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The American sabre-toothed cat is a cryptid felid reported from the southern United States and Mexico, which closely resembles the sabre-toothed cat Smilodon fatalis.[1]
Sightings[]
1913[]
According to museum curator Joe Taylor, two sabre-toothed cats were shot by U.S. cavalrymen in Arizona in or around 1913.[1]
1929[]
| This section is about a suspected hoax |
| A significant portion of researchers who have investigated this sighting have supported the notion that it may be a hoax, but this may not be proven or universally accepted. |
In 1928, bronco businessman Colonel R. B. Pearson arrived outside the office of the Morning Oregonian with a large covered cage in the back of his truck, which allegedly contained a mysterious animal referred to by the journalists as a "whatizit". Two reporters were supposedly allowed to see the animal, which they claimed growled at them, and which they described as weighing "800 pounds, looks like a combination of tiger, lion and cougar; growls like all of them together; has claws like a cat, has stripes like a tiger, a square snout, shaggy hair around its shoulders and tusks in its mouth". Pearson said that he fed it one calf every two and a half days.[1]
Later in the month, Pearson and his alleged animal arrived in Idaho, and the Idaho Statesman reported that the creature was "about twice as large as a mountain lion, with peculiar beard and markings similar to those of a tiger. Its ears resemble those of a gorilla".[1]
Pearson claimed that he and six other men captured it southwest of Mexico City in about May 1928. He said that it was believed to have killed several people, and had injured one of his helpers, and even claimed that a spectator who got too close to the bars had had his face clawed open.[1]
According to Pearson, his plan was to take the animal to Washington, D.C., to be identified by the National Zoological Society. However, on 28 November it was reported that three weeks previously, his truck had been overturned in an accident in Iowa, and the animal had escaped. Contrasting with the original description of a cat-like beast, Pearson now claimed that the animal, which he called his pet, "resembled a gorilla and was not dangerous".[1]
1946[]
A contact of Richard Muirhead's named Jerry Padilla claimed that a deceased relative had seen a sabre-toothed cat on a remote mountain road in northern New Mexico one night in 1946. It was said to have been the same colour as a lion.[1]
1994[]
A sighting of a sabre-toothed cat was reported from northern Mexico in 1994. It was allegedly observed by a Mister Roberto Guitierrez,[2] according to a 1998 Science Ilustrée article[3] which also included a dubious, confused account of a tigre dantero sighting in Paraguay.
Similar cryptids[]
Another cryptid cat of Mexico suggested to be a sabre-toothed cat is the Nayarit ruffed cat. Possible living sabre-toothed cats are also reported from South America (tigre dantero and water tigers), Africa (tigre de montagne and water lions), and Asia (cigau).
Notes and references[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Shuker, Karl P. N. (2016) Still In Search Of Prehistoric Survivors: The Creatures That Time Forgot?, Coachwhip Publications, ISBN 978-1616463908
- ↑ Shuker, Karl P. N. (2010) Karl Shuker's Alien Zoo: From the Pages of Fortean Times, CFZ Press, ISBN 978-1-905723-62-1
- ↑ Anon. "Le félin aux dents de sabre," Science Illustrée 62 (December 1998)