Scientists make one of the biggest animal discoveries of the century: a new tapir

Jeremy Hance
mongabay.com
December 16, 2013
Read more at http://news.mongabay.com/2013/1216-hance-new-tapir-kabomani.html#MdZhwzqqD35e80ox.99

Scientists have uncovered a new tapir in Brazil: Tapirus kabomani. Photo courtesy of: Cozzuol et al.

Scientists have uncovered a new tapir in Brazil: Tapirus kabomani. Photo courtesy of: Cozzuol et al.

In what will likely be considered one of the biggest (literally) zoological discoveries of the Twenty-First Century, scientists today announced they have discovered a new species of tapir in Brazil and Colombia. The new mammal, hidden from science but known to local indigenous tribes, is actually one of the biggest animals on the continent, although it's still the smallest living tapir. Described in the Journal of Mammology, the scientists have named the new tapir Tapirus kabomani after the name for "tapir" in the local Paumari language: "Arabo kabomani."

Tapirus kabomani, or the Kobomani tapir, is the fifth tapir found in the world and the first to be discovered since 1865. It is also the first mammal in the order Perissodactyla (which includes tapirs, rhinos, and horses) found in over a hundred years. Moreover, this is the largest land mammal to be uncovered in decades: in 1992 scientists discovered the saola in Vietnam and Cambodia, a rainforest bovine that is about the same size as the new tapir.

Found inhabiting open grasslands and forests in the southwest Amazon (the Brazilian states of Rondônia and Amazonas, as well as the Colombian department of Amazonas), the new species is regularly hunted by the Karitiana tribe who call it the "little black tapir." The new species is most similar to the Brazilian tapir (Tapirus terrestris), but sports darker hair and is significantly smaller: while a Brazilian tapir can weigh up to 320 kilograms (710 pounds), the Kabomani weighs-in around 110 kilograms (240 pounds). Given its relatively small size it likely won't be long till conservationists christen it the pygmy or dwarf tapir. It also has shorter legs, a distinctly-shaped skull, and a less prominent crest.

"[Indigenous people] traditionally reported seeing what they called 'a different kind of anta [tapir in Portuguese].' However, the scientific community has never paid much attention to the fact, stating that it was always the same Tapirus terrestris," explains lead author Mario Cozzuol, the paleontologist who first started investigating the new species ten years ago. "They did not give value to local knowledge and thought the locals were wrong. Knowledge of the local community needs to be taken into account and that's what we did in our study, which culminated in the discovery of a new species to science."

A pair of Kobomani tapirs caught on camera trap. The individual on the left is a female and on the right a male. Females of the new species are characterized by a light patch on lower head and neck. Photo courtesy of Fabrício R. Santos.

A pair of Kobomani tapirs caught on camera trap. The individual on the left is a female and on the right a male. Females of the new species are characterized by a light patch on lower head and neck. Photo courtesy of Fabrício R. Santos.

Cozzuol first found evidence of the new species a decade ago while looking at tapir skulls, which were markedly different than any other. Researchers then collected genetic material and tapir specimens from local hunters and the Karitiana Indians. Extensive research into both the tapir's physical appearance (morphology) and its genetics proved that the researchers were indeed dealing with an as-yet-undescribed species of megafauna. Amazingly, this new species of tapir was actually hunted by Theodore Roosevelt in 1912 with a specimen from his exploits still resting in the American Museum of Natural History in New York to this day. At the time of his hunt, Roosevelt wrote that the local hunters called the tapir a "distinct kind."

"[Indigenous people] were essential," co-author Fabrício R. Santos told mongabay.com, "particularly because they know about this 'variety' for decades, if not, centuries, and the hunters can precisely differentiate both species, because all of skulls they provide us matched our morphometric and DNA analyses."

Tapirs first appeared around 50 million years ago in the Eocene and are considered living fossils because they haven't changed much since then. They are easily identifiable by their massive size and their distinct, impressively-flexible proboscis, which the animal employs to grasp vegetation. Despite their bulk, tapirs are generally considered shy and elusive and are mostly active at night. They are also excellent swimmers and despite reputations in some countries for being slow (the name for tapir in Portuguese translates loosely to "jackass"), they are in fact quite intelligent, charismatic animals. Tapirs first evolved in North America and then migrated to Asia, South America, and even Europe in a tapir evolutionary-extravaganza before many species died out. Today, five species remain: four are found in Central and South America (the Brazilian tapir, mountain tapir, Baird's tapir, and the new Kabomani) while one species survives in Asia (the Malayan tapir).

The new tapir has a distinct head shape. Photo courtesy of Fabrício R. Santos.

The new tapir has a distinct head shape. Photo courtesy of Fabrício R. Santos.

The genetic research shows that the Kabomani tapir separated from its closest relative, the Brazilian, around 300,000 years ago. This means by the time humans first arrived in South America, the Kabomani tapir had long been separated from its relatives, although Brazilian tapirs and the Kabomani still share some of the same habitat today. The species is most common in the upper Madeira River where both forest and savanna habitat are present. When one of these ecosystems begins to dominate, however, the species becomes rarer. The scientists hypothesize in their paper that the species may have evolved "during dry periods of the Pleistocene, associated with forest fragmentation."

Moreover, the extensive genetic research undertaken by the scientists shows that the Brazilian tapir and the mountain tapir (Tapirus pinchaque) are quite closely related (more closely than the Kabomani tapir), which could mean a recent break between the two species with mountain tapirs quickly evolving to the high-altitude Andean cloud forests or something even more surprising.

"There may be another species inside what we call Tapirus terrestris, particularly the individuals found in the Amazon of Ecuador, and northern Peru," says Santos.

As megafauna, tapirs have been hunted by humans for thousands of years and still play a very important role in many indigenous tribes, both as food prey and in mythologies. In addition, these large animals are vital to the ecosystems they inhabit.

"As seed predators and dispersers, they have key roles in the dynamics of rain forests, Cerrado, Pantanal, and high mountain ecosystems," the scientists write in the paper.

The new species is further characterized by dark fur. Photo courtesy of Fabrício R. Santos.

The new species is further characterized by dark fur. Photo courtesy of Fabrício R. Santos.

All of the world's tapir species are currently listed as threatened with extinction due to overhunting and habitat destruction, and the scientists believe the Kabomani will be no different. In fact, given its scarcity and possibly smaller habitat than other tapirs, it could be hugely imperiled.

"[The Brazilian tapir] is considered Vulnerable by the IUCN, it lives in most of biomes of South America, and Tapirus kabomani was only found in Amazon areas with open grasslands. Because the new species is scarce, and more restricted in their local habitat, it should be much more threatened than the common tapir," notes Santos.

Moreover, the region of the Amazon where the tapir was discovered is facing heavy human pressures, including two large dams and massive road-building projects, in addition to high deforestation rates.

"Southwestern Amazonia is currently undergoing intense landscape modification by deforestation and increasing human population. The region is likely threatened more by global warming than are other South American regions and it is considered a biodiversity hot spot with undocumented species richness," the researchers write.

Now that the new tapir has finally been revealed to the global public, scientists and conservationists have their work cut out for them.

"Our next stage of research is to determine the actual distribution of occurrence and conservation status of the new species," says co-author Flávio Rodrigues, professor of ecology at UFMG. In fact, scientists suspect the new species may also be found in the Guiana Shield in the eastern Amazon, according to photographs and local knowledge from both Brazil and French Guiana.

The discovery of this new megafauna—so long-hidden to science—proves the invaluable contribution that indigenous people can make it science, if only they are more regularly consulted and respected, according to the researchers. It also proves once again that the natural world remains full of surprises.

Painting of the new tapir species. Painting courtesy of Fabrício R. Santos.

Painting of the new tapir species. Painting courtesy of Fabrício R. Santos.

Brazilian tapir in Yasuni National Park, Ecuador. Photo by: Jeremy Hance.

Brazilian tapir in Yasuni National Park, Ecuador. Photo by: Jeremy Hance.

Citation:

Mario A. Cozzuol, Camila L. Clozato, Elizete C. Holanda, Flavio H. G. Rodriques, Samuel Nienow, Benoit De Thoisy, Rodrigo A. F. Redonod, and Fabricio R. Santos. (2013) A new species of tapir from the Amazon. Journal of Mammalogy.

Darren Naish subsequently added this chart in his notice for the new species. there are at least two other putative tapir species as yet unconfirmed and not included on this chart

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/tetrapod-zoology/2013/12/17/new-living-species-of-tapir/

I discovered some time ago that an early draft form of my amendments to the Cryptozoological checklists of Bernard Heuvelmans and Karl Shuker had been posted on the internet and was sitting there for public inspection. I thought it might be a good idea if I posted a copy here before it vanishes.
http://lists.topica.com/lists/uasr/read/message.html?sort=t&mid=812490447

From: "Dale A. Drinnon" <daledr-@yahoo.com>
Sent: Nov 13, 2006 7:57 AM
To: crypt-@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [cryptolist] Additions to Checklists (draft)

The following is the current trial version of this checklist
amendment: Please note that this is a list of things that fell
through the cracks in other checklists and is not intended to
represent well-known or well-documented forms. I have a more full
bibliography, but most of the more obscure things are from places
like Sanderson's files. This information is posted at the
cryptozoologyexchange and its backup files group.

AMENDED CRYPTOZOOLOGICAL CHECKLIST, additional to prior versions.

   AQUATIC FORMS. It was determined that the basic framework given
by George Eberhart (2002) in listing so-called water monsters was
inadequate in that he only allowed one category for all such
reports. This author had privately circulated "A Field Guide to
Water Monsters" in the late 1970's and early 1980's (The SITU had
several versions of this at one time) which came to basic categories
parallel to Loren Coleman and Patrick Huyghe in The Field Guide to
Lake Monsters, Sea Serpents and Other Mystery Denizens of the Deep
(2003) and that basic framework is used here for simplicity's sake.
Most of these categories are as Coleman and Huyghe had made them; a
few have been renamed to give them broader application and some have
been split up for clarity.

* indicates an additional category.

These categories are;

1. Unknown sharks (includes Coleman's "Giant shark" category;
Heuvelmans' "Eel-shaped sharks" would also go here, together with a
great many more conventionally-formed sharks of all sizes)

2. Unidentified skates and rays (Coleman's "Mystery manta" category
given broader application)

*3. Huso giant sturgon. (some of the "Giant sharks" are such
sturgon; most commentators are not aware that Huso is a separate
genus and Coleman does not notice that sturgeons have a sharklike
tailfin)

*4. Giant eels (this being the corrected version of
Heuvelmans' "Supereel" category; most are not so large)

*5. Other Unidentified fishes

6. Mystery salamander

*7. .Mystery crocodilians (unnecesarily lumped in with
Coleman's "Mystery saurians" category)

8. Marine saurians (restoring Heuvelmans' name for the category but
restricting it to the non-crocodilian version, herein assumed to be
mosasaurians; Coleman's "Mystery saurian" is also vague enough to
include the next category)

9. Mystery Monitor

10. Waterhorse (allowing the category to stand with modifications.
This author has argued since the 1970's along the lines that were
published by Shucker in Prehistoric Survivors, that this was a
plesiosaurian. Coleman's chosen fossil prototype, Acrophoca, is a
sort of Leopard seal and not a good choice)

11. Cryptid Chelonians

*12. Mystery Pinnepeds

13. Mystery sirenians

14. Mystery Cetaceans

15. Giant beaver (this category could well be expanded to include
giant otters as well)

*16. Amphibious Pachyderms ( replaces Coleman's category
of "Dinosauria" in part)

   Four categories are controversial and purists might well ignore
them. These are:

?17. Giant Octopus and Giant jellyfish

?*18. Other unknown invertebrates (including putative eurypterids)

?*19. Great snakes (including several of Heuvelman's categories)

?20. Great Sea Centepede (Heuvelman's "Cetioscolopendra" or "Many-
finned" category)

Two categories are extinguished as valid categories. These are:

VOID1. "Classic sea serpent"

VOID2. "Dinosauria"

From discussions with co-workers and especially Richard Freeman, I
feel that most of the actual hard evidence of "Dinosauria" refers to
quadrupedial mammals of large size, especially noting amphibious
rhinoceroses in Africa. Some of the evidence, such as Pfleng's
report up the Amazon, actually refers to strayed elephant seals;
Mackal points out that these sometimes leave the tracks that Ivan
Sanderson attributed to "Old Three-Toes" (and Sanderson definitely
includes KNOWN Elephant-seal rookeries as locationsfor such tracks,
eg., the Kerguelen islands.)

The "Classic sea serpent " is a special case; such sightings occur
worldwide and statistically are astonishingly uniform; most "Lake
Monster " reports are in this category. The reports do not show any
particular geographic assortment or differentiation by hump size, as
Heuvelmans maintains in his categories of "Many-humped" and "Super-
otter"; they also occur in the tropics, where they are universally
also referred to as aquatic serpents of unusual size.
      Some authors, such as Mackal, see evidence of zueglodons in
these reports. Zueglodon spines are not made to undulate that way;
the tail vertebrae look like long sections of pipe and the whole tail
section is meant to move all in one piece. This is a mechanical stage
in evolving a whalelike pattern of swimming.
    The reports in this category are obviously and beyond any shade
of doubt wave patterns such as delayed wakes made by passing boats.
One of Heuvelmans' "??" reports was by a Professor Heddle, who saw
a "Many -humped" effect and correctly identified it as a wave, and he
is the only expert witness to have contributed such an observation in
previously-published sea-serpent literature.   I have seen the effect
myself on the shore of New Jersey when I was affiliated with the SITU
and for a brief while had hoped that it was an actual sighting.
Heuvelmans notes in reports of each category separately that the
appearence of the humps are due to "waves in the wake" and this is
even an important feature of the "Super-otter" category. The
difference in long-humps-with-long-intervals and short-humps-with-
short intervals is a function only of wavelength; several locations,
such as Loch Ness, log reports of both types.
    The importance of this cannot be underestimated. Of ALL "lake
monster" reports, as many as over 90% are not describing real
animals, they are describing waves in the water, even if an unknown
animal is making the waves. It is also significant that in
Heuvelmans' study In the Wake of Sea Serpents, 75% of the reports are
nondeterminative even without deleting categories; deleting the wave-
effect reports drives the total bite out of reports much higher. The
categories for reports which might actually be worth pursuing are
indicated in theabove listings.

Using this system as a simplified presentation, I add several forms
not noted on previous versions of cryptozological checklists,
together with some pertinent obsevations.

    Unknown Sharks: Marine division:

Heuvelmans notes in Wake that sawfish of whalesized proportions were
reported in the Red Sea in Roman times at least, and there are
folkloric references and rock artdepictions of these as far apart as
South Africa and New Guinea which refer to the same thing, basically
a sawfish the size of a sperm whale. I am unaware of any actual
sightings, however.

South American precolumbian artwork may indicate a large form of
unidentified angel shark from the Pacific off of Columbia and Peru.
Both of these are my assessments of native artwork.

Heuvelmans' eelshaped sharks have as the type specimen the creature
observed while being cut up by the captain of the Beaver.

Heuvelmans' "Yellow-Belly" category in part may indicate a form of
large whalesharklike fish but with a thresher-sharklike tail.
Mackal's comments on this category are contradicted by his own
information that salp chains do NOT show the characteristic
coloration. Additional reports not in Wake indicates that this may
have a light-and-dark brown form and a green-and-brown form; some of
Coleman's Giant shark reports might actually be in this category,
including albino versions ( not to deny the existence of giant great
white sharks; great white sharks are not WHITE!)

The Stronsa beast according to Heuvelmans has characteristics
unlike typical Basking sharks, and may indicate a different type of
elongated basking sharks rather than the known species.

"Captain Hanna's Fish" instead of being a frilled shark might be a
kind of aberrant 6-gilled shark. Other 6- and 7- gilled sharks
unknown to science , some apparently outsized, have been reported and
occasionally even filmed underwater. (Heuvelmans information on these
listings)

By the way, Coleman in the abovementioned Field Guide indicates a
sighting of a "Giant shark's tail "off New England that is in the
size range of a known type of thresher shark

                             Freshwater division:

The Tigris river shark is apparently unclassified (Album of Sharks)
and there seems to be a similar shark in the Indus. Other such
reports surface periodically, such as in South America. These would
all be bull sharks, and this is a quibble in taxonomy as to their
status more than anything else. Heuvelmans' checklist indicated one
of these in Melanesia.

Freshwater sawfish have been alleged, but I do not know of any good
evidence. I believe there is even a rumor of one from the British
isles.

    Unidentified skates and rays: Marine division:

Gunter Sehm in CRYPTOZOLOGY indicates that the type specimen of manta
rays is an unidentified species, and further notes that there are a
number of other unidentified species, some indicated as being of
immense size (50 feet across or more) These last of course could only
be bad exaggerations.

The Alpha sea serpent is indicated by Heuvelmans (Wake) as being a
ray, but its characteristics are unlike mantas, and it may represent
a new kind of outsized eagle ray.

                            Freshwater division:

Ivan Sanderson's outsized stingray from the Cross river is
apparantly still unclassified. Sanderson's files indicate a large
number of unidentified freshwater rays, especially from the tropics,
but they are poorly differentiated.

The Tigris and Euphrates river systems apparently had a form of
freshwater ray with the appearance of horns over its eyes, known in
Sumerian as kushkarikku, or goat-skate, the original form of
capricorn (the goatfish) It is not known if these still exist.

There are unknown rays in Malaysia, the Phillipines, the Fly River in
New Guinea and other places according to information in Eberhart.
These are commonly in the size range of 4 to 6 feet across and 8 to
12 feet in length

There is an unknown ray in the Rio Negro in South America. This is
possible relatable to the cuero or "hide", being a flat creature with
eyespots (Ocelli) around the margin; one of its names actually
IS "Manta"!

The Water Leaper of Wales is evidently a similar creature, with a
toad face and batlike wings but NO LEGS: it apparently jumps out of
water like a mini-manta.

The Kongamato of Africa would be a similar "Batwinged" water
monster; NB that it jumps out of water and is supposed to upset
canoes. There are apparantly separate analogues of this in Central
and West Africa, and the confusion of these with some sort of flying
reptile may be general; Charles Gould    in Mythical Monsters notes
the production of "Jenny hanivers" from West Africa since early times.

Unidentified Huso Sturgeon

   This type is general across the holarctic, especially in Siberia
and Canada, but also apparantly extends down into the Northern USA.,
including "Great White Sharks" reported in the Great Lakes during
the "Jaws" craze (personal info). This includes several types
sometimes mistakenly lumped in with the Longnecks (Coleman's
Waterhorses) such as the "Whales" of lakes Labynkir and Vorota(so
indicated in Eberhart but categorically contradicted in Costello)
They have the type of body scutes associated with Huso, being spaced
apart instead of continuous along the sides; occasionally, their size
is estimated as much as doubled (to 60 feet long) Eberhart has
several examples, mishmashed in there along with everything else: the
Lake Ilamna creatures are rather typical. These sturgon incidentally
are both saltwater and freshwater.

   Giant Eels; Marine division:

   Heuvelmans' "Super-eel " was a dustbin category but did contain
good reports of evidently local, well-defined forms of outsized
eels. The specific categories included a giant conger about 20 feet
long seen off of Singapore (Heuvelmans indicates Charles Gould as a
source and multiple local sightings), a type of "camoflage" eel in
the Mediterranean and a much larger form with fins at the side of the
head like a titanic conger with a characteristic dark top and light
bottom (unlike the smaller forms).   In the 1970's, I statistically
separated the category and called the larger well-defined form
Titanoconger and the smaller conger-like form Megaconger; the two
apparantly are also different in habitat and coloration. I leave
Heuvelmans' "Camoflage" eel the way it was without further comment.
The more clearly-defined animals were the ones with eellike fins
behind the head, but there was also evidence of a different Giant eel
with a blunter head and an unusual backfin, however, this was not
clear and I no nonger maintain that category.
James Sweeney also indicates a well-defined form of giant green
moray, 20 to 30 feet long and centered around Fiji.

The rest of the reports are difficult to categorize. However, once
the sorting had progressed to this state, it became evident by
statistical comparison that the "?LN?SE" category had the proportions
of the Longneck's neck and not the proportions of the forepart of a
Super-eel's body. The eellike forms are much thicker cylinders per
length. A good number of Heuvelmans' longer-bodied reports in this
category turned out to be wave patterns.

The Pauline case merits special attention. In checking this
report, it became evident that ALL the mesurements were severely
off. Three male sperm whales were seen together, and each one was
not only large, each one was unusually large. This statement alone
is highly suspicious, given what is known of sperm whales. In order
to be constricting the whale with two coils of its bodyand have 30-
foot sections in front of this and after,the eel does indeed have to
be 140-160 feet long; other commentators have not done the math on
this. The original writer also evidently said "girth" for diameter.

The dismissal of the Dana leptocephalus as a notacanth fish was
premature: the fins definitely did not correspond to that
classification. In any event , the determination was made on
paperwork when the actual specimen had gone missing . This opinion
does not deserve the air of authority it is often given in the
literature.

                              Freshwater division:

     When he was advancing the theory that the Loch Ness monster was
a giant eel, Maurice Burton noted several reports of river monsters
that were like giant eels in Britain and on the continent, seemingly
France and Germany.. Sometimes, these were reported with doglike
heads and serpentine bodies. no individual reports and no further
details were given. These might be the same as similar reports from
Scotland, Ireland and possibly Scandinavia, but these are mostly in
the small "Monster" size range, 10 to 20 feet long.

       Similar "eel" reports in a similar size range are mentioned as
coming from Eastern Canada., including a report by a diver in Lake
Memphremagog.

    James Sweeny was told by a member of Loch Ness investigation of a
purported giant eel skeleton 40 feet long found in a lake in Uruguay,
but it is safer to call this an outsized Anaconda, even though the
reported length is unusual.

       There is as so far no direct connection between saltwater and
freshwater reported forms of giant eels. The freshwater reports are
however consistent with the "Megaconger" category.

   Unidentified fishes: Marine Division:

Shucker indicates a kind of fish caught by Maurice Tati off
Auckland, New Zealand with winglike fins and "legs"that are kinds of
spines in From Flying Toads to Snakes with Wings which is obviously
a kind of sea-robin: I wonder why Shucker did not see this.

James Sweeney indicates some excessively-outsized groupers in the
Gulf of Mexico and around Australia in A Pictoral History of Sea
Monsters and Other Dangerous Marine Life, which may indicate new
species.

Oarfishes in the 40- to 60-foot long range are continuing to be
cited, despite Heuvelmans: Shucker also cites these figures.

                                      Freshwater division:

Giant pikes in Eurasia are supported by old records of 15-20 feet
long, including in the Guiness Book of World Records; some "Lindorms"
and other water monsters are also apparently large pikes.

Giant pikes are also indicated in water monster reports in the USA,
especially in the Great Lakes region, but giant garfishes are also
possible; such reports from the western US could be accidental
introductions. information on both sets of possible pikes are in
Eberhart.

Giant Catfishes are also so indicated, in both Europe and the USA;
Coleman also has information on these, published in FATE magazine.
reports of Giant catfishes in general may be nearly world-wide.

Giant Salmon are reported in the Kenai river in Alaska, being the
size of dolphins; this information comes from Pastor Ron Stevens of
the Southeasten Holiness Church in Indianapolis (personal info)
Similar reports might be expected from Eastern Siberia.

     Mystery Salamander (Andias, often called Megalobatrachus)

Giant salamanders of this type are separable from general water
monster reports and are basically holarctic in distrabution. Reports
extend from the British Isles, Northern Germany and Central Europe
all across Eurasia in spotty distrabution to Siberia, where Richard
Freeman tells me such creatures are called Paymurs: they are also
found in Canada and parts of Alaska, and then on the the midlands of
the USA and even to the Central Atlantic states. These are sometimes
called "giant water lizards", sometimes "alligators", and sometimes
are described as having horns or catfish barbels. The eastern USA
seems to have a pink form, of which an example seems to have
inhabited a pond on Ivan Sanderson's property at one point. Thes can
be confused with Waterhorses locally, such as it seems in Ireland,
but they have distinctive features such as a pale inside to the mouth
(Waterhorses have a distinctively red mouth lining, which may
function as a social signal) and distinct "annulations" or costal
grooves giving rise to such names as "wurms" or "wurrums"; they also
can inhabit much smaller bodies of water and can be even more
evanescent than Waterhorses. These salamanders and the Huso
sturgeons have skeletons that are largely cartiliginous and thus
bodies are said to "melt entirely away" without leaving traces. These
are almost universally stated to be no larger than 6 to 9 feet long,
but some reports make them out to be much larger.

      Mystery crocodilians: Marine division:

There are a large number of reported crocodilians which are stated
to be out-of-place. The stuation is very confusing since most non-
experts have very little grasp of differentiating crocodilians.
However, in this instance, the situation concerns large crocodilians
seen far out to sea, and these reports also repeatedly include
unusual anatomical features as well. The quick guide to crocodilians
I used was David Alderton, Crocodiles and Alligators of the World
with some additional material; even with this source, it quickly
becomes apparent that some situations reported are at variance with
the accepted model in many instances, and it is entirely possible
that there are as many unknown types of crocodilians as there are
currently-recognized species.

     In the case of sea-crocodiles, there are suspicious reports off
the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the Americas, off East Africa, and
far out to the Central Pacific where such reports "should not be".
Furthermore, some of these reports are of animals 50-60 feet long and
frequently allege shortened, flattened faces with horns in back of
the head. These features are also mentioned in Eberhart, and include
categories such as Silwaane manza, Taniwha (also called Moko in the
central Pacific and even Hawaii) and possibly even reports from the
Mediterranean (where they are not usually so large, but can range up
to 30 foot long skeletons with the alligatorine type of head,
called "duckbilled" and mentioned by John Keel). Similar reports are
inland in China, Southeast Asia and Madagascar. The range in
habitats is large and perhaps the different geographic areas should
be broken down into smaller units; it is unclear how many differnt
forms may be included. The "horned-alligator" also occur in the USA
(disregarding the Alkalai Lake monster but allowing populations
traditionally stated in the Texas area) as mentioned by Mark Hall in
PURSUIT ( "Horrors from the Mesozoic") and also in Mexican cenotes,
where, however, this may refer to the Cuban crocodile. It is
probable that there is a species of sea-crocodile that is
cosmopolitan in warmer waters, analogous to Crocodylus porosis but
even larger at maximum (60 feet is no doubt an exaggeration, but it
is consistently alleged), and more fully adapted to life at sea.
Reports also specify that it goes inland to breed and can dig
burrows, but the big ones prefer to keep to deeper waters. Richard
Freeman tells me that porosis and its crossbreed forms can indeed
look horned because of the formation of their ears, but we must not
rule out the possibility of convergence in unrelated forms. A
photograph taken off of East Africa is purported to show the animal
in the water with the "ears" sticking up.

                                    Freshwater division:

   Possible occurances of Alligator are suggested from Korea and
Japan, as extensions of the Chines form's range. Charles Gould
mentions that the Korean form is called A-Ke, but Alderton doubts the
reports. The Japanese form was called Wani, a term surviving in the
language and represented in dictionaries by terms
meaning "bowlegged", "snaggletoothed" and the like.

A probably much larger form of Alligator in China is evident from
historical records such as references by Charles Gould, Mythical
Monsters.

An Amazonian Crocodylus is apparently an unknown animal but widely
accepted in certain circles. It is clearly differentiated from even
the black caiman by reason of being larger and of a more aggressive
temperament, besides the typically crocodile head form. Harold
Wilkins evidently alludes to such "unknown prehistoric saurian"
reports in Secret cities of Old South America. there also might be
different Amazonian crocodiles at the mouth of the Amazon as opposed
to further upriver.

A gavial-like crocodilian is possibly represented in Central American
native artwork, and possibly is a residual of Charactosuchus

There are several unusual caimans which may be out of place or may
be new species; information is scanty. Alderton mentions reports but
does not believe them. This may include unrecognized extensions of
the black caiman's range.

Several local species of crocodilians are probably uncatalogued in
the Melanesian area; Heuvelmans mentions possible forms in the
Celebes and in New Britain, but there are dozens of these possible.
It would take an expert to determine this for certain, including in
the case of the New Britain migo. The South New Guinea crocodile also
might be entirely separate from the North New Guinea crocodile. These
various forms are presumably local "freshies" as opposed to
the "salty" Indopacific Crocodylus porosis.

         Marine Saurian;

    Heuvelmans created the category but did not make several
important internal distinctions. There is the standard version which
he describes as 40 to 60 feet long and which seems likely to be a
mosasaur, but there are also reports of a larger form with a head
characteristically 10 feet long or longer, and with a total length of
75 to 100 feet reported. This would be a different species, and also
has differnt physiology and behavior, being a deeper-diver, more cold-
tolerant and apparently at least sometimes a specialist predator on
small whales. I would include both the Egede animal and the one
killed by the crew of the Monongahela in this category: I have
subsequently found that this is also Shucker's opinion in the latter
case. Incidentally, the original version of the Monongahela report,
verifiably in the captain's correct name and in his handwriting, is
preserved in a New England shipping museum and differs from the
version that Heuvelmans had access to. If this does turn out to also
be what Egede reported, then the name Hyperhydra falls to it:
Heuvelmans intended this to mean "Super-otter", but it really is the
same thing as Megophias, ie, "the great water snake". Incidentally,
this form, some of the giant sharks and even the salamanders in
Freshwater are all seen to create the "many-humped" wake; so do
Killer whale backfins.

Shucker mentions a smaller animal popularly named "gambo" which
corresponds to some Marine Saurian descriptions, in particular some
problematic reports off East Africa ( the Java and Ambon reports)
In this case, this might be a highly-modified crocodile with flippers
for limbs and no dermal armor, or it might be a more usual kind of
marine saurian.

      Mystery Monitor: Freshwater division:

Buru-like creatures are reported throughout the area of Southern
Asia, including as the Meikong River monster, but also in southern
China in historical times and possibly as far afield as Taiwan and
the Phillipines (these last may be a separate sort) These are true
monitors since they have definite long necks and forked tongues;
however, reports may be distorted in saying that they have no legs or
are much bigger than they are (vide, the bu-rin, reported as 50 feet
long; in actuality, this is the same thing as the buru in a separate
location.) Fossil candidates for Komodo dragon-sized monitors exist
in India and reports go back to Roman days.
Charles Gould mentions a historical account of a Chinese dragon
(herein called an "Iguanodon") in an appendix to Mythical Monsters
under the name Kiao-lung; this was 12 feet long,resembles a snake but
has four feet and a fat belly, has a small head and a slender
neck,and was covered all over with scaly tubercules. it layed
reptillian eggs and lived in rivers and the thickets by the rivers.
its tail consisted of fleshy rings, all of which exactly matches the
best descriptions of the buru. (It was also edible and considered
quite tasty, from Gould's Chinese sourcebook). This does make it
look as if all dragons really are just monitors underneath it all;
the same forms are called "afa" in Mesopotamia and "tennin" in the
bible, thence also the "Giant Ethiopian Lizard "in Eberhart, likely
to be St. George's dragon. "Dragon", "Varanus" and "Monitor" all
mean exactly the same thing, by the way, all being translatable
as "Watcher"

Coleman also mentions that uncatalogued monitor lizards are
entering the pet trade from unknown locations. there is no way of
knowing how many forms this may represent.

Larger forms of the komodo dragons are also reported from central
Indonesia in the 20-30 foot long range, including on Komodo island
itself, but these are usually thought to be exaggerations. these are
however similar to reports in New Guinea of monitors in the same size
range.

Other monitors are discussed under the heading for terrestrial
animals.

   Waterhorse (Longneck + Merhorse):

     Possible new category: there might be reason to section
off "Marine Dimetrodons" from regular Waterhorses, and use
theValhalla sighting as the exemplar. This was not an eel, as
Heuvelmans presumed: Rupert Gould's data on the report mentions that
it had a large turtle-like body with four flippers.

The various reasons WHY these Waterhorses are more likely
plesiosaurs than pinnepeds is an extended argument that is better fit
for a more extensive treatment. However, it is simplest to say here
that Longnecks do not merely LOOK like they have a plesiosaur's neck,
it ACTUALLY IS a plesiosaur's neck, and in fact its flexibilty must
be much the same as Plesiosaurus; nothing else is comparable. From
the reports, it also has a plesiosaurian tooth pattern and bite, a
euryapsid skull and a plesiosaurian bones in its flippers. The head
is ridiculously small for any mammal and especially so for a "brainy"
mammal like a pinneped; the head is less that a tenth the size a
pinneped's would be from the reports. It has a "reptillian"
proportion of brain-to-body. beside this mere quibbling over such
things as contradictory descriptions of the tail pale into
insignificance.
   The mane is also not hair, it is coarse and fleshy by consensus of
witnesse's opinions, and is described as "scaly" as often as
being "hairy". The actually classic description is that it is like
seaweed, and this does not sound like hair. By the way, it is
evidently torn out in patches irregularly by rivals, regularly shed,
and regrown. Males evidently attack each other's head and neck
region and these areas are frequently reported as scarred.

Incidentally, stratigraphy of several late plesiosaurian fossils is
disputed: one specimen in the University of Alabama is labelled as
coming from the same beds as zueglodons come from, but this is
cuirrently said to have been in error when the label was made (on
presumption only . Source; Fossil Animals of Alabama). There can be
several examples of purported postCretaceous plesiosaurian fossils.

   Cryptid chelonians: Marine division:

   The large form with 15-foot-long flippers is due to mistaken
reports of Humpbacked whales, which are the only marine animals with
15-foot-long flippers. This also goes for the Osborne sea serpent.
Reports in this category are usually bad and always misleading.

   There is evidently an Archelon-sized Leatherback turtle in the
North Atlantic as noted by Ulrich Magin in PURSUIT ( "In Search of
Columbus' Sea Serpent")

                                     Freshwater Division:

   3-foot-long "Plesiosaurs" were reported in the "Lost world" area
of Venezuela, mentioned in PURSUIT and eventually in Ebrerhart; these
were actually seen sunning themselves like turtles and no doubt
actually WERE turtles, perhaps of the softshelled kind (but these
rarely bask out of water) possibly with limbs turned to flippers as
in the Fly River turtle.

Giant softshelled turtles are reported from Eastern India to
Indonesia with shells up to over 8 feet long and hence as large as
leatherbacks, and possibly are relatable to the Vietnamese giant
turtle. The Indian reports are generally referred to the
narrowheaded softshelled turtle, but these are reportedly even
larger. I leaned of these through art research, since they are
apparently depicted on local monuments.

    Mystery pinnepeds: Marine division

   The New Zealand Maori have a legendary creature much like a walrus
called the marakai-hau, and this is cited by Thor Heyerdahl and
others who wish to make a connection between the American Northwest
Coastal amerinds and the Maori. Walruses are NOT native to the
region. This creature is described as a big ugly merman with two
long tubes sticking out of its mouth.

   The creature described by Conder's men in Tasmania in 1913 and
called a Longneck by Heuvelmans in Wake is actually a "Thickneck" and
not a Longneck at all; but it is very likely an unknown pinneped and
Heuvelmans' name Megalotaria might well be used for it

Atlantic sea lions like the California sea lions are currently not
recognized, but a number of sea monster reports seem to refer to
them, and this includes Irish inland reports recorded by Dinsdale and
Costello. BOTH "sea lions" and "sea elephants" were legendary animals
in Europe before explores got to areas where they were "supposed" to
be.

There also is apparently a population of North Atlantic elephant
seals deducible from such sea monster reports, and Ivan
Sanderson's "Three-Toes" are among the candidates.
Incidentally, "Three-Toes" reports are recorded from the Caribbean in
the '20's and '30's and from all along the Brazillian coast as well,
and there are elephant seal type reports off of Florida from before
the tracks were reported. Ivan Sanderson's files include several
reports of elephant seal like Floridan water monsters, MOST of which
left conventional "seal" tracks!

Incidentally, elephants seal reports turn up regularly in Wake ,
often masquerading as "Merhorses" of all things. Elephant seal
reports emphasize a shortish neck and largish head, seallike form and
length of 15 to 30 feet typically. However, the head can be described
as anything from catlike front-on (which I take to be the females) to
hippolike and rhinoceroslike; one report says parrot-headed, and is
also a likely candidate. An Elephant seal is also likely to be what
was reported (badly) as the moha-moha (actually "moka-moka" and a
variant of the "bunyip" name "mochel-mochel") and on Easter Island as
the "Turtlelike" nuihi via Willy Ley. This all sound frankly rather
mad, but elephant seals are truly bizzare beasts!

    Ivan Sanderson in Living Mammals of the World   notes the
existance of an unclassified Indian Ocean monk seal with its center
of distrabution in the Maldive islands.

                            Freshwater division:

Chad Arment notes dwarfed freshwater seals in a lake on Victoria
Island in his book Cryptozology

    Mystery Sirenians: Marine division:

   Loren Coleman in discussing surviving Steller's sea cows mentions
a possible extension of range to the east, to the Arctic Archepelago,
Baffin bay and Hudson's Bay. This would explain several local sea
monsters locally described as being like an upturned boat and liable
to run into kayaks. There are similar reports off of Northern Siberia
from the Chukchi sea to the Laptev sea.

                             Freshwater division:

Freshwater Dugongs are mentioned in passing in Eberhart as being
reported in Malaysia and Indonesia : they are also mentioned by Ivan
T. Sanderson in Living Mammals of the World as being in certain
lakes of the Great Rift Valley of Africa, who mentions that this is
inexplicable. These may or may not be the same as the regular dugong
species, but the freshwater habitat is not typical.

   Mystery Cetaceans: Marine division:

   Ivan Sanderson (ibid) mentions the existence of an uncatalogued
Caribbean porpoise.

   Reports in Heuvelmans Wake can be construed as supporting the
existence of a supergiant rorqual whale, 250 to 500 feet long. This
would go without mention were it not for the fact that a letter from
a Mr. Henry Brown to SCIENCE DIGEST magazine seems to describe the
same thing. this was reportedly on 25 June 1966, 200 miles West of
the Azores. However, since what he described was a roiling motion of
the water that went on for longer than any known animal could be
expected to be emerging and diving continuously, this may have been
some sort of illusionary appearance caused by some wave action.

    The Emu carcase gives cause to postulate a form of beaked whale
of the dimensions and proprtions of Basilosaurus (Zueglodon)

   Loren Coleman in his Field Guide mentions a shovelheaded whale
with racing stripes but gives no further details.

                                   Freshwater division:

    Willy Ley speaks of a still-undescribed freshwater African
dolphin in The Lungfish, the Dodo and the Unicorn. this matter is
confused because a known kind of dolphin does go into freshwater in
this area, but not so far inland.

       Amphibious Pachyderms: Freshwater division

   South American "Iguanodon" tracks are probably persisting
Toxodons, which can be complemented by native artwork depictions.
Percy Fawcett illustrated a trail of these 3-toed tracks in his
book; Toxodons were 3-toed . (So are Rhinoceroses)    Heuvelmans
mentions the matter in his checklist but does not elaborate. These
animals must still cover a large territory, if Heuvelmans'
indications are all this type, and they appear to go into fairly high
altitudes in Bolivia and Peru; they are also reported all over Brazil
and Columbia. The situation is an exact parallel to
African "Brontosaurs" evidently actually based on "water-rhinos".

      Great snakes, Marine division:

It was the opinion of Rupert Gould that SOME sea serpent reports
were possibly due to Atlantic populations of standard sea-snakes. I
mention this for completeness, but I do not see any compelling reason
to accept the theory.

                               Freshwater division :

Sucuriju Gigante is not adequately described in Heuvelmans'
checklist: it is said to be over 100 feet long and several tons in
weight. However, as far as a possible real animal goes, I am willing
to let his description stand. Minocao is NOT described as larger!
The problem is, as noted in FATE magazine at one point, reports of
this type are pan-tropical, and in fact the basic category is only
the "Classic sea serpent" over again. This also counts for several
putative African and South Asian Super-pythons; Heuvelmans does not
mention Charles Gould's Nyans, worms capable of dragging down an
elephant in East India, but this is obviously the SoeOrm of the
Vikings under another name. The reports are most often merely wave
action.

A different Anaconda is Percy Fawcett's dark-colored,
heavyset "Snoring" one, two or three times the thickness of an
ordinary anaconda at the same length. I have named this Eunectes
robustus (and the Sucuriju Eunectes giganteus ) in a review for the
SITU; the "Snoring" or "Growling" anaconda gave rise to some of the
stories of the "Mysterious Beast" and the report of the anaconda
that "barked like a dog" as recounted in PURSUIT.

    There were possibly large amphibious snakes from New Zealand and
New Caledonia, possibly only in folk-memory, but also originally
forms of a water-boa like an anaconda; Costello mentions this and it
is listed in J.C. Cooper, Symbolic and Mythical Animals

Great Sea Centepede:

   ALL the reports in this category COULD well be mistakes. there is
an additional problem that there is a variance in proportional widths
per approximately similar lengths that can be as small as three feet
or as broad as 15 feet, a difference of the greatest being five
times the least estimated measurement. This is a difference of width
to length ranging from 1/20 to 1/4, obviously the difference between
how closely the individual finbacked animals are clustered together.
with this sort of inconsistency of reports, it is excusable to wonder
at the accuracy of other statements , such as "fins turned back to
front"

   Other Unknown Invertebrates: Marine division:

       The Table Bay, S. Africa sea serpent of 1857 is possibly a
Portugese-man-o'-war type colonial coelenterate. Heuvelmans does not
know how to classify the report in Wake

                                       Freshwater division:

     Eberhart reports a giant sea scorpion the size of an upturned
boat in a lake in Greenland. This is unlikely, but the "upturned
boat sea monster" isa referred to above as a possible sea cow.

TERRESTRIAL FORMS

This section will attempt to follow Heuvelmans' format more closely,
and discuss entries by continent. This causes less confusion in this
case because most of the candidates are geographically circumscribed
and not cosmopolitan.

A. North America:

Various accounts, frequently in collections of supposed Bigfoot
reports, seem to refer instead to giant short-faced bears (Such as
the Ice age Arctodus) , especially in the Eastern United States.
These are occasionally reported as killed or captured but not
recognized. They are recognizable for having large, round flat faces
like big cats and thus are recorded as "mystery cats" by Coleman and
others; Ivan T. Sanderson and John Keel also refer to such reports in
their collections. Their eyes glow in the dark and are larger than
the standard Bigfoot. They are also locally called "Booger bears"
but this is a nonspecific term. The shortfaced bears incidentally
had the limb proportions of a gorilla.

Ivan Sanderson alluded to Central American accounts of "cave cows"
in PURSUIT, and information was also in his archives (which I
examined in the 1970's). He felt that these were medium-sized ground
sloths, about 10 feet long.

Walker's Mammals of the World makes note of the fact that several
of the smaller kinds of groundsloth were present in the larger
islands of the Antilles up until the time that they began to appear
in colonial European middens along wit introduced domestic pigs.
These include a possibly fairly large form in Cuba much like
the "cave cows", medium-sized forms in Cuba and Haiti of about 6
feet long, and smaller forms in Haiti and Puerto Rico, about 3 feet
long and semiarboreal. All might have persisted and may be matched
to recent reports, sometimes called "apes" or "manapes". Eberhart
does mention such reports, including "small apes with claws"; claws
are simply not a feature of apes.

Ivan Sanderson's files included a letter remarking on a series of
purportedly unknown snakes in the Eastern United states, and also
mentioned an Eastern Condor, pretty much exactly like a California
Condor and differentiated from the Thunderbirds. I collected a
series of such reports from Indiana in the mid-1970's and have a
feather that was supposed to have come from a young one.

The snake forms are as follows:
                                The Giant blacksnake, up to 30 feet
long. Coleman and Eberhart have information on this also; There are
prominent reports from the midwest and the Ohio River valley in
particular. This probably actually is a relative of the Indigo
snake, the largest native American snake with even bigger relatives
in South America known. It is reported as large as the largest
recognized constrictors, but probably is more usually between 10 and
20 feet long as an adult, and more likely on the lower end of that
range. Heuvelmans records a parallel situation in France with a
possible candidate as the Montpelier snake.; Heuvelmans disbelieved
the American version.
                               A spitting rattlesnake, but supposedly
narrowheaded and thus possibly a feral spitting cobra.
                                A small, golden-colored rattlesnake
with extremely toxic venom.
                                A smaller form of rattless
rattlesnake, and
                                A larger form of rattleless
rattlesnake, the two apparently differentiated by coloration and
habitat, the larger one tending also to be darker and more in the
uplands. Both of these are probably members of Angkistrodon since
they closely resembly copperheads and cottonmouths. These are called
bobtails.

                               John Keel in Strange Creatures From
Time and Space (which is the version of the text that I own)
compares Hoop snake stories to the behavior of the rubber boa, and it
is indeed possible that a medium-sized boa , probably 6 feet long and
with the rubber boa's habit of hiding the head and striking with the
tail, is involved in such stories. Willy Ley spoke of the hoop snake
as a real animal, but then moved the discussion to the bobtails.

Ivan Sanderson's files contained reports of a small "dinosaur",
compared to the Charles R. Knight reconstruction of Ornitholestes
which is apparently the same thing being represented in more
modern "Dinosaur" reports. As far as can be told, this is an Iguanid
lizard which runs on its hind legs, with a body commonly compared to
a turkey's in size and a tail long enough to bring the total length
to 5 to 7 feet long; this is commonly exaggerated by two or three
times the actual dimensions. It is like a South American basilisk
lizard, but is larger and without the characteristic crests.

B. Eurasia:

The Snow lions alleged in Tibet are possible survivals of the Cave
lion, and possibly also persist in parts of China.

Willy Ley mentions that some authorities believed that SOME unicorn
stories were based on reports of surviving Elasmotherium,
a "Unicorned" rhinoceros of the Ice age.

   My personal candidate for the Kirin or Oriental unicorn is an
obscure fossil bovid, Tsaidamotherium. This had two unequal horns
certrally placed, looking like a single forked horn: more modern
unicorn rumors tend to center around Tibet and possibly the Kirin
was analogous to a chamois in size, coloration and habitat (but not
the horns)

Artwork of Central Asia has been interpreted as evidence of
surviving chalicotheres; this theory has not so far recognized the
fact that several representations of griffins are also similar to
chalicotheres, which would have had an overhanging upper lip. The
pertinent feature of griffins were their CLAWS (which is what they
are named after), NOT the beaks or wings; wingless griffins are a
common variant. Protoceratops is a bad second-choice candidate.

Siberian thunderbirds are also reported, and are possible extensions
of the New World thunderbirds. Mark A. Hall mentions several
parallel reports world-wide in his book Thunderbirds, but this
version is the only one where there is a probable continuity of the
types.

C. South America:

Ivan T. Sanderson in The Monkey Kingdom noted that he had seen
several forms of monkeys in South America (incuding captive ones)
that he was not even able to place familialy. A review of the New
World Monkey section of this book will bring home exactly what is
implied in that statement.

Several types of apes are rumored in South America, and here I
mention only a sort of Siamang, 3 feet tall and black in color, which
is called a "hairy dwarf" among other things, as a new form; Eberhart
and Coleman (in his book on unknown primates) include reports.
However, it is pertinent to note that Coleman in the same source
mentions that the Mapinguary is an ape, has no tail , and leaves an
orangutan like track. There are probable groundsloth reports in
Brazil, but they are NOT what is commonly called
Mapinguary/Pelobo/Capelobo/Pe-de-Gaffalo, and so on. The matter is
further confused because there are apparently intermediate-sized
versions of the larger and smaller apes, and moreover the
intermediate-sized versions both come in both red and black color
phases. This has nothing to do with the Isnachi and everything to do
with the Mono grande and Mono rey; the larger ape is incidentally
characteristically compared to a tailless howler monkey and both
larger and smaller apes evidently have expandible throat sacks.

The Falkland Islands wolf was mentioned in news dispatches during the
Falkland Islands war, and was assumed to be a population of the
Andean wolf.

The Xingu mentions a supposed giant armadillo called "Tatu-aruiap"
for "Ancestor-armadillo". this could well be a glyptodont.
Incidentally, the arguments against the Minocao being a glyptodont
are invalid; Gopher tortoises of the southern USA do a lot of
digging, and have domed shells!

There are South American Thunderbird reports, including mentions of
20-foot-wingspan condors in the old natural history books.

Artwork in Central and South America indicates the existence of an
Iguanid lizard of double the accepted limit, up to 12 feet long and
capable of sitting up to the height of a human being. This is clearly
a member of the genus Iguana from its characteristic crests and
scalation. The CFZ has xeroxes of some of the representations of
this that I sent to them earlier. I assume this is the same thing
reported as being like a komodo dragon in Venezuela: otherwise the
range seems to be from Mexico to Brazil. I have called this the
Greater dragon iguana, Iguana sp. nov., in a review for the SITU.

Harold T. Wilkins refers to an old report by John Lerius (de Lery)
in 1557-8 Brazil, of a "mountain lizard", covered in hard shells like
oysters and white in color, 6 feet long. This retreated from the
witnesses inland, and up a mountain, so that it was not a crocodilian
unless it was a land-croc. I assume that this one was an albino and
the normal coloration would be different. It could also be an
unrecognized form of Tegu lizeard, but the scales are unusual.

Horned boas are alleged ; Eberhart mentions this but has no
separate category.

Giant Tarantulas are often alleged, greater than the greatest known
species; Wilkins mentions reports but no specific measurements ("the
size of a bantam cock")

D. Africa:

"Mr X no.1" is the only one of the "Mr X" series which appers to me
to be a valid category of unknown, and seems to represent the larger
form of unknown hominid in Africa. It may be a residual of Kabwe or
Rhodesian man, some of which were 6'6". Interestingly, this would
seem to correspond to the "Marked hominid" of colder climates.
Note; this author prefers not to assort unknown relic hominids into
subcategories, although he recognizes traits of several distinct
fossil types in different areas; the exact classification of the
fossil types is also at issue. until such time as the fossil
classification can be finalized and the different types captured, he
would prefer to say "Homo, not sapiens" for the entire category,
separating out the apes and probably Gigantopithecus. This at least
should have pleased Grover Krantz, who decried the multiplication of
subtypes such as the systems of Sandeson, Coleman and Hall insist on.
      (a secondary consideration is that the coomonest form of
hallucination is seeing a human figure where there is none;
obviously, then, the commonest hallucination in the wilderness is
seeing human forms that are not there. Another feature of
hallucinations is that they can be indistinct, i.e., fuzzy)

Christine Janis in CRYPTOZOOLOGY thought that several presumably-
extinct mammals might be representd in native artworks; besides the
chalicotheres mentioned above, she postulated survivals of the
African Mesimbrooportax and Bramatherium; besides these, it should be
noted that African artwork cited as supporting the continuance of
Sivatherium actually refers to the more appropriate Libyatherium, and
this includes rock art of North AND South Africa, and even Victorian-
era prints.

Allison Jolly in A World Like Our Own mentions unidentified lemurs
on Madagascar, in particular a large (chimpsized) black-and-white
one and a small (guenon-monkey-sized) redbrown one, both flatfaced
(which is highly unusual in lemurs)

Heuvelmans mentioned several possible unknown animals of Madagascar
but did not include them on his checklist; and among these were
possible animals like "congo dragons "and hence possible unknown
monitor lizards. there was also a "long-eared lizard" confused with
the last, possibly a type of aardvark known locally from fossils.

Some rumored flying animals of Madagascar may be colugoes rather
than "bats", but these could also be scalytails (flying squirrels);
such creatures are also involved in such reports in Eastern Africa,
sometimes with lurid exaggerations, such as alleging doglike teeth
and vampiric habits. Some information on this matter is in Ivan
Sanderson's files. A "catlike bat" from India mentioned by Shucker
could also be a colugo; this is highly problematic.

Heuvelmans also mentions various legendary snakes of Madagascar,
usually with names beginning "Fang...", but without details: some of
these could be unknown boas. Heuvelmans declined to venture an
opinion on this when I mentioned this to him in correspondence.

Roy Mackal made note of the fact that "The smaller kind " of elephant
bird might still be in existence on the basis of personal
communications; he does not mention that "The smaller kind" is a
separate genus., Mullerornis. This was in his book Searching for
Hidden Animals. The "smaller kind" may have been referred to in old
Natural history books as a "sort of Cassowary".presumably still
extant on the island.

E. the Orient:

   Ivan T. Sanderson in Abominable Snowmen: Legend come to Life
mentioned several odd sorts not included on previous checklists, and
this included the "Langur ape" sometimes described as an "Abominable
snowman"; however, although this form can stand as tall as a man, it
has a tail. In regards to the Kra-dhan, I tend to follow Heuvelmans
decision that it is an ape like an orangutan rather than Sanderson's
judgement that it is a macaque (both giant macaques and apes being
involved in the area) on the basis of personal information. This
would be a residual of "Fossil Pongo", like the "yeren";
however, "Fossil Pongo" is a ground-living ape the size of a gorilla
and NOT typical of Pongo, the orangutan. It needs a new name: Krantz
suggested "Yeren" as a genus name but on the basis of remains
otherwise assumed to be human. Heuvelmans' name of "Dinanthropoides"
was based on different sorts of creatures and he assumes that it
refers to the Gigantopithecus sorts. I separately had suggested that
the only proper term would be "Yeti" to the SITU, but this article
was never published.
   Sanderson separately suggested a gigantic siamang as the culprit
in certain "Orang pendek" reports; more generally, this Orang
pendek on the other hand strongly resembles Homo florensis recently
in the news and this could have been a widely distributed variant
(of ?Homo erectus) that persists in numerous modern enclaves.
   Chad Arment separately discussed giant orangutans in Cryptozology,
and this was a matter I had related to "fossil Pongo" and wrote to
Heuvelmans about. It is notable that his discussion explains the
Beraung Rambi entirely differently than Eberhardt's version does.

Ivan Sanderson's "Second-class dragons" were natives of the Near
East and evidently like large Draco lizards, with the possibility
that these were exported to Europe. This seems reasonable to me, as
would be the assumption that ALL of Eberhardt's "Flying snakes" of
Europe and Africa were of this type. These seem generally reported
as 3 to 6 feet long, rarely (exaggerated) as 9 feet long, and
apparently with a rib-"wingspan" of 2 to 4 feet. This entry is to
note that these forms similarly continue across India to Southeast
Asia: J.C. Cooper mentions them in Malaysia and Harold Wilkins in the
Phillipines. The African ones seem to be confused with freshwater
rays in the popular mind.

E. Oceania

   Artwork of the Asmat people of New Guinea illustrated in The
Asmat might indicate a tailless pterosaurian called the Ambirak.
This contrasts with the types suggested in shucker's research, one of
which is small and tailed and the other of which is large, tailless
and crested. This is small, tailless and crestless. The SITU has my
report on this as well as copies of the relevant woodcarvings.

Eberhart includes information that was useful in sorting out
categories of purported giant monitor lizards on New Guinea;
actually, there are four categories listed, evidently confused in the
popular mind. The smallest one is a kind of tree-lizard and the
largest one is the crocodilian Taniwha; but in between are an
apparent perentie-sized and an apparent komodo dragon-sized monitor
lizard. The smaller form is called Kumi and the larger form is
Ngarana; the larger form is reported as far away as Melanesia with a
similar name and there it seems to be applied to the crocodile
monitor or salvadori monitor; the New Zealand form may be a different
species of similar size since it seems to go on long sea voyages.

On the other hand, Eberhart's treatment of moas is not at all
useful; he records reports in several different size-ranges,
presumably different genera of birds, and then puts them into an
entry under the name of the smallest one! For the record, Mackal
introduces reports of what seems to be the commoner type, which is
much like an emu (this makes it possible that it is actually an emu,
although witnesses seem to deny this)

David Alderton, after discarding several reports of various
crocodilians that do not "fit", gets down to describing the Land-
crocodile Mekosuchus of New Caledonia and the hits us with the
opinion that it or similar forms might still survive on nearby
islands!

   It is the opinion of the author that the reports of the "Little
hairy black men" Menehune refer to Celebes apes distributed by
Melanesians for cultic purposes. "Menehune" is the common Polynesian
referent for Melanesians, see Heyerdahl. Celebes apes, according to
Sanderson in The Monkey Kingdom are seen as ancestors locally and
have a puzzling distrabution, including islands of the New Guinean
realm (although Sanderson doubts this): I have artwork comparisons
which satisy me that some New Guinean "Ancestor" figures
(Called "Baboon-faced") are representations of Celebes apes, and
Heyerdahl indicates that the Melanesian Menehune went as far afield
as Hawaii (We need not subscribe to his rather racist opinion that
they did so as slaves) Hence, I have no problem with the idea that
Celebes apes were distributed cultically as far afield as Hawaii and
New Zealand, where they later ran wild.   This is also my explanation
for several of Heuvelmans' categories of "Little hairy wild men" in
Melanesia itself.

CLASSIFICATION OF ADDITIONAL CHECKLIST ENTRIES BY TYPE

This accounting represents the minimum number of new types possible
on this list. Some entries can be no more precise than
saying "Several" species might be indicated. This listing can be no
more than provisional.

I. Marine forms:

                             5 Sharks including one sawfish and one
angel shark
                             2 Large rays
                            4 Eels at least twice the length of the
largest known kinds, including one much larger.
                             2 Possible groupers
                             1 Sea-robin
                             At least 1 unrecognized sea crocodile of
unusually large size, unusual appearance and habitat
                             1 mosasaurian of unusually large
dimensions
                             1 unusually large leatherback turtle
                             4 unexpected pinnepeds, but only one
entirely different than known species
                             1 sea cow, probably the same species as
on Heuvelmans' checklist
                             3 toothed whales
                             1 baleen whale of incredible dimensions
and hence suspicious
                             2 rather suspicious large invertebrates
                            __
                           28 total

II .Freshwater forms:

                             At least 1 shark of uncertain
classification
                             At least 8 kinds of rays
                              At least 1 and possibly more than 2
sturgons of known genus, unknown species
                             Probably 1 species of large eel,
transatlantic and similar to one of the marine types
                             At least 2 pikes and/or gars
                             At least 2 giant catfishes
                             1 large salmon
                             At least 2 giant salamanders of a known
genus
                             3 monitor lizards (Varanus)
                             At least 5 alligatorine crocodilians
including an indeterminate number of caimans
                             1, possibly 2 crocodiles
                              1 possible gharial-shaped crocodilian
                              2 softshelled turtles
                              1 freshwater pinneped
                              2 seacows similar in appearance to
dugongs but in an unrecognized habitat
                               1 possible dolphin
                              1 Toxodon
                              3 possible anacondas (boids)
                              __
                            At least 35 total, maximum beyond
reckoning.

III. Terrestrial forms:

                               1 outsized tarantula
                               At least1 land-croc and 1 either a
land-croc or an unusual lizard
                               At least 1 Draco formed lizard of
unusual size
                               Possibly 3 Varanus lizards
                               2 large Iguanids (one as large as the
largest standard sized Iguana, the other double that length)
                               1 Possible Pterodactylus-type pterosaur
                               More than 3 Boas
                                4 rattlesnakes
                                1 indigo snake
                                2 condorlike birds
                                2 ratites
                                Possibly 6 groundsloths
                                1 glyptodon
                                1 aardvark
                                3 carnivores (a bear, a wolf and a
big cat)
                                1 rhinoceros
                                 1 chalicothere
                                2 bovids
                                 2 giraffids
                                 2 Possible colugos (possibly flying
squirrels)
                                 2 lemurs
                                  An indeterminable number of
unclassifiable New World monkeys
                                 1 langur monkey
                                  2 lesser apes, one of which is
large and the other is standard-sized with a larger variant
                                  At least 2 orangutanlike apes, also
with larger and smaller variants
                                  1 giant hominid, presumably a
fossil Homo
                                  __
                                An indeterminate number more than 48
total

                                Full total more than 101, maximum
possible undeterminable.

Plug

Tuesday, 17 December 2013

American Almas

Monday, 16 December 2013

New Large Land Mammal Newly Discovered

Scientists make one of the biggest animal discoveries of the century: a new tapir

Neanderthal Woodwoses (Wildmen)

Rough Draft of Amendments to Cryptozoological Checklist located online

Ardipithecus_is_a_Bonobo

Yeti and Sasquatch Family Tree