The Beasts that Hide from Man (37 page)

Long-tailed, pigeon-sized bird known as the
ulama
(Singhalese),
andai
(Tamil), and devil-bird (English), inhabiting forests of Sri Lanka. Rarely spied but often heard, its name derives from its hideous cry, described by one earwitness as resembling the sound that would be made by a boy being slowly strangled. Several identities have been postulated, including one or more species of the island’s known owls, raptors, rails, and nightjars (Tennent, 1861; Shuker, 1991b, 1997d).

An unidentified owl species belonging to the genus
Strix
has been reported on more than one occasion from the Andaman and Nicobar islands (Ali & Ripley, 1969).

Minute (one and a half inches long) bird resembling the New World hummingbirds but reported in Sumatra. Two specimens were seen flying together in c.1957-1958 at a distance of only 12 inches away from the face of one local eyewitness and his wife. They were yellowish in color, with dark brown bellies and little stripes (Coleman, 1989). The hummingbirds are exclusively New World in distribution, but there are Old World passerines that are superficially similar, known as sunbirds (nectariniids). None currently known to science, however, is as small as the birds described here. Although unlikely, perhaps the eyewitnesses mistook a species of nectar-seeking day-flying moth for a bird—as often happens in Britain, for instance, when the tiny summer-visiting hummingbird hawk moth arrives from the European continent.

Small, unidentified microchiropteran bat from Kenya, distinguished by its unique daytime hiding place—piles of dry elephant dung. It may prove to be the little-known species
Rhinopterus floweri
, or an undiscovered relative (Williams, 1967; Shuker, 1994).

Sanguinivorous (blood-drinking) microchiropteran bat allegedly inhabiting Devil’s Cave in Walaga Province, southern Ethiopia, and termed the death bird by local peasants. As the only sanguinivorous chiropterans are exclusively Neotropical (the vampire bats), if reports are genuine it is likely to constitute either a totally new species, or a known species that has unexpectedly acquired a sanguinivorous lifestyle in this particular geographical location (Prorok, 1943; Shuker, 1994,1997d).

Cat-sized bushbaby-like primate observed and photographed in Cameroon by an assistant of bushbaby taxonomist Dr. Simon K. Bearder in 1994. It is most likely an extremely large new species of bushbaby but also worth considering is the exciting possibility that it constitutes the first living species of true lemur recorded from mainland Africa (Bearder, 1997).

Unidentified tiny lemur reported from the Tsingy de Bemaraha nature reserve in western Madagascar. Known to the Sakalava du Menabe tribe living here as the
malagnira
, and claimed by them to be similar to but even smaller than the
Microcebus
mouse lemurs (the world’s smallest known lemurs), and with different behavior (Rakotoarison, et al., 1993). Some notably bigger new species of lemur have been discovered and rediscovered in Madagascar during the past two decades (Shuker, 2002b), so the putative reality of a much smaller species still eluding scientific detection cannot be discounted.

Possible 20th century survival of the officially long-extinct giant aye-aye
Daubentonia robusta
, as indicated by the discovery in c.1930 of an exceptionally large aye-aye skin at a native’s home near the village of Andranomavo in Madagascar’s Soalala District by a government official called Hourcq (Hill, 1953).

Oliver—a controversial male chimpanzee, attracting public attention in 1970s due to his distinctive appearance and ability (seemingly unforced) to walk bipedally erect; now living at Primarily Primates, an animal sanctuary in Texas. Variously identified as an unexceptional but well-trained West African chimp, a mutant chimp, a hybrid of common and pygmy chimp, a new chimp (sub)species, a new species of non-chimp primate, and even a hybrid of chimp and human, or of pygmy chimp and a West African bipedal crypto-primate called the
séhité
. The last two identities were proposed in response to an unsubstantiated claim that Oliver has 47 chromosomes (one more than humans, one less than chimpanzees); in reality, he has 48. Moreover, chromosomal studies and mtDNA sequence analyses conducted by a team of American geneticists including Drs. Char leen Moore and John Ely have revealed that Oliver has a normal chimp karyotype and that he closely resembles a Gabon chimp of the subspecies
Pan troglodytes troglodytes
genetically (Anon., 1976,1997b, 1997c; Ely, et al., 1998; Ely & Moore, 1998).

Highly aggressive, southern Cameroon primate known to Baka pygmies and Bantus as the
dodu
. According to explorer Bill Gibbons, they claim that it is dark grey, stands up to six feet tall, is mostly bipedal but sometimes knuckle-walks on all fours, and, very distinctively, has only three fingers on each hand and just three clawed toes on each foot. It will attack gorillas, and leaves piles of sticks on the forest floor, possibly a form of territorial marking behavior (Shuker, 2003).

Large African leopard-like felids but with black upperparts and paler underparts, reported widely through tropical Africa but particularly in Uganda
(ndalawo)
and the Aberdares of Kenya
(damasia)
. Judging from their morphology, they seem likely to be pseudo-melanistic leopards (like the “melanotic” specimens recorded from Grahamstown, South Africa, during the late 1800s), as opposed to melanistic leopards (i.e. black panthers) (Shuker, 1989).

Large African felids with dark blotches or stripes, reported from Ethiopia
(wobo)
and Sudan
(abu sotan)
. The
wobo
skin formerly held at the cathedral of Eifag may have been an imported tiger skin (Shuker, 1989).

Mysterious giant carnivorous bird, capable of flight yet allegedly even taller than the ostrich, claimed during the 1870s by the Wasequas to inhabit their country, situated on the African mainland eight to nine days’ journey away from the coast of Zanzibar. Said to feed primarily upon carrion, it is called the
makalala
(“noisy”), on account of the loud noise produced when it claps its wings together, which possess horny plates at their tips. It also has long legs, and the head and beak of a bird of prey. Allowing for exaggeration in relation to its height, this description irresistibly calls to mind an extra-large version of the secretary bird
Sagittarius serpentarius
, which even possesses horny tips to its wings. Accordingly, and based upon a published description of the
makalala
(Marschall, 18781879), it has been named
Megasagittarius clamosus
gen. nov, sp. nov. (“noisy giant secretary bird”) (Shuker, 1995f). No modern-day records of the
makalala
are known, so even if it did exist and was a giant species of secretary bird, it is assuredly extinct today. However, its skulls were said to be highly prized as ceremonial helmets, worn only by chiefs. Perhaps, therefore, it is not too late to seek out one of these skulls, and thereby solve the mystery of this avian cryptid’s identity (Marschall, 1878-1879; Shuker, 1995f, 1996d).

Glossy-black fowl-like bird with red bill and claws, no differences between sexes, and voiceless; flies low, like a guineafowl, is called the
kondlo
, and is native to Zululand, South Africa. Although it is believed by some to be either the southern ground hornbill
Bucorvus leadbeateri
or the bald ibis
Geronticus calvus
, experienced Western hunters familiar with those latter birds and with the
kondlo
disagree with these claims. It is possibly an undescribed galliform bird (Court, 1962; Shuker, 1991a, 1996d, 1999).

Unidentified form of stone partridge
Ptilopachus petrosus
native to Senegal. Distinguished ecologically from the known, nominate subspecies here by inhabiting forests and dense undergrowth rather than this species’ typical rocky terrain or scrub. Distinguished morphologically by its spotted head, paler breast, and smaller size (Shuker, 1991a).

Undescribed species of gallinule inhabiting the Sudd. Said to be nocturnal (Kingdon, 1990).

Unidentified green touraco with a very little red upon its wings, never collected but spied by at least three eminent ornithologists, including John G. Williams, within the Impenetrable Forest in southwestern Kigezi, Uganda (Williams & Arlott, 1980). African wildlife expert Dr. Jonathan Kingdon deems it likely that this bird is based upon fleeting glimpses of the scarce southern race of Ruwenzori touraco
Tauraco johnstoni
, which sometimes flies in a fast short flight, exposing little of its red wings (Kingdon, 1990).

Very large, unidentified all-black swift, observed on Marsabit Mountain in Kenya’s North Frontier Province (Williams & Arlott, 1980).

Greyish, long-tailed mystery bird with red or chestnut under tail-coverts, spied in Kenya’s Matthews Range (Williams & Arlott, 1980). Kingdon (1990) suggests that this may be the chestnut-winged starling
Onychognathus morio
, noting that if the bird is not flying it is easy to confuse a glimpse of the primaries below the tail with the under tail-coverts.

Bizarre-sounding reptile called the
das-adder
, reported from South Africa’s Drakensberg Mountains, and said to have a viperine body but a hyr ax-like head. Stripping away the layers of folklore undoubtedly encapsulating this beast, it is likely that its true identity will prove to be one of the region’s larger monitor lizards (Speight, 1940; Shuker, 1997d).

Equally bizarre mystery snake reported from southern Namibia’s Namib Desert by the Namaqua people and also by various Western eyewitnesses. It reputedly possesses a huge head, inflated neck, a yellow or brown body speckled with dark spots, and a pair of batlike wings emerging from the sides of its mouth or neck, plus a pair of short backward-curving horns on its head and—most amazing of all—a bright glowing light in the centre of its brow (Whitty 1995; Muirhead, 1995). According to eyewitnesses, it can launch itself from the summit of a high rocky ledge, and soar down to the ground, landing with a considerable impact, and leaving behind scaly tracks in the dusty earth (one such track was examined by coelacanth discoverer Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer, who confirmed that it resembled a snake’s track). Assuming that this is an exaggerated account of a genuine snake (perhaps influenced by Germanic lightning snake legends and folklore reaching Namibia via the arrival here of German settlers), it may in reality be an undescribed species possessing a pair of extendable lateral membranes comparable with those of the famous Asian gliding lizard
Draco volans
, and a highly reflective patch of shining scales on its brow (Shuker, 1996b, 1999).

Undiscovered species of hawk moth possessing a proboscis at least 15 inches long, and inhabiting Madagascar. The existence of such an insect was predicted in 1992 by Ohio entomologist Dr. Gene Kritsky as the only explanation for the successful pollination of a certain species of Madagascan orchid,
Angraecum longicalcar
, whose nectar-producing organs (nectaries) are 15 inches deep inside the plant, and hence can only be reached by a moth with a suitably lengthy proboscis (Angier, 1992). A notable precedent for this case was the formal description in 1903 of
Xanthopan morgani praeàicïa
, a Madagascan hawk moth with a 12-inch-long proboscis. Its existence had been correctly predicted back in 1862 by Charles Darwin, who recognized that such a moth must certainly exist in order to explain the successful pollination of the orchid
Angraecum sesquipedale
—whose nectaries are roughly 12 inches deep, and hence beyond the reach of any Madagascan moth known to science at that time (Shuker, 1993b).

Regular sightings of puma-like cats in the eastern United States, where the eastern cougar
Felis concolor couguar
officially became extinct several decades ago. Some such sightings, even if genuinely featuring pumas, could involve specimens of other subspecies that have escaped or have been released from captivity. Some may even feature western subspecies that have migrated into the east, occupying the ecological niche left vacant by the disappearance of
F. c. couguar
. Bearing in mind, however, that the puma is highly skilled in concealment, it would not be impossible for a small contingent of bona fide eastern cougars to have persisted within their native distribution range (Shuker, 1989; Tischendorf & Ropski, 1996).

Occasional reports of extremely large spotted mystery cats in southern U.S., probably involving absconded leopards and jaguars from captivity, but may also indicate survival of the Arizona jaguar
Panthera onca arizonensis
, officially extinct since 1905 (Shuker, 1989).

Very large, all-white wolf-like beast with unusually wide paws and head, small ears, rather short legs, and solitary habits, reported from northern Alaska and Canada’s Northwest Territories, and known to the native Indians as the
waheela
. It has been suggested that it could comprise a surviving member of the amphicyonids or bear-dogs— a family of burly, plantigrade, bear-like carnivores with lupine dentition and face, currently assumed to have died out in North America around two million years ago, and elsewhere by the end of the Pleistocene epoch, 10,000 years ago (Sanderson, 1974; Shuker, 1995f).

Anomalous cat-sized mammal said to resemble a goat, with rose-colored horns and snow-white silky fur, but clawed feet. One was reputedly owned by an Indian woman, and was seen at Fredericksburg, Texas, around the mid-1800s by an American officer who described it to the Abbé Emanuel Domenech (Domenech, 1858; Shuker, 1997d).

Not all reports of living thunderbirds or “big birds” in North America fit the feathered, vulturine type popularly assigned a teratorn identity by cryptozoologists. Some, reported from Texas and Pennsylvania, seem to be featherless and much closer in appearance to giant fossil pterosaurs, notably the North American
Pteranodon
and
Quetzalcoatlus
. The prospect of pterosaurs persisting beyond the Cretaceous into the present day in this continent must surely seem highly unlikely. Even so, it is a formidable coincidence that regions in which the fossils of such creatures have been unearthed had in some cases already hosted sightings of cryptids bearing a close resemblance to the likely appearance in life of these same fossil species (even allowing for the transforming effects of more than 65 million years of continuing evolution) (Clark & Coleman, 1978; Shuker, 1995f).