Mysterious Creatures : A Guide to Cryptozoology

Pacific leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea), the largest living turtle. This 9-foot-long specimen was caught off
Santa Cruz, California, in 1930. (From a postcard in the author’s collection)
TURTLES; GIANT MALAGASY TORTOISE; HOÀN
KIEM TURTLE; NDENDEKI; PEARL TURTLE
Tzartus-Saurus
SEA MONSTER of the British Columbia coast,
Canada.
Etymology: From Tzartus Island in Barkley
Sound.
Physical description: Length, 40–60 feet.
Horselike head.
Distribution: Barkley Sound, British Columbia.
Significant sighting: A serpentine animal
chased a Native American fisherman near Cape
Beale in 1903.
Source: Mary Moon, Ogopogo (Vancouver,
Canada: J. J. Douglas, 1977), p. 160.
Tzuchinoko
Unknown SNAKE of Japan.
Etymology: Japanese, “son of the straw bat”;
tzuchi (“batlike toy made of straw”) + noko
(“son”).
Variant names: Tsuchinoko and as many as
forty other names meaning “rolling hammer,”
“snake bat,” or “horizontal bat.”
Physical description: Short and stocky. Length,
2–3 feet. Width, 3 inches. Very large body
scales. Iridescent dark gray and brown with ten
or fewer large, black spots above, bright orange
below. Wide, triangular head. Squat horns.
Small, round eyes. Eyelids (or protruding
scales). Two facial pits between the eyes and
nostrils. Red tongue, not forked. Distinct, constricted
neck. Wide body. Two crests along the
spine. Flat undersurface. No vertebrae in the
tail. Short tail, said to be prehensile.
Behavior: Moves both by lateral undulations
and rectilinear forward progression. Said to be
able to curl into a ball, roll downhill, leap into
the air, and change color. Can swim. Whistles,
hoots, snores, or moans. Disagreeable odor.
Feeds on small mammals. Aggressive and highly
venomous. Can spit venom from a distance.
Habitat: Fields, forests, hillside swamps.
Distribution: Interior mountains of Honshu,
Shikoku, and Kyushu Islands, Japan. Also reported
in Korea, eastern China, and possibly
New Guinea.
TZUCHINOKO 563