「比利猿」一隻就可以能屠獅殺象
非洲剛果民主共和國伊博拉河(Ebola river)南 200 公里的彼利（Bili）小鎮一直有個傳說，在蠻荒叢林深處有種類似黑猩猩與大猩猩混血的神秘動物（ 剛果比利猿 Bili ape），力大無窮，可以殺死獅子以及大象，而且還會捕魚，並且還會對著月亮嚎叫。
這項傳說被《新科學家》證實，最強猛獸 剛果比利猿 Bili ape 這種極度兇猛的動物真的存在。科學家深入剛果叢林後發現，傳說中的 剛果比利猿 Bili ape 真的存在，但並非混血新物種，而是體積較大的黑猩猩，剛果比利猿 Bili ape 會捕魚，也吃大型貓科動物的肉。
阿姆斯特丹大學的克里夫。希克（Cleve Hicks）於 2004 年將其命名為「比利猿」（Bili ape），比利是其聚居處所附近一個小鎮名。荷蘭阿姆斯特丹大學的克里夫。希克在剛果叢林待了十八個月，深入觀察比利猿，他曾撞見一隻剛果比利猿 Bili ape 殺死一隻獵豹並且徒手撕下肉進食，這無法代表豹是被牠所殺，但這或多或少令人相信比利猿會獵獅的傳聞。
從 34 公分長的腳印判斷，剛果比利猿 Bili ape 重有約三百多磅，這一物種的體型遠超過大猩猩。克里夫。希克（Cleve Hicks）研究比利猿吃剩的獵豹屍體時，發現獵豹的頭殼被捏碎腦漿被掏出來吃掉，這證實剛果比利猿 Bili ape 雙手力道高達 800 磅以上，因為頭殼在動物中是最硬的骨頭。
也因為剛果比利猿 Bili ape 力大無窮，當地居民才會流傳著剛果比利猿 Bili ape 可以輕易獵殺一頭成年象，剛果比利猿 Bili ape 的手力恐怖到可以輕易將象牙折斷。克里夫.希克在剛果比利猿 Bili ape 棲息地發現直徑約 20 公分以上的樹幹被折斷，科學家認為折斷的樹幹是被剛果比利猿 Bili ape 用來做為保護幼猿的窩。
Hicks 說他們所發現的是一種嶄新的黑猩 猩文化 。以前的研究人員僅僅能瞥見牠們，或是利用架設好的照相機去捕捉牠們的樣貌。這一次牠們利用當地文化所提供的知識去接近牠們，並拍下照片。
這些剛果比利猿 Bili ape 雖然數量稀少，但是生性兇猛，只要大型動物進入他的獵食區被發現了，剛果比利猿 Bili ape都會發動攻擊。
而剛果比利猿 Bili ape 不像一般猩猩都在樹上睡覺，剛果比利猿 Bili ape 都在地面上睡覺，可能因為牠們會獵殺過大型野獸，所以獅、豹這些猛獸，所以也不敢招惹牠們。
如同在非洲的其他黑猩猩，Bili Apes使用棍棒去尋找螞蟻，只不過牠們用的工具長達2.5呎。
最令人感到興奮的是，這種黑猩猩族群，比現存已知的都大上許多，也同時可能是非洲大陸上現存數目最多的物種之一。
然而，Bili apes的未來完全沒有安全可言。一名從1996年開始觀察比利猿的獨立的野生攝影家Karl Ammann說，一切看來沒有未來。因為缺乏強而有力的中央政府將導致大部分地區各自獨立，且沒有法律。對於生態保育而言是種災難。(文章指的應該是政治紛亂的地區或許會出現濫捕濫殺的情形)
關鍵時刻：撕裂最凶猛的獵豹，神出鬼沒剛果殺手『比利猿』揭密！？
英國《衛報 The Guardian 》報導 Found: the giant lion-eating chimps of the magic forest 最強猛獸 剛果比利猿 Bili ape敢在地面上睡覺，可能因為牠們曾獵殺過某些大型野獸，所以獅、豹這些猛獸也不太招惹牠們。
"Hicks said the animals also have what he calls a "smashing culture" - a blunt but effective way of solving problems. He has found hundreds of snails and hard-shelled fruits smashed for food, seen chimps carrying termite mounds to rocks to break them open and also found a turtle that was almost certainly smashed apart by chimps"
要到達比利猿的所在地意味者需要艱苦地行進40公里去穿越叢林，這已經是走近路了。而當他看到比利猿時，他發現牠們並沒有一般動物對人類的那種恐懼；一般在路旁的黑猩猩，一看到人類靠近便會馬上跑走，因為牠們知道人類的接近很有可能會對牠們做什麼事情。但比利猿卻很高興地靠近他。
Hicks更指出牠們跟其他在非洲生活的黑猩猩有不同的睡眠習慣。牠們通常夜晚群居於地面的巢穴入睡，大約有五分之一的比利猿睡在樹上。
HIcks說: "而牠們怎麼能僥倖地(意指安然無恙)睡在地面上? 附近可能有獅群，獵豹群，golden cats以及其他具有危險性的動物例如大象與水牛"
"我不想將牠們描繪成十分具有侵略性，但或許由於他們獵食某些肉食性動物，因而這些肉食性動物會遠離牠們"，Hick很想指出比利猿不會對月亮咆哮
澳洲國立大學在靈長類生態方面的專家Colin Groves在觀察地面的巢穴後說，那些在地面的巢穴相當的大，很明顯地在此地有些獨特之處。
Groves教授相信Blli apes應該會促進人們對於黑猩猩亞種上相關家族樹(family tree)的重新思考。他更建議靈長類動物學應從目前的四個分枝，修正為五個類別。(查了一下wiki有關chimp，相關的這張圖片樹的最右方有四個分枝，不知道是不是指這個 )
以下為衛報原文內容：
Deep in the Congolese jungle is a band of apes that, according to local legend, kill lions, catch fish and even howl at the moon. Local hunters speak of massive creatures that seem to be some sort of hybrid between a chimp and a gorilla.
Their location at the centre of one of the bloodiest conflicts on the planet, the civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo, has meant that the mystery apes have been little studied by western scientists. Reaching the region means negotiating the shifting fortunes of warring rebel factions, and the heart of the animals' range is deep in impenetrable forest.
But despite the difficulties, a handful of scientists have succeeded in studying the animals. Early speculation that the apes may be some yeti-like new species or a chimp/gorilla hybrid proved unfounded, but the truth has turned out to be in many ways even more fascinating. They are actually a population of super-sized chimps with a unique culture - and it seems, a taste for big cat flesh.
The most detailed and recent data comes from Cleve Hicks, at the University of Amsterdam, who has spent 18 months in the field watching the Bili apes - named after a local town - since 2004. His team's most striking find came after one of his trackers heard chimps calling for several days from the same spot.
When he investigated he came across a chimp feasting on the carcass of a leopard. Mr Hicks cannot be sure the animal was killed by the chimp, but the find lends credence to the apes' lion-eating reputation.
"What we have found is this completely new chimpanzee culture," said Mr Hicks. Previously, researchers had only managed to snatch glimpses of the animals or take photos of them using camera traps. But Mr Hicks used local knowledge to get closer to them and photograph them.
"We were told of this sort of fabled land out west by one of our trackers who goes out there to fish," said Mr Hicks whose project is supported by the Wasmoeth Wildlife Foundation. "I call it the magic forest. It is a very special place."
Getting there means a gruelling 40km (25-mile) trek through the jungle, from the nearest road, not to mention navigating croc-infested rivers. But when he arrived he found apes without their normal fear of humans. Chimps near the road flee immediately at the sight of people because they know the consequences of a hunter's rifle, but these animals were happy to approach him. "The further away from the road the more fearless the chimps got," he added.
Mr Hicks reports that he found a unique chimp culture. For example, unlike their cousins in other parts of Africa the chimps regularly bed down for the night in nests on the ground. Around a fifth of the nests he found were there rather than in the trees.
"How can they get away with sleeping on the ground when there are lions, leopards, golden cats around as well as other dangerous animals like elephants and buffalo?" said Mr Hicks.
"I don't like to paint them as being more aggressive, but maybe they prey on some of these predators and the predators kind of leave them alone." He is keen to point out though that they don't howl at the moon.
"The ground nests were very big and there was obviously something very unusual going on there. They are not unknown elsewhere but very unusual," said Colin Groves, an expert on primate morphology at the Australian National University in Canberra who has observed the nests in the field.
Prof Groves believes that the Bili apes should prompt a radical rethink of the family tree of chimp sub-species. He has proposed that primatologists should now recognise five different sub-divisions instead of the current four.
Mr Hicks said the animals also have what he calls a "smashing culture" - a blunt but effective way of solving problems. He has found hundreds of snails and hard-shelled fruits smashed for food, seen chimps carrying termite mounds to rocks to break them open and also found a turtle that was almost certainly smashed apart by chimps.
Like chimp populations in other parts of Africa, the Bili chimps use sticks to fish for ants, but here the tools are up to 2.5 metres long.
The most exciting thing about this population of chimps though is that it is much bigger than anyone realised and may be one of the largest remaining continuous populations of the species left in Africa. Mr Hicks and his colleague Jeroen Swinkels surveyed an area of 7,000 square kilometres and found chimps everywhere. Their unique culture was uniform throughout.
However, the future for the Bili apes is far from secure. "Things are not promising," said Karl Ammann, an independent wildlife photographer who began investigating the apes 1996. "The absence of a strong central government has resulted in most of the region becoming more independent and lawless. In conservation terms this is a disaster."
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