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The warrigal is a feline cryptid reported from Australia's Blue Mountains, sometimes identified with the marsupial lion (Thylacoleo carnifex), which is also frequently cited as an explanation for the Queensland tiger.[1][2]
Physical evidence[]
Photographs[]
L. A. Adams wrote that he had seen three photographs of what he called "warrigals", but "all were taken at so great a distance as to make them practically worthless for identification purposes".[3]
Tracks[]
The warrigal is said to leave large, cat-like tracks 5-6 inches long and 5 inches wide, and set 9.5 inches apart.[2] These tracks were supposedly found in 1889 and 1978.
Description[]
Illustration of the warrigal by Philippe Coudray in Guide des Animaux Cachés (2009), seemingly based on a sketch by Rex Gilroy.
The warrigal is described as a muscular lion-like animal with a 6 to 7 feet long body, 3 feet high at the shoulders. It is covered in light to dark brown fur and has a long shaggy mane. Notably it is said to have large, protruding teeth. It leaves large, cat-like tracks 5-6 inches long and 5 inches wide, and set 9.5 inches apart.[2]
Sightings[]
1889[]
In 1889, numbers of livestock were killed and eaten in Megalong Valley by an animal which left large, cat-like tracks.[2]
1937[]
In October 1937, a party reported having seen on White Dog Ridge "the decaying body of a huge animal like a dingo, but about 5 feet long" which had apparently fallen over a cliff known as Kelpie Rocks.[3]
1945[]
In April 1945, a bushwalking party travelling down Mount Solitary's Korrowal Buttress claimed to have observed four warrigals moving across Cedar Valley with their binoculars.[3][1]
1949[]
L. A. Adams wrote that he had come across badly mutilated cattle near Cox's River on two separate occasions.[3]
1955[]
Blue Mountains residents and police carried out extensive searches of bushland between Wentworth Falls and the Blaxland-Glenbrook area in search of a large, shaggy-haired, lion-like animal.[2]
1972[]
A warrigal-like creature was reported from the Mulgoa district south of Penrith, close to the Blue Mountains' eastern escarpment, where it had supposedly been killing sheep.[1]
1977[]
In 1977, a warrigal allegedly approached three young shooters in the Mulgoa district and fled only when the men fired at it.[1]
1978[]
Rex Gilroy claimed to have discovered some days-old cat tracks in a cave near Medlow Bath in 1978.[2]
1988[]
In 1988, some campers near Hampton, west of Katoomba, claimed to have seen a warrigal. There had been a string of cattle mutilations in the area at this time.[1]
2001[]
In February 2001, two bushwalkers in the Wollangambie Wilderness claimed to have seen a 5-foot-long black animal perched on a tree limb, feeding on a wallaby.[2]
Theories[]
Thylacosmilus-like sketch of the warrigal prepared by Rex Gilroy.
It has been suggested that the warrigals are escaped lions or other big cats,[2] but Karl Shuker writes that he is sceptical of this because of the animal's longstanding history.[1] Rex Gilroy proposed that the warrigal is a living marsupial lion (Thylacoleo carnifex), which had large and distinctive tusk-like teeth and which is also speculated to be the identity of the Queensland tiger. Shuker notes that, if the warrigal is a marsupial lion, there must be two surviving species, as the warrigal is markedly different to the Queensland tiger.[1]
A sketch of the warrigal made by Gilroy for a Psychic Australian article shows the animal with sabre teeth and flanges on its lower jaw. Both of these are features of Thylacosmilus, an extinct South American marsupial predator, but not of Thylacoleo.[4]
Similar cryptids[]
Notes and references[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Shuker, Karl P. N. (2016) Still In Search Of Prehistoric Survivors: The Creatures That Time Forgot?, Coachwhip Publications, ISBN 978-1616463908
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Eberhart, George M. (2002) Mysterious Creatures: A Guide to Cryptozoology, ABC-CLIO, Inc., ISBN 1576072835
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 "Strange Animals In Blue Mountains" The Sydney Morning Herald, 20 October 1953
- ↑ ShukerNature: MARSUPIAL SABRE-TOOTHS, QUEENSLAND TIGERS, BLUE MOUNTAINS LIONS, AND A MOST ELUSIVE CRYPTO-CUTTING