Myth or the real thing?
If you venture into rural Chile, you will hear rumors about the Chupacabra—or Goat Sucker. In Latin America, the legend of el Chupacabra has gripped many rural farmers and villagers up and down through many countries. However, if you venture to Buin, Chile, the zoo has what they believe to be responsible for the reported Chupacabre attacks in the region—a small and fearless creature known to locals at the Quique, this pint-sized beast packs a punch so potent that it takes multiple handlers wearing welding gloves to even get the creature to a point where it can be sedated before one might examine it. What is the Quique you might ask? – The common ermine.
Though, perhaps the Quique isn’t responsible for everything that has been purported to be its doing—it is entirely possible that el chupacabra is its own creature, as findings of a hair matching no known mammalian have been found in the town of Puemo, Chile. In nearby Donhiue a woman lost over one-hundred chickens to an unknown beast–thought to be the Chupacabra.
The Chupacabra has made its way out of Latin America and sightings of a strange, hairless canid are often said to be the mysterious Chupacabra. People have even killed these creatures– stoking the belief of it even more, while also differentiating from the standard idea that the creature is reptilian in form.
A coyote with mange? Wild dogs? The Quique? Another creature entirely..? What could possibly be responsible for all these sightings and attacks across two continents?
More Info:
Chile Today
How Stuff Works
Wonderopolis
Seeker
New York Times
Daily Mail UK
Penguin Random House
Anderson Design Group
