Library of Cryptozoology

The monster taken at Fortune Bay was still unidentified two days after it was killed in a 48-hour battle against fishermen's guns and harpoons, and was lying lashed to Capt. Earl Noble's motor vessel Golda awaiting an offer of purchase. If no museum or institution buys the huge carcass, its nine-inch deep coat of fat will be fried into oil. The exact length of the creature is 34 feet. It is finless, but has several pairs of four-foot long flippers. Its tail is nine feet in extreme width; while the mouth, three feet, eight inches across, extends nine feet from the tip of the snouth. The immense fish differs greatly from any whales frequenting Newfoundland waters, and does not fit descriptions of any known fish.

The account given in the Union yesterday of a mammoth sea monster seen by Capt. Charlesworth, of the yacht Cygnet, and the venerable Dr. Squills of this city, last Tuesday in a cove on the Peninsula, created considerable commotion, especially among the members of the Academy of Sciences. The Academy held a special meeting, and the UNION’s account was read by the Secretary. Several members spoke of the serpent-fish, and all confessed themselves unable to classify it with any of the known families of the great deep. When they adjourned they all went sailing over to the Peninsula, in hope to obtain a glimpse of the wonderful visitor to our harbor. Every sailing and row boat on the bay was out with parties all day long, the occupants being anxious to obtain a glance at the serpent-fish, but keeping a respectful distance from the cove where he was seen. Charlie Kauffman, of this city, and Pete Thompson, of Los Angeles, who happens to be here visiting, went prospecting for sights on the Bay ...

A party consisting of Messrs. E.A. Veazie, J.M. Spencer and Dr. Squills went out sailing on the yacht Cygnet (formerly Pilot boat No. 2), Captain George Charlesworth yesterday morning and returned about one o'clock P.M. From them our reporter has obtained the following particulars of a remarkable sea monster which was seen by Capt. Charlesworth in a cove on the Peninsula almost opposite this city. After sailing up to the end of the Peninsula and back as far as this cove, the yacht was brought to an anchor and the parting, taking their three shot guns, when off to the sore in the skiff. It was agreed upon that Messrs. Veazie and Spencer should remain concealed at that point until Capt. Charlesworth and Dr. Spills should go up and around the cove in search of curlews. These birds, which are considered very choice game, have been shot in considerable quantities at this place, and by keeping them flying back and forth across the cove the party expected to bag several messes. At the upp...

The good people of Nahant and other eastern localities can no longer boast of the sole proprietorship of a great "sea serpent." We have one on the California coast, and he was lately seen in St. Simeon Bay, San Luis Obispo county, about two miles from the shore. At that distance he appeared to be about 80 feet in length. He carried his head high out of water, the sea being perfectly smooth, travelled swiftly, and in half an hour after first being seen, disappeared at sea. He was seen by at least a half dozen gentlemen and ladies, all of whom had a good view of the monster.

We have so often heard of a sea serpent being in existence in the Atlantic Ocean, we had hoped he would pay a visit to the Pacific Ocean, so that we might make an item, and not place reliability in the papers of the East as to his existence, until he was seen on this side. Such seems to have been the case; for some passengers on board the British barque Bolina, from Valparaiso, arrived yesterday [at San Francisco], report that they actually saw a sea serpent on the 3d of May, in lat. 25 N., lon. 130, near Douglass Reef [Okinotorishima]. He was about half a mile from the vessel, and measured about one hundred and seventy feet in length.

It is stated that the master of a schooner recently arrived reports having seen a sea monster a few degrees to the eastward of the Sandwich Islands [Hawaiian Islands]. It is represented to have been not less than eighty feet long, with a head like that of a common water snake, and provided with huge fins, with which it proceeded through the water with incredible speed. The creature passed across the bows of the vessel, and was last seen about a mile to windward. It appeared above the water several times in the course of ten minutes.

The 16th I went out in a canoe which Captain Kendrick purchased of the natives and made me a present of shooting I left the ship [Columbia] early with an intention of seeing the village of Okerminna [in Clayoquot Sound] it was noon before I arrived at Inistuck ... before which is a clever snug cove in which there were many geese, ducks and teal sporting here I landed in order to get a shot at them one of the people that was with me who also landed in creeping along the edge of the bush saw an animal which I conceiv'd to be an alligator the man was so agitated as not to be able to give any description of what he had seen than that it was a huge animal very long with a large mouth and teeth the neck about as thick as his thigh and so tapered of to the tail with a black back and light yellow belly I immediately repaired to the place where this animal had been seen but could not get a sight of him from this circumstance I was induced to think it was only a burnt log (of which there are...

At 0645 GMT a dark-brown whale with a prominent dorsal fin ... was seen from for'ard, swimming just below the surface of the sea [Indian Ocean], and about 100 m ahead of the ship [SS Act 1 ]. When only 40 m away, it took evasive action by diving, its flukes remaining below the surface throughout. No blow was observed. Although no positive identification was possible, the prominent dorsal fin and dark-brown colouring suggest the sighting was of the Alula Whale.

The bright illuminating lights were turned on as he [Joe Thompson] maneuvred the craft [the Deepstar 4000 ] along the San Diego Trough at a depth of 4000 feet [in June 1966]. Suddenly, as Thompson looked out the pilot's viewport, a giant fish swam into view under the port. He looked directly into one of its eyes, which later he described as the size of a dinner plate. As the fish quickly moved on, Thompson could see the silt swirling from the bottom of the ocean. Finally as the enormous fish passed, he saw its serrated tail and he judged it to be nearly 40 feet in length: Joe Thompson was also certain that the fish had possessed scales

Buenos Aires, Argentina, 21-1-67. A mysterious animal weighing 700 to 800 kilograms was hunted in the Atlantic Ocean in the proximity of the mouth of the Salado River. Its capture scattered dread and discomfort, although the oldest fishermen failed to recognize its classification and origin. The subofficial, Sotelo, of the prefecture (Maritime Police) said that a large animal swam in front of his post. At first he thought that it was a sea-cow in the distance, but the approach in a launch proved that it was an unknown animal, which was escaping. After two shots, Sotelo managed to kill the monster, which was roped and drawn from the water by the townsmen. The beast possessed dorsal fins in the form of hands, ending in four clawed digits, and a spindly body. The head was similar to that of a cow, although provided with large canine teeth similar to those of a carnivore. A daily newspaper has published today a photograph of the head of the monster by the side of its captor, Sotelo.

Don't confuse a salp with a sea serpent, a marine authority advises. The research ship Challenger, which first reported sighting a 40-foot sea monster of an as yet unclassified species in the Atlantic about 15 miles off of Sandy Hook, returned to port after another cruise through the area Thursday, The researchers didn't see the sea serpent, but they saw salp, says John Clark, assistant director of the Sandy Hook Marine Laboratory. The salp is a cousin to the jellyfish and usually is about as big as a man's fist. But when salps reproduce, they form long ribbon-like segments [chains]. This long string is wiggly and transparent and can well give the illusion of being sea serpent, according to Clark, but the creature is harmless. Clark said he thinks an epidemic of sea monster repotrs will be loosed by the Challenger's encounter with the unknown 40-foot creature. Most likely it will be salps that the people will see, he said. Be it salp or honest-to-goodness sea serpen...

A "thing" described as a 40-foot-long hunk of jelly is reported cavorting in the Atlantic. It undulated near the surface in a manner resembling the storied sea serpents, says Dr. Lionel A. Walford, director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife research center here. "But please be careful not to call it a sea serpent," savs Walford, who saw the creature. "It is an invertebrate," he said here. "It looked like so much jelly. I could see no bones, and no eyes, nose or mouth. But, there it was, undulating along looking as if it were almost made of fluid glass." The "thing" was sighted off Sandy Hook. "It was at least 40 feet in length, and about 5 inches thick and perhaps 7 to 8 inches deep, looking something like an enormously long flattened eel," said Walfofd. The "thing" was sighted from a research vessel as scientists were lowering two frogmen in a sharkproof' iron "bird cage" to make oceanographic studies.

The blacks [of the Bloomfield River, Queensland] say that they have watched this animal's mode of attacking the kangaroo. It only does so when its victim is isolated from its mates and then only by stealth. It keeps at a distance from its prey until it can frighten it by suddenly rushing towards it, uttering screeches. As soon as the kangaroo turns its back or is in the act of jumping away, the cat springs on its back and crushes the base of its skull in its jaws, which the blacks describe as very powerful. I have never seen this animal myself, but I have seen its tracks, which are very similar to those of a large dog and seem to be provided with long claws. The blacks describe it as about the size of a bulldog with long brindled fur and very large eyes. They are frightened of it and will not go near any cave or hole where they think one might be, as they say it does not hesitate to attack a man and often kills their dogs. [ - Robert Hislop]

At the time of his terminal illness [Ralph] Wetzel was convinced there was a genuine possibility of a third species of Choloepus in this region [Brazil, Peru, Ecuador] of upper Amazonas distinct from C. didactylus and C. hoffmanni , but the puzzle was not resolved before his death.

... there are reports in the [Imatong] mountains of a mythical beast akin to the Nandi bear of Kenya. Some labourers working high in the Acholi hills clearing firelines came to me with a tale of having seen a large animal, bigger than a lion and very broad. Its head was large, with a pointed muzzle, and a black mouth with long canine teeth. The general colour was brownish, with vertical yellowish-white stripes on its flanks. It left an elongated footprint, the size and shape of that of a small boy, but with claws. The beast was quite unknown to them, and they were very scared about it.

Then there is the matter of dinosaurs ... The December 1990 issue of the German magazine GEO –usually nonfiction–features "Search for the Monster," a report that makes Auyantepui sound like Loch Ness. The article describes a trip that was inspired by the sighting of a strange animal several years before. Then three men helicoptered to the tepui and spotted a long-necked, saurian-looking creature swimming in a lagoon. All had left their cameras in camp. They went back to retrieve them, and as they returned to the lagoon, the mysterious animal animal reappeared! By the time they landed, it had vanished, leaving only widening ripples on the water's surface. No footprints, no pictures. I made light of the story, unaware that Fabian's brother, Dr. Armando Michelangeli, a founder and the president of Terramar, was one of the trio. Armando stepped in: "Look. I was there. I saw it. It had a head about the size and shape of a rugby football, and a neck about a foot long. ...

Alexander [Laime] is a keen student of wildlife on the tepuis, and he insists that on his 1955 expedition to Auyan he encountered three dinosaur-like lizards. Over tea in a corner of his garden he told us he had come upon them while searching for diamonds in one of the rivers on top of Auyan-tepui. "They were sunbathing on a rocky ledge above the river," he said. "At first I thought they were seals, but when I sneaked closer, I saw they were creatures with enormously long necks and ageless reptilian faces. Each had four scale-covered fins instead of legs." For proof Alexander rummaged through a pile of papers and came up with some drawings that he had made at the time. To me they resembled plesiosaurs, marine reptiles that became extinct 65 million years ago.

Segamai is described as being an animal about the size of a cow, that can walk on all fours or erect. It is described as having matted fur and a snout similar to that of the giant anteater. It is said to reside in caves and remote forests of the foothills and cloud forest, where it eats the pith of palms and Cyclanthaceae. The name segamai means ' Oenocarpus fibers,' referring to the dark, matted hair of the creature which is said to be like the fibers surrounding the leaf stems of the palm Oenocarpus . As recently as twenty-five years ago, a man claims to have seen the creature from a distance. The Matsigenka say segamai exists to this day in some locations. The Matsigenka are deathly afraid of segamai . It is said to be highly aggressive, emits a bloodcurdling roar, is impervious to weapons, and emanates a strong odor or supernatural force that dazes, stupefies or renders unconscious those who come near it.

In the lava caves of the Lake Kivu area there exists an animal which is described by the natives as never having been seen or killed by man. The native description of it is: "Very high in the back. Color blue black. No horns, small ears, long jowl. Its teeth meet like those of the hippopotamus. All animals fear it save the gorilla, the lion, and the buffalo. It is entirely carnivorous, and eats three bush buck or marsh antelope a day. It some times attacks human beings. No man can withstand it save with glowing coals or fire, aided by shouts and drum beats close by. If left, unburied when killed, it is a great wizard, and its spirit returns with potent sorcery. No beast of prey will eat its flesh" "I hunted this animal for weeks," said Captain [Tracy] Philipps, "with every known device. When news of its lair was brought, and we found the grass broken at the entrance and a track made on the rock lava, we stopped all entrances but one. We descended, my orderly ...

?alendùmu' Nom. • Ancester of the panther family. Giant mythical panther capable of killing an elephant ... Or 'gbàngonjò': lion? Giant panther which lives in the water and makes holes like fish. It breeds in the water, but can come onto land if it sees prey; it can even kill a small elephant. - Also called: súà nà ngo: water panther.

A young Peruvian ranchman, Dr. Daniel A. Tovar, Huancayo, Peru has given me much information about the animals and plants of this region. He says they have three bears, a black one with brown nose, the largest, about as large as our Cinnamon bear and in the habit of killing cattle; a brown one nearly as large, perhaps a variety of the other; and the spectacled bear. He says that the large deer of the high altitudes has two pouches under its eyes, and when surprised by an enemy, draws down the skin so as to expose them, thus presenting the appearance of having four eyes.

... information from BBC producer Michael Andrews indicates that a platypus or platypus form has been reported from an island in Tierra del Fuego, at the southernmost tip of South America. The sighting was made in the 1970s by an amateur naturalist.

I have heard talk on the Liberdade of the mysterious little carnivorous boule-boule. It seems that an old Amazonian mesitzo who knew the nheen gatú dialect of the Tupi-guaraní tongue, called it anga i uára, which would probably signify "the greedy devil" or the "eater of souls." I also heard mention of a terrestrial caiman who lived in holes under the tree roots. They cited a seringueiro whose hand it had bitten and who had been maimed for life. It is said to be dark brown, almost black with a rather broad back. But the description is very vague. A literate seringueiro who had seen it found that it closely resembled the monotreme in his text book. Every person who had glimpsed it thought it a rare and strange animal.

It is about a year ago since the scientific world was startled by the report of a German naturalist traveling in southern Brazil, whence, in a lengthy communication to Nature , he substantiated the occurrence of a large and hitherto unknown quadruped inhabiting those forests. The animal itself had not been seen by him, but its tracks and diggings, as manifested in huge furrows channeled out in the soil of its primeval forest, supported the supposition that it was a creature of gigantic size. Notwithstanding the somewhat sensational character of the communication, it was, however, generally credited on account of the authenticity of its source. By instituting inquiries in regard to this matter in the central valley of the Amazons, where I had spent in former years several months in collected specimens of natural history, I have come lately in receipt of some facts communicated to me by one of my Brazilian friends residing there still, which tend to throw some light upon this mysterious...

From a small chain of hills, near to this range of mountains [the Cordillera Occidental near Cartago], with a good glass, have been seen numbers of the carnivorous elephants, feeding on the plains which skirt these frozen regions: their enormous teeth have occasionally been seen; but no one has yet succeeded in killing one of these animals, or, indeed, in getting near to them.

In their dual capacity as foresters and wildlife officers, the rangers of the 1920s and 1930s kept meticulous records that make riveting reading ... An early supervisor wrote: On several occasions this summer, Ranger Paul Gilbert has discussed with me the matter of there having been found in Lily Lake, in the southern end of Blanca district, from two to four or five "Duck-bills." I have not been anxious to report this earlier, thinking that some mistake might have been made in the identity of these mammals. However, on my last trip to his station, and in a a trip over his district, I found that the existence of the mammals is known to several men and that several men are making an attempt to trap them. As I understand it, these are egg-laying, burrowing, aquatic mammals and are supposed to exist largely, and possibly only, in Australia. I have read somewhere that North America has none of these mammals, and if this be the case, I think the matter should be immediately invest...

From Wales to beyond Point Barrow the Eskimo have many tales of two monsters, a ten-legged white bear, qoqogaq or qoqogiaq, and a walrus dog. A Wales native living near Point Barrow, who claimed to have seen the bear, said that the distance between its ears is the full stretch of a man's two arms. It is so big and heavy that it can break through ice as thick as a man is tall. Sometimes it lies on its back and waves its ten legs in the air so that from a distance they appear like men in motion; hence hunters are warned to be careful if they see anything that looks like a man on the ice. In the spring and summer it lies in wait to drag the hunter's kayak under the water. Whether there is only one of these animals, or more than one, the Eskimo cannot agree. A party travelling eastward from Point Barrow in the autumn of 1913 heard one swimming beneath their sleds, and when they coughed loudly and moved away from the trail, the monster poked its head through the ice, which was too ...

A curious animal was believed to roam over the marshes [near Marblehead], making a roaring sound. I never knew one who claimed to have seen it, but a very clear idea of its appearance prevailed; a person who looked unkempt or fierce was compared to "a rumbling marsh lion," or one who talked boisterously was said to roar like "a rumbling marsh lion." The old people were sure that it was a real live thing wandering around, and not altogether canny. Could a sea-lion have strayed up some of the salt creeks in days long ago, and so given rise to the legend?

... Russian scientists have not yet given up home of finding a live mammoth in the unexplored northern wastes of their country. Three times during the past 25 years mammoth trails have been reported–three branches broken off where animals of the region could not have reached them, and patches where bark had been eaten off tree-trunks high above the ground. Whites last saw the gigantic, shaggy pachyderm in the 16th century, when Ataman Yermak and his Cossacks conquered Siberia. In a message to Ivan the Terrible, the chieftain wrote of the "great hairy elephant which natives call the 'mountain of meat'," as being "one of the riches of the kingdom of Sibir."

"During the war, while I [Anthony Fiala] was working on rifles, I met a man who said he had been into Siberia and, on determining to penetrate a certain forest, found that the natives were unwilling to accompany him there ... they drew pictures of a fearsome beast like the prehistoric mammoth and trembled and said they would not go..."

A killer elephant, which some have interpreted as possibly a mammoth, was tricked onto thin ice on this lake [Lake Watson] by a resourceful boy. The elephant went through and drowned, thus saving the remaining people from its ravages ... Elder Mida Donnessey ... then continued with the story of another elephant, whose lair was in the upper Hyland River, which was also killed by humans.

When asked to describe Kátcheetohúskw, the [Naskapi] informants said he was very large, had a big head, large ears and teeth, and a long nose with which he hit people. His tracks in the snow were described in their stories as large and round. One Indian who had seen pictures of the modern elephant said he thought that Kátcheetohúskw was the elephant ... the older Indians question were unanimous in declaring that such had always been the description of the Kátcheetohúskw so far as they had any knowledge. ... Dr. Frank G. Speck has kindly sent me an interesting tale which he recently secured from the Penobscot Indians of Maine. The myth concerns the adventures of Snowy Owl, a Penobscot culture hero ... He saw what seemed to be hills without vegetation moving slowly about. Upon closer scrutiny he saw that these masses were really the backs of great animals with long teeth, animals so huge that when they lay down they could not get up. They drank for half a day at a time. Snowy Owl went ...

There was a tradition among the Indians [northwest of the Ohio] of the existence of the mastodon; they were often seen; they fed on the boughs of a species of lime tree, and they did not lie down, but leaned against a tree to sleep.

... [28 September 1807:] The Old Chief & others related that in the Woods of the Mountains there is a very large Animal, of abt the height of 3 fms & great bulk that never lies down, but in sleeping always leans against a large Tree to support his weight; they believe, they say, that he has no joints in the mid of his Legs, but they are not sure as they never killed any of them, & by this acct they are rarely or never seen--this is no doubt some Animal of their Nurses Fables, as they cannot say they ever saw the least remains of a dead one. ... January 5 [1811]: ... we are now entering the defiles of the Rocky Mountains by the Athabasca River... strange to say, here is a strong belief that the haunt of the Mammoth is about this defile... I questioned several, none could positively say they had seen him, but their belief I found firm and not to be shaken.... All I could say did not shake their belief in his existence... ... January 7: Continuing on our journey in the aft...

A long time ago [according to the Chitimacha] a being with a long nose came out of the ocean and began to kill people. It would root up trees with its nose to get at persons who sought refuge in the branches, and people lived on scaffolds to get away from it. It made its home in a piece of woods near Charenton, and when guns were introduced the people went into this wood to kill the monster, but could not find it. When the elephant was seen it was thought to be the same creature, and was consequently called Neka-ci ckami, 'Long-nosed spirit'.

Many years before the discovery of the elephant in the bayou called Carancro an Atakapas savage had informed a man who is at present in my service in the capacity of cow-herd that the ancestors of his nation transmitted to their descendants that a beast of enormous size had perished either in this bayou or in one of the two water courses a short distance from it without their being able to indicate the true place, the antiquity of the event having without doubt made them forget it. The fact has realized this tradition.

Some of the Upper Crees, a tribe who inhabit the country in the vicinity of the Athabasca river, have a curious tradition with respect to animals which they state formerly frequented the mountains. They allege that these animals were of frightful magnitude, being from two to three hundred feet in length, and high in proportion; that they formerly lived in the plains, agreat distance to the eastward; from which they were gradually driven by the Indians to the Rocky Mountains; that they destroyed all smaller animals; and if their agility was equal to their size, would have also destroyed all the natives, &c. One man has asserted that his grandfather told him he saw one of those animals in a mountain pass, where he was hunting, and that on hearing its roar, which he compared to loud thunder, the sight almost left his eyes, and his heart became as small as an infant's.

The Tartars maintain that the mammoth still exists in their country at the mouths of rivers ... It is also claimed that hunters have pursued them [mammoths] west of the Mississippi.

Having been shown a number of the Edinburgh Magazine by a gentleman in this neighbourhood, which gives some account of an uncommon animal seen among the mountains of North America, and signifies a hope that some person who has actually seen the animal will come forward and describe what he knows of it, I take this opportunity of testifying, that, in so far can judge from the description, I have seen the very animal in question. In the year 1803, I was sergeant in the service of the Hudson’s Bay Company, and in that capacity accompanied the late Louis in an incursion into the interior, with view to open a direct communication with the Indian nations immediately to the west of us. We left York fort on the 19th of May 1803. About fortnight after, having been sent across a river, the name of which I do not now recollect, by Mr Louis’s orders, the guide and myself suddenly came upon animal of an enormous size. It appeared about 20 feet in height, and had a very heavy and unwieldy appearance...

Mr. Editor, the following short notice relative to what seems to me to be a subject of no slight interest may probably be deemed worthy of insertion either among your customary memoranda of natural history, or in some vacant corner of your instructive miscellany. You know that specimens of what has been denominated the wool-bearing animal have lately been transmitted from the rocky mountains of North America, to the professor of natural history in this city. This animal had not been described in any of the great works on natural history; and though it is a remarkable quadruped, not only from its haunts, which are among the high precipices of stupendous mountains, but from the great beauty and value of its fleece, it has till within few years been altogether unknown to any of the numerous scientific individuals who have been so actively engaged in investigating the wonders of every quarter of the globe. The fact is, however, that this animal, which we are informed is intermediate betwee...

There is also a rather amusing tradition among these [Algonkian] barbarians of a great moose, next to which the others are like ants. They say it has legs so high that eight feet of snow do not hinder it. Its skin is proof against all sorts of weapons, and it has a sort of arm coming from its shoulder that it uses as we do ours. It never fails to have a large number of moose following it that make up its court and that render it all of the services it requires of them.

Tis also advised from Louisiana, that the Natives advancing into some uninhabited Countries found some Elephants that had perish'd in a marshy place; which had given rise to a question whether this country does not border upon Asia the rather because the Natives say, they never saw nor heard that there were any Animal of that kind in that Country.

A peculiar animal was described to Hall, an account of which is scarcely to be found in Arctic books. The natives speak of it as being larger than the bear, and as very ferocious and much more difficult to be killed. It has grayish hair, a long tail, and short, thick legs, its fore feet being divided into three parts like the partridge's; its hind feet are like a man's heels. When resting, it sits upright like a man. A Neitchille Innuit, crawling into a hole for shelter in the night, had found one sound asleep and quickly dispatched it with his knife. It may be added here that Ebierbing, now residing in the United States, confirms such accounts of the " Arc-la ," and says that the animal once inhabited his native country on Cumberland Sound.

We [the ship Emma] had been a week out from Santo Domingo, and were out about twenty miles northeast from Cedros Island, when early one morning we saw a commotion in the sea about a mile off. It was a very quiet morning, and we crept up very close. We saw a strange sight. A whale about 30 feet long had been found or killed by the monster that was feeding upon it. At intervals the serpent would roar up out of the sea so that we could coolly survey his entire form. His body was round and about three times as long as the whale, or 100 feet long. Its head was as near like a turtle as anything else, with the mouth set well back under the jaw. We did not see the eyes, so I can not say if they are the traditional flaming eyeballs or not. On each side of the body were five or six legs, each webbed and horned like the wings of a dragon. While feeding on the whale it made a peculiar, horrible wheezing or hissing sound, but when it saw us it stopped and drew slowly away, looking back over its sho...

It may have been a brother of the Stronsay monster that Alec Groundwater saw one summer day in the 1830s, rising out of Scapa Flow. I'll tell you the story exactly as Alec's daughter told it to me. He was a boy at the time, she said, and was sitting on one of the high banks at the 'Binks o' Birnorvie' in Orphir. It was an afternoon of calm sunshine; the water below him was lippering gently on the rocks; when suddenly it seemed to come to boil a stone's throw from where he was sitting, and the strangest sea creature he had ever seen raised its head out of the sea and glared at him. After regarding him thus for a few seconds, it reared itself up and tried to catch hold of his bare dangling feet. It was fortunate for Alec that he was out of reach, for he was ronted to the spot by fear and surprise.<br>The creature had a broad head, and a wide mouth with large teeth or tusks, and cold baleful eyes. There was a long mane down the back of its neck that reminded ...

"Then there is another animal [in New Guinea] like a leopard, but instead of the ordinary colouring it has a black coat with white spots."

Prof. Edgeworth David : ... I have been told by one of the comrades of Sir William Macgregor, who has done so much to explore New Guinea, and whose work has been so gracefully acknowledged by Dr. Lorentz–that comrade was the Hon. Anthony Musgrave–that the spoor of some large herbivorous animal was observed some years ago in British New Guinea. These spoors were traced by him around the edge of a swamp at an altitude of about 9000 feet; they measured 4 inches in one direction and 4 1/2 in the other. The natives said they knew this animal, and called it the pig-devil, or devil-pig, but Mr. Musgrave was never able to get a sight of it. I should like to ask Dr. Lorentz if he could perhaps say whether any such trace of a large herbivorous animal had been noticed in Dutch New Guinea. ... Dr. Lorentz : ... No traces were met with of a large animal in the mountains.

It is possible, says Professor [Edgeworth] David, that some of the supposed extinct beasts that once lived in Australia may still be alive in the wilds of tropical New Guinea. Mr. McCabe told how the huge prehistoric monsters that once inhabited the earth crept off, in the ice ages, to the tropical belts. Speaking of the British Museum's expedition in Dutch New Guinea, Professor David told how some years ago in British territory an exploring party found the spoor of what may have been a nototherium–a wombat-like small elephant. Traces of the kangaroo-lion, a flesh-eating beast that has left its tooth-marks on the bones of other big animals, may also, he says, be found there. "The high snow-capped ranges of eastern New Guinea," said Professor David, "are certainly amongst the least known of the important ranges of the world ... The Hon. Anthony Musgrave, secretary of Sir William MacGregor, Governor of Queensland, told me that when some years ago exploring Eastern New...

There can be no doubt that besides the mammalia already known to inhabit New Guinea, many remain to be discovered. Some very large animal is reported to occur in the mountains. Its presence was first indicated by Mr. C. A. W. Monckton, who, during his ascent of Mount Albert Edward in the west of British New Guinea, discovered the huge footprints and very large droppings of some cloven-footed monster which had evidently been browsing on the grassy plains surrounding the lakes on the summit, at an elevation of about twelve thousand five hundred feet. Unfortunately, he was unable to gain any information respecting this animal from the natives, who hunt all over the mountain, as they proved extremely hostile to his expedition. Among the Europeans at Port Moresby this creature is now commonly known as Monckton's "Gazeka," but up to the present time no one has attempted to return to Mount Albert Edward and procure a specimen. Mr. Monckton stated that Sir William Macgregor had...

... a Dutch explorer (Dr. Lorentz) is said, two years ago actually to have seen the animal [the devil pig], which is described as being very large, striped black and white, and having a proboscis like a tapir's.

Animals are rare. The wild dog, an occasional wallaby, a stray tree-kangaroo, and a long-snouted animal not yet obtained, form the bulk of the quadrupeds.

Friday, 17th November. ... they drew the attention of the men to the tracks of a wild animal in the bush, showing great terror of it. This is the first indication of such being in existence. I have seen the tracks; what kind of an animal it is I can't explain, but there is not the slightest doubt in my mind, or in the mind of all our party, that such is in existence. The tracks had the appearance of horse's hoofs with shoes on–quite as large, but with this difference, there was the impression of four toes. We all know well the impression of the alligator, and it does not in the slightest resemble it. It must be a heavy animal, as we saw the impressions of where it had laid down on the sand, and the natives informed us it lived in the bush, not in the river.

At the head of Collingwood Bay we found a good anchorage, and remained two days cutting wood. Here Lieutenant Smith observed the droppings of some large grass-eating animal in a spot where the bushes had been heavily trampled and broken. Our opinion was decided that a rhinosceros [sic] had haunted there; and we were much surprised, as this animal has-never been believed to exist in New Guinea. It would have been very satisfactory to have set the question thus started at rest, but time failed us.

I was no doubt wrong in speaking of the occurrence of the rhinoceros in Papua as a fact without the qualification "if confirmed;" but I wrote in a hurry. From the details supplied by Mr. Smith, which I annex, I think there is at least a very strong possibility that there is a rhinoceros in Papua, and the object of my letter will have been attained if it causes explorers on the north coast of that island to look after it, and at the same time places Mr. Smith's name on record as the discoverer of its indications. "1. The heap of dung first seen, which was quite fresh (not having apparently been dropped more than half an hour), was so large that it excited Mr. Smith's curiosity, and he called Captain Moresby to see it. Neither of them knew what animal to assign it. Quantities of dry dung were afterwards seen. "2. Shortly afterwards, the Basilisk being at or near Singapore, Capt. Moresby and Mr. Smith paid a visit to the Rajah of Johore, who had a rhinocero...

I am quite of your opinion that the occurrence of a rhinoceros in New Guinea is very seriously to be doubted (see NATURE, vol. xi. p. 248), but I beg leave to mention a report of a very large quadruped in New Guinea , which I got from the Papuans of the south coast of the Geelvinks Bay. When trying to cross the country from there to the south coast, opposite the Aru Islands,–in which I did not succeed, but only saw the sea-shore at a great distance from the height of a mountain chain (I afterwards succeeded in crossing the continent of New Guinea from the Geelvinks Bay more to the north, over to the Maclure Gulf),–and when hunting wild pigs along with the Papuans, they told me, without my questioning them, of a very large pig , as they called it, fixing its height on the stem of a tree at more than six feet. I could not get any other information from them, except that the beast was very rare, but they were quite precise in their assertion. I promised heaps of glass pearls and knives ...

Lieut. Sidney Smith, late of H.M.S. Basilisk , reports that while engaged in surveying on the north coast of Papua, between Huon Bay and Cape Basilisk, being on shore with a party cutting firewood, he observed in the forest the "droppings" (excrement) of a rhinoceros in more than one place, the bushes in the neighbourhood being also broken and trampled as if by a large animal. The presence of so large an animal belonging to the Asiatic fauna in Papua is an important fact. (We should be inclined to doubt very seriously the occurrence of any rhinoceros in New Guinea. At any rate, the important fact , as our correspondent terms it, cannot be considered as established.–Ed.)

An interesting letter appears in yesterday's Daily News from Mr. Smithurst, the engineer of the steamer which made the voyage up the newly discovered Baxter River in New Guinea, referred to in Sir Henry Rawlinson's address at the Geographical Society last week. The river seems to be a magnificent one, and could evidently be made navigatable to a considerable distance inland. The exploring party found the banks to consist mainly of mangrove swamps, though, near the end of the journey, high clay banks with Eucalyptus globulus were found. Scarcely any natives were seen, though there were frequent signs of their being about. Mr. Smithurst refers to a very remarkable bird, which, so far as we know, has not hitherto been described. The natives state that it can fly away with a dugong, a kangaroo, or a large turtle. Mr. Smithurst states he saw and shot at a specimen of this wonderful animal, and that "the noise caused by the flapping of its wings resembled the sound of a locomot...

Early in the month of May, when the shooting season begins, I was residing, as usual in the autumn, at Dannevirke, in the Forty-mile Bush, and I heard the friendly warning given to "Lookout!" or "Beware!" at a certain notorious lagoon, pool, or deep-water swamp, frequented by ducks, lying about three miles from Dannevirke, and not far from the bridge over the River Manawatu. Curiosity being aroused, I made inquiry, and I found that during the shooting season of the last year (1893) a young man of Dannevirke named George Slade, out shooting, had there seen a taniwha (unknown watery monster), and had fired at it and wounded it. Through the kindness of the resident clergyman (Rev. E. Robertshawe) I had an interview next day with the young man, who related the whole matter very clearly, temperately, and coherently; and, briefly, it was as follows: He was out shooting, and, having fired at a duck there swimming, and killed it, his dog went into the water after it; but ...

... indigenous hunters of the higher altitude Star Mountains can clearly describe a shy, present day, "extinct" thylacine. They say it is rarely seen but exists at altitudes of 4,000 metres or more, and there are local language names for the animal.

The waterless wastes of central Australia are penetrated only occasionally by lone prospectors and other adventurers. These men have a reputation for hard drinking. When they first brought back stories about 10-foot rabbits, the yarns were credited to their alcoholic tendencies. Then the famous Australian naturalist, Ambrose Pratt, drew attention to the skeletons of certain extinct animals called Diprotodons in the local museums. These creatures were just about 10 feet long and must have looked uncommonly like enormous rabbits. They were of the same general shape, tailless, with rounded rumps and a pair of enormous, rabbit-like front teeth. It's possible that the Diprotodon isn't as extinct as was thought. Australians who hunt the water buffaloes that now run wild in huge numbers in the north of their continent will tell you that this great beast can literally vanish before your eyes in fairly open country. A buffalo is nearly the size of a Diprotodon.

I could write an interesting paper on the discovery of the Israelite Bay mammoth kangaroo, and the preparations made by Messrs. Ponton Bros. for capturing living specimens. The natives told some marvellous stories about the big kangaroo being abundantly found at a big fresh water lake, far away inland.

I have had a long conversation with 'Charlie Pierce', an aboriginal, relative to these [ Diprotodon ] fossils; and he avers that they are those of an animal, long extinct, known to the natives by the name 'gyedara'. Tradition among them has handed down the appearance and habits of the animal for generations, but Charlie says he never paid much attention to the descriptions that have been given to him, but imagines the animal was as large as a heavy draught horse, walked on all fours the same as any other four-footed beast, eating grass, never went any distance back from the creeks to feed, and spent most of its time in the water, chiefly in enormous holes excavated in the banks. I told him he must mean some other animal; but he spoke most positively and asserted that the bones which we have been finding are those of the animal of which he was speaking, and that at one time the bones were very numerous about the Gowrie waterholes, where his forefathers had seen the anima...

It is possible that it [ Diprotodon ] is at the present time still living in the tropics of this country, which are rich in water. This I was told by Mr. Dennis, that the blacks speak of extensive lakes and gigantic animals.

We kept a good watch [near Entebbe on Lake Victoria] for the dreaded "Lukwata," an animal of which the natives are in great fear. What it is no one can exactly say. A semi-fabulous animal, its existence is vouched for by at least one distinguished Government official [Clement Hill] who made its acquaintance when crossing the Lake in a small steam launch. The natives cannot give any accurate description as they generally lose their consciousness when it appears and selects a victim from a canoe, but I have been assured by testimony it is impossible to disbelieve that it appears with head and neck at least ten feet above the level of the lake. Sea serpent, sea horse, or sea cow, there is certainly a strange beast which no one as yet has made a serious effort to capture.

Bangweulu is also the home of the legendary monster known as the "Chipekwe". It is supposed to live in the deepest part of the Lake and at various times it has been known to drive all the fish from the open waters into the swamps. I suspect however, that this is the way in which the local inhabitants explain away the bad fishing season from January to August. There are many stories concerning the "Chipekwe" and there is no doubt that the lacustrine villagers have a very real fear of it. I have often been in a canoe fishing when suddenly the paddlers have turned the craft towards the shore and when asked for a reason they have answered that we were getting too near to where the "Chipekwe" lived. Once when crossing the open Lake in the Government boat Mwewa the engine cut. Immediately all talking by the District Messengers and the other African passengers was reduced to whispers. When I asked why this was so, I was informed that "Chipekwe" had grea...

In the Congo I heard of what appeared to be a dinosaur which inhabited the depths of the Ituri forest. He was variously described to me by both natives and whites, and several of the accounts were so circumstantial that to my mind it seemed quite possible that some enormous, odd creature did live in those forest depths, in the swamps. In spite of the fact that many of the stories had about them just that something which suggested that imagination or exaggeration was at work, I should be very pleased if the opportunity came my way to make an expedition in search of him .

 ... on such journeys in Africa–at any rate in those days–there was generally something of interest to be gleaned, and I remember that it was on my return from Kapopo to Mkushi [in early 1901] that I first became interested in that grand mystery of mysteries, the Chipekwe. It happened in this way. One day before I had left Kapopo, Jones received an excited note from Louis De Fries, relating a curious adventure. De Fries was at that time trading not far from Kapopo and in the neighbourhood there was a lake–a rather remarkable and mysterious lake, of immense depth–known to the map-makers as Lake Choa. Well, early one evening, it seems, Louis De Fries was out for a stroll along the shore, when he saw some large object floating on top of the water. He made out a head–but it wasn't, certainly, a crocodile: he made out the ears–they certainly weren't the ears of a hippo: and stranger still, he could see quite distinctly what appeared to be a large horn. It looked almost like a rhino:...

 ... the natives in many parts of Central Africa believe in the existence of a gigantic water animal which has been described to me by the Buanga natives inhabiting the swamps of the south of Lake Bangweulu, as a water rhinoceros; they had even a name for it, which was chimpelwi, and described it as able to kill a hippopotamus with which it was in the habit of fighting; the bones of one of these animals, they averred, were to be found in the swamps. An authenticated case of a white man having seen such an animal was told me by the man himself, an acquaintance of mine named Defries [sic]. It is, of course, necessary to state he is an extremely abstemious man, besides being a good sportsman, a trained naturalist, and for a considerable period rubber conservator for North-western Rhodesia. When carrying out his duties in the latter capacity he had reason to pass by a small lake between Lakes Chaa and Kapopo on the upper Kafue River. This lake or rather lakelet is so deep as to be unfa...

Millais writes me on June 22nd, 1925, about the matter of an animal called the "Chimpekwe," in N.E. Rhodesia, which, I believe, is completely extinct, although I think it must have been in existence in the early years of the 19th century for I have heard the natives talk of it but never met one who had actually seen one. They say it had horns on its face like a rhino and was as large as a hippo. It may be a myth, but if so it seems strange to me that a name (or rather several names in different parts of Africa) should be used to describe it.

They [the Lamba] say that the ichisonga is a water animal which resembles a rhinoceros, having a horn on its forehead. It is said to inhabit the Kafue river. When it hears the hippo in a pool it comes out of the river, lest it be scented, and goes along the bank. When it reaches the pool it enters the water again, chooses the biggest bull hippo it can see, and stabs it with its horn. It does not eat the hippo, but merely kills it. It eats grass. The Lambas say, further, than when people kill an elephant near by the ichisonga roars and drives the people away. It then comes and remains near the dead animal, maybe for several days, until the people get tired of waiting and the dead animal rots. This creature is said to be prompted by ... jealousy.

 ... many natives in North-Eastern Rhodesia speak of the existence of an animal named the "chimpakwe," which they say resembles the hippo in its amphibian habits, but possesses a horn like the rhinoceros. I chatted with one or two old chiefs on the subject of this strange animal, a beast quite unknown to science, and gathered that the "chimpakwe" existed many years ago in North-Eastern Rhodesia, but at the present day he is probably to be found only in the Luapula River and some deep pools around the borders of the Congo Free State and North-Western Rhodesia. According to the natives, he is an extremely wary creature, and no white man has ever shot him, although it is stated that one or two white hunters have been so impressed with native assertions regarding the "chimpakwe" that they have spent some time in looking for the beast. I have never been told by natives that the "chimpakwe" killed the hippo, and the stories of its existence that I have...

I cannot discuss the rhinoceros and the hippopotamus without some reference to an animal which is most emphatically stated by the natives to frequent some of the deepest pools and rivers of the Congo-Zambesi watershed ... I do not say that I am convinced as to the existence of a huge water rhino in Central Africa, but I do say this, that, in my opinion, it is by no means unlikely that the "Chimpakwe," as the Awisa term it, is something very much more material than a myth. I have asked many old chiefs in North-Eastern Rhodesia about the "Chimpakwe," and they have all assured me that this mighty two-horned amphibian was, many years ago, an inhabitant of the Luangwa river. One old Awisa headman told me that his father had shot one with a gun which an Arab hunter had given him. The natives stated that since the water in the Luangwa has decreased in volume and height, the chimpakwe has disappeared, but that he might to-day be found in the deeper waters of the Luapula, an...

Don't you remember my telling you of the three-horned water-rhino which the boys say kills the hippo in Lake Bangweolo and in the swamps near Leauli, and on the Kafue? I heard of it from my boys at the Falls, and we were discussing it at the District Commissioner's, when S—, who had come down from Mwomboshi to take over, told us that a week or two before two white men had arrived at his place who said they had seen it.

Native rumour states that in Lake Bangweolo there is a water rhino. Should this prove correct, it will be interesting to see what adaptation of the rhino's foot has taken place to fit the animal for an aquatic existence.

It [Lake Chirengwa] is reported to be the home of that mythical animal the chibekwe, or water-rhinoceros, which lives in such secluded places and in deep lakes, has apparently the peculiarity of leaving no spoor, and whose daily food is a big hippopotamus.

The South African strandwolf, also referred to as the brown hyena, has on various occasions been tentatively reported for East Africa. I once thought to have caught a fleeting glimpse of one, but as no tangible evidence of its occurrence in Kenya has ever come forth, I assume that it must have been an abnormally coloured spotted hyena.

There are three species of hyaena recorded in Kenya, the spotted, the striped and the brown, but only the two former have been seen by me in the park. The brown hyaena has been killed and identified as near as Kabete, so it is quite possible that this species may visit the park too.

In a recent number of 'Nature in East Africa' (No 4. December, 1947, p  19), the brown hyaena ( Hyaena brunnea Thun.) was reported from Kabete near Nairobi. This appeared to be a record of great interest because as long ago as 1899 the species was recorded by Bryden (quoted in Shortridge, 1934, and in Rowland Ward's records of Big Game, 1935) as occurring north of Zambesi as far as Angola in the west of Kilimanjaro in the east, while Trouessart has cited Kordofan (Sudan) and other places in N.E. Africa as its habitat. ... ... the Brown Hyanea ( H. brunnea ) ... is known to exist in the Kedong Valley, and must come up the escarpment to higher country. This is proved by the fact that it ranges to Kabete, where it has been poisoned several times by the Veterinary Dept. The last one I handled in the mortuary a year ago. Two years ago I found one killed on the Railway line near Kabete Railway Station, I have the skulls of them both.

In ... some rivers are hidden Ndumba wa meia (water lion), Ripata (huge crocodile) and Tshife (great water snake) ... They say that Ndumba wa meia savages the hippo with ease and leaves a red trail wherever it goes; it can stop the flow of the river, divert its normal course and punish exploratory boatmen.

There is an animal, which I know not where to class, as no European has hitherto succeeded in obtaining a specimen of it: it is supposed by the natives to be far more active, powerful and dangerous than even the lion, and consequently held by them in the greatest possible dread. They call it 'wobbo' or 'mantillit,' and some hold it in superstitious awe, looking upon it more in the light of an evil spirit with an animal's form than a wild beast. Their descriptions of this animal are vague in the extreme: some say that its skin is partly that of a lion, but intermixed with that of the leopard and hyena; others, again, assert that its face is human, or very like it. It appears int he valleys, happily only rarely; for they say that when it takes its abode near a village, it pays nightly visits, entertaining the very houses, and carrying off the children, and even occasionally grown-up persons. One had been killed some years ago on the river Weney, and its skin presented...

Being in advance of the wagons, I suddenly came upon an animal, which, though considerably smaller, much resembled a lion in appearance. Under ordinary circumstances, I should certainly have taken it for a young lion; but I had been formerly given to understand that, in this part of Africa, there exists a quadruped which, in regard to shape and color, is like the lion, but, in most other respects, totally distinct from it. The beast in question is said to be nocturnal in its habits, to be timid and harmless, and to prey for the most part on the small species of antelopes. In the native language it is called Onguirira, and would, as far as I could see, have answered the description of a puma. As it was going straight away from me, I did not think it prudent to fire.

[On 18 March] Andersson started what he thought was a puma. The natives talk a great deal about such an animal existing; they describe it as a very shy creature, and hardly ever moving about in the daytime, of the same colour and general shape as a lion, but smaller, and with no mane. The animal Andersson caught a glimpse of answered the description perfectly. It might have been a young lion, but its movements were not those of a cub. It jumped up close by him, but was among the thick bushes and out of sight before there was time to fire.