Chupacabra
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The
Chupacabra or
Chupacabras (
Spanish pronunciation: [tʃupaˈkaβɾa], from
chupar "to suck" and
cabra "goat", literally "goat sucker") is a
legendary cryptid rumored to inhabit parts of the
Americas. It is associated more recently with sightings of an allegedly unknown animal in
Puerto Rico (where these sightings were first reported),
Mexico, and the
United States, especially in the latter's
Latin American communities. The name comes from the animal's reported
habit of attacking and
drinking the blood of
livestock, especially
goats.
Physical descriptions of the creature vary. Eyewitness sightings have
been claimed as early as 1995 in Puerto Rico, and have since been
reported as far north as
Maine, and as far south as
Chile, and even being spotted outside the Americas in countries like
Russia and
The Philippines.
It is supposedly a heavy creature, the size of a small bear, with a row
of spines reaching from the neck to the base of the tail.
Sighting reports of the Chupacabra have been disregarded as
uncorroborated or lacking evidence, while most reports in northern
Mexico and the southern United States have been verified as
canids afflicted by mange.
[2] Biologists and wildlife management officials view the chupacabra as a
contemporary legend.
[3]
History
The first reported attacks occurred in March 1995 in Puerto Rico.
[4] In this attack, eight
sheep were discovered dead, each with three puncture wounds in the chest area and completely drained of blood.
[4] A few months later, in August, an eyewitness, Madelyne Tolentino, reported seeing the creature in the Puerto Rican town of
Canóvanas, when as many as 150 farm animals and pets were reportedly killed.
[4] In 1975, similar killings in the small town of
Moca, were attributed to
El Vampiro de Moca (The Vampire of Moca).
[5] Initially, it was suspected that the killings were committed by a
Satanic cult;
later more killings were reported around the island, and many farms
reported loss of animal life. Each of the animals were reported to have
had their bodies bled dry through a series of small circular incisions.
Puerto Rican comedian and
entrepreneur Silverio Pérez is credited with coining the term
chupacabras
soon after the first incidents were reported in the press. Shortly
after the first reported incidents in Puerto Rico, other animal deaths
were reported in other countries, such as the
Dominican Republic,
Argentina,
Bolivia,
Chile,
Colombia,
Honduras,
El Salvador,
Nicaragua,
Panama,
Peru,
Brazil,
United States, and
Mexico.
[4]
Possible origin
A five-year investigation by
Benjamin Radford
concluded that the description given by the original eyewitness in
Puerto Rico, Madelyne Tolentino, was based on the creature Sil in the
science-fiction horror film
Species.
[2]
The alien creature Sil is nearly identical to Tolentino’s chupacabra
eyewitness account and she had seen the movie before her report: "It was
a creature that looked like the chupacabra, with spines on its back and
all... The resemblance to the chupacabra was really impressive,"
Tolentino reported.
[6] Radford revealed that Tolentino "believed that the creatures and events she saw in
Species
were actually happening in reality in Puerto Rico at the time," and
therefore concludes that "the most important chupacabra description
cannot be trusted."
[2] This, Radford believes, seriously undermines the credibility of the chupacabra as a real animal.
[7]
In addition, the reports of blood-sucking by the chupacabra were never confirmed by a
necropsy,
[2]
the only way to conclude that the animal was drained of blood. An
analysis by a veterinarian of 300 reported victims of the chupacabra
found that they had not been bled dry.
Radford divided the chupacabra reports into two categories:
In late October 2010,
University of Michigan
biologist Barry O'Connor concluded that all of the 'chupacabras'
reports in the United States were simply coyotes infected with the
parasite
Sarcoptes scabiei,
the symptoms of which would explain most of the features of the
chupacabras: they would be left with little fur, thickened skin, and
rank odour. O'Connor theorized the attacks on goats occurred "because
these animals are greatly weakened, they're going to have a hard time
hunting. So they may be forced into attacking livestock because it's
easier than running down a rabbit or a deer."
[8]
Although several witnesses came to the conclusion that the attacks
could not be the work of dogs or coyotes because they had not eaten the
victim, this conclusion is incorrect.
[2]
Both dogs and coyotes can kill and not consume the prey, either because
they are inexperienced, due to injury or difficulty in killing the
prey.
[2][9] The prey can survive the attack and die afterwards from internal
bleeding or
circulatory shock.
[2][9] The presence of two holes in the neck, corresponding with the
canine teeth, are to be expected since this is the only way that most land
carnivores have to catch their prey.
[2]
Reported sightings
In July 2004, a rancher near
San Antonio, Texas, killed a hairless
dog-like creature, which was attacking his livestock.
[10] This animal, initially given the name the
Elmendorf Beast, was later determined by
DNA assay conducted at
University of California, Davis to be a
coyote with demodectic or sarcoptic
mange. In October 2004, two more carcasses were found in the same area.
Biologists in
Texas examined samples from the two carcasses and determined they were also
coyotes suffering from very severe cases of
mange.
[11] In
Coleman, Texas, a farmer named Reggie Lagow caught an animal in a trap he set up after the deaths of a number of his
chickens and
turkeys. The animal was described as resembling a mix of hairless dog,
rat, and
kangaroo.
Lagow provided the animal to Texas Parks and Wildlife officials for
identification, but Lagow reported in a September 17, 2006 phone
interview with John Adolfi, founder of the Lost World Museum, that the
"critter was caught on a Tuesday and thrown out in Thursday's trash."
[12]
In April 2006,
MosNews reported that the chupacabras was spotted in Russia for the first time. Reports from
Central Russia
beginning in March 2005 tell of a beast that kills animals and sucks
out their blood. 32 turkeys were killed and drained overnight. Reports
later came from neighboring villages when 30 sheep were killed and had
their blood drained. Finally, eyewitnesses were able to describe the
chupacabras. In May 2006, experts were determined to track the animal
down.
[13] According to Russian paranormal researcher
Vadim Chernobrov, the territory allegedly frequented by chupakabras lies in the
Kharkov region of
Ukraine
and neighboring regions of Russia, but also in parts of Belorus and
Poland. Recently the reports appeared of chupakabra-like attacks in the
Moscow region of Russia with dozens of birds and animals found
bloodless, with strange incisions. At least twice the mysterious
kangaroo-like creature ("with a crocodile head") attacked humans,
causing no serious damage, though. According to Chernobrov,the two
extraordinary things about chupakabra's ways are - the thing leaves a
'vanishing' line of footprints, looking as if it takes off as a bird,
and also it tends occasionally to assort its victim's bodies
'aesthetically', often by colour and size, or build pyramids with killed
bodies.
[14]
In mid-August 2006, Michelle O'Donnell of
Turner,
Maine, described an "evil looking" rodent-like animal with fangs that
had been found dead alongside a road. The animal was apparently struck
by a car, and was unidentifiable. Photographs were taken and witness
reports seem to be in relative agreement that the creature was canine in
appearance, but in widely published photos seemed unlike any dog or
wolf in the area. Photos from other angles seem to show a
chow- or
akita-mixed breed dog. It was reported that "the carcass was picked clean by
vultures before experts could examine it". For years, residents of
Maine have reported a mysterious creature and a string of dog maulings.
[15]
In May 2007, a series of reports on national
Colombia news reported more than 300 dead sheep in the region of
Boyaca, and the capture of a possible specimen to be analyzed by
zoologists at the
National University of Colombia.
[16]
In August 2007,
Phylis Canion found three animals in
Cuero,
Texas. She and her neighbors reported to have discovered three strange
animal carcasses outside Canion's property. She took photographs of the
carcasses and preserved the head of one in her freezer before turning it
over for DNA analysis.
[17] Canion reported that nearly 30 chickens on her farm had been
exsanguinated over a period of years, a factor which led her to connect the carcasses with the chupacabras legend. State
Mammologist John Young estimated that the animal in Canion's pictures was a
Gray Fox suffering from an extreme case of
mange. In November 2007, biology researchers at
Texas State University–San Marcos determined from DNA samples that the suspicious animal was a coyote.
[18]
The coyote, however, had grayish-blue, mostly hairless skin and large
fanged teeth, which caused it to appear different from a normal coyote.
[19] Additional skin samples were taken to attempt to determine the cause of the hair loss.
[18]
On January 11, 2008, a sighting was reported at the province of
Capiz in the
Philippines. Some of the residents from the
barangay
believed that it was the chupacabras that killed eight chickens. The
owner of the chickens saw a dog-like animal attacking his chickens.
[20]
On August 8, 2008, a
DeWitt County deputy, Brandon Riedel, filmed an unidentifiable animal along back roads near
Cuero, Texas on his dashboard camera.
[21]
The animal was about the size of a coyote but was hairless with a long
snout, short front legs and long back legs. However, Reiter's boss,
Sheriff Jode Zavesky, believes it may be the same species of coyote
identified by
Texas State University–San Marcos researchers in November 2007.
[22] The video footage was shown on an April 2011 episode of the
Syfy television series
Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files where an investigative team tried to recreate the dashboard video footage using a
miniature horse and a
Mexican Hairless Dog
(both of which were bred locally). Neither test animal matched the
creature in the video. The team had also tested a DNA sample taken from
an alleged carcass of one of the creatures found by a local rancher
which was later identified as being a hybrid wolf/coyote.
In September 2009,
CNN
aired a report showing closeup video footage of an unidentified dead
animal. The same CNN report stated that locals have begun speculating
the possibility that this might be a chupacabras. A
Blanco,
Texas,
taxidermist reported that he received the body from a former student
whose cousin had discovered the animal in his barn, where it had
succumbed to poison left out for rodents. The taxidermist expressed his
belief that this is a genetically mutated coyote.
[23][24]
On September 18, 2009, taxidermist Jerry Ayer sold the Blanco Texas
Chupacabra to the Lost World Museum. The museum, as reported in the
Syracuse Post Standard on 9/26/09, is placing the creature on display as
they work with an unnamed university to have the remains tested.
In July 2010, there were reports of chupacabras being shot dead by animal control officers in
Hood County,
Texas. A second creature was also reportedly spotted and killed several miles away.
[25][26][27][28] However, an officer of Hood County animal control said
Texas A&M University scientists conducted tests and identified the corpse as a "
coyote-dog hybrid" with signs of
mange and internal
parasites. The second reported chupacabra, shot July 9 about 8 miles south of
Cresson, was eaten by
vultures before it could be taken for testing.
[29]
On December 18, 2010, in
Nelson County, Kentucky, Mark Cothren shot and killed an animal that he could not recognize and feared.
[30]
Many pictures of the Chupacabra were taken and the story was well
documented by various news organizations. Cothren described the creature
as having large ears, whiskers, a long tail, and about the size of a
house cat. Cothren says he spoke with the
Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources and handed over the preserved animal for further analysis.
[31]
Another sighting was on July 4, 2011. Jack (Jeff) Crabtree, of Lake
Jackson, Texas, reported seeing a chupacabra in his back yard. At first,
Crabtree stood firmly on his original theory of the chupacabra, but
after the local newspaper and several other media reporters wrote his
story on July 11, he quickly backed down, agreeing with wildlife experts
that it was most likely a
coyote with mange. "It was a spoof or a practical joke," Crabtree said. "...I really didn't believe it." His story appeared on
CNN, as well as
MSNBC.
[32][33][34][35][36][37]
On July 15, 2011, local authorities caught what Crabtree saw. Experts
confirmed that the animal was definitely a coyote with mange.
[38]
Appearance
The most common description of chupacabras is a
reptile-like creature, appearing to have leathery or scaly greenish-gray skin and sharp spines or quills running down its back.
[39] This form stands approximately 3 to 4 feet (1 to 1.2 m) high, and stands and hops in a similar fashion to a
kangaroo.
[40] In at least one sighting, the creature was reported to hop 20 feet (6 m). This variety is said to have a dog or
panther-like nose and face, a
forked tongue, and large fangs. It is said to hiss and screech when alarmed, as well as leave behind a
sulfuric stench.
[40] When it screeches, some reports assert that the chupacabras' eyes glow an unusual red which gives the witnesses nausea.
Another description of chupacabras, although not as common, describes a strange breed of wild dog.
[40]
This form is mostly hairless and has a pronounced spinal ridge,
unusually pronounced eye sockets, fangs, and claws. It is claimed that
this breed might be an example of a dog-like reptile. Unlike
conventional predators, the chupacabra is said to drain all of the
animal's blood (and sometimes organs) usually through three holes in the
shape of an upside-down triangle or through one or two holes.
[41]
Naming convention
Chupacabras can be translated as "goat-sucker." It is known as both
chupacabras and
chupacabra throughout the Americas, with the former being the original word,
[42] and the latter a
regularization of it. The name in Spanish can be preceded by singular masculine article (
el chupacabras), or the plural masculine article (
los chupacabras).
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