Mysterious Creatures : A Guide to Cryptozoology

United States of North America (London: John
Murray, 1849), vol. 1, pp. 132–140; John
George Wood, “The Trail of the Sea-Serpent,”
Atlantic Monthly 53 (1884): 799–814; “Saw
Monster in Sea—Claim,” Skegness Standard,
October 19, 1966; B. M. Baylis, “Those Sea
Monsters,” Skegness Standard, October 26,
1966; Bernard Heuvelmans, In the Wake of the
Sea-Serpents (New York: Hill and Wang,
1968), pp. 548–550, 566–568; “‘Sea Serpents’
Seen off California Coast,” ISC Newsletter 2,
no. 4 (Winter 1983): 9–10; June Pusbach
O’Neill, The Great New England Sea Serpent
(Camden, Maine: Down East Books, 1999);
Paul Harrison, “Loch Ness: The Tip of the
Iceberg,” Crypto Dracontology Special, no. 1
(November 2001): 49–54.
Mumulou
Little P eop le of Australasia.
Etymology: Ghari (Austronesian) word.
Variant names: Kakamora (on San Cristobal),
Moka, Mola, Mumu (on Maramasike).
Physical description: Height, 3–4 feet. Fair to
dark skin. Long, straight head-hair down to the
knees. Tiny teeth. Long beard. Long nails.
Behavior: Moves by jumping on its toes. Cry
is a half wail, half bark. Disgusting odor. Said to
be a cannibal. Doesn’t know fire or tools.
Habitat: Caves.
Distribution: Laudari Mountains of Guadalcanal;
Maramasike and San Cristobal in the
Solomon Islands.
Significant sighting: Charles Elliot Fox was
traveling with a party of natives on San Cristobal
when one of them saw a Kakamora in a river
they were about to ford. When they came to the
river, Fox found a raw, half-eaten fish and a few
small, wet footprints on a dry stone in the river.
Sources: Charles Elliot Fox, The Threshold of
the Pacific (New York: A. A. Knopf, 1924);
Stanley G. C. Knibbs, The Savage Solomons as
They Were and Are (London: Seeley, Service,
1929), pp. 48–50, 259; “Is There an
Undiscovered People in Central Guadalcanal?”
Pacific Islands Monthly 20 (February 1950): 96;
A. H. Wilson, “Guadalcanal’s Undiscovered
People Just Another Tall Tale,” Pacific Islands
Monthly 20 (March 1950): 7; John E. Roth,
American Elves (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland,
1997), pp. 132–136.
Murung River Bear
Unknown Bear-like animal of Southeast Asia.
Physical description: Like a large bear.
Behavior: Gathers in large groups along the
river once a year to feed on river berries. Can
swim. Will attack boats and claw humans to
death.
Habitat: Jungle.
Distribution: Kedang Murung River, eastern
Borneo, Indonesia.
Source: Leonard Clark, A Wanderer till I Die
(New York: Funk and Wagnalls, 1937), p.
189.
Muskox of Noyon Uul
Unknown Hoofed Mammalof ancient Central
Asia.
Physical description: Long, dense hair. Broad
head. Horns like a muskox’s. Bull-like muzzle.
Habitat: Mountainous terrain.
Distribution: Mongolia; north-central Siberia.
Significant sightings: Carvings depicting an
animal like a muskox were discovered in 1924
on two silver plaques excavated from Xiongnu
(Hun) burial tombs dating from the first century
b.c. in the Noyon Uul Mountains, Mongolia.
Muskox skulls dating from 1800–900 b.c.
were found in 1948 on the Taymyr Peninsula,
Siberia; they appear to have drill holes. Another
subfossil skull was found in 1984 in the same
vicinity.
Possible explanations:
(1) The Muskox (Ovibos moschatus), a large
bovid with broad, flat horns and long, silky
hair, is thought to have died out in Eurasia
at the end of the Pleistocene, though it has
survived in North America. Its apparent
persistence nearly 8,000 years later has not
been demonstrated conclusively.
(2) Other explanations for the carvings have
included an Argali wild sheep (Ovis
ammon), a Yak (Bos grunniens), and a Takin
(Budorcas taxicolor).
MUSKOX OF NOYON UUL 363