When, in 1658, Admiral Etienne de Flacour released "The History of the Big Island of Madagascar", which summed up his long stay in this corner of the Earth, it contained a lot of the most incredible information, perceived as the fables of travelers, and their truth was established only centuries later.
Speaking about the birds "inhabiting the forests," Flacour, for example, wrote: "Vurupatra is a large bird that lives in Ampatras, laying eggs like an ostrich in the most deserted places."
After Flacour, other travelers wrote about a huge bird, and they were also called visionaries. And she also laid eggs, larger than those that ostriches "produce", and the locals used them as utensils.
Ferdinand von Hochstäcker writes:
“Madagascars came to Mauritius to buy rum. The containers they brought with them were shells of eggs eight times larger than ostrich and 135 times larger than chicken; they held over 9 liters. They said that these eggs are sometimes found in desert areas, and sometimes they see birds."
It is clear that all this was perceived as anecdotes. If an ostrich with a height of 2 meters 50 centimeters was considered a giant bird-monster, then what can we say about a giant that lays eggs eight times larger than an ostrich?
Orientalists believed that these rumors were nothing more than an echo of the legend of the Rukh bird from the tales of the Thousand and One Nights, a terrible creature that earned a dubious reputation among Arab sailors. It is so huge, they talked about it, that when it appeared in the sky, a shadow arose: the wings covered the sun. And it is so strong that it can grab an elephant and lift it into the air, and prick several animals at once on the horn. Sometimes she carried away whole ships with crews …
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On his second voyage, Sinbad the Sailor encountered this bird after finding the egg. It was 50 steps wide!
When Herodotus wrote about giant African birds, their size seemed more modest: the Egyptian priests told him about the race of flying giants that lived on the other side of the source of the Nile, and they had the power to raise a person. Let's remember that the largest eagle is able to lift a creature no larger than a rabbit …
Marco Polo in the fourteenth century heard echoes of the same tale from the mouth of Kublai Khan. The Asian ruler showed him bird feathers "about 20 meters long" and two eggs of considerable size. And he added that the Rock comes from the island of Madagascar on the south side.
Thus, the stories about the Rukh bird and the Malgash legends coincided in time and space. But it seemed incredible that a bird weighing several hundred kilograms could rise into the air. But it was believed that if a bird, it must certainly be able to fly. And the Rock bird, aka vurupatra, was declared a fable.
Aepyornis eggs
Years passed, and in 1834 the French traveler Gudo picked up on the island halves of shells of incredible size, serving as bottles for local residents. He made a drawing and sent it in 1840 to Paris to ornithologist Jules Verrault. He, on the basis of only one type of egg, called the bird that laid it, epyornis, "big bird."
A few years later, this name, which initially aroused suspicion, was legitimized when Dumarel in 1848 saw a whole egg in the vicinity of Diego Suarez. "It held 13 bottles of liquid."
And in 1851, it was finally officially recognized that giant birds were found on the island: the captain of the merchant ship Malavua brought two eggs 32 centimeters long and 22 wide to the Paris Museum. They put in about eight liters (8 ostrich eggs and 140 chicken eggs). One such testicle can be used to make an omelet for 70 people.
A few years later, the famous traveler Alfred Grandidier took out from the swamps of the Ambalisatra bones of an indeterminate type that at first glance belonged to some thick-skinned. But research has shown that these are bird bones ("elephant birds"). To be honest, ornithologists were not very surprised, because a few years earlier R. Owen described moa from bone remains from New Zealand. Based on the available material, Isidore Geoffrey Saint-Hilaire described the species Aepyornis maximus.
In fact, epiornis is not at all larger than moa in growth (moa is 2 meters 50 centimeters tall). In the Paris Museum there is a restored skeleton of epyornis - 2.68 meters. But this is also a very large increase.
Aepyornis eggs
To be honest, there is no direct connection between the growth of a bird and its egg. Remember the kiwi from New Zealand: its eggs are comparable to those of ostrichs, and the bird itself is no larger than a chicken. And by weight, the following data are obtained: 440 kilograms for the largest epyornis and 329 for medium-sized moa.
When do giants disappear?
The study of the bones of the epyornis showed that, unlike the legendary Rukh, this - real - bird could not fly. Like other keel birds, her relatives - cassowary, moa, emu … Their wings were underdeveloped.
But did Flacour designate that bird as vurupatra? Eggs found in the sand in the dunes of the south and southeast, or in the mud of the marshes, were suspiciously fresh, as if they had just been laid. And the bones did not seem to be fossils …
They began to question the residents. They answered that birds are found in the remote corners of the island, but they see them very, very rarely. But naturalists who are still under Cuvier's influence do not want to believe this, so no one today was engaged not only in searching for a bird, but also did not study the reasons for its disappearance.
Aepyornis Skull
One thing is clear: a person could not be the only cause of her death, unlike the story with moa vurupatru, or vorompatru, was not exterminated for meat. There is not a word about this in the legends (and the Maori were happy to talk about hunting moa using simple peaks with a stone tip).
In an attempt to explain the death of the epyornis, they reached asphyxiation caused by gas outflows in certain areas of the island. But isn't it too difficult? Most likely, the point is in the habitats themselves. The climate changed, people drained the swamps, the last shelters disappeared.
Giant swamps were drying up in the highlands of Antsiraba and Betafo. Epiornis climbed deeper into the bogs and died there, not finding food. This is proved by their remains found in peat bogs. It is clear that man hastened the end of vorompatra, she survived until recently, until 1862 (when the inhabitants clearly saw her), not reaching quite a bit to our days.
Other giants of Madagascar
Various factors contributed to the death of not only epyornis, but also other species, for example, mullerornis, giant cassowary of the Ankaratra region, centornis and many others. But aren't we burying them early?
As well as on the neighboring islands - Seychelles and Mascarene - the giant tortoise Testudo grandidieri weighing up to one ton was found here. She apparently fell prey to drought. But if you believe Raymond Decari, a connoisseur of the fauna of Madagascar, the extermination of the turtle was not widespread.
"There are rumors about the presence in some caves in the southwest of a mysterious creature that may turn out to be a giant tortoise - are we talking about the last representatives of the Testudo grandidieri?" - writes the zoologist.
Tortoise shell Testudo grandidieri
Another view: in Madagascar, there were giant crocodiles, whose skulls reached 80 centimeters wide. There is evidence that they are still here.
The total drainage of the swamps led to the disappearance of hippos on the island. Previously, giants were found here, reminiscent of the Pleistocene hippos of Africa. Did not the great wanderer Dumont Durville write about them in 1829 in his book Travels Around the World, sailing along the Madagascar rivers?
On the other hand, there is an assumption that it was the hippopotamus, or rather, his image, transformed by the legend, that served as the basis for the myth of tsogombi or ombira - a water bull, half-mule, half-horse with a hump.
If we are talking about a hippopotamus, then it has changed a lot in the legends, because the Tsogombi got huge hanging ears. In addition, he was "gifted" with a cry that terrifies anyone, as well as aggressive cannibalistic habits. The Mahafali and Antrandon tribes, according to R. Decari, ascribe to him eggs that actually belonged to the epyornis.
There are also rumors about raylalomen, which means "father or ancestor of the hippo." He supposedly lives in swamps, and has a horn in his forehead. All this is very reminiscent of the famous "Dinosaur from the Congo" (mokele-mbembe). Perhaps the invaders of the Bantu tribe who appeared here brought with them descriptions of a mysterious creature from the continent.
Both hypotheses have a right to exist, and in both cases there is a similarity with the Congolese reptile - the body of a hippopotamus, horn, hanging ears (which may actually be fleshy growths on the edges of the head and are visible in the dragon from the portico of Ishtar), egg production, talking about the reptile, swamp habitat, aggressive nature and, finally, wild screams.
If this creature lived in Madagascar, then surely it could become one of the first victims of the drying up of swamps and lakes. Unless, of course, it is a giant turtle. Or a touring crocodile from the continent …
Tretretre and the dog-headed man
Madagascar is called the land of semi-fossil animals. No other island can become such a showcase of ancient history. The remains of animals, birds, reptiles often turn out to be so fresh that many ask the question: are their "owners" alive?
Often, legends and oral traditions claim that people knew them until relatively recently. Let us recall Gennep's principle, according to which memories of events are lost for two centuries where there is no oral tradition. Therefore, the interest in the memories of travelers is so great.
Flacour, besides epyornis, wrote about another mysterious animal: “Tretretre, or tratratra, the size of a bull and with the face of a man. It resembles Ambroise Pare's tanakht. This is a solitary animal, and the inhabitants of that country are afraid of him and flee from him …"
The first reaction of naturalists of that time was, of course, unequivocal - a myth. Nothing like this has ever lived in Madagascar; there have never been real monkeys there. Moreover, such an amazing look. So someone repeated the naive fables of Marco Polo and Ctesias?
The first camouflage was removed when the indri (Indris brevicaudatus), the largest of today's lemurs, was discovered, and it fits the description of a "dog-headed man." It is about a meter high, almost without a tail (stump), often stands on its hind legs, being on the ground, surprisingly resembles a person. Its elongated muzzle looks more like a fox than a dog.
Looking at him, you understand why the members of the Betsimaraka clan both killed him and deified him, calling him babakoto (father-child), considering him to be the descendant of a man who had retired to the forests. We add that all lemurs are fadi (taboo) for the Malgash, because it is believed that this is another incarnation of man.
And at the end of the 19th century, the remains of a huge fossil lemur were found in Madagascar, which was named megaladapis. The growth of an adult megaladapis was comparable to the growth of a short person, the weight was supposedly up to 70 kilograms (for megaladapis Edwards even up to 200 kilograms).
It is believed that the megaladapis died out as early as 10 millennium BC, but there is radiocarbon dating according to which the megaladapis of Edwards still lived in Madagascar by the time the Europeans appeared there in 1504.
Megaladapis
In the same years, the remains of the Paleopropithecus were discovered in Madagascar. Paleopropithecus are a genus of subfossil lemurs that lived in Madagascar from the Pleistocene to historical time. Paleopropithecines were also large primates, weighing between 40 and 55 kilograms.
Paleopropithecus definitely inhabited Madagascar by the time humans appeared there (the latest remains from the Anquileo deposit, according to radiocarbon dating, date back to the 14th-15th centuries AD). They could also be what they called the tretre.
The fading heart of Gondwana
Logically, Madagascar could be looking for the same part of Gondwana as on the African continent. In fact, the island is not an African zoological province. Malgash animals are characterized, on the one hand, by the originality of their forms, and, on the other hand, are related to the forms of South America and the Indo-Malay region.
Among the typical forms of Madagascar are lemurs, which differ from other primates in a number of anatomical features. It was for this appearance that scientists gave them the name "lemurs", as the Romans called the phantoms of dead people. But lemurs live not only in Madagascar. Some are common in Africa - galago, potto and angwantibo, and in Malaysia - lorises and thick lorises.
But Madagascar is home to forms completely unknown in Africa. Moreover, they are known in … the Antilles! And in South America. This whole cocktail is due to the presence of the once huge continent of Gondwana.
The study of the fossil remains of lemurs has shown that even in the recent era there were a great many of them. The Magaladapis were real rhinoceroses that climbed trees. They did it despite their size, thanks to their tenacious fingers. And there were many others. And looking at them, you think that Flacour's descriptions do not seem so fantastic.
Who is the tokandia - the "four-legged jumper" that lives in trees and makes human sounds? And who are the colonoro, Malgash gnomes?
“All tribes,” writes Decari, “believe in some kind of our dwarfs, brownies and gnomes. Their names change by district: bibialona, kotokeli and so on. Colonoro is something like an amphibian. On Lake Alkatra, they live like sirens or mermaids with long fluffy hair, live in the water, reach out for pies, grab children."
According to betsileo's beliefs, the colonoro, on the contrary, is a land creature two cubits high, covered with long hair, he has a wife named kotokeli, and lives in caves. She steals children from people and replaces them with her own.
In the Kinkong Lake area, Sakalawa has a different concept of colonoro. This is a male creature living along the banks of ponds. Dimensions are less than a meter. He has a sweet female voice, eats fish, walks around the neighborhood in the evenings. He meets a person, talks to him and lures him into a pond.
Further north, the kolonoro lives in the forest and caves, does not specifically attack people, but has sharp claws and can severely injure when they try to grab him.
Strange legends spread throughout the island, fresh bones found in the southwest and their conditions indicate that gadropithecus (another ancient species of lemurs) may have survived into recent eras in the region of Bara, Ankazoabo.
Many areas of Madagascar have not yet been explored, and giant lemurs could have survived on these millions of hectares of forest. Remember okapi - he lived incognito for a long time.