The Beasts that Hide from Man (36 page)

Extremely large, snow-white bear with small head and strange ambulatory gait, reported from Russia’s Kamchatka peninsula and known to local reindeer hunters as the
irkuiem
or
ircjuiem
. Currently represented by at least one skin (exhibited at the St. Petersburg Museum), in the opinion of renowned Russian zoologist Prof. Nikolaj Vereshchagin it may be a modern-day representative of the Pleistocene short-faced (bulldog) bear
Arctodus simus
(Greenwell (ed.), 1987; Shuker, 1995f, 1997d).

Mysterious white bird referred to as Steller’s sea raven, sighted by German naturalist Georg Steller on far-eastern Russia’s Bering Island during the 1740s but apparently never seen again. Danish zoologist Lars Thomas considers it possible that this bird was a young (or even albinistic) spectacled cormorant
Phalacrocorax perspicillatus
—a species also discovered in this region by Steller but now extinct. Alternatively, it may have been some species now known to science but unfamiliar to Steller, such as the surfbird
Aphriza virgata
, nominated as one option by Steller scholar Chris Orrick (Shuker, 1999, 2000).

Vermiform mystery beast reportedly inhabiting the southern Gobi desert, known to Westerners as the Mongolian death worm, and to nomadic Mongolians as the
allghoi khorkhoi
(“intestine worm”), on account of its supposed resemblance to a cow’s intestine. It looks like a fat dark-red worm, three to five feet long, with no differentiated head, tail, or limbs, and spends much of its time hidden beneath sands, but is occasionally spied resting on the surface during June and July Avoided by humans, camels, and other large species, the death worm is so-named because it can reputedly squirt a lethal corrosive poison from one end of its body, and can also supposedly kill in a much more mysterious manner, resembling electrocution. It has been sought in recent years by Czech explorer Ivan Mackerle (Mackerle, 1996; Shuker, 1998a). If its lethal capabilities are merely the product of folklore, the death worm could be a giant species of amphisbaenid, or even (albeit much more radically) a highly specialized species of earthworm with a water-retentive cuticle. If its death-dealing abilities are real, however, it is more likely to be a dramatic new species of snake, possibly an elapid akin to the Australian death adder
Acanthophis antarcticus
(Shuker, 1998a).

Qattara cheetah of Egypt—reports date back to the late 1960s, and include a specimen taken by a Bedouin shepherd in 1967, but none observed by scientists so far, although cheetah-like tracks have been photographed in the Qattara region on two separate occasions during the 1990s. It is said to be paler in color and with a thicker coat than the typical cheetah from eastern and southern Africa. Probably similar to the little-known desert-adapted cheetahs with speckled, sandy pelage living in Niger’s Tenere Desert, West Africa, and photographed for the first time as recently as the early 1990s (Ammann, 1993; Hoath, 1996).

While visiting the tiny Indonesian island of Rintja, close to Komodo, French traveler Pierre Pfeiffer collected native reports of a mysterious beast called the veo (Pfeiffer, 1963). At least 10 feet long, the veo has a long head, huge claws, and is covered dorsally and laterally with large overlapping scales, but has hair upon its head, throat, belly, lower legs, and the end of its tail. If threatened, it will rear up on its hind legs and slash its antagonist with the formidable claws on its forepaws. Inhabiting mountains during the day, but descending to the mangrove coasts at night, it lives upon ants, termites, and small sea creatures stranded on the beach. This description recalls the pangolins (scaly anteaters), but none of those species known to exist today is as big as the veo. During the Pleistocene, however, a giant species,
Manis palaeojavanicus
, over eight feet long, lived in Borneo and Java. Perhaps this species or a modern descendant persists today on Rintja (Mares, 1997; Shuker, 1998h; Shuker, 1999).

While working for the VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas) in Seram, Indonesia, during 1986, tropical agriculturalist Tyson Hughes heard native accounts of a mysterious entity called the
orang bati
(“flying man”). Villagers in Seram’s coastal regions live in terror of these creatures, which, they claim, live in long-dead volcanic mountains in the island’s interior. At night, they leave their mountain lairs and fly across the jungles to the coast, where they seize babies and infants from the villages and carry them back to the mountains. According to eyewitness testimony, the
orang bati
is humanoid in form, with red skin, black wings, and a long thin tail. Perhaps these claims are based upon the existence here of a scientifically undiscovered species of giant bat, akin to the Javanese
ahool
(Shuker, 1995b).

Form of loris closely resembling slow loris
Nycticebus coucang
, but instantly distinguished from all known lorises by possessing a long bushy tail; indigenous to India’s Lushai Hills. Specimens were captured alive, photographed, and exhibited for a time in captivity during 1889 (Annandale, 1908). On the assumption that this tailed loris represents a genuine species (rather than a teratological aberration), and based upon a concise published description and photograph (Annandale, 1908), it has been named
Nycticebus caudatus
sp. nov. (Shuker, 1993b), but has not been reported in recent years, so may now be extinct.

Mysterious unidentified loris superficially resembling the slow loris but much larger and far paler in color, exhibited and photographed in a bird cage on an animal dealer’s stall at the new animal market in Hanoi, Vietnam, in December 1994 (Richardson, 1995; Shuker, 1997d).

Nepalese cryptid with striped tiger-like body and canine head, known as the
chuti
, and often depicted in traditional art. Nepalese lamas informed mountaineer Hamish Maclnnes that
chutis
inhabited the Choyang and Iswa Valleys. Russian scientist Dr. Vladimir Tschernesky has suggested that this cryptid may be the striped hyaena
Hyaena hyaena
(Maclnnes, 1979).

Apparently unknown civet inhabiting Seram, Indonesia. While working here in 1986, Tyson Hughes collected the remains of a mammalian tail, about 18 inches long, which the native Moluccans claimed was from a large cat-like beast. It was later identified by WWF experts as the tail of a civet, but there is no known species of civet in Seram (Shuker, 1995b).

Sumatran mystery cat with unpatterned yellow or tan fur, a short tail, and a ruff encircling its neck, known locally as the
cigau
. According to native reports collected by British explorer Debbie Martyr, the
cigau
is slightly smaller but more heavily built than the Sumatran tiger, is greatly feared by the local people on account of its aggressiveness, and allegedly frequents the wilderness region east of Mount Kerinci and south toward the market town of Bangko (Shuker, 1995e; Heuvelmans, 1996).

Equally mystifying is the much smaller feline cryptid reputedly inhabiting the islands of Alor and Solor in the Lesser Sundas, southeast of Sumatra and Java. Judging from reports collected by Debbie Martyr, this cat is only the size of a domestic cat, but is readily distinguished from all other felids by the pronounced knob-like protuberances, resembling short stubby horns, present upon its eyebrows (Shuker, 1995e, 1999).

Sheepdog-sized, tiger-like felid reported from the Ryukyu island of Iriomote, where it is called the
yamamaya
. It could be an undescribed subspecies of tiger, or even clouded leopard (Anon., 1968; Shuker, 1989).

Another tiger-like mystery felid from Asia is the
seah malang poo
, supposedly inhabiting Thailand’s Khao Sok National Park. Living in this area’s karst limestone mountains, it is said to be of stocky build with brown and black stripes. A skin from one such cat, shot in the 1930s, was allegedly sent to Thailand’s national museum, but further details regarding this specimen have not been forthcoming to date (Belderson, 1995; Day, 1995; Shuker, 1995e).

Small wolf-like canids persistently reported in Nara Prefecture and elsewhere in Japan, and photographed on October 14,1996, at close range in the mountain district of Chichibu. They greatly resemble the shamanu or Japanese dwarf wolf
Canis lupus hodophilax
, whose last confirmed specimen was killed in Nara Prefecture during January 1905. Reports have been sufficiently convincing for the staging on March 19-20,1994, of a two-day symposium devoted to the shamanu and its putative post-1905 survival. It is certainly likely that some reports are based upon misidentified feral dogs, and possibly even the descendants of original pre-1905 matings between shamanus and dogs, but certain reports on file do readily recall the shamanu’s distinctive, diminutive morphology (Anon., 1997a; Shuker, 1997c, 1998d).

“Horned” jackals in Sri Lanka—occasional male specimens of the common jackal
Canis aureus
possessing a very small horny projection, usually at the rear of the skull. Horn development is no doubt controlled genetically, or induced epigenetically by physical injury (Tennent, 1861; Shuker, 1997d).

Supposed presence of tapirs in Borneo, including capture of an apparent juvenile specimen (dubbed a “tigelboat” by popular press) in Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo) during 1975. Although probably conspecific with the Malayan tapir
Tapirus indicus
, which inhabited this island during the Pleistocene, they may comprise a distinct subspecies, awaiting formal description (Shuker, 1995f).

Porcine beast known by the Saiap Dusuns of North Borneo (Sabah) as the
pukau
, said to occur in large numbers on Mount Madalong, and to resemble a hybrid of pig and deer. This description is reminiscent of Sulawesi’s babirusa
Babyrousa babyrussa
—which could conceivably have entered Borneo in pre-Holocene times across transitory land bridges existing during that period between Borneo and the faunal region of Wallacea, which includes Sulawesi (Rutter, 1929; Shuker, 1995f).

In 1994, Vietnamese biologist Nguyen Ngoc Chinh visited Pu Mat, an area just north of Vu Quang (scene of the discovery in 1992 of the Vu Quang ox
Pseudoryx nghetinhensis
and the giant muntjac
Megamuntiacus vuquangensis
in 1994) in northern Vietnam. While there, local hunters gave him the skull of a mysterious deer known to them as the
quang khem
or slow-running deer, but seemingly undescribed by science. Unlike those of other deer, the antlers of this strange animal are not branched, but simply comprise a pair of short pointed spikes, so that its skull resembles the horned helmet of a Viking warrior. Some additional
quang khem
skulls, previously neglected, have been uncovered by
Pseudoryx
and
Megamuntiacus
discoverer Dr. John MacKinnon, a British conservationist, in a box of unsorted bones at Hanoi’s Institute of Ecology and Biological

Resources. DNA samples taken from these were analyzed by Copenhagen University geneticist Dr. Peter Arctander, who was unable to match them with the DNA of any known species. To date, however, no complete specimen of the
quang khem
has been spied by scientists or made available for scientific study (Linden, 1994; Shuker, 1995a, 1997d, 2002b).

Also discovered by MacKinnon in that same box of unsorted bones was a pair of antlers belonging to another species of deer seemingly unknown to science but familiar to the local Vietnamese hunters. They call this one the black deer or
mangden
(Shuker, 1995a, 1997d).

Possible survival of Schomburgk’s deer
Cervus schomburgki
in Laos. Previously restricted largely to central Thailand’s Chao Phraya Basin, and believed to be entirely extinct since the 1930s, this handsome species was famous for the male’s extremely ornate, extensively branched antlers. In February 1991, a pair of antlers belonging to this species was spotted in a medicine shop in Laos by Laurent Chazée, a United Nations agronomist. When questioned regarding their provenance, the shop owner claimed that they were from a deer shot in a nearby district in 1990 (Schroering, 1995). With several remarkable new ungulates having already been discovered in Laos and neighboring Vietnam during the 1990s, it would be rash to deny the possibility that Schomburgk’s deer also exists here, unseen by scientists.

Referred to as the holy goat or
linh duong
in Vietnam and as the
kting voar
in Cambodia,
Pseudonovibos spiralis
was formally described and named in 1994, but this enigmatic ungulate is still known to science only from its distinctive spiraled horns. Local hunters claim that it is grey-brown and resembles a cow, but no scientist has yet seen even a skin or skeleton of one, and some have denounced it as a hoax (Shuker, 1995d, 1997d, 2002b).

Possible persistence of the Indian pink-headed duck
Rhodonessa caryophyllacea
, believed extinct since the 1940s. Most eyewitness claims have emerged from regions currently difficult to explore due to political unrest (Shuker, 1991b). The possibility that this species survives in Tibet, which is outside its known distribution range, was investigated (uneventfully) by a British expedition during 1998 (Anon., 1998).

Large, possibly flightless species of argus pheasant, christened
Argus
[now
Argusianus] bipunctatus
in 1871, on the basis of a single feather that bore two bands of dots instead of just one (as in the great argus
A. argus
, the only
Argusianus
species currently recognized). Its provenance is unknown, but suggestions include Java and the Malaysian island of Tioman; it is probably now extinct (Davison, 1983; Shuker, 1990a, 1991a, 1999).

Chicken-shaped, chicken-sized gallinaceous bird known as the
alovot
, reported from Sumatra. It is said to have a comb-like crest in some instances (perhaps present only in one sex?), and dark brown plumage dappled with lighter spots. Too small to be the great argus, it could conceivably be an undescribed species of
Polyplectron
peacock-pheasant (Jacobson, 1937; Shuker, 1990a, 1991a, 1993b; Heuvelmans, 1996).