u/Sael_CaPa

The great white wolf was described as much larger and more robust than a normal wolf, with a broader head, shorter legs (though its front legs are longer than its hind legs), a thicker tail, and smaller ears. Its toes are heavily splayed, possibly giving it a flat-footed gait, like that of a bear. Its fur is very long and shaggy. Its tracks are 8'' across.

The Dene people of the southern Northwest Territories described them as solitary scavengers which are "aloof from humans" (while also prominently blaming them for a number of human deaths). The Dene also said they were rarer than wolves and spent most of the year in the northern tundra regions, coming south in the winter. However, in the south-west valleys of the Northwest Territories and "certain other valleys to the west", they remained all year round.

It is larger and more heavily built than normal wolves, with a wide head and proportionally larger feet, and with long, pure-white fur. The animal’s hind legs are said to be shorter than the front legs, and the tracks show widely spaced toes. Witnesses describe it as being about 3.5 feet to 4 feet at the shoulder. They are never seen in packs so they are presumably solitary.

The eastern Amazon, encompassing the far west of Brazil and parts of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru, is one of the least explored areas on the planet where new species are being discovered. One of the most recent cases is the "Amazonian dodo," known as the gray-faced tinamou (scientific name: *Crypturellus cinereus*) discovered in 2021, a terrestrial bird the size of a chicken that has never had contact with humans and therefore has no fear of us. But the vast Amazon holds a great variety of stories and accounts of unknown felines. I have listed some:

(Just a curiosity: the term "Tiger" is often applied by both indigenous people and inhabitants of the region to the Jaguar in various parts from Argentina to Venezuela.)

First image: the Speckled Jaguar, the Striped Tiger, and the Yana Puma:

• Speckled Jaguar: Described as a feline smaller than a jaguar but larger than an ocelot, it is white or gray in color, and its rosettes are solid, similar to those of the cheetah. Natives insist that this animal is distinct from the jaguar. In Ecuador, this feline is called Shiashia-yawa by the Shuar people (the Shuar people call the puma "japa-yawa," and the jaguar "yampinkia-yawa"), and in Guyana, this same feline is called "Kaikuchi." This feline inhabits cloud forests and tropical forests on the edges of the Amazon Basin in South America, in Guyana, Ecuador, and Peru.

• Striped Tiger: Described as being the same size as the jaguar, but with brown fur with white stripes, similar to those of a tiger. The head is also slightly narrower than that of a jaguar, while its fangs are approximately the same size. Peter J. Hocking acquired a skull that a hunter claimed was from a Striped Tiger in 1992. The skull was identified as belonging to a jaguar based on its morphology, which was the closest to that of a jaguar, although scientist Darren Naish, who collaborated with Hocking and others on the study, cautioned that the skull may not in fact be that of a Striped Tiger and may instead be a normal jaguar skull provided as a replacement for an original skull.

This feline supposedly inhabits the tropical forests of Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia. In Peru, it is known from the Abujao River, Pozuzo, and Palcazu River regions.

• Yana-puma: Also called the "Black Mountain Lion," it is described as similar to a puma or mountain lion but twice the size of a jaguar and entirely black, without visible rosettes (unlike the melanistic jaguar), with large greenish eyes. It is reported in the forested mountains of central Peru by Peter Hocking.

Second image: The Pama-yawa

It is described as "very large" and "an animal of uniform dark gray color, the size of an Amazonian tapir," with enormous paws. A Wapula hunter (of short stature) named Pedro Anan Churuwia stated that one footprint was as large as his two hands. Based on sightings, it is semi-aquatic. Its name means "tiger-tapir," given its size. It is the only animal in Ecuador capable of preying on tapirs (something the jaguar rarely does in that region). It is compared to the wairarima, a large, semi-aquatic gray feline sighted in Venezuela. In Venezuela, folklore describes it as a servant of the jaguar, hunting for it. This feline is reported in the Trans-Cutucú and Sangay Volcano regions of Ecuador and Venezuela.

Third image: The Tigre Dantero (Dantero Tiger)

It is described as a long-fanged feline smaller than or the same size as a jaguar. These unknown cats are described as striped animals with two very large protruding teeth and are said to be somewhat smaller than a jaguar: the "mutant jaguar" specimen was allegedly 160 pounds with 12-inch fangs. A 1991 sighting from Venezuela described a jaguar-sized animal with light brown fur, a short tail, large fangs, and powerful, well-built forelimbs. In Venezuela, they are said to prey on tapirs and are always reputed to be very shy and rare animals, reported from deep montane and highland rainforests, most prominently Canaima National Park, which contains Auyán-tepui and the forests surrounding it. Due to its name, it is compared to the Pama-yawa because of its name and its ability to prey on tapirs.

Fourth Image: The Water Tiger/Onça-tigre(Jaguar-tiger)

Not a single feline, but a category of unknown semi-aquatic felines reported in rivers of South America, particularly in the Guianas (Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, and northwestern Brazil), distinguished by their prominent fangs. It is conflictingly described as having a mane and no tail, with strange patterns, or with saber teeth. It is known from three dead specimens described to Joana Macedo in the Amanã and Mamirauá Sustainable Development Reserves, in Japurá, between 2010 and 2013. The first onça-tigre, described by a riverside dweller and his wife, resembled a jaguar, but had no tail, its front paws were inverted, and the fur was very short on its back but long on its chest. The third onça-tigre had been killed because it was attacking the livestock of local farmers. It was described as very large and with spotted fur, with "long fangs protruding from its mouth." The second jaguar, distinct from the other two, was killed when it attacked a riverside dweller's dog. It was around 5'9" long from its chin to the base of its tail, with a 2'' long tail, a very short, shiny coat, yellowish on the throat and chest, white on the stomach, and "completely black, without rosettes" on the back. This second feline could be a specimen of Pama-yawa or a white-throated black jaguar (another unknown feline, similar to a jaguar but larger, completely black, without visible rosettes and with an irregular white color pattern on the throat).

Fifth image: The Forest Lion

Described as similar to a jaguar, but entirely brown with a mane around its neck, information about it is scarce, but it is known to be what is called "Rock jaguar" by the Yanomami people in Venezuela, "Ecuadorian lion" in Ecuador, and "Jungle lion" in Yanachaga National Park, Peru. It is described as being large, the size of an African lion, with long fur around its neck, though shorter than that of an African lion. Its coloration is described as entirely reddish-brown. Forest rangers have reported seeing this feline in Yanachaga National Park, and a native told Peter Hocking that he had examined a dead specimen outside the park, near Shiringamazu. (I couldn't find an image of this feline, so I used this image of the American Lion that I have saved in my gallery.)

The hypotheses about these felines are quite varied, ranging from albino jaguars, leucistic jaguars, melanistic jaguars, jaguars with mutations or colorations not yet documented, new species, and even relics of prehistoric felines.

Henry Shoemaker was a prolific data collector who is now remembered only as a Pennsylvania folklorist interested in the wildlife of his state.

In Shoemaker's 1916 book Juniata Memories, he briefly described the big cats known in central Pennsylvania: "On very rare occasions, panthers with manes were taken; one of the last such was killed in the Bald Eagle Mountains by the celebrated frontiersman, Peter Pentz, in 1797."

"The first settlers at the foot of the Bald Eagle Mountain, which contains the "bare places," attempted to raise cattle, sheep and hogs. This suited the panthers exactly, as calves, lambs and pigs were easier to capture, and gave up without the tussle common to the wild creatures. There was one panther which gave no end of trouble for six years. Those who saw him at close range, for he was very bold and would carry off a sheep out of a barnyard, stated that he had a tawney matted mane like a lion. If he were seen today he would be classed as an "escaped lion from a circus," but as there were no circuses in this country in those days he couldn't have been that."

"It is interesting to note that Peter Pentz, the famous Indian fighter, killed a maned male panther near McElhattan Run, Clinton County, in 1798 [yes, he says 1798 here and 1797]. The Indians told the Dutch settlers on Manhattan Island that the hides of panthers they brought there to sell were from females, that the males had men and were difficult to capture."

Early records of folklore for both maned and black cats have been found. John Lutz's eastern puma newsletter has a discussion regarding the fact that some American Indians termed the large black cats they observed in the wild as "black devils" or "devil cats."

These photos are from the Maine Wolf Coalition.

They stated that these canids are not coyotes, and argue that they are individuals of eastern wolves (Canis lycaon) that came from Algonquin Provincial Park in Canada.

Eastern wolves are smaller than wolves from the Rocky Mountains and the western Great Lakes region; they are almost identical to coyote-wolf hybrids in size, but are distinct.

The Maine Wolf Coalition stated that the presence of wolves in Maine and New York is a fact and that these regions do not have coyotes, but coyote-wolf hybrids and eastern wolves that are trying to establish a population. However, hunting organizations in these states deny this, not based on science, but due to political bias.

According to Ivan T. Sanderson, early settlers in North America reported the existence of a "grizzly bear" inhabiting the high plains. This bear was a specialized predator of bison and much larger than the true grizzly bear. Apparently, this supposed grizzly bear became extinct when bison were overhunted.

A "bulldog bear," capable of carrying an moose, was reported in the Northwest Territories and even in northern British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan, Canada. It was presumed to be a still-living short-faced bear.

Bulldog bears are cryptid bears reported in the United States and Canada, notable for their large size and resemblance to gorillas and felines. The term "boorger bear" originated in the Appalachian Mountains and the Ozark Mountains, but according to Dale A. Drinnon, the animals have been reported in "a vast area including Texas and Oklahoma, Florida and Canada, indefinitely far away, but throughout this area only in small local enclaves where reports occur with some regularity. Reports are much more common in mountainous areas than elsewhere, but they also occur in swamps and along river courses." It is speculated that they may be living short-faced bears.

The current status of this cryptid is that it is extinct; if it still exists, it may be on the verge of extinction, with a very low population and a very restricted distribution in remote mountainous areas of Canada.

In summary, in 1940, Ivan T. Sanderson told Mark A. Hall about collecting a cat skin that he described as being over 6 feet long, from nose to tail. The tail, he recalled, was about 18 inches. He continued: "The legs appeared to be quite long compared to, say, a domestic cat or a puma. The paws were very large, spread, and well-furred. The claws were a bright yellow. The fur was soft on the underside and rather stiff on top, being basically various shades of brown, uniform on the head and shoulders, but featuring light and dark wavy stripes on the flanks and upper legs. The most singular feature of the skin was 'a large mane around the neck, formed by hairs growing forward from behind the shoulders.'"

This specimen was lost in a hurricane in Honduras.

I sent this description to a feline expert in Mexico (where Ivan collected this skin), and he told me he found the skin quite strange. The closest hypothesis he found, based on the size and physical description, would be a hybrid of a lion and a Sumatran tiger, in this case a tigon (tiger father and lioness mother), but he himself admitted that he found this skin very strange. What is your opinion?

Image 1: White-throated black jaguar

Image 2: Entzaeia-yawá

Image 3: Pamá-yawá

It is my hypothesis that these 3 felines are of the same species or even the same group.

They live in neighboring areas, the tropical forests of Ecuador and the Brazilian Amazon, both connected by the Amazon River and its tributaries.

Pamá-yawá and Entzaeia-yawá are quite similar and both share the same aquatic habitat in the same forests; the white-throated black jaguar may be the same, although it is further away.

All 3 are larger than a common jaguar. Entzaeia-yawá and the white-throated black jaguar have some variations in coloration, one being brown or reddish while the other has an irregular white pattern on its throat similar to a collar.

They say the Pamá-yawá's colors are dark gray, the Entzaeia-yawá is entirely black, gray, or brown, and the white-throated black jaguar is entirely black with no visible rosettes. The white-throated black jaguar's distinctive white collar, a characteristic resulting from geographic variation or sexual dimorphism within the same species, may well have gone unnoticed by some witnesses. The color variation of the Entzaeia yawá can be explained by adaptation to different environments; in more open regions it would be brown, while in closed areas it would be black or dark gray, similar to the ocelot, and without rosettes like a common jaguar.

If we assume as a working hypothesis that the three felines are identical, this gives us the image of a large feline, bigger than a jaguar and even more aquatic, with black, gray, or brown coloration, a white patch on its throat, a quite compact body, and an adaptation to prey on adult tapirs—something the jaguar cannot do, with the exception of the jaguar of the Pantanal in Brazil—and, in addition, a high level of territorial aggression capable of killing humans and preying on caimans, and large anacondas.

Their geographic distribution is currently restricted to small populations in the western Amazon due to deforestation and competition with jaguars. Furthermore, the Amazonian jaguar is much smaller than the Pantanal jaguar, which would help reduce competition between them.

This is just a comparison I made based on information available both online and in cryptozoology books I have. I made a comparison scale between the Ennedi Tiger and the Dantero Tiger, and also a comparison between the African Water Lion and the South American Water Tiger.

An interesting point I noticed is that, in general, African cryptocats tend to have a similar size to a leopard and a lion, and in both cases are larger than a lion. The water lion is said to have the body of a horse, lion's claws, fangs like a walrus, and is spotted like a lopard or striped like a tiger.

While in South America cryptocats are mostly smaller than a jaguar (the only exceptions are the White-throated Black Jaguar, the Tapir Tiger – which I suspect are the same animal because both are described as having the same size, the same coloration, and both have attacked humans–, and lastly the Water Tiger/Entzaeia yawá – don't confuse the water tiger above, they are different cryptids in both size and behavior, although both are semi-aquatic), this applies to the Water Tiger and the Black Tiger. Both are described as smaller than a jaguar, but while the Black Tiger inhabits more tropical mountainous regions, the Water Tiger, as the name suggests, prefers aquatic environments. And taking into account that the Amazonian jaguar is smaller than the Pantanal jaguar, the difference in size between them increases even more if we use the Pantanal jaguar for comparison.

Regardless of whether they are real or not, this is a good example of evolutionary convergence within cryptozoology.

The Waheela, or Great White Wolf, is a cryptid found in the boreal forests of North America. It is described as much larger than common gray wolves, very rare, always solitary, possessing dense fur that can be entirely white or entirely brown. Its physical structure resembles a mixture of wolf and black bear, or a wolf on steroids. They are scavengers and opportunistic predators. They are "distant from humans," although they have been blamed for several deaths.

If you do in-depth research on a cryptid called Waheela or the Great White Wolf, a remarkable dog named Snoodles appears in that story, who belonged to Gus and Mary Kraus.

Until the advent of the snowmobile, the dog was a mainstay of life in the North, as essential to sourdough bread as the horse was to the plainsman of the West. Like their equine counterparts in the West, dogs were primarily used for transportation in the North, harnessed to sleds in winter and carried backpacks during the summer months. They also served as guardians against wild animals and as indispensable companions during the long periods of solitary isolation that characterized life on the northern frontier. A hunter or prospector could easily know a hundred dogs in a lifetime, and so it seemed strange to the author that one particular dog could so indelibly mark the memory of his fellow sourdough bread makers as to merit specific mention in two separate interviews. Even more bizarre, however, especially considering the Dire Wolf theory, is the physical description the sourdough makers gave of this creature.

"I don't know what was wrong," said Gus Kraus. "He was a really strange dog. He looked more like a bear than a dog. I don't know what breed you'd call his. Looking from behind, you'd swear he was a bear. Big, heavy legs and feet, heavy body."

In a completely separate interview, Billy Clark stated that Snoodles was Kraus's "most beautiful dog"... Kind of stocky. Coat like a black bear and very large ears, but short and stocky, yet robust, with a very large chest... You could put fifty, sixty pounds on that dog in your backpack – twenty-five pounds of flour on each side and some other things – and he would walk beside you, or in front of you, around you all day. Trembling dog."

To give some context to the penultimate statement, hunter Al Lewis, in Nahanni Remembered, wrote that an average dog could handle a pack weighing a total of 20 to 30 pounds.

Snoodles's physical strength, his robust build, and especially his resemblance to a black bear seemed to echo Frank Graves's description of the Waheela. It also strongly evoked the Dire Wolf theory.

The possibility of Snoodles having some connection to the Waheela legend led some to seek more information about him and uncover a fascinating story.

According to Billy Clark, Gus Kraus acquired this dog from George Dalziel, the Flying Hunter – a tough frontiersman who, in the words of historian Nahanni Norm Kagan, was "one of the most daring men to cross the Mackenzie Mountains".

George Dalziel first arrived in the North of the country in the winter of 1932, traveling northeast from British Columbia and crossing the Mackenzie Mountains on foot. The experienced lumberjack completed this journey in basic attire, without even the spartan comfort afforded by a canvas tent; incredibly, Dalziel spent every night of his arduous winter journey in an open siwash camp, with nothing over his head but the falling snow and the aurora borealis. Al Lewis described the Flying Hunter and his remarkable odyssey thus:

"His skill in the air was directly proportional to his skill in the woods. This was the man who had walked with snowshoes from Lower Post on the Liard River to Fort Norman on the Mackenzie River. Almost 400 miles (645 km) as the crow flies. And Dal certainly never followed any crows. Through mountains, swamps, river valleys and plateaus, he made the winter journey with rifle, axe and two pack dogs."

Dalziel bought his first single-engine plane in 1934 and spent the following decades building an almost legendary reputation in Northland as the Flying Hunter.

"George Dalziel was an extraordinary lumberjack and aviator," Norm Kagan once wrote in a brief biographical summary of the man. "His life would make a great story, especially if all the facts were known. He ignored the rules – he smuggled, set traps, hunted, traded where and when he wanted. He survived terrible winters and a few accidents too, expecting the same from others."

It was from this remarkable character that Gus Kraus bought Snoodles for a handful of swallow skins.

In those days, intrepid frontiersmen often attempted to crossbreed their sled dogs with wild wolves to obtain large, fast, powerful, vigorous pups naturally adapted to the harsh northern climate. One technique they sometimes used to achieve this goal involved waiting for a female dog to go into heat before leaving her in the wild overnight, tied to a tree some distance from the cabin. With luck, the hunter brave enough to attempt this risky operation would return in the morning to find his mongrel pregnant with a litter of wolfdogs. On rarer occasions, if forced to shoot adult members of a resident wolf pack, the frontiersmen would sometimes seek out the den of the wolves they killed and raise their orphaned pups as their own.

Considering the unorthodox nature of the Flying Hunter, some cryptozoologists have conceived the notion that—assuming this hypothesis was correct and that a surviving population of Dire Wolves (or a new, unknown species of large canid) actually inhabited the wilderness of the Nahanni Valley—perhaps Snoodles was the product of a union between a sled dog and a wild dire wolf, made possible by the use of the first technique described above. Even more unbelievable, perhaps Snoodles was a purebred Waheela, acquired by Dalziel through the second technique. Interestingly, these hypothetical scenarios seemed to agree with Billy Clark's description of Dalziel's dogs:

"His dogs were wild. You just couldn't get near Dalziel's dogs, you know... They were absolutely wild, no joke."

In his interview, Gus Kraus told a story that shed some light on Snoodles' temperament. The story takes place in Bennett Creek, where Kraus once claimed a mining concession. Every day, the hunter worked with pickaxe and shovel, digging a pit down to bedrock in the hopes of finding gold. At night, after a hard day's work, he would cut up a piece of frozen elk meat for Snoodles and place it near the stove to thaw.

"He was a funny dog, you know?" Kraus said. "Almost human. He would observe. He knew when the meat was thawed—especially bone, you know, with a little bit of meat. And then he'd come up to me and nudge me with his nose," prompting Kraus to hand him the piece. "He'd go over there, grab the meat, and walk off with it toward the door..."

"I was sitting there—or rather, lying there—on the bunk, talking to Bill [Clark]. This was just before we lit the lamp. We were using candles, of course, and I saw [Snoodles] leaving... I leaned back and talked to Bill. Suddenly, next to me, near the window, I heard something." Kraus imitated a creaking sound. "Something creaking on a bone."

Kraus got up from his bunk and looked out the window. There, crouched in the dark beside his cabin, was an old, gray she-wolf trying, with the few teeth she had left, to gnaw on an elk bone—the same bone Snoodles had taken outside. Not far from the she-wolf was Snoodles himself, who didn't seem at all disturbed by her presence.

The she-wolf seemed to sense she was being watched. She looked up at the window and, seeing Kraus staring at her, dropped the bone and darted into the woods. Confused, Kraus called Snoodles inside and closed the door.

The next morning, Kraus followed the she-wolf's tracks along a trail leading from his cabin to a patch of woods on the other side of Bennett Creek. At the end of the trail was a graveyard of artificially stunted elk bones, many of them cooked or baked, which suspiciously resembled the ones he gave Snoodles to gnaw on every night. Apparently, Snoodles had been sharing his nightly rations with the old she-wolf for at least a month. As Gus Kraus put it, "he was feeding that damned she-wolf."

Kraus set a trap and, after several failed attempts, managed to catch the old wolf and shoot it. "You should have seen that dog," he said. "The look on that dog's face. Wow... You could tell he was really upset that I killed that damned female."

It turns out there are four photographs of Snoodles archived in the Northwest Territories Archives in Yellowknife, NWT. The oldest was taken in 1942 and the most recent in 1958, indicating that Snoodles lived to at least sixteen years of age – an advanced age for a dog, especially one of his size.

Unfortunately, our Snoodles doesn't look much like a prehistoric monster, at least not to this author, but rather something resembling a Swedish Lapphund with the build of a Bernese Mountain Dog. In all likelihood, Snoodles was a mongrel – a common, intelligent, and powerfully built domestic dog – and not some kind of husky-giant wolf hybrid.

Interestingly, one of the photographs of Snoodles (the 4th photograph) contains a surprising background image, particularly relevant. In this photo, taken in 1943, Mary Kraus is with Snoodles in front of the Kraus family cabin, from whose edges hang the pelts of two enormous white wolves - the same wolves from which Gus had saved Mary.

Source: https://gnwt.accesstomemory.org/informationobject/browse?topLod=0&sort=relevance&query=Snoodles

In 1999, cryptozoologist Angel Morant Forés conducted expeditions in the forests of Ecuador in South America. He wrote:

"In the summer of 1999 I boarded a flight for South America to conduct cryptozoological fieldwork in Southern Ecuador's Amazonian region, more precisely in the Macas region (Morona-Santiago province).

But, why Ecuador ? I chose this country for several reasons. In the first place, as a Spaniard I preferred to visit a Spanish-speaking area to avoid communication problems. Moreover, Ecuador is at present a politically stable country where foreigners can travel without being threatened by guerrillas or drug-traffikers. Another advantage of Ecuador as a field for this kind of research lies in its zoological richness. Regarded as one of the most important biodiversity hotspots in the world, Ecuador is home to 1580 bird species, 271 mammal species and 374 reptile species and there are many still-unexplored regions which could harbour animals unknown to science.

From the beginning, it was clear to me I would need the collaboration of native people, whose knowledge of local wildlife has played an important role in the history of zoological discoveries. Many native groups live in the rainforests of Ecuador's Amazonian region but, perhaps, the best known of them all are the shuar indians noted for their custom of keeping the head of their enemies as trophies (a practice which, fortunately, was eradicated long ago). Before departing, I consulted several anthropological books on the shuar indians which supplied me with valuable cryptozoological information. During my bibliographic research, I noticed that Shuar language has as many as six words for different types of big cats whereas science only recognizes the existence of two such animals in Ecuador: the puma (japa-yawá) and the jaguar (yampinkia-yawá).

Most shuar communities live in the Morona-Santiago province whose capital, Macas, is well communicated with the rest of the country. I established my headquarters in Macas and over the two next weeks (from 11 to 24 June), I visited five villages (9 de Octubre, Macuma, Sauntza, Sevilla-Don Bosco and Wapula) to question native hunters about the local wildlife. Whenever I went, I took with me a book illustrated with dozens of pictures of Ecuadorian mammals which I used to test the wisdom of my informants. Since I knew the Shuar name of a great deal of Amazonian species -- I spent three days in Quito gathering information on this subject -- I would hand the book to my informants and ask them to locate a particular animal, then another one and so on until we had gone through almost all of the photos in the book. It goes without saying most of my informants showed an extraordinary knowledge of local wildlife. Through interviews with native hunters I learnt of several animals which could be unknown to zoology, mostly cats. The majority of reports I collected came from people who had not seen the animals themselves but had heard of them. Except for Macuma, my fieldwork took place in a densely populated area from which some of these animals seem to have disappeared many years ago. Still, I was assured one can still find them deep in the rainforest, above all in the Trans-Cutucú region. None of my informants attached fairy-tale traits to any of these animals and spoke of them in a quite down-to-earth way.

Esakar-paki : an unknown species of peccary ?

According to the Shuar people there are three kinds of peccaries inhabiting the Amazonian region of Ecuador. This is a most interesting claim since mammal reference books only mention the existence of two species : the collared peccari (Pecari tajacu) and the white-lipped peccary (Tayassu pecari), both of them dark in colour (a third species, Catagonus wagneri, was described in 1975, but it is only living in the Gran Chaco of Paraguay, not in Ecuador). The Shuar speak of a third unidentified peccary they call esakar-paki. According to them, esakar-paki is the smallest of all peccaries, has reddish fur and lives in troops made up of 50 or 60 individuals. When I showed photos to my informants, many of them identified the esakar-paki with a juvenile specimen of collared peccary (Indeed, young collared peccaries have reddish fur). I was told the esakar-paki is the only peccary which attacks humans without provocation.

A Shuar speleologist called Marcelo Churuwia told me that he had been chased by a troop of esakar-paki in the rainforest on the Ecuador-Peru border and had to climb a tree for safety. Churuwia said the attacking animals were reddish-brown in colour.

Not all of the descriptions given to me are like the above-mentioned ones. Three hunters which I interviewed stated the esakar-paki resembles the white-lipped peccary except for the fact that it is much more aggressive. According to them, esakar-paki troops are led by a small, old individual, reddish in colour, which is particularly fearless of humans.

This animal is said to abound in the Sangay National Park and the Trans-Cutucú region.

Shiashia-yawá : an albino form of jaguar ?

All accounts of the shiashia I obtained were similar : it is a spotted cat white in colour and smaller than a jaguar (Panthera onca) but bigger than an ocelot (Felis pardalis). An old Shuar from Sevilla-Don Bosco, Carlos Pichama, told me the fur of the shiashia is covered by solid black spots which are more tightly packed than the rosettes typical of jaguars. I collected two eyewitness reports from people who claimed to have killed this animal in the past. Of course, there are numerous explanations for unusual color patterns in cats that are not related to taxonomic differences. So, it is possible that the shiashia is just an albino form of jaguar. However, all my informants insisted that this animal is smaller than jaguars (around 1.30 m long).

Pamá-yawá : the tapir tiger

Shuar hunters also informed me of the existence of a jungle-dwelling, very large cat called pamá-yawá (yawá meaning "tiger" and pamá "tapir", that is, the tapir tiger). It is described as a uniformly dark grey coloured animal the size of an Amazonian tapir (Tapirus terrestris). I was told this is the only cat which predates tapirs. Some people I interviewed stressed that the paws of pamá-yawá are of enormous proportions.

Pedro Anan Churuwia, a Wapula hunter, is one of the few persons who claims to have encountered the spoor of this animal in the jungle. According to him, one pawprint was as big as both of his hands (Let me say that Pedro is a very small person with diminute hands).

Juan Bautista Rivadeneira, a Macas settler, saw a pamá-yawá in 1969 on the Morona river at a distance of 50 or 60 meters. The sighting lasted ten minutes during which the animal came out of the river and walked lazily on a sandy beach before disapearing from view. He claims it was around 2 m long and 1.30 m in shoulder height. On seeing it, a shuar guide who was accompanying him exclaimed : "pamá-yawá !"

This cat is said to inhabit the Trans-Cutucú region as well as the area surrounding the Sangay volcano.

Tshenkutshen : the rainbow tiger

Tshenkutshen is a quite perplexing animal judging by the reports I collected. It is described as a black cat the size of a jaguar which has several stripes of different colors (black, white, red and yellow) on its chest. "Just like a rainbow"-- I was told by a native hunter. In contrast with other big cats thsenkutshen is said to be an exceptionally good tree-climber. In fact, my informants told me the tshenkutshen is capable of incredible acrobatic feats like jumping from a treetrunk to another with devilish speed. Regarded as the most dangerous of all jungle animals, tshenkutshen's forepaws are described as monkey-like except for the fact that it has very large claws instead of nails.

This appears to be the same species which a Macas settler, Policarpio Rivadeneira, killed in 1959 in a low mountain called Cerro Kilamo near the Abanico river. Rivadeneira was walking in the rainforest when he saw a strange animal leaping from tree to tree. Fearing an attack, he aimed his gun and shot it in the head. Upon examination, Rivadeneira discovered it was a most extraordinary jaguar-sized cat. Its pelage was like that of a shiashia (white with black spots) but it had a series of multicoloured stripes running across its chest which differentiated it from all other cats he had ever seen. Three more details called his attention : the animal's arms were very muscular, it had a hump on its back and the forepaws were very much like a monkey's (with flat rather than round palms).

Apart from Rivadeneira, another hunter told me that, except for the stripes, the thsenkutshen's pelage is very similar to that of a shiashia.

This strange beast is said to live in the Trans-Cutucú region, Sierra de Cutucú and the Sangay volcano area near Chiguaza.

Entzaeia-yawá : the water tiger

Over the years many sightings of mystery cats with an aquatic lifestyle have been reported from South America and Ecuador is no exception. According to the Shuar people the rivers of the Morona-Santiago province are the abode of a water-dwelling feline they call entzaeia-yawá. Unfortunately, almost all the accounts I gathered concerning this animal were rather vague. It appears that water tigers show a wide range of colour morphs (black, white, brown and reddish). They are said to be nocturnal animals as big or somewhat bigger than a jaguar and with a bushy tail. Entzaeia-yawá is regarded as a most dangerous creature and attacks on humans are not rare.

Carlos Pichama told me how a water-tiger had killed his cousin's wife in the course of a fishing trip to the Mangusas river (not far from Suantza). After setting up a camp on the rivershore, his cousin went on a hunting excursion to the rainforest leaving his wife alone. A couple of hours later, when he came back to the camp she had disappeared. Following her footprints he arrived to a sandy beach at a place where the river formed a natural lake and cried out for her, but to no avail. Upon further examination, he located the spoor of a water-tiger which seemed to have been stalking his wife. Back in Suantza he told the story to her wife's parents who concluded that a water tiger had dragged her into the water. The next day, he and his brothers returned to the spot where the woman had been killed by the water tiger. The group of men exploded several charges of dynamite in the lake and saw the corpse of a long-haired reddish coloured animal of big size come to the surface. All my informants described the paws of the water tiger as being like a duck's (In fact, when I showed them some drawings of animal spoor, they would point to otter tracks as those which most resembled the entzaeia-yawá's). When I showed the track of a bear's hindpaw to a native hunter he claimed it was very much like that of a water tiger because it had a flat palm.

Could the entzaeia-yawá reports be based on sightings of giant otters (Pteronura brasiliensis) ? I do not think so. For example, giant otters have a series of white blotches on their throats which have never been mentioned to me in accounts of water tigers. Moreover, Pteronura very rarely attacks humans whereas the entzaeia-yawá is regarded as a man-eater to the point that Shuar people avoid being alone while taking a bath in the river. It should be also stressed that although my book on Ecuadorian mammals carried a picture of a giant otter none of my informants identified it with a water tiger. The only eyewitness report containing a detailed description of this animal was given to me by Juan Bautista Rivadeneira. He saw a water tiger in 1989 at the mouth of the Jurumbaino river, a tributary of the Upano. It was a short-legged black cat bigger than a jaguar with a cow's tail. Its pawprints were described to me as being like those of an otter but without clawmarks.

Tsere-yawá : a social jungle cat

Not all of the unidentified animals reported to me were of big size. Several native hunters spoke of a one meter long semiaquatic cat which is said to hunt in packs of 8 to 10 individuals. Shuar Indians call it tsere-yawá on account of its brown pelage (tsere meaning "brown capuchin monkey"). In 1999 a young man named Christian Chumbi from Sauntza saw eight of these animals at a distance of 15 meters in the river Yukipa.

During my research, I collected second-hand reports about other apparently unknown animals (a bear-like creature called ujea whose description reminded me of a giant ground sloth, a cat known as jiukam-yawá which allegedly hunts in packs, and a maned "lion"). However, since I could not locate anyone who had seen these animals I have decided to exclude them from this paper."

Currently, only one species of elephant lives in the Congo Basin: the forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis), smaller than the savanna elephant, and curiously, once considered a cryptid. But in cryptozoology there are at least 3 other species or subspecies of elephants in the Congo Basin.

The first and most famous is the Pygmy Elephant; let's see what On The Track of Unknown Animals tells us about the Pygmy Elephant:

"Pygmy elephant, in which the adult does not exceed 1.98 meters at the withers. There is no doubt that such elephants exist. Specimens have lived in the zoos of Antwerp and New York, but some zoologists argue that this does not prove that they are separate species; they may just be atypical offspring of normal elephants. To resolve the issue, it would be necessary to observe the reproduction of pygmy elephants or prove that entire herds of them exist.

The pygmy elephant was officially described for the first time in 1906 by a German professor, Theodore Noack, from Brunswick, based on a six-year-old specimen from Ndjolé, Gabon. He named it Loxodonta pumilio. In 1923, Hornaday reported it in the same area, around Lake N'Gobi, and in 1926 Pohle reported it in Fernan Vaz. Not long ago, Professor Bourdelle, one of the world's leading experts on mammals, and Francis Petter published a remarkable study about a pygmy elephant that died on March 11, 1948, in Aloombé, on the coast of Gabon, between Libreville and Port-Gentil. It was a solitary, elderly male, considered very old. It was just over 1.95 meters tall.

In the Congo, pygmy elephants are often considered aquatic. A settler living near Lefini showed Hans Schomburgk a piece of thick skin, similar to that of a common elephant, but covered in a downy coat of reddish hair. He said it belonged to an animal the natives called a "river elephant" and that it had amphibious habits, like a hippopotamus. There were persistent rumors throughout the Lake Leopold II region about this curious animal.

Lieutenant Franssen, a Belgian officer, promised to conduct a systematic search for the animal and send a specimen to the Congo Museum in Tervueren, Belgium. "If the animal exists," he said, "I will return with it; otherwise, I will not return at all."

He returned, as promised, with the remains of a water elephant captured "after spending thirty-six hours in mud and water." Exhausted by the sufferings of the expedition and stricken with a violent fever, it did not survive long after his return.

Dr. Henri Schouteden named the water elephant, or maka-waka, as the natives called it, Loxodonta fransseni in its honor.

Although his specimen was one of the largest in the herd, it was only 1.65 meters tall at the withers. Its tusks measured 66 centimeters in length and, together, weighed less than 19.5 kilograms. They were, therefore, considerably longer than those of a typical elephant of the same size.

According to Dr. Schouteden, the shape of the ears and the two digit-like appendages at the tip of the trunk (L. pumilio, like the Asian elephant, supposedly has only one) are sufficient to justify a new species of pygmy elephant. Personally, I can't see much difference in the shape of the ears in photographs of L. pumilio and L. fransseni, and I find it hard to believe that there are elephants in Africa with only one finger at the tip of their trunk. It is more likely that L. fransseni is just a synonym of L. pumilio, which is a pity for Lieutenant Franssen.

In 1936, Glover M. Allen stated that pygmy elephants (L. pumilio and L. fransseni) are merely forest elephants (L. cyclotis) that have not yet reached adulthood. Even so, there is no doubt that adult pygmy elephants exist that are less than 1.98 meters tall. The specimen at the New York Zoo, whose growth Dr. Hornaday followed until the end, reached a height of only 1.96 meters and a weight of 1 ton and 200 grams. An adult of the larger species weighs between 5 and 7 tons. There is much evidence that small groups and even large herds of pygmy elephants exist, so Allen's view is difficult to sustain today.

Thus, there are three species of elephants in Africa, corresponding to three different habitats: the savanna elephant, naturally the largest and with the most developed ears, as is common in animals that live in relatively open areas; The forest elephant, smaller, darker, and with more rounded ears; and the swamp elephant, even smaller and hairier. There is no gap between the species, which has always made distinguishing between them difficult. But denying the existence of the pygmy elephant, even as a subspecies of Loxodonta cyclotis, is absurd."

On The Track Of Unknown Animals, pages 243 to 248.

The second most famous is the Water Elephant, which Heulvemans theorized was confused with the Pygmy Elephant, causing both to assume characteristics of the other:

Rumors about the existence of a tapir-like animal in the Lower Congo circulated for over a decade before the famous report of the water elephant in 1911. In the first edition of the Encyclopedia of Sport (1898), under the entry "Tapir," the big-game hunter Fitzwilliam Thomas Pollok (1832-1909) stated that "There is a similar-looking animal in the lagoons of West Africa, below the Congo. I saw one or two, but I couldn't capture them." According to Pollok, such an animal was also mentioned by the elephant hunter Henry Bailey (1848-1933). In the second revised edition of the Encyclopedia of Sport (1911), this passage was not present, having been removed by the zoologist Richard Lydekker (1849-1915). In 1911, the ornithologist Frank Finn (1868-1932) also stated that tapirs had been reported in Africa.

However, the first account of the existence of the water elephant was made by the French naturalist Charles Le Petit, who, affiliated with the Natural History Museum of Paris, was exploring what is now the Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo around 1907. Le Petit communicated his experience to Professor Édouard Louis Trouessart (1842-1927), who published the information in La Natura in January 1911. Translations of Trouessart's article were later disseminated in England and the United States, initially by Richard Lydekker; At the time, Lydekker refused to give an opinion on the matter. Shortly afterwards, animal collector John Daniel Hamlyn (1858–1922) wrote to La Natura and other periodicals confirming Le Petit's account, claiming to have met the man in Brazzaville in 1905. In 1912, Le Petit, who was then in Nairobi, sent a more detailed account of the water elephant to big-game hunter Richard John Cuninghame (1871–1925), who subsequently published this information in the Journal of the East Africa and Uganda Natural History Society. Le Petit claimed to have seen a water elephant for the first time in 1907. By this time, Lydekker was favorably considering the possible existence of the water elephant.

Professor Bonnivair told Bernard Heulvemans how he learned from Maurice Vermeersch that, around the Lualaba River, which connects Lakes Mweru and Tanganyika, the Baluba believe in a beast they call nzefu-loi, or 'water elephant'. It is an amphibious animal with a body almost as large as that of a hippopotamus, but with a very long neck and a furry tail like that of a horse. It has short, heavy ivory tusks – probably like those of a walrus – and this may be why it is called a 'water elephant'.

Height at the withers: 1.8 to 2.4 meters. Relatively short legs. Curved back as in *E. africanus*. Tail not observed. Neck about twice the length of *E. africanus*, with ears similar in shape to that species, but relatively smaller. Distinctly long and oval head, with a trunk only about 60 centimeters long. The shape of the feet was observed in the footprints in the sand, showing four clearly separated toes as in the hippopotamus, but the body weight seemed to be supported mainly by the toes, while the plantar impression of the sole was not very pronounced. The terrain was flat where these footprints were found. None of the observed animals showed traces of tusks. The skin is apparently hairless, smooth and shiny, similar to that of a hippopotamus, but darker. The gait was similar to that of an elephant, and the last time these five water elephants were seen was when they disappeared into the water, which was deep.

They are nocturnal, emerging to feed on tough, dense grass after sunset. They spend the day in the water, just like hippos. The Babumas (native fishermen) know this animal well and have a name for it, 'Ndgoko na Maiji', which means water elephant, and they fear it greatly because it is known to emerge from the water and, with its short trunk, capsize canoes. It is also very destructive to the natives' reed nets and traps. Its geographical distribution is apparently very restricted, and the natives claim that they are not very numerous.

The third and most mysterious is the Pygmy Pygmy Elephant.

The Pygmy Pygmy Elephant is a cryptid proboscidean reported in the Ituri Rainforest in the Democratic Republic of Congo, supposedly a smaller elephant than the pygmy elephant (Loxodonta pumilio).

The Italian explorer Attilio Gatti, who investigated various cryptids during eleven African expeditions, collected reports about these elephants, including from the local administrator, Reverend Gerard. He described them as "pygmies among pygmies," in comparison to the true pygmy elephants, also reported in the Ituri region. These smaller elephants were supposedly no more than 1.20 m tall and were whitish in color. Henri Hackars, future ranger of Albert National Park, was reportedly attacked by a small herd of white pygmy elephants during an exploration of the rainforest between the Epulu, Mava, M'bure, and Akaba rivers when he was District Commissioner of Kibali-Ituri. His Mbuti guides fled, and Hackars was forced to take refuge in a tree until a rescue team arrived a few hours later. Gatti heard this story from several of the oldest residents of Kibali-Ituri, but was unable to confirm it, as Hackars himself was not in the Congo during Gatti's expedition. Explorer Lewis Cotlow confirmed the existence of such stories in Ituri. In a May 1959 article for Go magazine, travel writer K. Westcott Jones also reported observing a herd of "small white elephants" in the distance near Lake Kivu.

These are just a few characteristics of the Mapinguari that greatly interest me, as it is one of my favorite cryptozoologists.

Whether the animal exists or not, I believe it does, but it may be extinct; for some reason it is gone.

Some cryptozoologists believe that this animal is extinct in the Eastern Amazon and lives only in the most remote areas of the Western Amazon, which includes the Peruvian Amazon, Ecuador, Colombia, and the states of Amazonas and Acre in Brazil, in these places and parts of them almost unexplored (there are tribes there that have never had contact with civilization).

The current situation of this cryptid is this:

In a 1993 text, Oren feared that the Mapinguari might have become extinct recently: firsthand accounts from Amapá, in northeastern Amazonas, all came from elderly lumberjacks, and Oren had no records of any sightings in the Tapajós River basin in the previous twenty years. He observed that "long gestation periods, large size, likely large territorial range, and hostile relations with local human populations are a classic formula for the extinction of mammals worldwide." However, although he believed the species had recently been extirpated from the eastern Amazon, he thought small numbers might still exist in the far west of the Brazilian Amazon, in Amazonas and Acre.

More sightings (including killings) have been reported since then, in the 21st century, and in 1999, cryptozoologist Richard Freeman listed it as one of the ten cryptids most likely to be discovered in the 21st century, along with the thylacine, Delcourt's giant gecko, giant anacondas, the yeti, the orang-pendek, the megalania, giant eels, the mokele-mbembe, and the lusca: he considered that "sightings of a monster resembling a mylodon sloth push coincidence to the limit." Karl Shuker writes about the mapinguari: "The mapinguari may be the largest native land mammal in South America today, as well as an important prehistoric survivor, therefore its discovery and formal identification as a living giant sloth would be a sensational zoological event. It certainly seems to be one of the creatures most likely to be officially revealed by science one day, especially if sought during the autumn when it supposedly descends from the Andes—and provided, of course, that its possible discoverer remembers to bring a very effective gas mask!"

Sources:

Williams, Jan "Giant Ground Sloths in Amazonia?," Animals & Men #1

Oren, David "Did Ground Sloths Survive to Recent Times in the Amazon Region?" Goeldiana Zoologia (1993)

Freeman, Richard "Monsters of the Next Millennium," Animals & Men #20

Shuker, Karl P. N. (2016) Still In Search Of Prehistoric Survivors: The Creatures That Time Forgot?