Chupacabra is a mythical blood-sucking animal whose existence has not been proven by official science.
The literal translation of the Spanish word chupacabras means "sucking goats" (chupar - "to suck" and cabra - "goat").
This creature became another puzzle for cryptozoologists, and surpassed Nessie and Bigfoot in its popularity.
Chupacabra Puerto Rico
The first Chupacabra attack on livestock occurred in March 1995 in Puerto Rico.
Eight sheep were found dead, each completely drained of blood. On examination, investigators found three strange puncture wounds on the animals' chests.
In August 1995, over 150 domestic animals were killed by an unknown predator in the Canovanas area. All animals were exsanguinated through small holes on their bodies.
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By the end of 1995, more than 1,000 mysterious deaths of livestock, mainly goats, had been recorded. Locals nicknamed the unknown killer El Chupacabra - "nightjar".
Madeleine Tolentino was the first person to see and describe the Chupacabra.
A bipedal creature with powerful legs, 3-4 feet in height, dark eyes, long limbs with three toes, and spines along its back that do not match any known animal species.
A similar description was given by all the other numerous eyewitnesses - leathery or scaly skin of a gray-green color, a tail like a kangaroo, sharp spines or needles on its back, in some cases the creature had wings. Height 1-1.2 meters, forked tongue and large canines.
In March 1996, the Chupacabra first appeared in the United States. 40 dead animals were found in rural areas of northwest Miami, Florida.
On May 2, a message came from the Rio Grande Valley in southern Texas: six goats were found dead with characteristic punctures on the body. On the same day, the creature appeared further south in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, where it hunted dogs and other small mammals.
The farmers formed vigilance groups to try and stop the monster, but without success.
Throughout May, the Chupacabra traveled throughout Mexico, leaving its bloody trail of dead cows, sheep and rams.
There have been many reports from Chile, Nicaragua, Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Honduras and other countries in Central and South America. Almost all of them are in Spanish speaking areas.
In the 2000s, reports of Chupacabra sightings outside the Americas began to surface.
The murders of chickens in the Philippines (2008), the exsanguination of rabbits in the Stavropol Territory (2011) and many other reports of the mysterious death of animals from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, China and even Australia.
The origin of the chupacabra
Theories about the origin of Chupacabra are as varied as the observations themselves.
The most popular explanation is that this creature is the product of top secret genetic experiments by the US government in the rainforests of Puerto Rico. Or even biological weapons.
Some speculate that it is an extraterrestrial being brought to Earth in spaceships. Such creatures are known as anomalous biological objects [ABES] in ufological circles.
The latest theory that has a scientific basis is that the Chupacabra is just a wild dog attacking the livestock of local farmers. But there is a huge BUT here …
Evolution
After 2000, something strange happened: sightings of unknown two-legged creatures described by eyewitnesses in Puerto Rico ceased.
They were replaced by a new kind of four-legged creatures. A strange breed of wild dog, devoid of hair, with a pronounced spine, large fangs and claws. The so-called canine reptile.
Unlike the Yeti or the Loch Ness monster, the researchers ended up with animal carcasses that could be studied using the most modern methods.
The dead chupacabras were subjected to DNA analysis, and in each case the body was identified as a dog, coyote, or raccoon.
All of these mammals were infected with a parasitic infection that caused hair loss, turning common animals into creepy monsters.
It would seem that the riddle of the Chupacabra has been solved, but the main question still remains: what happened to the "real" Chupacabra?
Lauren Coleman, Director of the International Museum of Cryptozoology in Portland, Maine.
Many agreed that the mythical Chupacabra is just a dog or coyote with scabies.
That's a good explanation, of course, Coleman said, but it doesn't explain the whole story.
For example, more than 200 recorded reports from Puerto Rico in 1995, which describe a completely different creature - a two-legged, with thorns on its back.
Legends about bloodsuckers exist among many peoples throughout history. Chupacabra became the world's most famous vampire after Count Dracula.
The Chupacabra exists or not, but reports of the finds of bloodless animals continue to come from various parts of our planet.
Chupacabra in the USA
July 2010, Texas. Locals have seen two mysterious creatures in the north of the state, similar to coyotes.
David Hewitt killed one of the animals.
I've never seen anything like it, from a distance it looked like a Chihuahua, only much more, said Hewitt.
There was no fur on it, only skin and bones, large fangs and claws, I thought it was the famous Chupacabra.
Benjamin Radford, editor-in-chief of the Skeptical Inquirer and author of the Chupacabra book, says there have been about seven such strange creatures in Texas over the past five years.
And each time, DNA tests showed that the found animal belonged to the canine family - they were dogs, foxes or coyotes, suffering from sarcoptic mange - an infectious skin disease of animals.
The disease is caused by Sarcoptes scabiei mites. The symptoms of sarcoptic mange are baldness, keratinization and pigmentation of the affected skin areas. Therefore, sick animals look like terrible monsters.
Humans have never seen dogs or coyotes without hair before and the word "Chupacabra" has become an all-encompassing term for something strange and mysterious that they cannot explain.
Chupacabra in China
March 23, 2010. Suining, Sichuan, China. Locals discovered a creature of unknown origin and immediately dubbed it the Chinese Chupacabra.
In the middle of the night, Ke Suying was awakened by an incomprehensible noise in the chicken coop. She got up, dressed, took a lantern and went to see what was happening.
Inside the chicken coop, she saw a strange, bald, gray-colored creature that looked like a dog.
Frightened, she turned to her neighbors for help, and after much effort, they were finally able to catch the creature and put it in a cage.
“In the past 90 years, I have never met such a creature. I have no idea what it is,”says Liu Chang, a neighbor who came to look at the strange find.
The animal is about 60 cm long and looks like a mixture of different species - the head resembles a dog, nostrils like a cow, round ears and folds of skin on the neck. The hind legs are more powerful and much longer than the front legs, with 5 toes on each paw.
Chupacabra in Honduras
March 15, 2015, Comayagua, Honduras.
A new wave of rumors about Chupacabras swept through Honduras after the death of a large number of sheep on the farm of a local resident.
Early in the morning, when the workers entered the corral, they found dozens of sheep with stab wounds in their necks. 42 animals were dead and about 10 were injured. The herd consisted of 200 sheep, according to Valentin Suarez, the owner of the farm. Neither the watchman nor the dogs heard any noise at night.
“This is the first time something like this has happened in our area, and we are very concerned about this because we cannot explain the reason for the death of animals, as there are no predators in the Comayagua Valley,” said Suarez.
Chupacabra photo 2013
Photo of the Chupacabra taken on September 8, 2013 in Venezuela.