The milne is a cryptid bear reported from the Peruvian Amazon. It is known from only one sighting, made by explorer Leonard Clark on the Ucayali River in 1946.[1][2][3] Clark also described the Murung River bear and the beruang rambai.[1]
Description[]
The milne was described by Clark as resembling a very large black bear. From his account, it was insectivorous and semiaquatic.[4]
Sightings[]
1946[]
The only sighting of the milne was made by the explorer Leonard Clark in 1946, while floating down the Ucayali River in eastern Peru. He first came across the animal's footprints in the riverbank, measuring 14'' long and resembling those of a giant man. The second day he found the source of the strange tracks – as they floated down the river, they passed a huge black bear:
| “ | We had not gone far when one of the sharp-eyed Indians saw a movement in the wall of trees near us on the left bank, and the mystery of the "human" tracks was cleared up. To our amazement, a tremendous black bear was standing, clawing apart a rotten tree stump from which cascaded ants. This type of bear has not yet been seen or yet fallen to the gun of any explorer. It is called by the Campas milne. It might be related to a rare bear inhabiting the lower eastern Andean ranges, said by the Campas to be red in color [possibly the Macarena bear].
It was a magnificent sight–something one might expect to find in Alaska, but scarecly in the tangled jungles of the Amazon. Out swift and silent approach, which swept us helplessly toward the big animal, was breathtaking. I made no effort–in spite of Jorge and the others' yells–to use my pistol. It would be a poor weapon from a wobbly craft against a wounded and charging bear. Before I could stop him, José slapped his paddle sharpy against the surface of the river, imitating the crack of an Indian flintlock. The bear lost all curiosity in the ants and their larvae, and with a grunt leapt into the water and began swimming across the river just in front of us. Seeing our two rafts drifting nearby, perhaps thinking them convenient to crawl upon, or else being angry, the beast let out a bellow and started straight toward my raft. The bear was only three feet away when the crew leaped overboard on the off-side. The craft steadied down a bit and I drew a bead with the Colt on the bear's nearest eye, and squeezed off. It was killed instantly, but while I was trying to drag it aboard, a swam of the black variety of paña appeared, and at the sight of the three-pound, oval-shaped devils leaping out of the water, for their numbers were incredible, I let go its paw.[4] |
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Theories[]
Jim Halfpenny wrote that the size and distinct facial markings of the spectacled bear, the only bear known to live in South America, rules it out as a suspect.[5] Karl Shuker pointed out the fact that the milne shares its allegedly Arawaka name with the creator of the most famous bear of the 20th Century: A. A. Milne,[2] but Dale A. Drinnon writes that the name of the bear would be pronounced "mill-nee" or "mill-nay", and suggests it could have been a living Arctotherium.[6]
Notes and references[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Eberhart, George M. (2002) Mysterious Creatures: A Guide to Cryptozoology, ABC-CLIO, Inc., ISBN 1576072835
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Shuker, Karl P. N. (1997) From Flying Toads To Snakes With Wings, Bounty Books, ISBN 0-7537-1305-5
- ↑ Heuvelmans, Bernard "Annotated Checklist of Apparently Unknown Animals With Which Cryptozoology Is Concerned", Cryptozoology, No. 5 (1986)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Clark, Leonard (1953) The Rivers Ran East.
- ↑ Halfpenny, Jim "Tracking the Great Bear: Mystery Bears", Bears and Other Top Predators Magazine (1996)
- ↑ Drinnon, Dale A. Frontiers of Zoology: Booger Bears frontiersofzoology.blogspot.com [Accessed 2018]