Kevin Keel, wildlife disease specialist, gives insight into the legendary chupacabra: “It still looks like a coyote”
Keel says the truth behind the chupacabra legend may be far less supernatural, pointing to sick coyotes often mistaken for monsters.
As is the case with almost all supposedly legendary creatures, the profile of the chupacabra, a creature said to suck the blood of livestock, has changed since it was first reported in Puerto Rico in the mid-1990s.
How the chupacabra myth morphed
“In 1995, a chupacabra was understood to be a bipedal creature that was three feet tall and covered in short gray hair, with spikes out of its back,” Loren Coleman, director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine, tells National Geographic.
Chinese whispers have shifted that original description quite a bit. The chupacabra, which translates from Spanish as goatsucker, is now considered more of a canine-like creature. That change may help explain many of the more recent sightings.
Science offers a simpler answer
For wildlife disease specialist Kevin Keel, there is no doubt that chupacabras are simply sick coyotes. Keel is adamant that people who think they have spotted the legendary creature have actually come across coyotes suffering from mange, a skin disease that causes their hair to fall out and their skin to shrivel. Those traits line up with the widespread belief that chupacabras have leathery or scaly skin.
The parasite behind the sightings
The Sarcoptes scabiei parasite causes scabies in humans, which is typically just a minor rash. In coyotes and other animals, however, the same parasite leads to mange, which can be life threatening.
“It still looks like a coyote, just a really sorry excuse for a coyote,” Keel explains. “I wouldn’t think it’s a chupacabra if I saw it in the woods, but then I’ve been looking at coyotes and foxes with mange for a while.”
Keel concedes that non-experts may genuinely believe they are seeing something mysterious, or even a mythical monster. “A layperson, however, might be confused as to its identity,” he says.
How the name may have stuck
The disease may even help explain how the creature got its name, says Barry OConnor, an entomologist at the University of Michigan who has studied Sarcoptes scabiei. “Animals with mange are often quite debilitated. And if they’re having a hard time catching their normal prey, they might choose livestock because it’s easier.”
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