Owhuama

Owhuama Category Lazarus taxon Proposed scientific names Other names Country reported Venezuela First reported 2008 Prominent investigators • Gustavo Sánchez Romero

The owhuama is a cryptid reported from the Venezuelan Amazon, considered to be the Yanomami people's version of the mapinguari, which has itself been reported from the Venezuelan-Brazilian border region.

Identified with an image of a ground sloth covertly produced by Gustavo Sánchez Romero, the owhuama was described to him as a sturdily-built, hairy animal with strong claws, and arms powerful enough to tear down trees and toss jaguars into the air. A ground-dwelling herbivore, it walks both quadrupedally and bipedally, and generally leaves backwards-facing tracks. Though rare, it can be dangerous, attacking only in self-defense, so the Yanomami have a great respect for it. It lives in deep, cool caves, and communicates by howling. While the Yanomami who gave the description lived in southern Venezuela, they indicated that the owhuama usually lived further south, near or in northern Brazil.