Florida Skunk Ape Caught on Game Camera?
Posted by: Craig Woolheater on May 23rd, 2013
Cryptomundian chewbaccalacca sends along the following:
Slightly tangential, perhaps, but I came across this pics online recently which I never knew about before (and I’m surprised I’ve never come across any discussion of them, either)–if anyone cares to share their opinions about them, I’d appreciate it:chewbaccalacca
Motion camera picks up images of Giant Ape like creature after frustrated homeowner’s garden was destroyed and she hired someone to get rid of the critters ruining her garden. Real Swamp Ape, Sasquatch Plantation Island in Collier County Florida in the Florida Everglades.YBeeeNormal
Co-founder of Cryptomundo in 2005.
I have appeared in or contributed to the following TV programs, documentaries and films:
OLN's Mysterious Encounters: "Caddo Critter", Southern Fried Bigfoot, Travel Channel's Weird Travels: "Bigfoot", History Channel's MonsterQuest: "Swamp Stalker", The Wild Man of the Navidad, Destination America's Monsters and Mysteries in America: Texas Terror - Lake Worth Monster, Animal Planet's Finding Bigfoot: Return to Boggy Creek and Beast of the Bayou.
An interesting image, looks a bit like a Gorilla, hopefully she will get more images and ideally video footage.
It looks like a gorilla, and why isn’t their more photos?
Well, that is clearly an image of a Lowland Gorilla. The auburn color on the forehead and ear position identifies that. The question is, if this is a genuine image, what is a Lowland Gorilla doing in this person’s garden in Florida? A zoo escape? My gut reaction is that these photographs may have been taken with the aforementioned Trail-Cam, but they have had Gorilla images added to them. Tantalizingly just out of view behind a tree…no full body images…no “Bigfoot” type prints left in a garden?
Besides, a quick Google search found the article and many discussions of this incident and the overwhelming conclusion was that the image shows a Gorilla. I leave the hoax question up to you to answer but – it’s a Gorilla.
Definitely a gorilla. My question is what a gorilla is doing running around?
If we assume the legitimacy of the photo and location, it is a gorilla, released circus animal our pet our descent.
Nope. Gorilla in a zoo.
Why is it behind a tree when it was wrecking the garden beds? Wouldn’t the camera have been focused on them? This is more crap!
Looks like a gorilla to me… If they were really taken in Florida, not Africa, they are amazing.
My freaking God! What amazing BS!!!
2 seconds in the audio was already screaming BOGUS!!!!
Honestly not surprised. When Andrew hit, not only where Zoos demolished, but the animal trade lost a lot of animals via container shipping. That is why Florida is having issues with chimps, and other animals loose in the everglades. The authorities just refuse to do anything about it.
As far as I am concerned it’s pretty incredible the animals are breeding and populating the area.
These photos came up a couple of years ago, they were taken in a zoo.
Waste of time.
Hello,
If this is a skunk ape and not a gorilla; then skunk apes look like gorillas. The ear, body position, hair, head shape, everything about this image says gorilla to me.
Apes dont have white eyes
It closely resembles a gorilla to my eyes. The palm visible does look like a green bismarck palm, which do grow in south Florida I believe.
I removed the subject from the picture and imposed the tree over some gorilla images for comparison. Not that if it was a gorilla that wouldn’t be a mystery in itself in South Florida.
The original gorilla images.
GORILLA!
It’s a zoo gorilla
For years we have have proclaimed “SHOW ME THE MONKEY!” . . and you just did. If these pix indeed came from the continental U.S., then I’ll go on record as saying that this was legit . . no Blobsquatch & “well done, thou good & faithful cryptomundians” . . ha ha
Looks suspiciously like the lowland gorilla held captive at the Jacksonville, FL zoo.
I think we have a slide show of someone’s garden combined with their holiday snapshots.
The gorilla photos clearly center the gorilla in the frame, even though the gorilla is mostly hidden by tree and scrub palm. This indicates the picutres were composed by hand, not trailcam.
If it was a trail cam shot, the camera most likely would have been pointed at the garden or the trails leading into the garden. Pointing a trail cam directly at a tree is not the best way to capture a picture of anything.
What is typical groundskeeping practice like in the south everglades? Would they trim the scrub palm, but leave the rest grow wild? Or is the scrub palm pictured the type of plant constantly under pressure from the inhabitants of a zoo?
Orangs do.
Interestingly, both google and bing maps show a court with trees and a log at the Jacksonville Zoo, but not in great focus.
If you were at the right spot at the observation windows it would be a pretty good line up for what we see in the photo…
Gorilla. Those pictures are not from a game camera…game cams aren’t that sharp/clear. Pictures must have been taken at a zoo.
Also, (last comment, I promise) the compression of space between the scrub palm, the hardwood tree, the gorilla, the log, and the grass immediately beyond the log is a clear indication of a telephoto lens…
OK.
Here’s what I see.
Pictures of a garden, that looks like a pretty nice garden. Pictures of a garden in winter, or maybe around earliest spring planting.
No pictures of a devastated, or even significantly nibbled, garden.
Pictures of what looks like the head/shoulder region of a male western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla).
No evidence that the garden pictures and the gorilla pictures have any relationship to one another at all.
It looks like a western lowland gorilla, right down to the auburn hair on the crown of the head.
Ha, it is always fun to see how many of us are on the same page once the floodgates are opened and the comments are released…
Looks photo shoppy, also doesn’t look like trail cam.
Here’s what I found with a simple image search, betcha we can find the exact image.
Some good observations being offered here, which prompt a couple questions of my own:
Is anyone familiar with that particular game camera shown in the clip, to know whether the quality of the photos indeed matches what one would expect with that camera?
Also are any readers here familiar with the zoos in that area and whether they have any comparable gorillas on display?
In any event, it would be interesting to contact the radio host and/or woman on the clip, to pursue more details, and verify things one way or another. I can’t imagine she wouldn’t have tried to capture more photos of videos after this…
p.s. Some have raised plausible skeptical concerns here, and I’ll raise one of my own: one viewer on youtube jokingly speculates about the woman being interviewed possibly being a “munchkin.” Yes, very LOL–but indeed, the voice was *so* high-pitched that it made me wonder whether there was some voice modification technology being employed?
Interesting photo!
First of all, for those that are saying the quality of the photo is too good as to be a trail cam photo, that is not so. One has to scrutinize things carefully and do some detective work. I did that for those Cryptomundo readers who are saying it must be fake since it is too good of image quality for a trail cam photo. Nonsense!
I did a Google search as well as a reverse image look-up search via Tin Eye. The best quality photo on the net was a JPEG, 300×168, 12.1 KB. That photo was submitted by YouTube user Longfoot100. If you know anything about photography, that is an extremely low resolution photo, well within the parameters of a trail cam. In fact, it is a small size for most trail cam photos out there today. Remember, it does not take a high pixel count to publish a decent photo on the web. Low resolution shots look fine most of the time on even a large computer screen. Printing them is another matter. You would need a higher pixel/kb count. This one looks just fine as the subject of the photo was not far from the camera and the lens on the trail cam was decent. The end result is a pretty good quality photo.
I do not need a large pixel count on this for analysis. And although I was limited in pixel count for an indepth analysis, there were enough pixels there for me to analyze the photo for a cut and paste job. I can tell you that it most likely is not a cut and paste job as the pixel separation is not evident there as it would be for a cut and paste job. Could someone changed pixel coloration all around the subject to certain degredations of color to make it look natural? Yes, of course, but that would require time and they would have to know exactly what they were doing to make it look real. Could a professional pull it off. Yes, but it would not be worthy of the time involved to invest in such a hoax.
We also have to take into count the witness account as DWA always states in his posts. The witness is credible to me. I believe her. I believe the pest control company she hired set up a trail cam. I do not believe they faked this photo either. Did I run a long/lat background check on the image? Absolutely not, because it is conceivable and most logically, a photo taken by the pest control company that the witness hired to set up the trail cam. If someone else wants to waste their time researching that, go ahead. But remember, I can pass out a photo I took, email it, attach it to a text message, etc, and hide or cover up where it was taken. Long/lat coordinates don’t influence where the original photo was actually taken. I live on the East Coast, and in minutes, with the help of a friend or two, someone researching a photo I just took, could look as if it came out of Hawaii. No joke! So forget long/lat information atttached to a photo! LOL
What we are looking at is what it appears to be. It is a gorilla. Is that within the realm of possiblilities. Absolutely! We know that colonies of monkeys are already established in Florida. We also know that the exotic pet trade is thriving. Could somehow a gorilla, made it’s way into the Florida wilderness and survived. Absolutely! Not to mention many animals that were housed illegally got loose during various hurricanes in that area. i believe that is how the monkey colonies got established. And there are chimpanzees on the loose too. So a gorilla? Yes, not only possible but probable.
Is this the Florida Skunk Ape? Could be! But then again, sightings go back much further than just a couple of years. These sightings go back decades. And that gorilla seems to be a bit too young for my liking to be the original Florida Skunk Ape. But it may explain any recent sightings.
Applause Here: Photograph was not a blobsquatch!
Is it digitally manipulated to appear real: No
Could a trail cam have gotten such a quality shot: Yes, even a better one that is posted currently!
Was this taken by the pest control company or hoaxed: Almost with 100% certainty that it was taken by the pest control company. Taking into account the eyewitness testimony, yes! I do not believe the pest control company would have anything to gain by faking a photo of a gorilla. Sorry to those conspiracy theorists out there!
Conclusion: This is a genuine photograph of a gorilla. If this is what the witnesses are calling the Florida Skunk Ape, then it is a gorilla. My personal conclusion is that any ape or monkey that is on the loose in Florida will be deemed by the people reporting as the Florida Skunk Ape. They will even call monkeys, apes, which is incorrect. I do not think this particular creature’s life expectancy would make it into one of the original sightings reported. I believe those early sightings were different animals altogether. But if the Florida Skunk Ape is reported and moments later we have an unaltered gorilla photo, then so be it. A gorilla is the Florida Skunk Ape for this time period.
Thank you Cryptomundo for posting a photo other than a blobsquatch!!!
Hoax.
The whole things appears to be a less-than-clever concoction and the woman sounds like a younger woman trying to play an older woman and failing dismally.
Why on earth do people do this? It is a waste of everyone’s time and energy.
Do these people think we can’t tell the difference between a lowland gorilla and a swamp ape? It appears many of us do.
The fakery was obvious from the start as there is no devastation in the garden and a fallow plot does not a destroyed garden make.
This hoax scores a Z- with me.
All those pics of of different gardens and it is a gorilla. No shots with evidence of tracks or damage to munchables.
Something to consider: If we assume that this is in fact a legitimate photo taken in the lady’s garden of an ABG (Alien Big Gorilla), then we have a great baseline photo to compare to supposed photos of bigfoot from other trail cams and other low-res cameras (thinking specifically of the “Tent Bigfoot” that FB/FB was touting a while back). Look at the detail and form – instantly recognizable as a real animal, not a person in a suit or a mask. We should expect nothing less from photographs that purport to show Sasquatch.
chewbaccalacca–Man, good questions! Are you new to Cryptomundo? If so, welcome! I like your analytical thought process.
In answer to your questions:
No, the type of game camera was not mentioned in the clip. But I can tell you this, most game cameras today can produce better quality shots than the one we are viewing. Even old or older game cameras can produce equal to better quality shots than the one we are viewing.
I hear you on the zoo theory. But as I previously stated, with a little work or help, I can make a photograph appear to come from anywhere I want it. There are many militant sceptics and scoptics out there. They would take great pleasure in trying to make the Crypto community look foolish as they have tried on so many other occassions. They will not do this blatantly as it would stand out. They would do it by a subtle gesture. They would take that photo, and quietly enter it into the cyberworld. Then someone would come across it, after they made it appear to have come from a zoo. The internet would explode with chatter that this photo was taken at a zoo and justify it with the fake data implemented by the militant sceptic. The crypto community would find dozens of other examples of the same photo, earlier versions, to disprove what the sceptic tried to pawn off as authentic. I would not put it past them to try and put up a photo of a gorilla taken on a trail cam as stated, and then manipulate the data to make it appear as it came from a zoo. That could be done as I mentioned I could do in my post above. It would not be the first time sceptics have tried such a ploy. So I do not take much credence in photo data information. I look at at analyze the photo. I then ask myself, is it more likely than not, given the evidence at hand, that this is authentic or fake. On this one, common sense tells me it is not faked and the story is what it is! Usually, I am the one here telling everyone it is a fake or hoax. This time, I am not!
Yes, it would be more interesting to hear a more detailed story coming from the witness. But how much new information that could be gained would be limited. And she sounds like an older lady to me. Older people are not well versed with digital technology or peripherals. So her going out and trying to get additional images is not really a concern for me. Most older people just do not understand or want to embrace new technology. It does not appear abnormal or out of character that an older person would not try to get more evidence. It is what it is!
LOL It did sound like a munchkin to me as well. But, my grandmother is over 100 years old. All of her friends and neighbors are older too, over 80, if you consider that old. And about 20% of them sound like this lady, at least the women do! They have that high pitched, monotone, breathy voice that sounds like a cartoon character. For me, it is a normal voice for some older female, based on my empirical data. In other words, no, I do not think some voice modification technology is being deployed. You would already know this if you have been around a lot of old people for any length of time. However, I agree with you on the munchkin sounding voice. I have heard it many times before from various people.
Damn good questions chewbaccalacca! I hope to see more of your posts here at Cryptomundo!
When did Gorillas get whites in there eyes?
@ Photoexpert, I always enjoy your posts, both for the content you deliver and for the fact that I can never tell if you are someone who believes what you are saying or someone delivering the perfect parody of the persona you are portraying.
You always have such an expansive view on everything that right and wrong cease to matter as long as the excerise runs its course. I never know whether you are having a laugh at our expense or not. It is an example of Poe’s law in action and it is glorious.
Don’t spoil it for me, I want the mystery to live on. I want you to remain the Andy Kaufman of Cryptomundo. I’m also not looking to hurt your feelings and I always look forward to your posts.
Coherent thought or complete twaddle, doesn’t matter, keep it coming and keep it garrulously and bombastically glorious!
PhotoExpert, I assume when you are talking about the lat/long you are referring to the post by hoodoorocket about the bing and google maps of the zoo. If indeed the case is that the coordinates attached to the pictures come up as the zoo, I think this should be heavily weighted in any conclusion. I understand what you are saying about the ease of changing those coordinates, but what are the chances that they would land on the zoo’s gorilla habitat by happenstance? Slim, I’m sure. I also see no reason why anyone would change them on purpose to be the zoo. I can see changing a zoo photo’s lat/long to be somewhere else in order to perpetrate a hoax, but not changing a genuine photo’s lat/long to a zoo to make a real event appear to be a hoax.
Now, maybe I have misunderstood this whole point, and if so, please tell me.
ROFLMAO!
forget about the photo… the announcers audio isn’t a clue this is crap?
its been altered to make it sound deeper…
and the “woman’s” voice?… you can’t tell her voice doesn’t sound normal?
of course not. because it was altered higher… they sound like a couple of teens, playing a prank.
gotta use your head folks…. just a bunch of teenager jabroni’s.
Go-rilla.
I posted my comment before your second post showed up PhotoExpert, so I didn’t see that you had answered my question. I can see your point about skeptics, but I still lean toward some sort of prank or hoax. Nice to be discussing a clear photo, whatever the case.
omg! its a photo of a gorilla. probably taken at the zoo. next!
@hoodoorocket: Stick to the dank chronic and remain the Tommy Chong of cryptomundo;
@PhotoExpert: I personally value your expertise a great deal; your particular skill set is worth your weight in gold in these instances. By the way, the sagittal crest was all I needed to see.
I love us Cryptomundians wide array of opinions and knowledge. This is so much more satisfying than attacking a person. I love the analytical dissection of evidence from many viewpoints where no one is “wrong”. This type of discussion adds to all of our understanding of events and evidence.
I love you Bros. +sniff+
😛
hoodoorocket–First of all, thank you for the kind words and sentiment. I believe you get me! You understand me and my inner thoughts and what I am trying to accomplish here at Cryptomundo.
You are correct hoodoorocket! There are a couple of us here that do not care what the final result will be, just that people use their common sense, take all data into account including eyewitness reports, never throw out the baby with the bathwater and think about things objectively. You are correct in that my goal is for people to excercize their minds. I am like that in real life but it is also part of a persona I use here at Cryptomundo. I take on that persona when someone is posting subjectively, either as a “believer” or a “sceptic”. I have stated this numerous times in past years and that is I am in the camp of objectivity!!! I am trying to get people in that camp. And I have been very successful in recent years. Mystery_man, DWA, and many others think as I do.
I can tell you this hoodoorocket, I do not like bullies or those that pick on other posters here. You should have seen the posts I made when Rick Dyer the liar, went after Loren Coleman here. You would have enjoyed that. Normally, I make bullies look stupid. Sometimes I do it so successfully, they think I am being helpful to them. I employ a lot of sarcasm at times. But you get me, so no need to continue to explain this to you. Plus, I don’t want to spoil it for you. I like Andy Kaufman, so I take what you posted as a complement! I will continue to be an enigma, the Andy Kaufman of Cryptomundo. You won’t know if it’s real or just the acting out of my personna. LOL My promise to you is to keep it glorious. Now onto other posters for some glory. Enjoy!
chadgatlin–Hey! You posted: I understand what you are saying about the ease of changing those coordinates, but what are the chances that they would land on the zoo’s gorilla habitat by happenstance?
I hear you loud and clear chadgatlin! I think you did misunderstand me based upon your comments. What I am saying is there are die hard sceptics out there. For them, BF is not real, never existed, and is not only improbably but impossible. What a militant sceptic will do is put a photo out on the web. In this case, they will put a photo of a gorilla out on the web after changing the long/lat coordinates. Why would they do that? Well, they would do this because of their religion–scepticism. For you see, if they can convince people that someone forgot about tracing the photo, another sceptic will bring up that it traces back to the zoo. They can then say to all the believers, I told you so. See, it traces back to a zoo and we knew it all the time. And then they have a self fulfilling prophecy that the Skunk Ape photo was hoaxed and they were right. See, the stupid hoaxer who posted the photo was trying to fool the dumb and dumber believers in the BF community. And once the BF community committed to this being a Skunk Ape, we can make these believers look like fools.
chadgatlin–The hoaxers are the militant sceptics. And why did I mention this at all? Because, they have done it before in the past. They think they are slick but I and others are one step ahead of them. My objectivity keeps me grounded so I can look at both sides of the coin. For me, the long/lat lines coming back to the coordinates of a zoo is what I would expect. Well, it is what I would expect from a sceptic. All I did in my wisdom, was to pre-empt any hoaxing attempt on their part, to save the believers some face. If most were objective like me, I would not have to worry about this. Believers will say that this is the Skunk Ape and although gorilla-like is not a gorilla. Sceptics will say it is a hoax and militant sceptics will say it is a hoax because a hoaxer fooled the idiot believers at Cryptomundo. Militant sceptics are bullies and their religion is scepticism. I just precluded that from happening by beating them to the punch on how they operate. So no, I do not wait it heavily at all. For me it is insignificant because of past performance by militant sceptics. Do you get it now?
chadgatlin–What, did you miss me? LOL I saw that you posted after my second post which answered your question. Yes, it was a clear photo this time and for that I am happy. By the way, I have analyzed other photos here. One was submitted by a female photographer several years ago. They crucified this poor woman. She kept stating that the photo was real, not a hoax and the camera took what she saw. It was actually a decent photo, yet everyone jumped on her. Naturally, being the chivalrous person I am, I defended her character and her photo. The tide changed that day. However, I bet she will never post another photo here because of the way she was treated. But I bet she still reads my posts!
Raiderpithicusblaci–I definitely like your screen name! Yes, the sagital crest was enough for me to identify it. But you know what? If it were a blurry photo or blobsquatch, the debate would still be raging here. Thank goodness it was a decent photo. Also thank you for the sentiment! Much appreciated! By the way, hoodoorocket is OK in my book! Don’t be too hard on that poster!
Joxman2k–Love back at you fellow poster. Yes, we are all like a family here. Sometimes their are squabbles among the brothers and sisters, but in the end, we are all family here. And opinions can’t be wrong–they are an opinion. Sometimes the facts do not turn out to back someone’s opinion here, but that is OK. I see a few incorrect opinions above, but in the interest of a family atmosphere here, I did not call them out. I’ll do it next time! LOL
Sorry–It’s like 3 in the morning and I have a bunch of typos above.
chadgatlin–That 6th paragraph that starts off with, “What did you miss me?”, is for hoodoorocket.
Hoodoorocket—That 6th paragraph is to you, not chadgatlin.
Looks like a gorilla, but then again what does Bigfoot look like.
LOL sorry guys… if you needed to see the photo to believe it was a hoax you are clearly missing some marbles.
their voices clearly gave away this was a BS hoax waaay before the photos showed….
@raiderpithcusblaci, my comment towards Photoexpert was not meant as a personal attack against him, and it was not my attempt at humor. I was and am speaking sincerely.
Sometimes he is on the money and sometimes he is full of shite, just like all of us, but the content of his posts don’t matter to me. I look forward to his posts because every one builds on this larger than life persona that orates with impromptu thunder and fury about any subject you care to bring up.
The fascination for me is whether this grandiose facade is the presentation of the real man or whether it is an ongoing improv routine some guy has as a hobby. Is he for real or is he taking the p*ss on us for laughs? There are clues that point both ways and I’m never really sure.
It would spoil it for me to know one way or the other.
I would rather keep it like watching a mexican soap opera, where you’re are never sure if you are missing what’s really going on. In the meantime I eagerly await the next installment, and I want to be on public record as being a fan of Photoexpert- keep doing what you are doing.
If Photoexpert or others take offense at my comments, then my apologies, but I am not responsible for your reactions, my only duty is to speak honestly. If I fail to state myself clearly that is another matter, I am trying to say I dig Photoexpert’s whole routine, even if I don’t get what he is doing.
Cryptidwolf,
Gorillas have white in their eyes. When they are looking to the side you can see it. For example, the first picture in this link.
Two questions come to mind: does the Jacksonville, FL zoo indeed have a captive lowland gorilla, as hoodoorocket suggests? I’ve been unable to confirm that, but if anyone else can, please do. And it would be helpful to compare photos, to see if the two figures really match.
Secondly, is there a way to truly confirm that the photos in the clip were taken by a pest control company, photoexpert? (I don’t know enough about photographic analysis to know whether that data would be encoded on the pics or not.) Because if so, then we’d have to reconcile that with the fact of the lat/long coordinates being those of the zoo…
BTW, there is in fact a WEDU radio station in that part of Florida, but I could not find any information about an announcer there with the name mentioned in the clip (but then, I couldn’t make out if he said his last name was Reed, Reeve, or something else.) And according to google there is indeed a woman by the name of Catherine Jones living in Plantation Island, FL, but that doesn’t mean very much considering how common her name is.