Was a Mokele-mbembe killed at Lake Tele?

Was a Mokele-mbembe killed at Lake Tele?
http://www.anomalist.com/reports/mokele.html

by William Gibbons*
I can confirm that at least two of the pygmies who were directly involved in the killing of a Mokele-mbembe at Lake Tele about three decades ago were acquainted on a personal level with missionary pastor Eugene P. Thomas. I have discussed this incident with Pastor Thomas, and he was able to confirm most of the details of the story which follows.

Around 1960, the forest dwelling pygmies of the Lake Tele region (the Bangombe tribe), fished daily in the lake near the Molibos, or water channels situated at the north end of the lake. These channels merge with the swamps, and were used by Mokele-mbembes to enter the lake where they would browse on the vegetation. This daily excursion into the lake by the animals disrupted the pygmies fishing activities. Eventually, the pygmies decided to erect a stake barrier across the molibo in order to prevent the animals from entering the lake.

When two of the animals were observed attempting to break through the barrier, the pygmies speared one of the animals to death and later cut it into pieces. This task apparently took several days due to the size of the animal, which was described as being bigger than a forest elephant with a long neck, a small snake-like or lizard-like head, which was decorated with a comb-like frill. The pygmy spearmen also described a long, flexible tail, a smooth, reddish-brown skin and four stubby, but powerful legs with clawed toes. Pastor Thomas also mentioned that the two pygmies mimicked the cry of the animal as it was being attacked and speared.
Later, a victory feast was held, during which parts of the animal were cooked and eaten. However, those who participated in the feast eventually died, either from food poisoning or from natural causes. It should be noted that pygmies rarely live beyond 35, and pygmy women give birth from aged 12. I also believe that the mythification (magical powers, etc) surrounding Mokele-mbembes began with this incident.

During my first expedition in 1985, we met with several eyewitnesses who have observed Mokele-mbembes in the Sangha and Likouala aux Herbes Rivers. Our pygmy informants also mentioned that there was at least two Mokele-mbembes still living in the Lake Tele vicinity, but they were simply too afraid to take us to a precise location where we could actually film and observe a specimen of Mokele-mbembe, due to their superstitious beliefs surrounding the animals and fear of reprisals from the Boha villagers who are regarded as the owners of the lake. The Boha villagers are also familiar with areas in the river and swamps where we can observe these animals for ourselves. However, the general belief that speaking of Mokele-membes to white outsiders will result in great misfortune or death is fairly prevalent throughout the Likouala region. This presents huge problems in obtaining accurate and up-to-date information on Mokele-mbembes and other cryptids.

I should add that I am not convinced that Marcellin Agnagna, Rory Nugent, or Herman Regusters have observed Mokele-mbembes. During our two visits to the Congo, my colleagues and I were unable to locate a single one of the "dozens" of witnesses that allegedly observed Mokele-mbembes with the aforementioned explorers. Marcellin Agagna changed his story several times, and is now thought (by Roy Mackal) to have observed the giant African freshwater turtle, Trionyx triunguis. Herman Regusters and his wife Kia are the only individuals on his expedition to have observed a "long-necked member" travelling across Lake Tele, in spite of the fact that 28 other people were with them from the village of Boha. Rory Nugent's alleged Mokele-mbembe photos could be anything, although he may have seen "something" in the distance.

Trionyx triunguis

But Jose Bourges, the Congolese wildlife official who accompanied the 1988 Japanese expedition to the lake, reported that the entire expedition observed a large humped back of an animal, slowly moving along, as if foraging on the bottom of the lake, which is three meters deep at most. So the animals are still there, and I still want to find one!


*Bill Gibbons has conducted two major expeditions to the Congo, in 1985-6, and 1992, in search of the Mokele-mbembe. He conducted two other field investigations on the island of Mauritius in the southern Indian Ocean in 1990 and 1997, after two European visitors claimed Dodo sightings. Operation Congo III, and Project Dodo III are currently under development. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology with Warnborough College, Oxford. [He got that degree-but Warnsborough college is in no way connected to Oxford University: it has unkindly been referred to as a diploma mill]

After considering the evidence on this, the most straightforeward and absolutely cold-blooded solution would be that the Pygmies killed a Water Monster that has been identified as a giant turtle, and the most of the description fits a giant turtle.It has the long neck, snakelike or lizardlike head, big round body and four short stumpy legs with clawed freet.  It is the short stumpy legs with clawed feet that are the clincher in the identification: that fits a turtle and not a Sauropod or any of the other candidates.The long tail and comb-like deciration on the head are confusions of the description which arise from the descriptions of other traditional water-monsters not distinguished the Mokele-mbembe. Going by the statement made by True Authority:

Mokele-mbembe is Lingala, and can mean a variety of things. The word is commonly defined as "One that stops the flow of rivers," but can also mean "one who eats the tops of palm trees," "monstrous animal," or even "half-God, half-beast." Mokele-mbembe is also used as a generic term to refer to other animals like Emela-ntouka [a rhinoceros], Mbielu-mbielu-mbielu [a sort of crocodile], and Nguma-monene.[an elongated lizard, big snake or an unusual cobra]http://www.trueauthority.com/cryptozoology/mokele.htm

And so it seems there is a confusion to a very large degree inherant in the name used to cover these reports: it would not be very unusual for Pygmies' questions or answers confused in such a situation.
And although the flesh of these turtles is commonly eaten, some people have strong taboos against eating it (the Ancient Egyptians are included) and in some cases, turtles have been eating things that actually make their flesh poisonous to eat...a gourmet delight that can sometimes make you very sick if you eat it.
The shells of these turtles are supposed to be as much as 12 to 18 feet in diameter, and that would be a larger profile area than an elephant, and it is pretty certain these measurements are surely exaggerations.  But it is a belief that such turtles grow so large that gave rise to the story that these Pygmies actually killed and ate a gigantic softshelled turtle larger than an elephant, and the description reminded missionaries of a Sauropod dinosaur.

softshell-wikipedia-tinymen-to scale

--Best Wishes, Dale D.

Trionyx triunguis

Please see the older posting on this blog:
http://frontiersofzoology.blogspot.com/2011/04/titanic-turtles-of-tele.html

More Possible Pterosaurs From New Guinea

Back when I was writing to Ivan Sanderson and Bernard Heuvelmans, I mentioned a certain sort of wood-carving I had found in a book about the Asmat of Irian Jaya (Indonesian New Guinea) called an Ambirak, which I thought might represent some sort of a surviving Pterosaur. In this case, the proportions and posture were right: the figures were shown hunched over on all-fours on the ground with an outsized head and a prolonged beak in front, large forelimbs and small crooked or kneeling hind legs.


It seemed to correspond to certain designs on shields, which could depict winged creatures larger and of a different design to flying fox bat.


On this shield there seems to be a recurring pattern of the sort: a creature with a very large head, widespread wings curled up at the ends and with very abbreviated legs and hindquarters. I did also learn that the S-shapes were meant to represent sea serpents or the local version of the Australian rainbow serpents. The design was akin to some of the long-necked sea serpent (Plesiosaurian?) Taniwhas of New Zealand. I learned later that they were named Okom (possibly related to the name Moko or Mo'o for the Polynesian dragons known in Hawaii and in Tahiti). The regular alternation between the two has some sort of symbolic reference to the spirits of the dead going to the Land of the dead, on special sorts of ritual canoes. Below is a map of Asmat territory. There are also carved wooden representations of giant Komodo-dragon-like lizards in this area, but that shall have to await another discussion. I have already mentioned those separately and the discussion will refer back to the earlier mention instead.




As far as the Ambiraks go, I find their depictions interesting but they seem to be entirely mythological at present and invoked only for ritual reasons. If they actually were based on Pterosaurs (which most experts would say was a doubtful premise) they could be entirely extinct by now.





This map illustrates the Asmat territories in Irian Jaya, the Indonesian section of the Island of New Guinea. The Asmat are a populous and prosperous people, and the menfolk are known for wearing long gourds to accentuate their manhood.










The Ambiraks are rather odd little figures, hunched over with massive arms and elongated claw-like fingers but little hind limbs sometimes looking as if the feet were turned backwards. The ritual canoes they are carved on are called Wuramon, and it seems that the Ambiraks are spoken of as harpy-like creatures that haunt the rivers, thought of as being all-female, hostile and prone to fouling foodstuffs.





The row of Ambiraks in this representation even have bits of fur stuck on them, thus possibly meant to indicate the originals are furry. On the other hand, this also tends to make them look more like conventional vultures.

The centre of the Wuramon canoe carvings is always occupied by a fertility-figure giant softshell turtle named Bu or mBu. The Ambiraks sit in the canoe both before and behind the turtle

This is from another site in the Dutch language and it is called a 'Dangerous Female Ancestor figure' but said to be comparable to the Ambirak. The position with the bent elbows and knees is said to connect to myths of the ancestors, but in this case it might be meaningful if the Ambirak is a Pterosaur and sits that way on the ground. This would be like the view-from-below of an Ambirak, and it is notable that the hands and feet of the Ambirak would be curled-up claws; the arms are also elongated with a separate ridge or blade along the outside of the forearm and I mentioned that ridge in my reports to both Sanderson and Heuvelmans. On this representation, I made the eye redder so that its position would be more obvious. Ambirak is supposed to have a bird-like or snake-like head, according to this source site.

Another canoe with a clearer mBu turtle and below, some of the Ambiraks from that carving.

Here is a link to another site, which gives a clearer explanation of the Wuramon canoes:

http://library.wichita.edu/colldev/asmat/images.htm

Asmat Soul-Ship ("Wuramon"): Soul-ships are bottomless wooden dugout canoes used to hold a variety of spirits. The spirit passengers represent recently deceased ancestors while the bird-like figures, "ambirak", are dangerous female spirits that live in rivers. A carved turtle, "mBu", symbolizing fertility is always found in the center.
In the past, soul-ships were used in a ceremony to promise vengeance for the dead. Today, they are mainly used to honor the ancestors during male initiation ceremonies.

Reference Sources:
Schneebaum, Tobias, Embodied Spirits: Ritual Carvings of Asmat. 1990. Peabody Museum of Salem.
The World of Asmat, Singapore Zoological Gardens, 2003, http://www.szgdocent.org/ff/f-asmat.htm


Some Wuramon carvings

This is an example for sale on Ebay
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/49773875/Asmat-people-New-Guinea
31
THE WURAMON AND INITIATION 1,2,3,4,5,6

When there are enough boys in a village of the appropriate age, an initiation ceremony
is begun. At this time, a special temporary house, called an Emaktsjim, is constructed so
that the initiates will be isolated from the rest of the village. Here they stay for several
days as the final preparations are made. They are not allowed to eat during their wait.
Traditionally, the head of a slain victim of battle was placed in each boy’s lap, and he
would remain sitting with it for the duration of the ceremony. The boy would take on the
name and character of the victim as a part of himself. In the future, when visiting the
victim’s family in another village, he would be called by the victim’s name and
welcomed by the victim’s family. It is unknown what substitutes for the head now that
headhunting is no longer practiced.
During the boys’ isolation, a wuramon (soul ship) is constructed to aid in the ceremony, as well as to help the spirits of recently deceased ancestors pass to Safan – the Asmat afterworld. A wuramon is a hollow-bottomed canoe with many carved figures. It is carved behind the temporary house during the day, and hidden by sago leaves at night. In the middle is a turtle figure, called a bu [mBu], which is a symbol of fertility because of the large number of eggs it lays. Next to the turtle is a Z-shaped figure called okom. It represents a sea monster, which is the most evil of all spirits. The remainder of the canoe is filled with figures called ambirak. They represent the spirits of the ancestors who have recently died.
They may be in human or bird form. Then the outside of the wuramon is painted white with red stripes – the coloring of their working canoes. Lastly, the figures are painted and adorned with braided sago leaves, seed beads or feathers. It is then taken into the temporary house until the ceremony.
32
On the day of the initiation ceremony, villagers go out to the jungle to collect sago
grubs and other foods to share. When they return, two women decorated with feathers in
their hair and red ochre paint on their faces, enter the temporary house. They represent
the ancestral mothers of each clan of the jeu (upriver and downriver). They unwrap the
wuramon and unseal the main door of the initiates’ house. The men then lift the wuramon
and poke the prow in and out of the door twice. The third time it is taken out to the river
and symbolically launched to take the spirits of the dead to Safan, as their families weep
for them. It is brought back up to the porch of the temporary house, and a boy of the
village who is too young to be initiated is taken in the house and held up by his ankles.
Village men pretend to shoot him with arrows and poke him with spears.
Next, the chief drummer comes out and puts his foot on the okom as the women hiss in
disgust and disapproval of the sea monster. The initiates then emerge single-file and put
each of their feet in turn on the okom as well. The boys are laid down on the porch with
their heads facing the wuramon and their uncles paint their bodies red, black and white,
and decorate them with feathers. The boys are struck with banana stalks to encourage
physical growth, and then all go home to eat, coming back together to drum, sing and
dance all night.

The next morning, the initiates are taken out on the river by canoe. As their elders row,
the boys mimic growing old and dying – symbolic of the death of their former selves.
Each boy’s uncle then immerses him in the river, and he is reborn. On the way back
home, they go through the actions of being infants, toddlers and young children, as their
elders instruct them in all they need to know about life as an Asmat. By the time they
return home, the boys are back to their true age. They gather food, then go home and feed
their families to symbolically show they can provide for the village. They are now
considered men. The wuramon is taken to the jungle and left to decay to fertilize the sago trees the Asmat will someday eat of.

Titanic Turtles of Tele

Ndenki is spoken of as a truly tremendous freshwater turtle in parts of the Congo River drainage and especially around Lake Tele.This is another matter of some confusion in Cryptozoology. Some individual softshell turtles of the known, identified species can grow to quite enormous sizes. A pertinent example comes from Darren Naish's blog:

Anyway, Asia isn't the only continent with giant softshells. There are also giant African species (or one anyway: the African softshell Trionyx triunguis), and in an October 2009 post on the SA Reptiles discussion board, forum-user Herphabitat posted several photos of a huge, dead softshell he and colleagues discovered on a peninsula in the mouth of the Congo River. From a distance, they first assumed that the carcass was that of a dead sea turtle (perhaps a Leatherback Dermochelys coriacea). On discovering that it was a softshell, they assumed that it had died further up-river and had then been washed down to the edge of the Atlantic. However, this assumption isn't warranted, as T. triunguis inhabits brackish waters in places, and has even been captured 3 or 4 km out at sea (this was close to the mouth of the Gaboon River: Ernst & Barbour 1989). T. triunguis is a widespread softshell, occurring from coastal Turkey, Israel, Lebanon and Syria all the way west to the Atlantic coast of the Congo region.

As you can see from Herphabitat's photos, the animal was a pretty impressive beast (his photos of the animal's skull [one shown below] confirm, by the way, that it was indeed a T. triunguis). Its length along the curve of the carapace (known as the CCL, or curved carapace length) was 55 cm, and the total length was given as 106 cm. Its mass was estimated at over 60 kg. Very big indeed - and bigger than most measurements given in the turtle books. Ernst & Barbour (1989), for example, give a maximum length of 95 cm for this species. However, some sources give a maximum length of 112 cm. Again, I hope this brings home the point that softshells - which are relatively familiar turtles to many people - aren't all dinner-plate-sized or smaller; some are giants, among the largest of turtles.

While we're here... it's been suggested that there might be monster examples of T. triunguis whose lengths well exceed 1 m. In his 1987 book on the mokele-mbembe, Roy Mackal wrote about the 'Ndendeki', a giant turtle of Lake Tele (and perhaps the surrounds) in the Congo. Local people didn't know much about it - other than that it was a turtle and that it was very large - but an estimated diameter of a ridiculous 4 or 5 m was suggested (Mackal 1987, p. 267). Mackal and his colleague Marcellin Agnagna both assumed that exaggeration had occurred, and that a more reasonable size might be about 2 m (this is for length [of the softshell carapace] and not diameter). That's still pretty incredible - though certainly not impossible - and really needs verification [adjacent Ndendeki reconstruction from Mackal (1987, p. 271)].

Anyway, full credit to Herphabitat for his excellent photos. Please visit the SA Reptiles post to see more images and more information. Thanks to Markus Bühler for bringing this to my attention.

http://scienceblogs.com/tetrapodzoology/2010/01/giant_african_softshells_-_wow.php

http://www.sareptiles.co.za/forum/viewtopic.php?f=73&t=18283

The latter link goes to the original article and it includes the statement:
"The boney part of the the carapace measured a CCL of 55cm and CCW of 54cm. The total length of the soft shell was CCL: 106cm"

Some confusion of the length of the gigantic turtles as stated by the Natives is probably the result of mismeasure again. In turtles, the overall length is not important to measure but the length of the shell is. In a softshelled turtle, it is entirely possible for the head and neck to stretch out as far again as the length of the shell: hence a turtle "Only" a meter and a half over the curve might be reported as three meters long overall (Which is evidently the allegation for really big ones both in Africa and in South Asia)

Now for the part which I definitely wanted to get across: THIS IS NOT CRYPTOZOOLOGY. WE ARE IN ALL CASES STILL TALKING IN TERMS OF KNOWN SPECIES OF TURTLES ONLY!

Best Wishes, Dale D.

RAHEEL MUGHAL MSc REPOST from CFZ Blog

My comments about these lesser-known African Cryptids are at the end and I will be wanting to expound on several of the ideas in a series of new blog postings here. Because of that, I thought it would be best to repost Raheel's original Blog article as a springboard to work from. In particular, I would like to address item number 9 first. Best Wishes, Dale D. Take it away, Raheel!

Wednesday, December 08, 2010. RAHEEL MUGHAL MSc:

Congo: Lesser Known Mystery Beasts from the Heart of Darkness

I have always been fascinated by dinosaurs, palaeontology and zoology. I remember that I developed a deep interest in cryptozoology soon after hearing about the Mokele Mbembe on Arthur C. Clarke’s Mysterious World (incidentally, I saw the re-run on Discovery Channel in the early '90s – I must have been 8 years old then); the idea that dinosaurs or dinosaur-like creatures may still exist in largely unexplored places on earth didn’t seem so odd any more. However, when you get older and you start to see things a bit more logically (the sad truth of life; I wish I still had that wishful-thinking streak that we all had when we were children). Nevertheless, that being said there a number of other lesser known mystery animals with allegedly dinosaurian identities from in and around the Congo basin region. In this blog I will attempt to describe these creatures in more detail along with my own opinion on what the creatures may be based on my research. Please note that the Kasai Rex has not been included in the following discussion because there isn’t enough evidence to support its alleged existence.

(1) The Dodu: Gorilla Killer The Dodu or Gorilla Killer is said to be a bloodthirsty 8-10 ft tall ape man, for it is said to decapitate and disembowel Gorilla’s and Chimpanzees. Locals live in fear of this monstrosity which is known to eat the maggots which are found soon after death in the abdominal cavity of its unfortunate simian victims, only to scoop them up in handfuls to eat, the dead apes serving only as reservoirs for the grubs to accumulate. Reports of this horrifying beast were collected by Dr. William Gibbons during his Operation Congo expedition during the early twenty first century.

(2) Emela Ntouka: A New Species of Forest Rhino? Also known as "the killer of the elephants" in the Lingala language, is believed by some researchers and cryptozoologists to represent a relic population of Ceratopsian dinosaur – most notably Centrosaurus. This particular cryptid is described as being as large as an African Bush Elephant. Having a body of similar shape and appearance to a rhinoceros, including one long horn on its snout and a heavy tail. It is described as being brown or grey in colouration and it is said to possess four short, stump-like legs supposedly to keep its bulky body at ground level. It is described as having no frill or ridges along the neck. The animal is also described as being semi-aquatic and herbivorous (with its favourite food being the leafy plants of the Malombo). The Emela-ntouka has been claimed to vocalize regularly, this noisy beast has been described as making calls that resemble a snort, rumble or growl, respectively. They are claimed to be solitary, herbivorous animals. The beast is said to inhabit the vast shallow waters of the Congo River Basin. The inhabitants of the area are said to treat the creature with great fear. In the 1930s an alleged Emela Ntouka was killed near Dongou. The New Zealand Documentary World Mysteries included an interview with a man who claimed to have encountered a dead Emela Ntouka. He claimed to still possess the animal's horn, which he removed from the body. Unfortunately, the episode was filmed but never aired. Nevertheless, there is considerable controversy to what an Emela Ntouka horn (if the creature does exist), could be made of, if scientists ever retrieve a horn it would also help in revealing the creature’s true identity. If a horn is found and DNA tests reveal the horn to be made of ivory, then it would undoubtedly prove to be a tooth. In fact a species of rhinoceros, namely the Asiatic One Horned Rhinoceros does possess small tusks. If on the other hand, the horn turns out to be made of keratin then it is most certainly belongs to an as yet unknown semi-aquatic rhinoceros. However, if the horn turns out to be made of bone then it most certainly belongs to an as yet hitherto unknown species of semi aquatic reptile or possibly a relic from the Mesozoic though I doubt this hypothesis along with other alleged dinosaurian survivals. Moreover, in terms of evidence pertaining to the beast’s alleged survival a number of curious stone currency in the form of both Mokele Mbembe and Emela Ntouka has been found by archaeologists in this remote region, some native tribes still use it today.

(3) Giant Spiders: More than a Hollywood Myth? Many Mokele Mbembe expedition members over the years have come back with tales of giant spiders. The Ba’Ka Pygmies of the Congo Basin Region and the Cameroons refer to them as J’Ba FoFi. They are described as having a leg-span of five to six feet and capable of killing many men. Moreover, they are said to make intricate blankets of web found throughout the deeper parts of the jungle to ensnare unwary potential prey.

(4) Mahamba: Cryptic Crocodiles! From the humid and impenetrable jungles of the Congo (formally Zaire), come reports of the ‘Mahamba’, a lesser-known water monster from native Bobangi accounts. This fearsome beast is said to resemble a gigantic crocodile which is reported to reach an astounding 50 ft (15.2 metres) in length. Reports collected by cryptozoologist Dr. Roy Mackal during his 1980 expedition to hunt for the Mokele Mbembe (an alleged living sauropod dinosaur) also turned up amazing accounts of other alleged ‘prehistoric survivors,’ one of which is the Mahamba. According to eyewitness testimony from the Bobangi, the animal in question resembles a Nile Crocodile but it is not a ‘Nkoli’ (the native term for a Nile Crocodile). The creature may in fact pertain to a new species of undiscovered giant crocodile. That having been said, some researchers such as Dr. Mackal believe that the Mahamba indicates a ghost-lineage of a large freshwater variety of Mosasaur from the Late Cretaceous.

(5) Mbeilu-Mbeilu-Mbeilu: When is a Stegosaur not a Stegosaur? The Mbielu-Mbielu-Mbielu is another lesser-known cryptid reported from the Likouala Region of the Republic of the Congo. The creature is described as semi-aquatic, herbivourous and most notably having planks covered in algae growing out of its back. Some cryptozoological investigators tentatively suggest that it could represent a relic population of Kentrosaurus (Stegosaur from the Late Jurassic of Africa). However, I would liken it to a large turtle (Ndenki are purported to be large turtles living in Likoula region lakes, as we shall see later). Unfortunately, only a few claimed sightings have been reported, at the villages of Bounila and Ebolo, so if it did exist in one point in time, it may possibly be extinct. All reports of Mbeilu Mbeilu Mbeilu along with other Likoula Mystery Beasts were collected by Dr. Roy P. Mackal during his expeditions to the region.

(6) Mulilo: The Mighty Mollusc! The Mulilo is described as a giant slug purported to live in the dense forests of the Congo, Zaire and Zambia. Not much is known about this mighty mollusc except that it is herbivorous, greyish-white to brown in colouration and tends to climb trees albeit at a slow pace. Nevertheless, it could be possible that such a creature does indeed exist. For example, one species of land snail, the Giant African Snail, can grow to be 15 inches (38 cm). So it is not that much of a stretch of the imagine to suggest that other land-dwelling molluscs can grow to be much larger than the Giant African Snail.

(7) Ndenki: Titantic Turtles in Lake Tele Little is known about this particular cryptid other then the fact that it is described as a giant turtle and is said to inhabit more or less the same area as Mokele Mbembe, Emela Ntouka, Mbeilu-Mbeilu-Mbeilu, and Mahamba, respectively.

(8) Ngoima: The Monkey Eating Eagle The Ngoima was seen by visiting French political commissioner André Mouelle during the early twentieth century. He described it as eagle-like, dark brown to black (black above, with a lighter shade below), and it is described as having a hooked beak. It is also described as having a wingspan of 9-13 ft (4.2 metres) and it said to possess sharp talons. Furthermore, it is said to prey on monkeys and small goats and is thought to prefer forests (where it nests on the tallest trees) and in some cases open savannah. Unfotunately, this is the only report that the author is aware off. Based on the somewhat detailed description above, the Ngoima may represent a subspecies of Martial Eagle Polemaetus bellicosus (the Ngoima having a larger wingspan at 9-13 ft as opposed to the Martial Eagle’s 5 ft).

(9) Ngoubou: Emela Ntouka’s Long Lost Cousin? During one of William Gibbons expeditions to the Cameroon in search of the Mokele Mbembe, he and his team came across local reports of an elephant-sized, six-horned, herbivorous animal (similar in aspects to Emela-Ntouka) that fought elephants for land and that lived in the savannah region of that country. Gibbons likened the beast to a surviving form of Styracosaurus (a Late Cretaceous Ceratopsian Dinosaur from North America). When the local pygmies were questioned all asserted that Ngoubou was not a regular rhinoceros to which they were all familiar. A senior hunter further exclaimed that a hunting party had killed one of these beasts with a spear a number of years ago. Moreover, the elder added that Ngoubou populations have declined over recent years owing to over hunting and that they have since become very hard to find.

(10)Nguma-monene: An African Naga? Also known as Ngakoula-ngou or Badigui, in all aspects this serpentine cryptid sounds very similar to the Nagas reported for centuries in Asia. The Nguma-monene is described as being 10 metres long (atleast the tail part which is often reported), it is described as greyish-brown in colouration with the underneath of the neck a lighter shade. The neck is also described as being as thick as a man's thigh. Two credible eyewitness accounts exist which both occurred near the Dongu-Mataba (a tributary of the Ubangi River located in the Congo region). The first was occurred in 1961. Nevertheless, in 1971 Joseph Ellis a pastor had an incredible encounter with a beast he could not identify. He estimated the length of the (visible) tailpart as 10 meters long (equal to his dugout, no neck or head could be seen), this was at a diameter of 0.5 to 1 metre. The colouration of the creature appeared to be a greyish-brown. When Pastor Ellis returned to the village he started asking natives about the strange creature, to his amazement it appeared that the subject was taboo. Dr. Roy, P. Mackal collected many reports of this and other cryptids whilst on his first and second expedition in search of Mokele Mbembe. Dr. Mackal concluded that the animal has a low-slung body, and therefore is more like a lizard than a snake, perhaps an intermediatery between snakes and lizards, a possible “living fossil.” Dr. Mackal also noted that the animal's triangular or diamond-shaped ridges were similar (but smaller) to those from the Mbeilu-Mbeilu-Mbeilu but not the animals themselves. This issue has caused much confusion on the Internet and Dr. Mackal’s seminal work A Living Dinosaur? In Search of Mokele-Mbembe.

Africa is a fascinating continent indeed and I am absolutely positive that a number of startingly new zoological discoveries will emerge from its dark heart – the Congo in years to come. Posted by Jon Downes at 1:02 PM Labels: arthur c. clarke, congo, mokele mbembe, Raheel Mughal

comments: Dale Drinnon said...

1)Dodu is the name of a demon in some other sources and it is described with features traditionally ascribed to demons in Folklore (including three clawed fingers and toes)The horrific condition of the chimps and gorillas as described is how they are left after the poachers have got to them. It isn't that the poachers are after the maggots, they are after the trophy heads and hands. Raising maggots is just all they are good for after that.

2)When i did some checking into this I found that not only do some one-horned rhinos have large tusks, in some of them the tusks are counted as their primary weapons. And I found that some descriptions make out the Emela-Ntouka out only as an ordinary rhino, without the supposed tail, only with the one horn. There is every reason to believe that is what it is-a one-horned Rhino of the ASIATIC type, somehow in Africa. And the horn itself would never be made of ivory.

3) My own interpretation is that the stories of Giant spiders are based on sightings of large spidery-legged land crabs. And that they are tied into stories of the Trickster-spider Anasi somehow.

4)Mahamba is probably one of those oversized ALLIGATOR-faced crocodiles Heuvelmans spoke of in his first edition of On The Track of Unknown Animals. He had dropped the category later, but here is new evidence for it again.

5)Mbeilu-Mbeilu-Mbeilu turns out to be possibly a sort of a crocodile with an exaggeratedly jagged back-crest. Other analogous cases occur both within Africa and in other places. Another one is called Muhuru (ie, "The Muhuru Bay monster" In Lake Victoria)

6) Mulilo is at base probably nothing more (and nothing less) than a melanistic form of Gaboon viper: the size and shape matches otherwise. Gaboon vipers are highly venomous and have enormous fangs, but they are stout and sluggish snakes otherwise.

7)Ndenki probably is, as alleged, only a sort of soft-shelled turtle of very large size. That does not necessarily mean it is an unknown species. The greatest size for the Ndenki and how it was measured are both questionable.

8)Ngoima sounds very interesting and I have my own ideas as to what kind of an eagle it is. But it is definitely "Just" a very large eagle of dark colour.

9) Ngoubou is also possibly a relic Sivathere or Libytherium, a stout one of large size, but a giraffid with mooselike horns. Rock art supports the idea this animal survived the die-off of the other African megafauna and it even turns up in some old etchings illustrating "Darkest Africa" in Victorian times!

10)Nguma-monene was originally counted the same as Mokele-Mbembe and later as a giant monitor lizard. Perhaps both things are true. 4:41 PM

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.8