Chupacabra

For other uses, seeChupacabra (disambiguation).

Chupacabra

An artist's rendition of the chupacabra
First attested	March 1995
Other name(s)	Chupacabras,El Chupacabra
Country	Puerto Rico Mexico United States
Region	Caribbean (chiefly Puerto Rico) Central and South America North America (chiefly Mexico and the southwestern United States)

Thechupacabraorchupacabras(Spanish pronunciation:[tʃupaˈkaβɾas],literally 'goat-sucker'; fromSpanish:chupa,'sucks', andcabras,'goats') is a legendary creature, orcryptid,in the folklore of parts of the Americas. The name comes from the animal's reported vampirism—the chupacabra is said to attack anddrink the bloodof livestock, including goats.

Physical descriptions of the creature vary. InPuerto Ricoand inHispanic Americait is generally described as a heavy creature, reptilian and alien-like, roughly the size of a small bear, and with a row of spines reaching from the neck to the base of the tail, while in theSouthwestern United Statesit is depicted as more dog-like.

Initial sightings and accompanying descriptions first occurred in Puerto Rico in 1995. The creature has since been reported as far north asMaine,as far south asChile,and even outside the Americas in countries like Russia and Philippines. All of the reports are anecdotal and have been disregarded as uncorroborated or lacking evidence. Sightings in northern Mexico and thesouthern United Stateshave been verified ascanidsafflicted bymange.

Name

Chupacabrascan be literally translated as 'goat-sucker', fromchupar('to suck') andcabras('goats'). It is known as bothchupacabrasandchupacabrathroughout the Americas, with the former being the original name,and the latter aregularization.The name is attributed to Puerto Rican comedianSilverio Pérez,who coined the label in 1995 while commenting on the attacks as aSan Juanradio deejay.

History

In 1975, a series of livestock killings in the small town ofMoca,Puerto Rico were attributed toel vampiro de Moca('the vampire of Moca').Initially, it was suspected that the killings were committed by aSataniccult; later more killings were reported around the island, and many farms reported loss of animal life. Each of the animals was reported to have had its body bled dry through a series of small circular incisions.

Graphic depiction of Chupacabra, as described by Puerto Rican witnesses in 1995

The first reported attack eventually attributed to the actual chupacabras occurred in March 1995. Eight sheep were discovered dead in Puerto Rico, each with three puncture wounds in the chest area and reportedly completely drained of blood.A few months later, in August, an eyewitness named Madelyne Tolentino reported seeing the creature in the Puerto Rican town ofCanóvanas,where as many as 150 farm animals and pets were reportedly killed.

Puerto Ricancomedian and entrepreneur Silverio Pérez is credited with coining the termchupacabrassoon after the first incidents were reported in the press. Shortly after the first reported incidents in Puerto Rico, other animal deaths were reported in other countries, such as Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, and the United States.

In 2019 a video recorded byMundo Ovnishowed the results of a supposed attack on chickens in the Seburuquillo sector ofLares, Puerto Rico.

Reputed origin

A five-year investigation byBenjamin Radford,documented in his 2011 bookTracking the Chupacabra,concluded that the description given by the original eyewitness in Puerto Rico, Madelyne Tolentino, was based on the creature Sil in the 1995 science-fiction horror filmSpecies.The alien creature Sil is nearly identical to Tolentino's chupacabra eyewitness account and she had seen the movie before her report: "It was a creature that looked like the chupacabra, with spines on its back and all... The resemblance to the chupacabra was really impressive", Tolentino reported.Radford revealed that Tolentino "believed that the creatures and events she saw inSpecieswere happening in reality in Puerto Rico at the time ", and therefore concludes that" the most important chupacabra description cannot be trusted ".This, Radford believes, seriously undermines the credibility of the chupacabra as a real animal.

The reports of blood-sucking by the chupacabra were never confirmed by anecropsy,the only way to conclude that the animal was drained of blood. Dr. David Morales, a Puerto Rican veterinarian with the Department of Agriculture, analyzed 300 reported victims of the chupacabra and found that they had not been bled dry.

Radford divided the chupacabra reports into two categories: the reports fromPuerto RicoandLatin America,where animals were attacked and it is supposed their blood was extracted; and the reports in the United States of mammals, mostly dogs andcoyoteswith mange, that people call "chupacabra" due to their unusual appearance.

In 2010,University of Michiganbiologist Barry O'Connor concluded that all the chupacabra reports in the United States were simply coyotes infected with the parasiteSarcoptes scabiei,whose symptoms would explain most of the features of the chupacabra: they would be left with little fur, thickened skin, and a rank odor. O'Connor theorized that the attacks on goats occurred "because these animals are greatly weakened, [so] they're going to have a hard time hunting. So they may be forced into attacking livestock because it's easier than running down a rabbit or a deer."Both dogs and coyotes can kill and not consume the prey, either because they are inexperienced, or due to injury or difficulty in killing the prey.The prey can survive the attack and die afterwards frominternal bleedingorcirculatory shock.The presence of two holes in the neck, corresponding with thecanine teeth,are to be expected since this is the only way that most landcarnivoreshave to catch their prey.There are reports of strayMexican hairless dogsbeing mistaken for chupacabras.

Appearance

Mangecan often greatly alter the expected appearance of an animal. Wild and domestic canines with severe cases of mange have been proposed as explanations for the Chupacabra.

The most common description of the chupacabra is that of areptile-like creature, said to have leathery or scaly greenish-gray skin and sharp spines or quills running down its back.It is said to be approximately 3 to 4 feet (0.9 to 1.2 m) high, and stands and hops in a fashion similar to that of akangaroo.This description was the chief one given to the few Puerto Rican reports in 1995 that claimed to have sighted the creature, with similar reports in parts of Chile and Argentina following.

Another common description of the chupacabra is of a strange breed of wild dog. This form is mostly hairless and has a pronounced spinal ridge, unusually pronounced eye sockets, fangs, and claws. This description started to appear in the early 2000s from reports trailing north from theYucatán Peninsula,northernMexico,and then into theUnited States;becoming the predominant description since.Unlike conventional predators, the chupacabra is said to drain all of the animal's blood (and sometimes organs) usually through three holes in the shape of a downwards-pointing triangle, but sometimes through only one or two holes.

Plausibility of existence

The chupacabra panic first started in late 1995,Puerto Rico:farmers were mass reporting the mysterious killings of various livestock. In these reports, the farmers recalled two puncture wounds on the animal carcasses.Chupacabra killings were soon associated with a seemingly untouched animal carcass other than puncture wounds which were said to be used to suck the blood out of the victim. Reports of such killings began to spread around and eventually out of the country, reaching areas such asMexico,Brazil,Chile,and the Southern area of theUnited States.

Most notably, these areas experience frequent, and extreme dry seasons; in the cases of thePuerto Ricanreports of 1995 and theMexicanreports of 1996, both countries were currently experiencing or dealing with the aftermath of severedroughts.Investigations carried out in both countries at this time noted a certain dramatic violence in these killings.These environmental conditions could provide a simple explanation for thelivestockkillings: wildpredatorslosing their usualpreyto thedrought,therefore being forced to hunt thelivestockof farmers for sustenance. Thus, the same theory can be applied to many of the other ‘chupacabra’ attacks: that the dryweatherhad created a more competitive environment for nativepredators,leading them to prey onlivestockto survive. Such an idea can also explain the increased violence in the killings; hungry and desperatepredatorsare driven to huntlivestockto avoid starvation, causing an increase in both the number oflivestockkillings, and the viciousness of each one.

Evidence of such is provided in page 179 ofBenjamin Radford’s book,Tracking the Chupacabra: The Vampire Beast in Fact, Fiction, and Folklore.Radford’schart highlights ten significant reports of chupacabra attacks, seven of which had a carcass recovered and examined; theseautopsiesconcluded the causes of death as various animal attacks, as displayed though the animal DNA found on the carcasses.Radfordprovides further evidence in pages 161-162 of his book, displaying animals who are proven to have fallen victim to regularcoyoteattacks; thus, explaining that it is not unusual for an animal carcass to be left uneaten while only displaying puncture wounds and/or minimal signs of attack.

The plausibility of the chupacabra’s existence is also discredited by the varying descriptions of the creature. Depending on the reported sighting, the creature is described with thick skin or fur, wings or no wings, a long tail or no tail, isbat-like,dog-like, or evenalien-like.Evidently, the chupacabra has a wide variety of descriptions; to the point where it is hard to believe that all the sightings are of the same creature. A very likely explanation for this phenomenon is that individuals who had heard of the newly popular chupacabra had the creature’s name fresh in their mind before they happened to see a strange looking animal. They then resort to make sense of their encounter by labelling it as the recently ‘discovered’ monster, instead of a more realistic explanation. For example, some scientists hypothesize that what many believe to be a chupacabra is a wild or domesticdogaffected bymange,a disease causing a thick buildup of skin and hair loss.

Related legends

The "Ozark Howler",a large bear-like animal, is the subject of a similar legend.

ThePeuchensof Chile also share similarities in their supposed habits, but instead of being dog-like they are described as winged snakes. This legend may have originated from thevampire bat,an animalendemicto the region.

In the Philippines theSigbinshares many of the chupacabra's descriptions.

"Grunches" is a legend inNew Orleansthat gets its name from a lovers' lane called Grunch Road, between theMississippi Riverand theGulf of Mexico.The road was said to be inhabited by creatures called "grunches", similar in appearance to the Chupacabra.

In 2018 there were reports of suspected chupacabras inManipur,India. Many domestic animals and poultry were killed in a manner similar to other chupacabra attacks, and several people reported that they had seen creatures. Forensic experts opined that street dogs were responsible for mass killing of domestic animals and poultry after studying the remnants of a corpse.

Media

• A chupacabra is referred to in the 2009 novelDrive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead.
• The debut album byImani Coppolais titledChupacabra.
• InIndigenous(2014), the chupacabra is the main antagonist.
• The myth of the chupacabra is mocked in a 2012 episode of the cartoon seriesSouth Park,titled "Jewpacabra",in which antisemitic main characterEric Cartmanclaims to have seen a Jewish Chupacabra that kills children onEaster.
• The chupacabra was included as one of severalvinylfigurines inCryptozoic Entertainment's Cryptkinsblind boxtoy line in 2018.A redesigned series of figurines, including an updated chupacabra, was released in August 2020.
• The search for a chupacabra was featured in the 1997The X-Filesepisode "El Mundo Gira".
• "Chupacabra"was the title of the midseason finale of season 4 of the supernatural drama television seriesGrimm,in December 2014.
• Teen Titans Academy,aDC Comicsbook, has a bat-like metahuman called Chupacabra, whose alter ego is Diego Pérez, named in honour ofGeorge Pérez(the artist that initially illustrated theTeen Titans).
• A 1999 episodeofFuturamafeatures a monster called "El Chupanibre".
• In theJackie Chan Adventuresepisode "The Curse of El Chupacabra",Jackie Chan's friend El Toro gets scratched and infected by a Chupacabra, causing him to transform into another Chupacabra every night, much like awerewolf.
• In season 3 ofWorkaholicscalled "To Kill a Chupacabraj", Blake finds what he believes to be the deceased corpse of the Rancho Chupacabra in the pool, though it turns out to be the neighbor's dog.
• In the Netflix original seriesThe Imperfects,the character of Juan Ruiz transforms into a chupacabra whenever anyone he cares about is in danger.
• The 2016 filmLa leyenda del Chupacabrasfeatures the titular Chupacabra initially as an antagonist before revealing the creature is merely trying to rescue its family.
• A "Chupakabura" plays the role of a tourism mascot for the fictional town of Manoyama inP.A. Works' 2017 animeSakura Quest.The spelling and pronunciation relates to a retired mascot called "Kabura Kid", whose name was a pun alluding to the Japanese word for turnips.
• The 2023 filmChupais about a chupacabra that is saved from scientists who want to capture it to prove it is real and exploit it for medicine.
• The 2010-2011Super SentaiseriesTensou Sentai Goseiger’s main antagonist Brajira of the Messiah assumes the guise Buredoran of the Chupacabra when working with the Yuumajuu, the villain faction of the second arc that is based on cryptids.
• The Ukrainian news programTSNused to broadcast fake news about the Chupacabra when no interesting news were there to broadcast.

External links

• Alleged chupacabra likely a "Xolo dog"; story a hoax
• Lundborg, Pam (25 September 2009).""Chupacabra" remains bought by Oswego County man ".Syracuse.Retrieved20 January2016.
• Chupacabra mystery solved from Seeker
• Ooty: Kangaroo cousin lived in western ghats?
• Dunning, Brian(22 January 2022)."Skeptoid #815: On the Trail of the Chupacabra".Skeptoid.