Picture this:

You and 19 of your closest coworkers go into the jungle looking for oil. Three years later, only four of you come out. You’ve buried most of your friends, you almost died of disease, and somewhere along the way you shot what might be the first ever “American ape.”

Or...you shot a spider monkey, cut off its tail, and accidentally invented one of the dumbest racist “missing link” hoaxes in history.

Welcome to this week’s saga, the De Loys’ Ape, on Hysteria 51!

Special thanks to this week’s research sources:

Core historical & zoological background

1.   Wikipedia contributors. “François de Loys.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. (accessed 2025).Wikipedia

2.   “De Loys’ Ape.” Swiss National Museum Blog (2025). nationalmuseum.ch/swiss-monster-hunters

3.   “De Loys’ Ape – History of Geology.” History of Geology blog, Feb 2011. historyofgeology.fieldofscience.com

4.   David Bressan, “De Loys’ Ape Was a Well Played Anthropological Fraud.” Forbes, Jan 2016.Forbes

Montandon, taxonomy, and racist theory

5.   “Proto-Nazi Hoax: The ‘Ape’ in Green Hell.” Cryptomundo (Loren Coleman), 2007.cryptomundo.com

6.   “Ameranthropoides loysi.” Biology Online archive / Monstropedia entry.Bio Dictionary Online+1

Tejera letter & debunking

7.   “The Truth About the Venezuelan Monkey.” Interciencia / ResearchGate summary.ResearchGate

8.   Strange Animals Podcast blog, January 2019 entries discussing De Loys’ ape and Tejera’s letter.strangeanimalspodcast.blubrry.net+1

Morphology and spider monkey identification

9.   Karl Shuker, “A Picture of Monkey Business – Or, How a Small Furry Pet Became a Giant Mystery Ape.” ShukerNature blog, July 2017.karlshuker.blogspot.com

10.“MonoGrande, DeLoy’s Ape.” Bigfoot Encounters / Mono Grande essay quoting Ivan T. Sanderson.Bigfoot Encounters+1

South American cryptid primates (Mono Grande & others)

11.“Mono Grande.” Wikipedia.Wikipedia

12.“Mono Grande – South American Ape.” Fortunecity / Bigfoot Encounters archive.FortuneCity Community

13.“Mono Grande.” Cryptid Wiki / New Cryptozoology Wiki and related pages.Cryptid Wiki+1

14.Occultopedia entry on “Mono Rei / Mono Grande / Di-Di.”m.occultopedia.com

General cryptid / cultural references

15.“De Loys’ Ape | Cryptid Wiki.”Cryptid Wiki

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