The Most Brutal Apes Even Lions Are Afraid Of

Bright Side

Have you ever heard about those apes that even lions steer clear of? We're talking about the Bondo and Bili apes – they're like the heavyweights of the jungle. These bad boys are massive and seriously tough, with a no-nonsense attitude that even predators think twice about messing with. They've got the muscle and the smarts to hold their own in the wild, making them the ultimate tough guys of the ape world. It's like they've got this built-in "do not mess with me" vibe that commands respect from all corners of the animal kingdom. So yeah, you definitely wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of these badass apes!  Credit: tkostya99 / Reddit  carlden3 / Reddit  CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0:  Tim Laman:  Pongo tapanuliensis, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pongo_tapanuliensis.jpg  Pongo, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pongo_tapanuliensis_female.jpg  Animation is created by Bright Side.  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Music from TheSoul Sound: https://thesoul-sound.com/   Check our Bright Side podcast on Spotify and leave a positive review! https://open.spotify.com/show/0hUkPxD34jRLrMrJux4VxV   Subscribe to Bright Side: https://goo.gl/rQTJZz  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Our Social Media: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brightside  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightside.official TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@brightside.official?lang=en   Stock materials (photos, footages and other): https://www.depositphotos.com https://www.shutterstock.com https://www.eastnews.ru ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  For more videos and articles visit: http://www.brightside.me

Transcript

00:00Deep within the dense rainforests of the Democratic Republic of Congo, a mysterious creature is roaming its habitat.

00:07Its name sends shivers down the spines of locals and explorers alike.

00:11I'm talking about Beely Apes.

00:14These legendary giants of the jungle have become the protagonists of many tales and legends, as well as numerous speculations.

00:21Imagine a chimpanzee.

00:23Now make it bigger, almost the size of a human when standing on its two.

00:27Make it wider and stronger.

00:29It nests on the ground in trees like gorillas and feasts on fierce beasts like leopards.

00:34That's a Beely Ape.

00:36Through generations, locals have been whispering about Beely Apes to each other.

00:40There are stories of them roaming the jungles on their two feet, vanishing into thin air when encountered by a human but leaving massive footprints behind.

00:49People claim that they have heard the creatures howling at the moon.

00:52They also state that the beasts are immune to poisonous darts.

00:55Locals call them the ones which beat the tree and the one which kills the lion.

01:00Local communities view them as guardians of the forest, possessing ancient wisdom passed down through the ages.

01:07About two decades ago, scientists and researchers got intrigued by what was going on in those rainforests and what those creatures were.

01:15A group of researchers went to study them and here's what they found out.

01:19Remember that the locals say that Beely Apes avoid humans.

01:24That's true, but not exactly.

01:28Turns out that Beely Apes live in the part of the forest that is close to where humans live and really prefer to avoid people.

01:35Adult males are more afraid of people than females.

01:38But as you go deeper into the forest, you see Beelys that have never seen people before.

01:44Those have no fear and they even show interest in their guests.

01:48They walk around you with curiosity or even come face to face with you and stare at you before moving away.

01:55The apes don't show any aggression.

01:57Much like other chimpanzees, Beely Apes live in social groups of 10 to 100 members.

02:03Every troop has a leader, a dominant alpha male.

02:06How do they determine the leader?

02:08Usually it's just the biggest male, so it's simple here.

02:11The leader makes decisions and protects the group.

02:14But he also has the highest rank and gets priority access to everything, like food or mates.

02:19There are even more rankings.

02:21Females have their own ranks.

02:23And more dominant apes have influence over others.

02:26They really are bigger than an average chimpanzee.

02:29And early in life, they have a grey coat.

02:32Their diet is also similar to that of chimpanzees.

02:35This means that about 90% of their diet is plants and fruits.

02:39Only 6% is animal products.

02:41And the remaining 4% are insects.

02:44In some instances, they act more like gorillas.

02:47For example, these fearless creatures don't only nest on trees, but on the ground as well.

02:52They make their nests themselves, moving branches and samplings into central bowls.

02:57Researchers are still baffled by this fact because the ground isn't safe,

03:01with all those leopards, lions and buffaloes roaming around.

03:04Maybe those creatures are as fierce as the local tales say.

03:09But here's a thing.

03:10The apes that live close to humans avoid nesting on the ground

03:14and are also way quieter, trying to avoid hunters.

03:18By the way, the nests of chimpanzees are cleaner than our beds.

03:22Those guys build a new nest every single night to keep bugs and whatever else out.

03:28Their creative abilities don't end with making nests.

03:31Billy apes actively use tools too.

03:34They have been observed using sticks or branches as tools to probe termite mounds

03:39or extract honey from beehives.

03:41There are several types of tools, and all have a particular purpose.

03:45The tools used to harvest driver ants are the largest ever found in Africa.

03:49This shows that these creatures have quite impressive cognitive abilities

03:53and problem-solving skills.

03:55Also, social learning.

03:58If one chimpanzee figures something out and that works,

04:01the others will observe, learn, and adopt the same strategy.

04:05Not every animal is capable of that.

04:07So that's what we know.

04:09When the research group came back,

04:11one of the members published a report in a magazine.

04:14Their faces are much flatter than those of chimpanzees.

04:17They turn gray early in life.

04:19They have a distinct howl that gets louder during the full moon.

04:23Those must be a new species unknown to scientists,

04:26a hybrid of the gorilla and the chimpanzee.

04:29Well, that's quite a scientific discovery.

04:32The researcher gave many interviews to famous channels and magazines.

04:36But then it was discovered that the researchers had a Ph.D. in behavioral psychology.

04:41So some experts in the field turned skeptical about her report.

04:46Phyllis did show some unique behavior that's not typical to chimpanzees.

04:51But that was mostly limited to nesting on the ground.

04:54So, are they a new species or not?

04:58The other members of the research group came forward

05:00after comparing Billy's DNA to the DNA of chimpanzees.

05:04They announced that the two samples of DNA were the same.

05:07They confirmed that the mysterious Billy apes were the same species as chimpanzees.

05:12Even more than that, they weren't even mutants or hybrids.

05:16Yes, they were a tiny bit bigger.

05:18And they would go gray earlier.

05:20But take humans.

05:21Some are taller.

05:22Some are shorter.

05:23Some are wider.

05:24Some get gray hairs earlier.

05:26And we all have different skin and hair and eye color.

05:28But just because I'm blonde and have an average height,

05:31and my neighbor is tall and has dark hair,

05:34doesn't make us different species.

05:37So, that was the argument of the other scientists from the research group.

05:42So, the whole speculation of Billy apes being a new species unknown to science was nothing.

05:48The claim that Belus howl at the moon was also debunked by another researcher from the group.

05:55The story is not new.

05:56There were other instances of such wrong calls.

05:59But there were also the opposite cases.

06:01When two species were believed to be the same, but turned out to be different.

06:06For example, Sumatran orangutan and Bornean orangutan were thought to be the same species for a while.

06:13But in the late 1990s, scientists established that the two were different.

06:18Both look alike.

06:19And both have that typical shaggy reddish fur.

06:22But Sumatran orangutans have longer hair and have closer social bonds with their community.

06:28Bornean orangutans are the ones who would go down to the ground more often.

06:32Both of the species are endangered, with just a bit over 100,000 Bornean orangutans left,

06:37and just 14,000 Sumatrans.

06:40As recently as 2017, a new, third species of orangutan was announced.

06:45The Tapanuli orangutan.

06:47There are just about 800 of those left in the world.

06:50And it's the most endangered species of all apes.

06:54Let's throw in a couple of facts about apes.

06:56Wild chimpanzees only live in Africa, and only in 21 countries of all.

07:01That's also the homeland of humans.

07:03Yes, millions of years ago, the first humans evolved in Africa.

07:07Chimpanzees are actually humans' closest living relatives.

07:11A human and a chimpanzee share an impressive 98.8% of the DNA.

07:16Humans, chimps, and bonobos share the same ancestor from 7 million years back.

07:21That's a very distant relative, but it explains why we're so alike.

07:25Seriously, we are.

07:27Chimps can catch human diseases, and scientists believe that they can develop Alzheimer's.

07:32Also, chimps have distinctive personality types similar to humans.

07:36They display varied degrees of the five major personality traits.

07:40Extroversion, openness, agreeableness, neuroticism, and conscientiousness.

07:46Chimpanzees are also known for fighting over territories with other groups.

07:50As I told you, they also learn from each other, not just about tools, but stuff like fashion, too.

07:56In Zambia, a chimpanzee once stuck a stalk of grass behind her ear.

08:01And other female chimpanzees did the same thing after her.

08:04Also, the language.

08:06They won't be able to speak English, of course.

08:08But one chimpanzee that lives in captivity has picked up American Sign Language.

08:13Now it can do more than 350 signs to communicate with the caretakers.

08:18The chimp even passed this knowledge down to her adopted son.

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