On this episode of Apes Among Us, hosts Brandon Lentz and Brian Brown take you on a journey to a valley deep in the Ouachita Mountain Ecoregion designated “Area X” by the NAWAC. The men — as part of “November” team and along with two other team mates — spent a week there this past summer. It was a week that was at once extraordinary but also mundane; that is, extraordinary by anyone’s standards, but mundane by Area X standards. You'll hear the details of two likely visual encounters with wood apes as well as the investigation of a possible wood ape photo taken from space(!). Also, Matt Pruitt and NAWAC Director Emeritus Alton Higgins discuss the history and genesis of NAWAC field work in the valley, which, nearly two decades later, led directly to the week spent there by the four-man November team. Just one more week and four more men, in a long line of both.

----more----

Images mentioned in this episode:

Size comparison of Brian Brown (6', 210 lbs) to the animal seen by November team member Rich from his perspective

Google Earth image with possible wood ape (detail)

In Episode 6 of Apes Among Us, entitled “Citizen Scientists,” hosts Matt Pruitt, Brandon Lentz, and Brian Brown discuss with NAWAC Chairman Michael Mayes and other NAWAC members their experiences, observations, and contributions as citizen scientists—individuals without formal scientific training who collect data to advance the cause of science. Wildlife biologist Angelo Capparella also returns to Apes Among Us to provide input regarding citizen science from the perspective of a professional scientist. In the spirit of citizen science, Brandon talks to Kim Wheeler of the Red Wolf Coalition about some unidentified canid vocalizations collected by the NAWAC in September 2018.

On this episode of Apes Among Us, hosts Brandon Lentz, Matt Pruitt, and Brian Brown talk to North American Wood Ape Conservancy members who, while conducting observational field studies in the Ouachita Mountains, have observed an imposing gray wood ape to which the NAWAC colloquially refers as “Old Gray.” Primatologist Esteban Sarmiento also weighs in, bringing to bear his experience with the known apes.

Screams, pops, whistles, and howls. Just some of the sounds we hear in the course of our research into the North American Wood Ape. When those sounds are recorded, they become evidence. Presented in this episode, a selection of recordings captured by the NAWAC in the valley we call Area X.

In August 2015, something happened in the mountains of the Ouachita range that had never happened before. This event was the culmination of a decade and a half of effort and learning by the members of the North American Wood Ape Conservancy and may have brought about the first real behavioral and biological data about an animal many people thinks doesn't exist.