Mysterious Creatures : A Guide to Cryptozoology

spp.) are forming t roops in sout h Florida. A
free-roaming group of Japanese macaques
(Macaca fuscata) was brought t o Dilley,
Texas, in 1972 t o save t he animals from
dest ruct ion in Kyot o, Japan, where t hey are
regarded as a nuisance; in 1980, t he
monkeys became t he propert y of t he Sout h
Texas Primat e Observat ory and were
confined for behavioral research at a ranch
t here. But in t he lat e 1980s, t heir enclosure
fell int o disrepair, and several escaped. The
monkeys have roamed t he sout h Texas
brush ever since, t heir populat ion swelling
to more t han 600 by 1995. However, none
of t hese colonies are in areas where Devil
monkeys have been report ed.
(2) Surviving Protopithecus brasiliensis (or
relat ed species), an ext inct , fruit -eat ing
spider monkey from t he Lat e Pleist ocene of
east ern Brazil t hat was t wice as large as any
ext ant species, suggest ed by Chad Arment .
(3) Surviving Theropithecus oswaldi, a large
baboon t hat lived 650,000 years ago in East
Africa and is t he ancest or of t he modern
Gelada baboon (T. gelada), suggest ed by
Mark A. Hall. The male was roughly t he
size of a female gorilla and weighed 250
pounds. A ground dweller, t his animal was
t oo big t o live in t rees and could not use it s
long forearms for swinging.
Sources: Chad Arment , “Virginia Devil
Monkey Report s,” North American BioFortean
Review 2, no. 1 (2000): 34–37, ht t p://www.
st rangeark.com/nabr/NABR1.pdf; Chad
Arment , “Devil Monkeys or Wampus Cat s?”
North American BioFortean Review 2, no. 2
(2000): 45–48, ht t p://www.st rangeark.
com/nabr/NABR4.pdf; Loren Coleman,
Mysterious America, rev. ed. (New York:
Paraview, 2001), pp. 184–187.
Devil Pig
Large, piglike Hoofed Mammalor Marsup ial
of Aust ralasia.
Variant names: Gazeka, Monckt on’s gazeka.
Physical description: Dark skin wit h pat t erned
markings. Lengt h, 5 feet . Shoulder height , 3
feet 6 inches or great er. Long snout . Horselike
t ail. Even-t oed (cloven) feet .
128 DEVIL PIG
Distribution: Owen St anley Range, Papua
New Guinea.
Significant sightings: Ancient st one carvings
depict ing st range animals wit h long, t runklike
snout s were first found in 1962 in t he Ambun
Valley.
Huge (rhinoceros-sized) excrement was
found by t he crew of t he HMS Basilisk on t he
nort heast Papuan coast in t he 1870s. Dung
from feral pigs, which are t he largest Papuan ungulat
es, is less subst ant ial.
Two nat ive Papuans, Privat e Ogi and t he village
const able Oina, saw t wo large, porcine animals
on Mount Albert Edward, Papua New
Guinea, on May 10, 1906. Ogi t ried t o shoot
one, but his hands shook, and he misfired.
Possible explanations:
(1) A feral Domest ic pig (Sus scrofa var.
domesticus) is rarely larger t han 2 feet 6
inches at t he shoulder.
(2) The Malayan t apir (Tapirus indicus) is
odd-t oed and not found as far east as New
Guinea.
(3) The Babirussa (Babyrousa babyrussa),
found in Sulawesi, Indonesia, is not a close
mat ch.
(4) A Papuan occurrence of t he Javan
rhinoceros (Rhinoceros sondaicus) is unlikely.
(5) A Long-nosed echidna (Zaglossus
bruijni ), especially a newly hat ched juvenile,
might account for t he Ambun sculpt ures.
(6) A surviving diprot odont marsupial, such
as t he t apirlike Palorchestes or t he
rhinoceros-like, nasal-horned Nototherium.
Most of New Guinea’s nat ive mammals are
marsupials, making t hese large animals
viable possibilit ies for t he Devil pig. The
snout ed Palorchestes seems part icularly akin
to the animal depict ed in t he Ambun
st ones. The last diprot odont s are t hought t o
have died out in Aust ralia bet ween 18,000
and 6,000 years ago.
Sources: Alfred O. Walker, “The Rhinoceros
in New Guinea,” Nature 11 (1875): 248, 268;
Adolf Bernhard Meyer, “The Rhinoceros in
New Guinea,” Nature 11 (1875): 268; Charles
A. W. Monckt on, Some Experiences of a New
Guinea Resident Magistrate (London: John
Lane, 1920); Charles A. W. Monckt on, Last