The Loys Monkey

The Loys monkey or Ameranthropoides loysi (unofficial) was a strange ape-like creature that was shot dead in 1917 on the border between Venezuela and Colombia by a Swiss geologist named François de Loys (hence the name - that monkey was discovered by him). The creature was similar to a hominid, did not have a tail like an ape, had 32 teeth and was approximately 1.60 to 1.65 m tall.

François de Loys was leading an expedition in search of oil near the Tarra River and Maracaibo, when suddenly, like, ''out of nowhere'', he was surprised by two monkeys that ''were running and screaming'' in his direction. Loys also reported that they waved their arms in the air - and quite long arms, indeed. In order to defend himself, however, François de Loys fired at the creatures torso. The male ran towards a tree, managing to escape by hanging between the vines (doing it all really fast), but the female was hit and killed. The creature was photographed and the photos were kept by Loys.

François de Loys decided to keep it secret until quite a considerable time from the time he actually took the picture. He decided not to reveal more about the creature to anyone when he returned to Switzerland. But in 1929, anthropologist George Montadon, who was looking for information in de Loys' notes on indigenous tribes in South America, discovered the photo and convinced de Loys to publish it in an English newspaper. Which is what Loys did.

Later, then, several articles would be published in France about the mysterious creature and George Montadon proposed its scientific name to the French Academy of Sciences.