| ||||||||||||||||
David Conway Oren (20 May 1953 – 7 September 2023) was an American-born Brazilian ornithologist and conservationist known to cryptozoologists for his theory, laid out in two scientific papers, that the mapinguari may be an extant species of mylodontid or megalonychid ground sloth. Between 1994 and 2001, he led around ten expeditions to the Brazilian Amazon in search of the mapinguari, during which he collected inconclusive evidence, and claimed to have heard the animal's vocalisations.[1][2]
Career
Oren received a bachelor's degree from Yale University in 1975, and a Master's Degree from Harvard University in 1978. In 1981, his dissertation Zoogeographic Analysis of the White Sand Campina Vegetation of Amazonia, under the direction of Robert Edward Cook, earned him his PhD from Harvard.
Most of Oren's work has taken place in Brazil, and he holds a Brazilian passport. From 1981 to 2008, he was a research assistant at Belém' Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi; from 1986 to 1987 he was a lecturer at the University of Florida; from 1987 to 2008 he was a professor at the Universidade Federal do Pará; from 1996 to 2000 he was treasurer of the Sociedade Brasileira de Ornitologia; and from 2000 to 2007 he was scientific director of The Nature Conservancy in Brazil. He was also editor of the journal Ornitologia Neotropical. Besides ornithology, his scientific work includes nature conservation planning in the Amazon, the Pantanal, the Caatinga, the Mata Atlântica, and the Gran Chaco. He is currently employed by Brazil's Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovation and Communication.
The mapinguari
Oren's research
Oren initially regarded the mapinguari as a myth, but after speaking with a number of people in the Tapajós River basin who claimed to have seen it, Oren came to believe that the animal being described could only be a ground sloth. He has collected over one hundred accounts of the mapinguari, and as of 2002 had interviewed seven hunters who claimed to have shot specimens.[3][4] He has published two papers on the subject, "Did Ground Sloths Survive to Recent Times in the Amazon Region?" (1993), and "Does the Endangered Xenarthran Fauna of Amazonia Include Remnant Ground Sloths?" (2001). He has also appeared on a number of cryptozoological TV shows, including Sightings (1995), Into the Unknown (1997),[5] The Monster Files (1998),[6] and Beast Man (2011).[7]
Loren Coleman notes that the following unreferenced statement regarding Oren's views on the mapinguari could be read on Wikipedia for some years:[8]
| “ | Oren himself came to believe that the Mapinguari does not exist and that any existing evidence is actually forged.
|
” |
Coleman asked "if David Oren would be surprised to discover that he is a skeptic of Mapinguary reports, according to Wikipedia,"[8] and Oren appeared on the TV show Beast Man four years later, supporting the ground sloth theory.[7]
Personal expeditions and sightings
Oren has led a number of self-funded[9] expeditions to the western Amazon in search of the mapinguari, but alleged mapinguari hair and stool acquired on these expeditions was identified as anteater hair and tapir faeces.[2] However, he has made casts of unidentified footprints similar to those of ground sloths,[9] and on a preliminary expedition in Spring 1993, he heard the roaring of an unknown animal four times on two separate occasions, in the afternoon and early night. He described the call as being extremely strong and of steady pitch, lasting for up to forty-five seconds, and resembling "jets flying over low."[10] He also owns a photograph of "claw marks on a tree, eight of them about a foot long and an inch deep".[9]
Eponyms
A species of antbird, Myrmotherula oreni, was named in honour of Oren in 2013, but was later classified as a junior synonym of Ihering's antwren (Myrmotherula iheringi).[11]
Selected bibliography
- Oren, David "Did Ground Sloths Survive to Recent Times in the Amazon Region?," Goeldiana Zoologia, No. 19 (August 1993)
- Oren, David "Does the Endangered Xenarthran Fauna of Amazonia Include Remnant Ground Sloths?," Edentata, No. 4 (June 2001)
Notes and references
- ↑ Coleman, Loren & Clark, Jerome (1999) Cryptozoology A to Z: The Encyclopedia of Loch Monsters, Sasquatch, Chupacabras, and Other Authentic Mysteries of Nature, Simon & Schuster, ISBN 978-0684856025
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Shuker, Karl P. N. (2016) Still In Search Of Prehistoric Survivors: The Creatures That Time Forgot?, Coachwhip Publications, ISBN 978-1616463908
- ↑ Eberhart, George M. (2002) Mysterious Creatures: A Guide to Cryptozoology, ABC-CLIO, Inc., ISBN 1576072835
- ↑ Shuker, Karl P. N. (2010) Karl Shuker's Alien Zoo: From the Pages of Fortean Times, CFZ Press, ISBN 978-1-905723-62-1
- ↑ "The Giant Sloth". Into the Unknown: Series ?, Episode ?.
- ↑ "Mapinguari: Beast of the Amazon". The Monster Files: Series ?, Episode ?.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Nightmare of the Amazon". Beast Man: Series 1, Episode 2.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Coleman, Loren Mapinguary Madness cryptozoonews.com [Accessed 19 June 2020]
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Bugge, Axel "Howling Amazon Monster Just an Indian Legend?," Reuters (18 December 2001)
- ↑ "The Mother of All Sloths," Fortean Times 77 (October-November 1994)
- ↑ Beolens, Bo & Watkins, Michael & Grayson, Michael (2014) The Eponym Dictionary of Birds