Illustration of a kipumbubu eating a boatman, by Philippe Coudray in Guide des Animaux Cachés (2009).
The kipumbubu was a cryptid crocodile reported from Tanzania's Rufiji River.[1][2][3] It is not distinguished physically from a normal crocodile, but, about six times a year, it said to climb onto riverboats during the night, seize people in it's jaws, and swallow them whole.[1] A riverboat captain described one sighting to Ronald De la Bere Barker:
| “ | [the men] heard a shriek and saw it with its claws on the side of the canoe grabbing the man in its jaws as a night-lizard gets hold of a fly or moth. It threw him about in its jaws until it got his head downwards in its gullet.[4]
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George Eberhart writes that, although Nile crocodiles (Crocodylus niloticus) kill around three hundred people a year in Africa, "jumping three feet up onto boat rims is not a standard feeding method", though crocodiles may propel themselves out of the water nearly vertical to capture prey..[1]
Notes and references[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Eberhart, George M. (2002) Mysterious Creatures: A Guide to Cryptozoology, ABC-CLIO, Inc., ISBN 1576072835
- ↑ Coudray, Philippe (2009) Guide des Animaux Cachés, Editions du Mont, ISBN 978-2915652383
- ↑ Heuvelmans, Bernard (1978) Les Derniers Dragons d'Afrique, Plon, ISBN 978-2259003872
- ↑ Barker, Ronald Delabere (1942-1944) The Crowded Life of a Hermit