Last updated on November 12th, 2022 at 08:04 am
The mission of the North American Wood Ape Conservancy is to facilitate official recognition and conservation of what it believes is a rare unlisted North American anthropoid species. Pursuant to those objectives, the organization has focused its time and resources in the Ouachita Mountain Ecoregion, dispatching teams to conduct prolonged searches and document all pertinent observations in a location with a history of reported sightings of large ape-like creatures.
The investigations, conducted over the course of four years, ranged from sixty to one hundred twenty days in duration, and produced observations, evidence, and information thought to be significant, though not definitive to the point of validating the existence of a native North American anthropoid species. Some of the more notable thoughts and impressions recorded by scores of NAWAC team members are described and discussed in the Ouachita Project monograph.
Download the monograph here: Ouachita Project Monograph — Version 1.1 (PDF, 5.2 MB)
Frequently Asked Questions
Following release of the Ouachita Project Monograph to the public, we have found that certain questions repeatedly come up regarding our approach, observations, and conclusions. In an effort to more efficiently address these questions, we’ve created this FAQ. If you have additional questions you think may be worth addressing, please feel free to contact us.
Revision History
Initial release, 3 March 2015
Version 1.1, 12 March 2015 — Updated to reflect confirmation of results from DNA test to hair samples (page 102), elaboration on alternative sources of rock impacts (page 63), clarification of the length of time the security system was in place (page 156), as well as correction of various typos.
Video
Here’s a flyover video shot in June, 2014, that provides a feeling for the denseness of the surrounding area.
Audio
The audio files below (provided to illustrate the kinds of events described in the paper) were recorded during the Ouachita Project using TASCAM DR-40 and Marantz PMD670 digital recorders, and Sennheiser MKE102S/K6 omni-directional microphones. All but one of the recordings were made in the very early morning hours while team members were asleep or were on overwatch. These files have been amplified and equalized, and in a few cases edited for the sake of brevity and file size. They were culled from literally thousands of hours of audio and are only a small representation of the total audio recorded by the NAWAC during the Ouachita Project. They are all in the WAV audio file format.
Audio clip 1: A wood knock just before dawn right outside the cabin.
Audio clip 2: A rock hits the cabin then a very loud wood knock.
Audio clip 3: Huffs then a rock is thrown onto cabin and rolls around.
Audio clip 4: Huffs then a rock hits the cabin.
Audio clip 5: More huffing before a rock slams the cabin.
Audio clip 6: A whistle, shuffling, huffing, and a rock.
Audio clip 7: Huffs, rock through the trees, slams cabin, then bounces onto the ground.
Audio clip 8: Single huff, then rock zips through trees and pounds cabin.
Audio clip 9: A rock rips through tree limbs and then falls short of the cabin thumping the ground.
Audio clip 10: While the team is talking in front of the cabin around the fire circle, a rock flies through trees and strikes the cabin.
Audio clip 11: A rock hits the loose corrugated metal on the shed and bounces.
Audio clip 12: The so-called “rain of rocks.” While the team lay in bed asleep, the cabin was repeatedly struck by rocks on the roof, and on two walls, including a porch. It went on for several minutes. This is the abridged version.
Audio clip 13: What team members refer to as a “mouth pop,” or “click,” documented many times in the field.
Audio clip 14: A recording from NAWAC field audio of what could be “faux speech.”
