PÂM-KHASÈR: THE GIANT MYTHICAL APE

For many of us, stories of mythical apes, especially that of megoè (yeti) and sekè-mechung are not new. But have you heard of pãm-khasèr? Azha Künley aka as Ap Bãlüp narrates an account of human encounter with pâm-khasèr. 

Once a group of merchants from Paro and Haa were travelling back to Paro from Wangdue. They camped at Dheysana at Emachangkha in present day Nahi gewog. In the middle of night, pâm-khasèr, the mythical ape, appeared out of nowhere and stormed by the side of the campfire they lit.

Frightened, the merchants including women fend for themselves. They stoned him from all directions but the ape remained unfazed. Agitated, the hulky ape lifted "tah-kheychi" or the load (merchandise) of a single horse and vanished into the jungle. 

From the way Ap Bãplüp describes pâm-khasèr, it very well fulfills the description of "gigantopithecus blacki". He says it had yellow furry mouth which is why it was called 'khasèr'. Ape Gigantopithecus is an extinct genus of ape from the Early to Middle Pleistocene of southern China, represented by one species, Gigantopithecus blacki. Potential identifications have also been made in Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia. The first remains of Gigantopithecus, two third molar teeth, were identified in a drugstore by anthropologist Ralph von Koenigswald in 1935, who subsequently described the ape (Source: National Geography)