Fritz Müller, a well-known expert on the ecology of invertebrates, wrote in the century before last: the stories about the giant Brazilian worm Minhochao look so incredible that one is tempted to take them for an ordinary fairy tale.
Is it possible to restrain a smile after hearing from adults fables about a writhing monster about 45 meters long (!), Covered with a bony shell. That it is capable of uprooting mighty pines, changing river beds and turning land into a bottomless swamp?
But … after careful consideration of such messages, you involuntarily begin to believe that the Minho Chao existed quite recently, in the middle of the 19th century.
The snake that survived the Great Flood
Outwardly, they look like huge earthworms. Actually, the name of this invertebrate comes from the word minhoca "worm" - in Portuguese. The Indians of Brazil call it bitata. mboi-assu or mboi-tata. The last name comes from the old language of the Tupi tribes and means "fire snake."
In most cases, observers determined the length of this outlandish creature at tens of meters, and the thickness at three to five. Minhochao has scaly skin and a pair of tentacle-like growths protruding from its head. The gigantic worm is capable of overturning fishing boats, grabbing grazing cattle and carrying them under water. In addition, he digs huge underground passages and trenches, because of which houses and roads are crumbling.
Minhochao most often appeared in. Brazil, as already mentioned, in the century before last. The first message about the worm appeared in 1847 in an article by Augustin de Saint-Hilaire, published in the American journal Science. The author described incidents of attacks by Minhochao on livestock near the Rio dos Piloles River. where the monster not only caught fish, but also hunted cows, mules and horses wading across the river. The same was the case on the lakes Padre Aranda and Feia in the Brazilian province of Goias.
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Scary spawn of dungeons
In 1877, the most significant publication on Minho Chao was published. belonging to the pen of the zoologist Fritz Müller. He submitted his article to the German edition of Der Zoologische Garten. Müller laid out new facts about the giant worm, went. in particular, we are talking about huge trenches dug by a worm. They were so large that they diverted rivers and destroyed gardens.
To tell the truth, there were not many cases of direct observation of Minhochao. So. in 1840, a Brazilian woman living near the Parana River was about to draw water from a pool next to her house, when she suddenly saw a huge house nearby. animal. In the same area, a young man watched huge pine trees sway in the absence of wind. Looking closely, he noticed among the trees a worm-like creature, probably 25 meters long, with two horns on its head.
A certain Francisco de Amaral Varella said that in 1870, on the banks of the Rio dos Caveiras, he encountered a strange worm, the thickness of which was about a meter, and the muzzle resembled the snout of a pig.
In his article, Müller also cited the story of the wealthy Lebino planter Jose dos Santos. who had heard of the dead Minhochao found near the Arapehi River in Uruguay. One of the monsters was sandwiched between the rocks. He had skin as thick as pine bark, somewhat like the shell of an armadillo.
Wow furrows
More often, eyewitnesses have seen traces of the activity of worm-like monsters. For example, a week after the mentioned observation of Francisco de Amaral Varella, other trenches were seen, probably left by the Minhochao six kilometers from the place of their first meeting. Eventually, the trackers reached the roots of a large pine tree, where the giant worm's footprints were lost in the swampy soil.
And a certain Antonio José Branco, returning home after an eight-day absence, found a section of the road that had turned into almost one huge trench. The traces of the giant "excavator" activity began at the source of the stream and ended about a kilometer later in a swamp. The deep furrows were up to three meters wide.
According to the author of the video, a part of the worm lying in the water was filmed. Also shown is a reconstruction of the possible appearance of the creature.
In the vicinity of Rio dos Papagayos. that in the province of Parana, one evening (in 1849), after the end of the long rains, the sound of a downpour was heard in a nearby forest, although the sky was cloudless. The next morning, it was revealed that a large tract of land near a nearby hill had changed beyond recognition. Deep trenches appeared on it. Following them, the curious villagers reached a rocky plateau. It was decorated with a huge pile of freshly dug clay. After a look, the people dispersed, and Lebino planter Jose dos Santos after a while returned to this place. I examined it with assistants and came to the conclusion that such a huge job could be done by two giant worms, the diameter of which is from two to three meters.
Worm trail
But back to the notes of Fritz Müller, with which we began this story. In the course of his research, the scientist discovered a message dated 1856. It was about the fact that fishermen from the Araguaia River saw a snake that looked like an earthworm. Its length reached 40 meters. The roar of this monster was heard for many kilometers. Minhochao?.. Yes, apparently it was him.
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Since the end of the 19th century, evidence of encounters with a bloodthirsty worm has ceased, but the trenches left by it are still intact. Some researchers believe that the monsters are extinct. According to others, people still meet with worms, only they were christened giant anacondas. As for the origin of Minho Chao. there are several hypotheses on this score.
The most superficial is an oversized worm. Giant earthworms are known to exist. They can be found in Australia. Such invertebrates are up to three and a half meters long, but the diameter of their bodies does not exceed three centimeters. Moreover, earthworms are not predators.
Another hypothesis: Minhochao are glyptodonts, that is, large armadillos, seemingly extinct in the Pleistocene era. Proponents of this theory recall that the glyptodonts had shells. In addition, if necessary, they could dig trenches.
Glyptodont doesn't look much like a worm
Another famous French naturalist and traveler Augustin François de Saint-Hilaire suggested that the minhochao is a giant species of lepidosiren lungfish. With an outward resemblance to eels, they have a length of over a meter, are unusually voracious and prefer reservoirs with stagnant water, primarily drying out and swampy. Supporters of this hypothesis believe that gigantic lepidosiren should have lived near waterways. With a great weight, he would leave deep trench tracks while moving.
Lepidosiren lungfish
But the most plausible is the hypothesis of the British cryptozoologist Karl Shuker, who suggested that the Minhochao belongs to the family of legless amphibians. These creatures, according to paleontologists, appeared on our planet 170 million years ago, and today they live in the tropics of Asia. Africa and South America. Outwardly, they really resemble snakes or worms, live, hiding in the depths of the earth, have strong skulls with a sharp muzzle, which is convenient to loosen the earth, lungs and reach one and a half meters in length.
Some members of this family are well adapted for swimming in water, they have a large fleshy fin. What is especially curious is that all such worms have tentacles located between the eyes and nostrils. These are additional organs of smell. It is by the tentacles that you can distinguish Minhochao from anacondas.
Pavel BUKIN
"Secrets of the XX century" July 2012