Mysterious Creatures : A Guide to Cryptozoology

“The Kilopilopitsofy, Kidoky, and Bokyboky:
Accounts of Strange Animals from Belo-sur-
Mer, Madagascar, and the Megafaunal
‘Extinction Window,’” American Anthropologist
100 (1998): 957–966.
Kigezi Turaco
Unknown Bird of East Africa.
Physical description: Slender, nonpasserine
bird. Green, with very little red on the wings.
Distribution: Kabate (former Kigezi) District,
Uganda.
Significant sighting: Seen briefly by John G.
Williams and other ornithologists in Uganda.
Possible explanation: Fleeting glimpses of the
southern race of Ruwenzori turaco (Tauraco
johnstoni), which shows little of its red wings in
short flights, was suggested by Jonathan Kingdon.
Source: John G. Williams, A Field Guide to
the Birds of East Africa (London: Collins,
1980), p. 12.
Kikiyaon
Unknown Bird of West Africa.
Etymology: Bambara (Mande) word.
Physical description: Like a large owl. Covered
in greenish-gray fur rather than feathers. Immense
wings. A sharp spur juts from each of its
two shoulder joints. Large talons. Short, tufted
tail.
Behavior: Call is a deep grunt like the “uh-uhuhu-hoom-hoom”
of Pel’s fishing owl (Scotopelia
peli). Also makes a noise like a person
being strangled.
Habitat: Dense forest.
Distribution: Senegal.
Source: Karl Shuker, “The Secret Animals of
Senegambia,” Fate 51 (November 1998):
46–51.
Kikomba
Wildm an of Central Africa.
Etymology: Konjo, Nyanga, and Kanu
(Bantu) word.
Scientific names: Paranthropus congensis, pro-
274 KIGEZI TURACO
posed by Charles Cordier in 1963; Kikomba
leloupi, suggested by Bernard Heuvelmans in
1980.
Variant names: Abamaánji, Apamándi
(Komo/Bantu), Kakundakari (possibly the female
or young individuals), Tshingombé
(Tembo/Bantu), Zaluzúgu (Lega-Mwenga/
Bantu).
Physical description: Height, 5 feet 2 inches.
Light skin. Covered in black hair. Long, black
head-hair. Broad shoulders. Pronounced sexual
dimorphism, if the Kakundakari is indeed the
female.
Behavior: Bipedal. Uses a walking stick.
Holds its long hair away from its eyes while
walking. Howls more terrifyingly than a gorilla.
Sometimes screams or barks like a Water
chevrotain (Hyemoschus aquaticus). Steals game
from traps. Eats honey from beehives, roots, and
ginger-fruit. Knocks down trees in search of insects.
Said to attack humans either by hitting
them with its fists or an old axe handle or by
wrestling.
Tracks: Length, 8–12 inches. Second toe
larger than the first and third.
Distribution: Kivu Region, Democratic Republic
of the Congo; possibly in Kenya, if it corresponds
to the cryptid designated by Jacqueline
Roumeguère-Eberhardt as hominid X1.
Significant sighting: In January 1960, a local
man encountered a Kikomba along a path near
the Umaté gold mine in a mountainous area of
Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Charles Cordier drove 45 miles to the spot,
where he found a humanlike footprint 8 inches
long. Another time, near Tulakwa, he found
several tracks 12 inches long.
Possible explanations:
(1) A large, solitary male Chimpanzee (Pan
troglodytes).
(2) Surviving robust australopith, suggested
by Bernard Heuvelmans. Australopiths were
a family of Pliocene fossil hominids that
persisted into the Early Pleistocene, 4.4–1.4
million years ago. More than 2,000
individual fossils are known. Three species
of “robust” hominids are known in the
genus Paranthropus: P. aethiopicus (East
Africa), P. boisei (East Africa), and P.