Lot's of controversy surrounding this one. The picture was taken in the year 2000.
Some say it is an obvious hoax, others say it is a real photo of the Florida skunk-ape, an orangutan-like version of Sasquatch. They supposedly have very long brown hair, semi-Orangutan like features and are reported to smell terribly.
These two pictures were snapped by a woman in Sarasota, FL who was concerned over an ape-like being visiting her families property nightly. One night she heard 'whoomp' sounds coming from outside and she stepped out and snapped a picture of the yard. She claims she had no idea the Ape (or animal, as I will refer to it from here) was that close,
here is the first picture
According to the woman (who remains nameless to this day) she completely surprised the animal and the first picture reflects this.
The next picture was snapped a split second after, and the ape is obviously aware of her presence, surprised, etc. and stands up before moving away. She said on this second flash she realized how tall it was (it was over 6-7 feet crouching) and she went back inside.
She took the photos and sent them to the police department asking them to look into this case of a missing orangutan. She wanted to inform them that there was some kind of ape on the loose and she was worried about her safety. The photos were passed around the police department as a joke for a while, and nobody looked into it seriously. She then sent the photo to Loren Coleman (Bigfoot and Crypto enthusiast/author) who pretty much made the photo famous. To this day he is the one who investigated into the picture and has examined it with other professionals.
Key points
1) The animal is startled in the first picture and there is extreme flashback (reflection) from the eyes. Coleman and a researcher who was in contact with him during this research theorized that the pupils in the animals eyes were dilated in the first pic and
2) The pupils SHRINK in the second photo. They refract only half as much light, and the creature stands up in this photo to reveal its teeth. Another researcher (I believe a primatologist?) called Coleman to talk about this feature. It is common among apes to reveal both sets of teeth this way when in 'extreme fear or anger'.
To this day the Myakka Ape photos are controversial and well known. Almost EVERYONE dismisses it as a hoax, but as I have read how the case was investigated... I'm curious. This looks like a hoax only because it is so incredibly close. It is a stereotypical 'moneyshot' of a Sasquatch, except this is a Florida Skunk Ape variety and the 'money shot' was never sold! Only reported to the police.
If it hadn't been for the research of others into this photo I wouldn't have any reason to believe it was a valid print. Now I am more inclined to believe that the reason this picture looks too good to be true is because it may be a real Florida Skunk Ape.
Is this really what Floridians see when they sight a skunk ape? I believe I'll ask creekfreak, as he had a daylight sighting of a skunk-ape which he described having long brown hair and giving him a 'face' of surprise when he saw it.
And of course I would be remiss not to give the link to LorenColemans investigation.
http://www.lorencoleman.com/myakka.htmlSome real conclusions can be drawn from this photo should it be authentic...
i dont much anything but those canine teeth look a little too sharp for a primate. secondly, while the posture of the animals did move, it didnt move alot, you would think it would have moved quite significantly, and thirdly, what is that woman doing that close to the animals, the woman obviously didint move based on the photos and she looks pretty damn close.
i have a nice camera and if there photos are digital, it takes a bit of time to save the photos and retake another picture, plenty of time for any creature even froozen in fear to move a bit more than what these photos are showing. i have a shitty digital camera and it still takes a bit of time to save and do its thing and be able to take another picutre. so im assuming she used a 5 photo option where some cameras take multiple photographs, something like 5 or 8 photos(i tihnk) withing .8 - 1.5 seconds of each other.. if so, where are the other photos, no way in hell if the ape only moved its head 8 inches upwards that there wouldnt be a pic of this thing running away. and why would she remain anonymous?? to not be questioned? you would think the ridiculing of seeeing bigfoot is over and done with, anyone whos got footage of bigfoot would come clean and show it if it was legit.
there isnt much of an outline and the entire body of the figure seems to stay in the same shape even tho it moved.
