like a bear or a wolf. Bambeneck states that bears and wolves can get up on two feet but they can not move gracefully or jump great distances while on two feet as described by some of the witnesses.

Bambeneck will be joined by hunter and guide Don Young who has reported seeing the creature five times. They plan to investigate to investigate the area of Young’s multiple encounters. Bambeneck is bringing a tranquilizer gun and equipment to collect hair, DNA samples and photographic evidence.

Bambeneck and Young find a field of saw grass with some strange signs. In the field they find several flattened bedding areas with what appear to be large bipedal footprints. Most large animals do not make beds in saw grass areas due to the sharp and cutting nature of the grass. The area leading up to beds is not flattened as one would expect a large animal to do. It appears as if something stepped over the grass. Bambeneck is able to recover a hair sample from the area.

After several days of investigating the area, Bambeneck is able to find no other possible evidence of the Dogman. The hair sample is sent away for comparative analysis by forensic examiner Nicholas Petraco. Petraco determines that the hair sample came from a brown furred black bear.

Hypnotic Regression

MonsterQuest enlisted the aid of Milwaukee area clinical hypnotherapist Jerry Calvi to help with the case of Kim Del Rio. Del Rio reported having an encounter with the Dogman when she was only seven years old. Since she was so young, her memories of this event may have altered over time. Calvi uses a technique known as regressive hypnosis to help her recall the events in detail. According to Calvi, Del Rio believes the events happened as she has related them and the regressive hypnosis only led to additional details.

The Polygraph Test

MonsterQuest has enlisted the aid of Sgt. William Macki from the Grand Forks, North Dakota Police Department. Macki is an expert in administering polygraph tests. Experts believe that polygraph tests are successful 70 to 90% of the time in determining if a person is telling what they believe to be the truth. A polygraph can not tell if the witness is accurate in the observations but only if they believe what they are saying.

As mentioned previously Katie Zahn, David Pagliaroni, Mary Pagliaroni, Marv Kirschnik, and Matt Wakely have all reported encounters with the Dogman. They have agreed to have polygraph tests administered by Macki in regards to their encounters. According to Macki, all of these witnesses believe that they are being truthful about their encounters with the creature.

Conclusion

MonsterQuest was unable to find any evidence of the Dogman in Wisconsin. The eyewitnesses seem to be telling the truth but what are they seeing. It is entirely possible that eyewitnesses are misidentifying wolves or other known creatures.

Monsterquest has done investigation into other creatures like the Dogman. The sightings of the Dogman are believed by many to be similar to the Bigfoot, Sasquatch and Skunk Ape sightings from around North America