Mysterious Creatures : A Guide to Cryptozoology

Herpetologist J. B. Graham saw a large, unknown
lizard near the base of the Cerro Santa
Ana in 1976 or 1977.
Sources: Silvano Lorenzoni, “More on Extant
Dinosaurs,” Pursuit, no. 47 (Summer 1979):
105–109; Silvano Lorenzoni (letter), Pursuit,
no. 50 (Spring 1980): 95.
Veo
Mystery PANGOLIN of Southeast Asia.
Etymology: Komodo or Manggarai (Austronesian)
word.
Physical description: Length, 10 feet. Long
head. Overlapping scales cover most of the
body. Fur grows on the head, throat, belly,
inner legs, and tail. Large claws on feet.
Behavior: Stays in the hills during the day but
comes to the coast at night. “Hoo-hoo-hoo” cry
is heard in the evening. Feeds primarily on termites
and ants but also eats stranded shellfish.
Sits up vertically when threatened and slashes
out with its claws.
Distribution: Rintja, Lesser Sunda Islands, Indonesia.
Possible explanations:
(1) The Komodo dragon (Varanus
komodoensis) is known to exist on Rintja,
but the locals readily distinguish the two
animals.
(2) A surviving Giant pangolin (Manis
palaeojavanica), suggested by Jaroslav Mares.
This 7-foot-long, scaly, armored mammal
lived in western Java and Borneo during the
Pleistocene, about 800,000 years ago.
Sources: Pierre Pfeiffer, Bivouacs à Borneo
(Paris: Flammarion, 1963); Jaroslav Mares,
Svet tajemny´ch zvírat (Prague: Littera
Bohemica, 1997); Karl Shuker, “A Scaly Tale
from Rintja,” Fortean Times, no. 116
(November 1998): 45.
Vodyany
Legendary freshwater MERBEING or WATER
HORSE of Eastern Europe.
Etymology: From the Slavonic voda, “water.”
Plural, Vodyaniye, Vodyanoi.
Variant names: Akkruva (Saami/Uralic),
Autrimpas (Old Prussian), Bangpûtys (Lithuan-
ian), Ezerinis (Lithuanian), Juras māte (Latvian),
Mavky, Upinis (Lithuanian), Vetehinen
(Finnish), Vodni panny, Wut-ian üder
(Mari/Uralic).
Physical description: In one form, a classic
Merm aid with long hair. In other forms, a huge
fish covered with moss or a winged tree trunk
moving along the surface of the water. Some
had paws, large toes, long horns, a tail, and
burning red eyes.
Behavior: Said to follow sailors and drag them
into the water.
Habitat: Lakes, ponds, streams, and rivers—
especially around mill dams.
Distribution: Russia; Latvia; Lithuania; Finland;
Estonia; Poland.
Possible explanations: Some aspects are similar
to both MERBEINGS and FRESHWATER MON-
STERS.
Sources: Uno Holmberg [Harva], Finno-
Ugric Mythology (Boston: Archaeological
Institute of America, 1924); New Larousse
Encyclopedia of Mythology (London: Hamlyn,
1968), p. 292; Marija Gimbutas, Die Balten
(Munich, Germany: Herbig, 1983), p. 221.
Voronpatra
Giant flightless BIRD of Madagascar.
Etymology: From the Malagasy (Austronesian)
voron (“bird”) + patra (uncertain meaning).
Variant name: Vouroupatra.
Physical description: Large. Ostrichlike.
Significant sighting: In 1658, the first French
governor of Madagascar, Etienne de Flacourt,
described a large, elusive bird that laid eggs like
an ostrich.
Possible explanation: Undoubtedly, this description
referred to the Giant elephantbird
(Aepyornis maximus), the heaviest known bird,
which stood 10 feet high and weighed nearly
1,000 pounds. Its eggs were over a foot in
length, had a capacity equivalent to 150 hen’s
eggs, and constituted the largest single cell
known on Earth. Mullerornis was a smaller
species about the size of an ostrich. When Aepyornis
became extinct is not known. It probably
existed in remote spots in the interior during the
seventeenth century and was well known to the
VORONPATRA 573