Isnachi

Isnachi Category Giant monkey Proposed scientific names Other names Camuenare, maemi, majero, makisapa maman Country reported Peru First reported 1992 Prominent investigators • Peter J. Hocking

The isnachi (Quechua: "strong man") or isnashi is a cryptid giant monkey reported from cloud forests in Peru, described as a giant, baboon-like monkey. The name isnachi usually refers to the spectacled bear (Tremarctos ornatus), which is sometimes described as a giant monkey, and which is therefore one possible identity for the cryptozoological isnachi; however, the cryptid is alleged to have genuinely simian features, such as flat nails.

Attestations

The isnachi, and other Peruvian cryptids investigated by Peter Hocking, as depicted by Peter Visccher.

Peter J. Hocking has collected accounts of the isnachi from several forested mountain ranges of Peru, including the Cerros de Orellana, Cordillera Sira, Cordillera de Bagua, Cordillera de Yanachaga, Cerros de Canchahuaya, Cerro Azul, Cordillera Vilcabamba, Cordillera Urubamba, and Serra do Divisor on the Brazilian border. Isnachi is a Quechua name used in the Cerros de Orellana, and was chosen by Hocking as a generic term for the cryptid; other local names which Hocking believes refer to the same animal include camuenare ("father of the monkeys") by the Amuesha in the Cordillera de Yanachaga, makisapa maman ("mother of the spider monkeys") in Contamana, maemi by the Matsigenka in the Cordillera Urubamba, and majero by the Piros on the Rio Urubamba. Hocking later received more accounts of the isnachi from the Yanachaga Mountains, where an elderly Yanesha hunter claimed that it could be found in a region near the Rio Pescado.

Description

The isnachi is allegedly a very large monkey resembling a baboon, with a snout like that of a mandrill (Mandrillus sphinx), but is about the size of a chimpanzee, some 4 ft (1.2 m) tall. In contrast to the slender spider monkeys, the isnachi is reportedly very well-muscled and barrel-chested, with thick arms and thighs. Furthermore, its tail is short and thick, just 5 in (15 cm) long, unlike the very long and prehensile tails of most New World monkeys. Its coat of hair has been compared to that of the common woolly monkey (Lagothrix lagothricha); short, thick, and either all-black or dark brown. Its hands and feet are those of a primate, with nails rather than claws.

It is reported to be a solitary animal, although several hunters have reported sightings of individuals feeding alongside troops of spider monkeys. However, sightings of isnachi pairs have been reported, as have rare observations of whole troops comprised of fifteen to twenty animals. It is almost entirely arboreal, but will reportedly descend to the ground to defend itself, rearing up and charging on its hind limbs: hunters who are familiar with the isnachi are greatly afraid of it due to its perceived strength and ferocity. It is, however, reportedly entirely herbivorous, feeding on wild fruits and the chonta palm (Euterpe precatoria). Like the great apes, it supposedly builds "arboreal platforms," or nests, out of broken branches. Almost all of Hocking's reports came from tropical montane forests, at elevations of between 1,600–5,000 ft (500–1,500 m), generally around very remote, isolated mountain ranges. The hunters he interviewed agreed that it existed only "where there are many wild fruits and chonta palms, and where there is an abundance of spider-monkeys."

Physical evidence

Photographs

A forestry official in Lima told Hocking that the Ecuadorean botanist Benigno Malo had once claimed to have seen and photographed a large, black "ape" which he saw in a forest near the Peruvian border. According to Malo, he had been collecting orchids when he saw the animal moving towards him through the trees; he was able to take a single photograph of it before it disappeared. Malo told the forestry official that the animal had probably been a chimpanzee released from a circus, but Hocking believes it is more likely to have been an isnachi.

Sightings

Hocking has interviewed a number of hunters who claimed to have killed, or merely seen, isnachis. His first informant, Julio Martinez, reported that he had killed a solitary individual in the Cerros de Orellana. Glimpsing it moving through the high branches in his direction, Martinez' shooting was inaccurate because of his fear at seeing such a large primate; consequently, although his first shot wounded its leg, and his second its arm, he was unable to kill the isnachi outright. After it had made a nest of branches in which it hid itself, Martinez climbed a nearby tree, and was able to kill it with three or four more shots. He examined the body on the forest floor, but left it there to rot.

In 1984, a hunter in the Cordillera de Bagua told Hocking that, two years previously, he had killed a large black monkey, similar to a gorilla, in the north of the mountains. Another hunter, whom Hocking met in Contama in Loreto Province, claimed that he had seen a giant monkey in the northern Serra do Divisor during a long hunting trip. It was seen among a troop of spider monkeys, and so frightened the hunters that they left the area without attempting to kill it.

Theories

The term isnachi is typically applied to the spectacled bear (Tremarctos ornatus) (CC BY-SA 3.0).

The name which Hocking chose as the generic term for this cryptid, isnachi, is usually applied to the spectacled bear (Tremarctos ornatus), which is found mainly in Andean cloud forests in Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela. Like the cryptozoological isnachi, the spectacled bear has arboreal habits, a black coat, no tail, and a lengthy snout. In Bolivia, the spectacled bear is sometimes referred to as a monkey because of its arboreal habits, which has caused confusion. Some of the zoologists whom Hocking consulted told him that his isnachi was also most likely the spectacled bear, due to the close similarities in size, colouration, snout, and habitat. However, Hocking disputes this, arguing that the lack of white markings on the isnachi, and his informants' insistence that they had killed animals with monkey-like hands, feet, and nails, indicates that the cryptozoological isnachi is not a bear. Other primate-like cryptids explained by the spectacled bear include the ucumar and the jucucu.

Giant Neotropical monkeys larger than any known modern species did formerly exist in South America. Three such giant monkeys are known from the Late Pleistocene – Protopithecus brasiliensis, Caipora bambuiorum, and Cartelles coimbrafilhoi – but their fossils are currently known only from the cerrados of Eastern Brazil, where they have occasionally been discovered preserved in cave systems. Despite their size, these monkeys were probably arboreal, and parts of the Brazilian Intertropical Region are thought to have been more humid and forested when the giant monkeys existed during the Pleistocene. All three of these genera were atelids that would, like all known New World monkeys, have had relatively flat faces.