Gerrard Winstanley
11-24-2014, 05:21 PM
Love this story, bunk as it is. :tongue:
http://media.tumblr.com/affc0226f6d91a39b0da5c9363def1d3/tumblr_inline_n0ztxywhvf1r1jxhy.jpg
http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4302
Today we're going to point the skeptical eye at one of the many cryptids known from some scant evidence. Our subject is De Loys' Ape, also called Ameranthropoides loysi. It is said to be an unknown species of primate, walking bipedally through the jungles of South America like a hominid, having no tail like an ape, but bearing the physical appearance of a monkey. It stands one and a half meters tall (four and a half feet) and is known primarily from a single photograph, taken by an oil expedition in Venezuela sometime around 1920.
The world had known that Venezuela held vast oil reserves since the first Spanish conquerors arrived in the 16th century, but it wasn't until the early 1900's that the first modern oil wells were drilled. Following World War I, oil prospecting exploded in Venezuela, such that by 1929 it was the world's largest oil exporting nation. In 1917, swiss geologist François de Loys was only one of countless Europeans brought in by the oil companies to prospect. De Loys spent the better part of four years in Venezuela, traveling about and prospecting. It was during this period that something happened that would make de Loys famous forever.
http://media.tumblr.com/affc0226f6d91a39b0da5c9363def1d3/tumblr_inline_n0ztxywhvf1r1jxhy.jpg
http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4302
Today we're going to point the skeptical eye at one of the many cryptids known from some scant evidence. Our subject is De Loys' Ape, also called Ameranthropoides loysi. It is said to be an unknown species of primate, walking bipedally through the jungles of South America like a hominid, having no tail like an ape, but bearing the physical appearance of a monkey. It stands one and a half meters tall (four and a half feet) and is known primarily from a single photograph, taken by an oil expedition in Venezuela sometime around 1920.
The world had known that Venezuela held vast oil reserves since the first Spanish conquerors arrived in the 16th century, but it wasn't until the early 1900's that the first modern oil wells were drilled. Following World War I, oil prospecting exploded in Venezuela, such that by 1929 it was the world's largest oil exporting nation. In 1917, swiss geologist François de Loys was only one of countless Europeans brought in by the oil companies to prospect. De Loys spent the better part of four years in Venezuela, traveling about and prospecting. It was during this period that something happened that would make de Loys famous forever.