Mysterious Creatures : A Guide to Cryptozoology

(9) An unknown owl. A new species of owl
is said t o have been discovered in Sri Lanka
in January 2001 by an ornit hologist who
had been t racking it s unfamiliar call for
several years.
(10) An unknown species of hawk-eagle.
(11) An unknown species of night jar,
suggest ed by Karl Shuker.
Sources: Charles Pridham, An Historical,
Political, and Statistical Account of Ceylon and
Its Dependencies (London: T. and W. Boone,
1849), pp. 737–738; James Emerson Tennent ,
Sketches of the Natural History of Ceylon
(London: Longman, Green, Longman, and
Robert s, 1861); William Vincent Legge, A
History of the Birds of Ceylon (London, 1880);
George Morrison Henry, A Guide to the Birds
of Ceylon (London: Godfrey Cumberledge,
1955); Richard L. Spit t el, The Devil Birds of
Ceylon, suppl. t o Loris 11 (December 1968):
1–14; Sálim Ali, Indian Hill Birds (Mumbai,
India: Oxford Universit y Press, 1987); Karl
Shuker, “Horned Jackals and Devil Birds,”
Fate 42 (January 1989): 57–64; “New Bird
Discovered in Sri Lanka,” BBC News Online,
February 26, 2001.
Devil Monkey
Large, t ailed Primate of Nort h America.
Etymology: Name coined by Mark A. Hall.
Variant names: Giant monkey, Nalusa
Falay a.
Physical description: Height , 3–8 feet . Light
brown t o black hair. Point ed ears. Baboonlike
or doglike muzzle. St rong chest . A blaze of
whit e fur from neck t o belly. Short forelegs wit h
claws. Muscular hind legs. Large feet . A long t ail
is somet imes report ed, alt ernat ely described as
black and bushy or hairless.
Behavior: Somet imes walks bipedally, at ot her
t imes quadrupedally. Aggressive t oward dogs
and humans. Emit s a wide range of hoot s, calls,
screams, and whist les. Said t o kill livest ock and
small game.
Tracks: Three rounded t oes, wit h regular
spacing bet ween. Lengt h, 12–15 inches.
Distribution: Brit ish Columbia; Appalachian
Mount ain region of t he Unit ed St at es.
Significant sightings: Early one morning in
1959, a monkeylike creat ure rushed at t he car of
a couple driving down a rural road near Salt ville,
Virginia. It chased t he vehicle for a short while,
grabbing at it wit h it s front paws. Lat er, t hey
found t hree long, deep scrat ches in t he met al
from t he front door t o t he rear. Around t he same
time, t he animal apparent ly ripped off t he convert
ible t op of a car driven by t wo nurses.
Aft er midnight on June 26, 1997, Debbie
Cross saw a st range animal out side her rural home
near Dunkinsville, Ohio. It was 3–4 feet t all,
hairy, and wit h long arms and a short t ail. As it
moved away from her, it walked on it s knuckles.
A giant black monkey was spot t ed in rural
Danville, New Hampshire, on Sept ember 9,
2001, and on at least nine ot her occasions over
a t wo-week period.
Present status: Dist inct ions bet ween North
Am erican Ap es, Devil monkeys, Hairy Bipeds,
and Bigfootare nebulous and possibly arbit rary.
In general, North American Apes are t ailless
and primarily quadrupedal, and t hey resemble
chimpanzees; Devil monkeys are t ailed and resemble
baboons; Hairy Bipeds cover a wide
range of descript ions from apes t o wildmen and
even paranormal ent it ies; Bigfoot is a robust ,
t all hominid wit h a range t hat seems rest rict ed t o
t he Pacific Nort hwest . Loren Coleman even
not es cert ain similarit ies wit h Phantom Kangaroo
report s and suggest s t hat juvenile Devil
monkeys may resemble kangaroos.
Possible explanations:
(1) Feral pet monkeys have formed breeding
colonies, especially in Florida. A group of
Squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus) live in
Broward Count y’s Hugh Taylor Birch St at e
Park, and Rhesus monkeys (Macaca
mulatta) became well est ablished around
Silver Springs aft er t hey were first released
int o t he wild in Marion Count y during t he
filming of Tarzan movies in 1933. Rhesus
monkeys are also known in Jack Kaye Park
in Fort Lauderdale. A few of t he 500
monkeys uncaged in 1992 by Hurricane
Andrew from research labs, privat e owners,
and t he Miami Met rozoo are probably st ill
living and breeding in t he Everglades. Some
officials believe Capuchin monkeys (Cebus
DEVIL MONKEY 127