The Skunk Ape: Florida’s cryptid, and the Myakka photographs

The skunk ape is reported from the swamps and cypress country of southern Florida — large, hair-covered, upright, and named for a reported smell.

Most of the case is sightings without evidence. The exception is two photographs, and they are worth examining because they are unusually good.

The Myakka photographs

In late 2000 the Sarasota County sheriff’s office received an anonymous letter with two colour photographs. The writer said an ape-like animal had been coming onto her property at night and taking apples from her porch, and that she had photographed it.

The images show a large dark primate-like figure among palmetto, apparently mid-movement, with what looks like an open mouth in one frame.

What they most likely show

An orangutan is the leading candidate, and it is a serious one rather than a dismissal.

The facial structure, the posture, the hair length and colour, and the apparent body proportions in the images are consistent with an orangutan and less consistent with any North American animal.

Florida has a long history of exotic animals in private hands, and escapes are not rare. The state has established populations of non-native species including primates — a colony of rhesus macaques on the Silver River has been there for decades.

An escaped or released orangutan raiding a porch for fruit at night is an unremarkable Florida event, and it accounts for the photographs, the behaviour and the reported smell.

The problem with the case

Anonymity. The photographer never came forward, so the negatives, the camera, the exact location and the date cannot be established.

That is the same defect as the Trepang photographs and it has the same consequence: an authentic image and a staged one become indistinguishable, because there is no chain of custody to test.

The rest of the case

Much weaker. The most visible promoter of the skunk ape has run a commercial attraction and guided expeditions for decades, which does not make his reports false but does mean they are not disinterested.

Footprint casts exist and are unpersuasive. There is no specimen, no scat with DNA, and no camera trap image from an area that is not short of cameras.