November 4, 2010

AOL News: Chupacabras vs Chupacabra Again

Lee Spiegel of AOL News has written an intelligent and balanced summary of the latest bit of research confirming what some of us have been saying for a couple decades: The skinny, hairless “chupacabra” of Texas and Mexico are merely canids (dogs, coyotes, foxes, coydogs, etc.) with mange. Those reports have little or nothing to do with the original Chupacabras of traditional Puerto Rican sightings, from 1995 to present.

In “Chupacabra Monster May Be Mitey-er Than First Imagined”, despite his best efforts to make sense of the “chupacabra” vs “Chupacabras” mess, Spiegel appears to have been undermined by an overzealous editor who was unaware of the correct use of “Chupacabras.” (See “Chupawhat?”)

“It’s a wonderful explanation and I’m glad there’s scientific proof for what we already knew, but it doesn’t explain a lot of the reports from Puerto Rico and other places,” said Loren Coleman, director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.

Okay, I’ll pass along the quotations from me in the piece, and point you to the article to read more.

My esteemed colleague Ben Radford is quoted extensively, and we seem to be competing to see who gets to say that we knew it was mange the earliest in the article. He won this round.

And while cryptozoologist Coleman thinks there’s an unknown animal out there that’s worth investigating, he agrees that the canine-type animals of recent times are probably not the real chupacabras.

“The exaggeration of the body form, without hair, always makes people think that they’re looking at a monster. This isn’t a monster — it’s just an animal that has a medical condition.”

I was not caught comparing a “chupacabra” with Jennifer Lopez, of course, as they are not alike at all. I only reserve that for “Chupacabras.”

“Chupacabras: It’s sort of like Jennifer Lopez, kind of cross-cultural.”

– Loren Coleman, as quoted by ABC News, 1999.

Thank You.

Loren Coleman About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct). Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015. Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.

Filed under Breaking News, Chupacabras, Cryptomundo Exclusive, Cryptotourism, CryptoZoo News, Cryptozoology, Eyewitness Accounts, Pop Culture