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Mystery of the 'Chupacabra' May Be Solved
rhettb writes "The mystery of the legendary chupacabra, a beast said to drain the blood of domestic animals at night, has been solved, according to a University of Michigan scientist. Biologist Barry O'Connor says that most chupacabra sightings are probably linked to coyotes with mange, a disease caused by the same species of mite that triggers scabies in humans. Severe cases of mange cause hair loss and thickening of skin in wild dogs and can lead to bacterial skin infections that produce a foul odor characteristic of the 'chupacabra.' Wombats and squirrels are also susceptible to mange, suggesting that chupacabra are found in trees and Down Under."
That Big Foot, flying saucers, and ghosts aren't real either? I'm so disappointed!
Perhaps they should investigate how it's related to the Australian Drop Bear.
(The Koala's distant carnivorous cousin who drops out of trees onto unsuspecting passers by)
Be you Admins? nay, we are but lusers!
We call them drop bears down here.
It's clear that the author and poster are part of the Illuminati, trying to cover-up the existence of these mystical creatures
Wombats do not live in the trees. The drop bears would eat them!
I live in Puerto Rico, were a big part of the "Chupacabras" myth started.
1st, there are no coyotes in Puerto Rico.. so WTF.
2nd, this is just urban legend... crap you tell at 2 in the morning. Then the news pics up on it.
Years ago (1970s?) there was a local surgeon that "manufactured" these odd "Cara de Diablo" (Face of the Devil??) things. Nobody had ever seen such a thing.
He left them around for everybody's amusement (especially the media).
Big uproar about the Cara de Diablos and what they were.
When the guy came out of the woods, he explained: They were stingrays, he would cut-off the "wings" in a diamond pattern... then stitch them up with his superb abilities.
Chupacabras doesn't exist people.
I doubt it. Wombats live in holes. Sometimes at dusk you can catch them in the open and at those times they are pretty slow moving. Not the kind of animal which could drain the blood out of anything which moves at more than a metre a minute. A dingo on the other hand...
But this Chupacabra seems to be a US only myth. Let me tell you about this hoopsnake I saw just the other day. A real nasty bugger. One metre in diameter and 3.14 metres in length he was. I reckon he broke the new speed limit on Lygon street...
http://michaelsmith.id.au
What about El Chupanibre?
bomb the us up set someone
that the street vendor in Mexico who sold me a Chupacabra burrito was lying? What did I eat?
I honestly don't get how stories get listed/tagged Idle these days. Some of them are really of interest and bring new insight to previously discussed topics. Idle should be Idle... this is something else.
Chupacabra means goat sucker you fool.
And don't be so confident about where certain species do not exist.
Living things have a way of showing up where they are not expected.
doesn't not approve of your denial.
Call Scooby Doo!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scooby-Doo_and_the_Monster_of_Mexico
And exactly how does a coyote drain its victim of all it's blood? Has no one thought to wonder why it would only consume the blood (if at all that's possible without sufficient time and victim-mutilation) and not the other tasty parts?
I'm sure there's a plausible explanation that we just have not figured out yet, but the mange-afflicted coyote theory was first proposed way back in 1995 [perhaps earlier (and numerous times hence!)] when I first began reading up on the phenomena.
This news is anything but new! :| What fun!
Geekism is your _only_ God!
What's curious is the word "idle" here in Slashdot has been mangled to mean "weird stuff with some (or a lot of) idiocy involved", when it really ought to mean "this might be remotely interesting in an otherwise completely uneventful day."
Anyway, by either of those standards, this article is clearly not idle.
Pet peeve: Profane people propagating perfunctory pedantry.
"Coyote with mange"?
I thought there might be some connection to Amy Winehouse.
You are welcome on my lawn.
NO! The chupacabras was a conspiracy theory from the Mexican government to distract our attention... from... err... can't remember (seriously)
Call me crazy, but the chupacabras I saw was able to fly and I'm pretty sure it wasn't a bat. It bit one of my dogs one night.
Hey Griff, chupathingy how 'bout that?
Ok, i worked for a guy from mexico for a few years, and one day asked him what the heck the deal with chupacabra's was. He laughed, and explained to me that years ago, there was this big thing going on in the news in Mexico, detailing some government corruption scandal. It was at this time, that the Chupacabra legend appeared. All of a sudden, all the news reports where about these mysterious 'Goat Suckers' and the government corruption was quietly swept under the rug. Basically, it was a distraction manufactured by the government to draw attention away from the issue at hand.
I've decided to Diversify my Holdings. I've divided my cash between my left and right pockets, instead of all in one.
Around 50 comments and still no mention of this great X-files episode (season 4, IIRC)... I guess Slashdot ain't what it used to be.
If a researcher at the University of Michigan is incapaple of recognising that wombats and squirrels are vegetarian, I wonder about that institution's selection processes. Neither beast is likely to "drain the blood" of any animal, for fun or otherwise. A mangy animal is just a mangy animal, which, while sad, does not mean they are vampires.
Where's the 'news' here? I recall an episode of Monster Hunters a few years back where they mentioned this as one of the likely explanations for some of the Chupacabra stories.
I think it's a good theory; it explains the second most common cause of misidentification. The first most common cause being tequila.
While the Chupacabra may not be an actually distinct lifeform, it is not to say that it may not one day be so. Mutations occur, the environment is stressed, and did you REALLY think evolution (assuming you believe in it, of course, I just happen to) just comes to a dead stop for the benefit of the press? A variety of diseases, retrovirii in particular, have the irritating habit of passing their genetic code into their hosts through generations, which can result in a change in genetic characteristics.
One proof of mutation having a beneficial effect would be malarial resistance conferred upon those with sickle cell traits. Granted, it is a short lived benefit, and it may eventually prove to be that branch of humanity's undoing, but it is only one example. There is also intentional genetic manipulation going on, both in the laboratories, and as a gradual process of breeding specific traits that has been undertaken by humanity for tens of thousands of years.
Bear in mind, new animal species are still being discovered, a mammalian predator was recently discovered in Haiti, of all places, relatively recently, if I recall correctly.
Bear in mind, also, that (assuming you believe there IS one) the Almighty has a sense of humor, and I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss God's evolutionary lottery from churning out some shocking developments in the near future.
Why don't they just call it The Warthog?
From TFA:
As a Puertorrican I can confirm that we don't have any coyotes, so how do you explain that Chupacabra.
So, he's repeating what was said in 2004. How is this news?
Sure enough, the cow costume was hanging up next to the superhero outfit and sailors uniform. (S,Spud)
In this earth-shattering news expose, scientists have uncovered the genetic aberration behind the ' Easter Bunny' ! Kids the world over have reportedly been crying in their sleep, refusing to do homework or keep up with their household chores, as a result of this devastating report. The major news services carrying the story have refused to comment on their responsibility for repercussions from their handiwork, but have advised that it doesn't stop there. We have to ask, 'Who will be next, Santa Clause, (tooth fairy exempted from ridicule by federal law), maybe even Elmer Fudd? In a statement from the White House, presidential spokesperson said; 'The rabbit's white, right? Who cares!' Stand by for further developments.
Scabies is curable for humans, but not animals. Untreated, it's a serious illness. It can make a squirrel into a chupacabra, and it would do the same to a human.
Years ago I had a case of scabies, and the doctor gave me some (pyrethrin?) goop to rub all over from head to toe which cured it. I remember how god awful itchy I was, ( and for a few weeks after the cure as the dead mites and droppings imbedded in my skin slowly migrated toward the outer layers to be sloughed off. The alergic reaction continues making you not quite sure if the cure worked until about a month later.
If there had been no cure, I don't think I could have lived with it. I think I would have made the trip to Wal*Mart and bought a cheap 12 guage and ended my misery eventually.
Which got me to thinking... Scabies has been around forever. What did people do in the olden days to cure it? I can't envision people walking around madly scratching all day in say the 1800s. But wouldn't uncurable scabies tend to run rampant through the whole population? You'd think everyone would have it.
Book of Eli time: You come down with scabies, what do you do? The active ingredient in horse fly spray is the same as that in the goop I used. I'd see if I could find some in an old farm supply store and rub it from head to toe. I think it would probably work without killing me. I'd try RAID too and risk being poisoned if the choice was between that and living with scabies. But suppose there were no such thing, the shelves are bare and even RAID is not to be found.
Then what? The insecticide permethrin/pyrethrin, I believe is based on a chemical found in crythanthemums/geraniums/tansy plants. I'd crush up a bunch of tansies and try rubbing myself down with those.
Would that work? I dunno.. What did they do back in the olden days?
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I meant to say that it's not curable in WILD animals since wild animals don't have access to vet care or medicines.
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