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The ufiti is an animal that looks like something between a chimp and a gorilla, but closer to a chimp. It is reported in native folklore from Malawi, an area where chimps are not supposed to live. Similar creatures that seem halfway between chimp and gorilla have been reported from elsewhere in Africa, where they are given local names, such as the koolokamba, the choga, the bondo ape, the dodieka, and the Bili ape (of the Bili Forest in the Congo).
This creature was scoffed at until a single example was captured alive near the Limpasa River. A female, this animal proved to be a chimp, but one so different that it might count as a new subspecies. She was huge, black in color, and had a "silverback" like a silverback gorilla, a gray saddle-shaped marking that is only found in male gorillas, not in chimps, let alone female chimps. She certainly fit the ufiti described in folklore.
Unfortunately, she died in an English zoo in 1964 and there has not been much interest in discovering whether there are more ufitis in Malawi. In best circumstances, the ufiti might even be a new species, just as the bonobo was eventually declared a separate species after being thought a mere subspecies of chimp for a long time.
This creature was scoffed at until a single example was captured alive near the Limpasa River. A female, this animal proved to be a chimp, but one so different that it might count as a new subspecies. She was huge, black in color, and had a "silverback" like a silverback gorilla, a gray saddle-shaped marking that is only found in male gorillas, not in chimps, let alone female chimps. She certainly fit the ufiti described in folklore.
Unfortunately, she died in an English zoo in 1964 and there has not been much interest in discovering whether there are more ufitis in Malawi. In best circumstances, the ufiti might even be a new species, just as the bonobo was eventually declared a separate species after being thought a mere subspecies of chimp for a long time.
http://www.newanimal.org/ufiti.htm
so what do you guys think, new species or just mutated animals?
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