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The guoshanhuang (过山黄; Chinese: "the yellow thing that lives among the mountain ranges") is a cryptid felid reported from China's Shennonjia Forestry District and Huping Mountains. It resembles a large sabre-toothed cat with yellowish fur and horizontal stripes.[1][2] Another cryptid felid of China, the shanbiao ("mountain biao") has sometimes been considered the subadult form of the guoshanhuang.[1]
Attestations[]
During the 1980s, Liu Minzhuang collected reports of the guoshanhuang from residents of Songbai Township in the Shennongjia Forestry District. Several eyewitnesses came forward with stories of either seeing or hearing the animal.[1] In Chongqing, where there is a tradition of worshipping "extraordinary tiger-like beasts",[1] it is given reverential names such as laobazi ("old sir") and shanwang ("mountain king").[1]
Description[]
The guoshanhuang is said to resemble a South China tiger (Panthera tigris amoyensis), but is larger, allegedly up to 13'1'' in length and weighing more than 500 kilograms. It's tail is also thick and rather long, as one 9'8'' individual was reported to have a 3'3'' tail. Its fur is the colour of withered or dead grass, and it is covered in horizontal yellowish stripes, which may be 4'9'' long and 3'8'' wide. It is said to have a longer muzzle than a regular tiger, and, significantly, has a pair of long, downward-curved canine teeth.[1]
Sightings[]
A guoshanhuang was allegedly once seen near Huanghugang ("yellow tiger port") in Hunan's Huping Mountains. Excepting a white patch on its forehead, this individual was all-yellow. Local hunters in the Huping Mountains are said to have killed a guoshanhuang sometime in the 1960s. The animal's skin covered fully two large Ba'xian tables, but none of the remains are known to have been preserved.[1] Another guoshanhuang was supposedly shot dead at Liangjiahe Township, Zhushan County, in 1975. Wang Junhua, a member of the local science commission, saw its pelt, but again no remains were preserved.[1]
In May 1994, Wang Benyou, Yin Benshun, and four others were trekking through the montane forests of Laojun Peak, the tallest mountain in Shennongjia, when Wang smelled a strong animal odour. Shortly afterwards he caught a glimpse of a large cat about five metres away from him. It appeared to be a tiger and was about 9'8'' long, but was covered in light horizontal stripes and had "robust canine teeth". The cat stared at Wang and threateningly bared these teeth at him, prompting him to slowly walk about ten metres away, before turning and running.[1][3]
Theories[]
A classic restoration of Machairodus, a particularly succesful sabre-toothed cat, by Lancelot Speed (1905).
Liu Minzhuang speculated that the guoshanhuang could be a new subspecies of Siberian tiger (Panthera tigris tigris). Between the early 1950's and the early 1980's, very large tigers were reported from the same range as the guoshanghuang: in 1955, famed tiger hunter Chen Qifang allegedly shot a 500 kilogram tiger in Hunan.[1] David C. Xu suggests that the guoshanhuang and these tigers could be a relative of the very large fossil tigers known from Pleistocene China. An examination of fossils found in Chonqing in 1947 suggested that the animals were larger and thicker than modern tigers, including in carnassial tooth proportion.[1]
With its long canines, the guoshanhuang also bears a distinct resemblance to the sabre-toothed cats.[2] According to David C. Xu, Dinofelis cristata (~7–1 MYA), which was found in China, is of particular interest. Xu also notes that nimravids ("false sabre-toothed cats") also grew long canines and assumed large sizes, but they are believed to have gone extinct in the Oligocene, much earlier than true sabre-toothed cats.[1] Several water lions of Central Africa, which many cryptozoologists theorise could be living sabre-toothed cats, are also described as having horizontal stripes, which are not a feature of any known big cat.
A different theory discussed by Xu is that the guoshanhuang could be a creodont (~63–9 MYA), perhaps a descendant of Sarkastodon or Megistotherium. Sarkastodon is known from Eocene Mongolia and Chinese Inner Mongolia, and may have resembled a bear more than a cat, but had well-developed canine teeth. Megistotherium, the largest creodont and one of the largest mammalian land predators, is known only from Miocene Africa.[1]
Notes and references[]
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 Xu, David C. (2018) Mystery Creatures of China: The Complete Cryptozoological Guide, Coachwhip Publications, ISBN 978-1616464301
- ↑ 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
- ↑ 神秘的巨型中国虎【过山黄】专题【神秘动物学吧】_百度贴吧