Mysterious Creatures : A Guide to Cryptozoology

Metoh-Kangmi
Alternate name for the Yeti of Central Asia.
Etymology: Kangmi (a contracted form of
gongs mi) is Sherpa (Sino-Tibetan) for “snow or
glacier man.” Metoh is an unknown or corrupt
word, though Ram Kumar Panday says it means
“unwashed.” Swami Pranavananda claims metoh
means “abominable” and is a variant of Mi-Teh,
which he defines as “man-bear” because the
creature can walk bipedally; he says the term
refers to the red or isabelline variety of the
Brown bear (Ursos arctos). In modern Tibetan,
mi sdug means “disgusting.” See Ab om inab le
Snowman.
Variant name: Kangmi.
Distribution: Tibet; Nepal.
Sources: V. d’Auvergne, “My Experiences in
Tibet,” Bihar and Orissa Research Society
Journal 26, no. 2 (1940): 101–119; Ralph
Izzard, The Abominable Snowman Adventure
(London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1955), pp.
28–29; Swami Pranavananda, “The
Abominable Snowman,” Journal of the Bombay
Natural History Society 54 (1957): 358–364;
Ram Kumar Panday, Yeti Accounts: Snowman’s
Mystery and Fantasy (Kathmandu: Ratna
Pustak Bhandar, 1994).
Mi-Chen-Po
Variant name for the Yeti of Central Asia.
Etymology: Tibetan (Sino-Tibetan), “big
man.”
Variant names: Mi-bompo, Mi-shom-po
(“strong man”).
Physical description: Height, 7 feet. Dark
brown or reddish hair.
Distribution: Tibet.
Source: René de Nebesky-Wojkowitz, Oracles
and Demons of Tibet (The Hague, the
Netherlands: Mouton, 1956), p. 344.
Miga
Unknown Sirenian of Central Africa.
Variant name: Guidiara (in Guinea, “water
lion”).
Physical description: A large fish or octopus.
Head is like a gorgon’s. Tentacles.
Behavior: Sucks blood and eats the brains of
334 METOH-KANGMI
infants. Hides among rocks in the river and attacks
passing canoes.
Distribution: Mbomou River, Central African
Republic; Uele and Dungu Rivers, Democratic
Republic of the Congo; Niger River, Guinea.
Possible explanations:
(1) A Freshwater Octopus, though all
known cephalopod species are exclusively
marine, and none are sanguinivorous.
(2) Evidence for an extended range of the
West African manatee (Trichechus
senegalensis), proposed by Bernard
Heuvelmans. Adults are generally 9–10 feet
long. This animal is found in rivers,
estuaries, swamps, and lagoons from the
Senegal River in the north to the Cuanza
River, Angola, in the south, and it occurs as
far as 1,200 miles from the sea along the
Niger River. Its presence in certain
tributaries of the Congo has been suspected
but never confirmed. Its reputation as a
brain-eater is probably fear-based, since all
known sirenians are herbivorous.
(3) A giant Catfish (Family Siluridae),
suggested by Marc Micha.
Sources: “Congo belge,” Le Temps (Paris),
August 22, 1900, p. 2; Charles Alexandre
d’Ollone, Mission Hostains-d’Ollone,
1898–1900: De la Côte d’Ivoire au Soudan et à
la Guinée (Paris: Hachette, 1901), p. 241;
Raymond Colrat de Montrozier, Deux ans chez
les anthropophages ey les sultans de centre africain
(Paris: Plon-Nourrit, 1902), p. 147; Bernard
Heuvelmans, Les derniers dragons d’Afrique
(Paris: Plon, 1978), pp. 272–274, 358–363.
Migo
Probable Crocodilian of Australasia.
Variant names: Masalai (“spirit”), Massali,
Migaua, Mussali, Rui.
Physical description: Crocodile-like body.
Length, 30–35 feet. Gray skin. Horselike head
and neck. Sharp fangs. Ridged back. Turtlelike
legs.
Behavior: Swift swimmer.
Distribution: Lake Dakataua, on New Britain
in the Bismarck Archipelago, Papua New
Guinea.