Wednesday, September 2, 2009

The chupacabra strikes again...

Totally off topic, but I saw this this morning and it made me angry:

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/offbeat/2009/09/01/roldan.chupacabra.KSAT

Spoiler: if you know anything about mammals, animals, pets, or have been exposed to knowledge of any sort, the above will make you want to slam your open hand against your skull. Or someone else's.

If you watch the video, you'll see the texan taxidermist explain that no wildlife in texas looks like this animal; it has leathery dark grey skin, it is hairless, and its legs look longer and skinnier than anything he's seen. Oh my!

Fear not, reader, for I have elightenment. Here is an image of the animal's mouth:
Well, anyone who has ever had a dog realizes pretty fast that this is a pretty classic grin of a canid. But what kind of canid exactly?
Huh, well that really looks like a canid. Wait a sec, this critter looks pretty familiar all of a sudden - in fact, I'm pretty certain I've seen these guys in the world's ugliest dog competition (on CNN, no less).

I'm talking of course about the Mexican Hairless, or the Xoloitzcuintle. Along with the chinese crested, these are very popular entries into the world's ugliest dog competition. If you want to learn more about these guys, go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_Hairless_Dog

For comparison, here's a photo:
Someone living in texas has no excuse not recognizing one of these at the drop of a hat, given the proximity of the state to Mexico. Very much so given that he knew what a chupacabras wasOr, at the very least, recognizing it as a dog.

Now, another possibility is that it is a coyote with mange (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmendorf_Beast). Either way, what we have is a canid, not a mythical goat sucking monster.

I will get back to regular posting in a few days. There is much to talk about.

3 comments:

Robert Boessenecker said...

Actually, it appears that a lot of these guys have been identified as coyotes with mange. This altogether is more likely than it being a domesticated dog, but we can probably agree: mexican hairless have the potential to be that ugly.

J. Velez-Juarbe said...

Why do people in TX and MX keep claiming they have the chupacabras, that thing is definitely a canid. People should be aware that the chupacabras looks different and it is endemic to Puerto Rico.
Here is the evidence.

Sordes said...

Those "chupacabras" are nearly always coyotes and sometimes feral dogs with mange, and I think there was at least one case in which it was a fox. It should be really no problem to find somebody who could confirm this, but the medias don´t become tire to sell them as mysterious monsters. The mange also explain why this animals sometimes have really some kind of zombie-look, because the skin can look really ugly and they are also often of bad health, what explains why they are often so skinny. It is also probably a reason why they were in several cases seen to kill livestock, because they were probably no more healthy enough to hunt wild prey.