The hairy giants of the Virungas are found
On 17 October 1902 the German officer Robert von Beringe shot two large apes on Mount Sabyinyo; the skeleton sent to Berlin proved to be a new gorilla, the mountain gorilla, named after him.
1902 CE · -1.39, 29.59 · status: official
The account
Local peoples had long known the apes, and travellers had heard tales of hairy giants in the volcanoes. The discovery is a favourite of cryptozoologists as a model of a 'legendary' animal confirmed by science. Today about 1,000 survive across the Virunga massif and Bwindi.
The sceptical view
A real animal, scientifically described in 1903 after specimens reached Europe.
The researched reading
A legend confirmed by a specimen: the hairy giants were gorillas. Cryptozoologists cite it as a model, but it confirms only itself.
| Explanation | Weight | Why |
|---|---|---|
| An unknown or out-of-place animal | 96% | Von Beringe’s specimen was described as a new gorilla in 1903. Mountain gorillas are now among the most studied animals on Earth. |
| Something known, misidentified | 1% | Not an issue once specimens existed. |
| A hoax or fabrication | 1% | Excluded. |
| A cultural story | 1% | The “hairy giants” of travellers’ tales turned out to be real apes that local people knew well. |
| Perception, memory or mind | 1% | Not relevant. |
| Genuinely anomalous | 0% | Ordinary biology. |
Official position: A confirmed subspecies, Gorilla beringei beringei.