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The yaquaru (of the Guaraní "jaguary" or "jaguaru", water tiger or father of the dog, respectively) or yaguaro was a cryptid water tiger reported from Argentina and Paraguay.[1][2] Another giant otter-like animal with "large canines," the iemisch, is also reported from Patagonia: the relationship between the two is unclear.
Description[]
The yaquaru is described as being an otterlike animal the size of an ass, with a dark brown woolly hide, a long head with powerful tusks, erect ears, a sharp nose, short and strong legs with powerful claws, and a long tapering tail. It prefers deep water and the confluences of two rivers, and lives in hollows inside riverbanks. It is said to attack cattle and horses by dragging them into the water.[2]
In Guaraní folklore, it is said to live in a cave and have long fangs, and, more mythologically, to have five eyes. A Guaraní sculpture of it shows the animal with fangs and a pointed nose and ears, but no long tail. It appears in a Guaraní legend in which it is slain by a warrior named Guarán. This story provides additional details about the yaquaru, some of which may be folkloric; its tail is strong, it has a particular liking for the flesh of women, and it smells terrible. The story also confirms that the yaquaru does live in caves in riverbanks.[3]
Sightings[]
1752[]
Thomas Falkner caught a glimpse of a yaquaru in 1752, on the Río Paraná, which runs through tropical Argentina and Paraguay. He described the animal thus:
| “ | I shall here give an account of a strange amphibious animal, which is an inhabitant of the river Parana, a description of which has never reached Europe; nor is there even any mention made of it by those who have described this country. What I here relate is from the concurrent asseverations of the Indians, and of many Spaniards, who have been in various employments on this river: besides, I myself, during my residence on the banks of it, which was near four years, had once a transient view of one; so that there can be no doubt about the existence of such an animal
In my first voyage to cut timber, in the year 1752, up the Parana, being near the bank, the Indians shouted, "yaquaru!" and looking, I saw a great animal, at the time it plunged into the water from the bank; but the time was too short to examine it with any degree of precision. It is called yaquaru, or yaquaruigh, which (in the language of that country) signifies the water tiger. It is described by the Indians to be as big as an ass, of the figure of a large overgrown river-wolf or otter, with sharp talons and strong tusks, thick and short legs, long shaggy hair, with a long tapering tail. The Spaniards describe it somewhat differently:—as having a long head, a sharp nose like that of a wolf, and stiff erect ears. This difference of description may arise from its being so seldom seen, and, when seen, so suddenly disappearing; or perhaps there may be two species of this animal. I look upon this last account as the most authentic, having received it from persons of credit, who assured me that they had seen this water-tiger several times. It is always found near the river, lying on a bank, from whence, on hearing the least noise, it immediately plunges into the water. It is very destructive to the cattle which pass the Parana, for great herds of them pass every year; and it generally happens that this beast seizes some of them. When it has once laid hold of its prey, it is seen no more, and the lungs and entrails soon appear floating upon the water. It lives in the greatest depths, especially in the whirlpools made by the concurrence of two streams, and sleeps in the deep caverns that are in the banks.[4] |
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1870[]
British explorer George Chaworth Musters, who explored Patagonia in 1870, heard stories of a "water tiger" from the Mapuche. He also saw two South American ostrich carcasses floating in shallow water in the Senguer River. After discounting pumas, jaguars, and maned wolves, he recalled the yaguarú.[5] Other authors have connected the incident with the iemisch.
Theories[]
Certain attributes of the yaquaru, such as its size, claws and aquatic habits, match those of the jaguar, but the tusks and woolly coat do not. The The Neotropical otter (Lontra longicaudis), a catlike animal sometimes called a "water tiger", also has short legs and a tapering tail.[2] More dubiously, writer Bruce Chatwin wrote that the yaquaru was likely a caiman.[6] Karl Shuker suggests the yaquaru is a living sabre-toothed cat adapted to an aquatic lifestyle, which he writes is the only identity which perfectly reconciles all the yaquaru's characteristics.[7]
Similar cryptids[]
Other water tigers include the aypa, the entzaeia-yawá, and the maipolina. The connection between the iemisch and the yaquaru is unclear.
Notes and references[]
- ↑ Heuvelmans, Bernard (1955) On the Track of Unknown Animals, Routledge, ISBN 978-1138977525
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Eberhart, George M. (2002) Mysterious Creatures: A Guide to Cryptozoology, ABC-CLIO, Inc., ISBN 1576072835
- ↑ Whittall, Austin Yaguarú | Patagonian Monsters patagoniamonsters.blogspot.com [Accessed 2 July 2019]
- ↑ Falkner, Thomas (1774) A Description of Patagonia and the adjoining parts of South America, with a grammar and a short vocabulary, and some particulars relating to Falkland's Islands
- ↑ Musters, George Chaworth (1871) At Home with the Patagonians
- ↑ Chatwin, Bruce (1977) In Patagonia
- ↑ Shuker, Karl P. N. (1995) In Search of Prehistoric Survivors: Do Giant 'Extinct' Creatures Still Exist?, Blandford, ISBN 9780713-724691