November 3, 2007
Contributed Photo: Phylis Canion
Well, no need to dwell on this one. We all saw this coming, and it appears only a few people and the media thought this was going to be anything different.
The DNA results are back from tests run on the “Chupacabras” (as it was called) found by Phylis Canion, near Cuero, Texas, in July, 2007. The biologists at the Texas State University have announced that it is a coyote (Canis latrans).
The DNA sequence is a virtually identical match to DNA from the coyote. This is probably the answer a lot of folks thought might be the outcome. I, myself, really thought it was a domestic dog, but the Cuero chupacabra[s] is a Texas coyote.
That is the best part about science. The first answers often lead to more questions and then better explanations of the world in which we live. We’ve taken additional skin samples and we will try to determine the cause of the hair loss.
Folks fear what they don’t understand, and a big part of the goal in science is to explain the natural world. – Mike Forstner, a Texas State University biologist, said in a news release, as quoted in “Strange beast found near Cuero is a coyote,” by Roger Croteau, Express-News, November 2, 2007.
“Chupacabras: It’s sort of like Jennifer Lopez, kind of cross-cultural.” – Loren Coleman, as quoted by ABC News, 1999.
Why do I call all of them, singular and plural, “Chupacabras”? If interested in the answer, you will not be disappointed if you click on “Chupawhat?”
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 Artifacts, Breaking News, Chupacabras, Cryptotourism, CryptoZoo News, Cryptozoologists, Cryptozoology, Evidence, Forensic Science, Photos, Pop Culture