The onça-canguçú in life, drawn by William Rebsamen.
Van Roosmalen's onça-canguçú skull atop its skin.
The onça-canguçú (Portuguese: "big-headed jaguar"[1] or "the jaguar that is bigger than all other cats and hunts in pairs"[2]) or white-throated black jaguar is a cryptid felid reported to exist in the Mato Grosso, Rio Madeira, Rio Aripuanã, and Amazonas States of the Brazilian Amazon by Dutch primatologist Marc van Roosmalen.[3][1][4] It is described as being larger than a jaguar and all-black, excepting a splotchy white bib-like pattern on the throat. Unlike a melanistic jaguar, it has no visible rosettes. Van Roosmalen collected eyewitness accounts of the onça-canguçú, and learned that a nine year old girl was killed by a pair of them. Another story told of two people capturing a cub whilst its parents were swimming: the cub died, but they retained its skull. Van Roosmalen has allegedly procured another skull (right) from local hunters.[2]
Van Roosmalen said in an interview that this and the arboreal giant anteater were the only animals which he lacked genetic samples of. In addition, he has never personally seen the onça-canguçú, which is very rare.[5]
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 Multiple new species of large, living mammal (part IV) - Tetrapod Zoology
- ↑ Marc van Roosmalen New Species
- ↑ Shuker, Karl P. N. (2010) Karl Shuker's Alien Zoo: From the Pages of Fortean Times, CFZ Press, ISBN 978-1-905723-62-1
- ↑ Interview with Marc van Roosmalen