The Mapinguari

The mapinguari is a monster of Amazonian folklore, told in Brazil and neighbouring countries. It is described as a tall, hairy, foul-smelling creature with long claws and feet that point backwards. Some versions give it one eye and a mouth in its belly. It is feared more than it is studied.

Folklore

Câmara Cascudo traced the name to a Tupi-Guarani phrase for a thing with a clubbed or backward-turned foot. The Karitiana speak of a similar being called Kida harara, “laughing beast”, and Matsigenka tales include the Segamai and Oshetoniro. In Acre, Wikipedia reports a tradition that very old Indigenous people could turn into mapinguari. Rubber tappers added their own versions. One recorded 1928 story has a tapper finding his companion being eaten by one, and ties the attack to working on the Sabbath.

The ground sloth theory

David C. Oren of the Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi argued in 1993 that the stories could rest on contact with surviving ground sloths. By 2001 he reported seven hunters who said they had killed one and more than 80 people who said they had met one. He described the reported animal as about 2 metres tall with coarse reddish, brown or black fur and a powerful smell. He admitted the tail did not fit a sloth. No hunter kept remains that survive.

Facts and cautions

Ground sloths died out on the American mainland about 12,000 years ago, and the last island sloths in the Caribbean about 4,800 years ago. That leaves a gap of thousands of years with no remains. Scientists such as Paul S. Martin found the survival idea unconvincing. The one eye and belly mouth match no animal, and bears and primates have both been suggested as the source of sightings. Treat the mapinguari as folklore with an unproven natural explanation.

Sources

• Mapinguari (Wikipedia) - folklore, name origin, indigenous names, Oren’s hypothesis and critics
• Does the Endangered Xenarthran Fauna of Amazonia Include Remnant Ground Sloths? (David C. Oren, Edentata, 2001) - Oren’s own account of his informants and the hunters’ claims
• Ground sloth (Wikipedia) - extinction dates and sizes of ground sloths