Subscription Center
Aug 15, 2008 04:47 PM | 30
All good cryptid stories come to an end and so it goes with the chupacabra video. Although it is difficult to make a definitive identification from the tape, biologist Scott Henke of Texas A&M University-Kingsville says: "It's a dog for sure."
Since coyotes run a little more gracefully, it's likely to be a bull mastiff or pit bull, or perhaps just a mutt. "Dogs just roaming and being stray is quite a problem in southern Texas," Henke says. "The probability of it being a mixed breed dog is higher than anything else."
He notes that the original chupacabra findings—headless goats with drained blood—turned out to be the work of a Mexican cult. And the chupacabra's other hallmark—not eating the livestock it kills—is also a feral dog favorite. "Feral dogs are much more of a problem than coyotes for losing livestock like goats," he says. "Especially if the animal is killed and the throat's bit. A coyote will eat the meat too, if they're going to go to the effort to kill it. If they're just torn up, it's most likely a feral dog."
In other words, the chupacabra's killing spree is just a fighting dog running loose and treating goats like a chew toy.
Credit: © Marshall Boprey/istockphoto.com
Tags:
biology,
texas,
cryptozoology,
chupacabra,
cryptid
More News Blog:
Next: Bigfoot press conference: An early report
Previous: Could the Russia-Georgia conflict jeopardize U.S. space plans?
See what we're tweeting about
Deadline: Jul 14 2013
Reward: $1,000,000 USD
This is a Reduction-to-Practice Challenge that requires written documentation and&
Deadline: Aug 31 2013
Reward: $100,000 USD
The Geoffrey Beene Foundation Alzheimer’s Initiative (GBFAI) is launching the 2013 Geoffrey Beene Global NeuroDiscovery Challenge whose
Powered By: 
YES! Send me a free issue of Scientific American with no obligation to continue the subscription. If I like it, I will be billed for the one-year subscription.
30 Comments
Add CommentI saw the video, and that's not a pit bull.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisif you think that animal is a pit bull you are smoking crack. im around pit bulls all day everyday and that thing is NOT a pit bull or mastiff. nor is it a coyote. the picture of the animal that that rancher found last year isnt a coyote either.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDefinitely not a pit bull. The snout is too long. More likely a Xcoloitzcuintle. That's probably what they all are or coyotes. I've seen hairless coyotes in San Diego. They get mange really bad, all their hair falls out and they are all grey skin and very strange looking. Although it was pretty chunky for a coyote.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI may get flack for this but i think that the chupacabra exists jus thinks its some creature that we have limited knowledge about possibly a hybrid of some creatures that shouldnt have bred .......its gotta be the goat sucker which chupacabra stands for .......check out its running method - more hind legged action than forelegged action - hind legs are longer then the fore legs almost kangarooish - long snout and visible canines - very unatural is all I'm saying......I have a boxer/pitbull mixed dog and his snout is no where near that long
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thismoreover - if anyone checks out youtubes eyewitness accounts of a herder in the middle east who shot at 3 creatures that he thought were men fighting at first and saw that they werent human when he got closer to them....he says he shot one and the other 2 flew away - he used his nokia to film the corpse of what he killed and it was very eerie - its a very clear video of a creature that favors a chupacabra...he went into shock afterwards and claims that the other 2 will come after him - dont kno if thats 4real...but the footage of what he killed was like whoa
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNot even veterinarians or animal control officers take classes on how to ID dog breeds. There's no science to visual breed identification; it's totally subjective. Opinion. They're calling it a pit bull because anything involving a "pit bull" makes news and brings in an audience. Just watch the video. It doesn't take an expert to see that that little dog-like thing is a mutt or a coyote cross or something. Big whoop-de-doo. Why is "Scientific" American publishing this garbage?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYour an Idiot what school of biologists under achievers did you go to. To call this unusual creature a "Pit Bull" is moronic at best ! and Scientific American has just lost a customer!. call cracker jacks your degree is worthless.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisUh, Chupacabra has WINGS. And that is a dog, derrr.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThat picture reminds me of old photos of the extinct Tasmanian tiger, sort of a long awkwardly proportioned dog with a long crocodile snout. It could be a lot of things, but it really looks nothing like any pitbull I've ever seen.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI guarantee you that this is another of the revolving, incessant bigfoot hoaxes perpetrated by scheming, cunning, easy money grubbing sociopathic conguy swindlers. They will attract another crop suckers for their forthcoming expeditions, conventions, lectures, CDs, videos, newsletters and books, of others and their own, via the public attention they attract in recruiting the publicity machine of mainstream TV, radio and print news media, scientists and science institutions to and at their news conferences at which they will trumpet their spectacular claims and proffered equivocal and ambiguous evidence -- this publicity event should provide them with another five to ten year shelf life for this renewed controversy and its related products for sale. The leader of this latest hoax is none other than career bigfoot hoax guy Tom Biscardi, with a lot of the McCainesque-type leadership experience to lead (on). It is interesting that no disciplined academics or scientists ever come across any of these jumbo-sized bigfoot hominids and that its alway bumbling, low-achiever, animal-clever, otherwise air heads who do. Caveate Emptore, Foos and Suckas!!! If I could just get my music played on radio and the media to show up and buzz it.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis bigfoot comment somehow ended up wrongly in association with this Chupacabra article. It does not belong here and should be bypassed and ignored. It also has literacy errors that I strongly dislike.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWTF?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisthis is the worst piece of garbage i've read in a looong time.
i had to double check to see if i was really at the national enquirer site.
what kind of "biologist" did you find and what kind of "writer" are you guys getting? .... i love this, "Since coyotes run a little more gracefully, it's likely to be a bull mastiff or pit bull, or perhaps just a mutt "---nice way to get the word pit bull in there. really really sub-substandard for SA.
i think my SA membership just flew out the window with this one.
bull.go too u tube freze frame when it turns it head.nose too long too be a pit.this on u tube got a better pic of its nose http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyLessPHDWE&feature=related
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisthey cant say its real it will cause panic n alot.same thing with big foot it would cause mass hysteria. i dont care is this u tube video is fake or not now thanks too these people saying this is a pit when it aint.ears too tall n poitney and face too nose too long.sorry im upset i new they would say bull story
mayget into trouble for this.but heres a thought.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyLessPHDWE&feature=related compare that nose too this nose there saying is a pit pull.i no longer care if this uspace tube is fake or not since they saying this is a pitt bull n thats bull.but they cant admit its real it will cause mass hysteria same thing with big foot,n this chupacabra suposubly came from plum island way back in the day when they did germ warfare on animals.wait read this be4 yall dont belive http://www.policestateplanning.com/prison_experiments.htm,then chek into 1940 experiements,then check into prison germ experients.also then research,think about this African swine fever was restricted to the continent that bears its name until ... African Swine Fever Virus", Animal Viruses: Molecular Biology.Biological warfare (BW) also known as a germ warfare,now go too yahoo home page in search box type this Biology and germ warfare experiments.have fun researchen on yalls own so yall can judge yalls self.west nile started in animals right,Lyme Disease may have spread as a result of clandestine experimentation on biological warfare on Plum Island-a Department of Agriculture facility that doubled as an Army BW research facility. Dedicated to the study of animal diseases, Plum Island appears to have been the site of experiments with disease-infected ticks conducted by Nazi scientists "Dr. Erich Traub"brought into the United States under Project Paperclip.they interviewd him n he said World War II and subsequent to the war when the station was under Russian control yet i found this "Traub was brought to the United States in 1949 under the auspices of the United States government program Operation Paperclip, ".found this under research of germ warfare experiements on cows.usa or russia occupy plum island in 1949?Plum Island even refuses to admit it worked with Anthrax, even though it eventually showed up on its declassified storage lists); During World War II, Camp Detrick became the site of intensive biological warfare (BW) research using various pathogens; this research was originally overseen by pharmaceuticals executive George W. Merck. There was a building on the base, Building 470 locally referred to as "Anthrax Tower". 5,000 bombs containing anthrax spores were produced at the base during World War II."wow"
might get heck for this but
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyLessPHDWE&feature=related compare that nose too this nose there saying is a pit pull.i no longer care if this uspace tube is fake or not since they saying this is a pitt bull n thats bull.but they cant admit its real it will cause mass hysteria same thing with big foot,n this chupacabra suposubly came from plum island way back in the day when they did germ warfare on animals.wait read this be4 yall dont belive http://www.policestateplanning.com/prison_experiments.htm,then chek into 1940 experiements,then check into prison germ experients.also then research,think about this African swine fever was restricted to the continent that bears its name until ... African Swine Fever Virus", Animal Viruses: Molecular Biology.Biological warfare (BW) — also known as a germ warfare,now go too yahoo home page in search box type this Biology and germ warfare experiments.have fun researchen on yalls own so yall can judge yalls self.west nile started in animals right,Lyme Disease may have spread as a result of clandestine experimentation on biological warfare on Plum Island-a Department of Agriculture facility that doubled as an Army BW research facility. Dedicated to the study of animal diseases, Plum Island appears to have been the site of experiments with disease-infected ticks conducted by Nazi scientists "Dr. Erich Traub"brought into the United States under Project Paperclip.they interviewd him n he said World War II and subsequent to the war when the station was under Russian control yet i found this "Traub was brought to the United States in 1949 under the auspices of the United States government program Operation Paperclip, ".found this under research of germ warfare experiements on cows.usa or russia occupy plum island in 1949?Plum Island even refuses to admit it worked with Anthrax, even though it eventually showed up on its declassified storage lists); During World War II, Camp Detrick became the site of intensive biological warfare (BW) research using various pathogens; this research was originally overseen by pharmaceuticals executive George W. Merck. There was a building on the base, Building 470 locally referred to as "Anthrax Tower". 5,000 bombs containing anthrax spores were produced at the base during World War II."wow"
Tasmanian tiger is also on utube,here 1 link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vqCCI1ZF7o
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thiscompare it too what cops got on u tube the video that this person says is a pit bull.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqebUluWFM4
why didnt the cops just shot it,didnt they have reports of animals being umm ate,cops should have shot it got it stuffed and sent into a museum.cops not tell anyone till its in musuem so we didnt have too hear another bogus excused assumption
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI think it's more than just simple mange creating Chupacabras from Dogs and Coyotes. I've found reports of similar periodic reports of "vampire dogs" in England going back 200 years. Here's the link http://www.dappercadaver.com/blog/2008/08/18/monster-mondays-chupacabras-around-the-world/
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThere are also old reports of people being biten by Chupacabras and the strange symptoms that causes.
I told the reporter, David Biello, that the head of the supposed chupacabra of Cuero, Texas looked very much like a bull terrier, not a pit bull. The animal in the video I saw only briefly turned in profile, but also had a similar profile to a bull terrier. Both animals appeared to have mange.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisScott Henke, Researcher
I told the reporter, David Biello, that the animal looked similar to a bull terrier, not a pit bull.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisScott Henke, Researcher
Not sure what it is, but if it was found in Cuero, more than likely is was a normal animal with deformities. Almost every animal I have come across has some sort of genetic problem in this town...just take a visit to the local lake. -KRS2FUR-
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this[quote]it's likely to be a bull mastiff or pit bull, or perhaps just a mutt. [/quote]
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHey it worked!
'pit bull' draws people in to read nonsense or to correct nonsense.
BTW pit bull IS a mutt!
The Breeds lumped under the slang term "Pit Bull" are
Staffordshire Bull Terriers
American Staffordshire Terrier
APBT
Are you sure it isn`t one of these Breeds?
http://www.understand-a-bull.com/Findthebull/findpitbull_v4.swf
http://www.pitbullsontheweb.com/petbull/findpit.html
http://www.coldsteelpits.com/coldsteelfindthepitbull.htm
http://www.inalbum.com/ia20/display.php?username=blessthebullys&back=1&filename=Falsely_Accused
But hey who cares about factual info when ALL you`re attempting to do is get google hits.
For factual info on "Pit Bulls" visit
http://www.animalfarmfoundation.org/section.php?id=5
For documented Research visit
http://www.nationalcanineresearchcouncil.com/about.asp
For the Media,Myths and Politics of Canine Aggression
Read Pit Bull Placebo
http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0972191410/ref=sib_dp_pt#reader-link
Well I`m off to CANCEL my subscription to UNSCIENTIFIC American.
[quote]In other words, the chupacabra's killing spree is just a fighting dog running loose and treating goats like a chew toy.[/quote]
Oh speaking of fighting dogs...
Where are the Vick Fight Bust dogs now?
Glad you asked
http://www.badrap.org/rescue/vick/
I guess not all Biologists graduate at the top of their class,Dave!
I agree with Johnny Thunder, I also know pitt bulls & mastiffs and bulldogs....(very well) I am a breeder. Ther is no way that this creature is even related. If you dont mind here is my theory.... I think that someone purchased/caught a hyena, then let it go when they found they couldnt
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thiscontrol it, and it interbred with a coyote/dingo. But there is no way pitt,bulldog,or mastiff, mixed with it. I am surprised a scientist wouldnt know this. Mayhem.
I agree with Johnny Thunder on this one, I breed & sell Staffordshire Terriers
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisand Mastiffs & Bulldogs....This is in No Way a Pitt bull (scientist??? right)
where did you study? here is my theory.... Hyena was brought to the states illegally, then let go & interbred with a dingo or coyote, less the hair/or lack there of i'm not sure what happened there but then again... I am not the scientist... Mayhem
Has anyone thought that this creature could be a mix somehow related to a bat creature. The skin, the fangs, and how it kills its victims reminds me of a bat. And from what I have read and seen so far of its origins it appears to originate along the shores of countries that it has been seen in. It started out as a creature standing on two legs like a monkey in the country it was first seen in. That country being occuppied by alot of monkeys and now is seen on four legs in South America and Mexico and now in Texas.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis person evidently is not familiar with dog attacks on sheep and goats, or even with coyote kills on sheep and goats. Dogs will chew the flanks, hind quarters, ears, heads, noses, or shoulders. I have never seen a dog kill in which the throat has been punctured and bled out like a coyote kill. A coyote kills clean, with a single bite to the throat. The only time a kill will have more than a single bite is when a bitch is teaching her young to kill and then and only then will the prey have more than the four holes in the side of the neck and the bottom of the throat. Coyotes usually kill to eat, but a lot of the time they kill for sport. They have at times killed as many as twelve goats in one night on my place and not eaten one bite. The coyotes never just tear an animal up like dogs do. Sometimes they will still be alive with holes in their windpipe instead of their jugular vein. R.C. Pearce
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI believe I witnessed a Chupacabra in Holly MI on July 2008. It did appear kangarooish and over 6 feet tall. It had 3 long fingers on both hands, gigantic red glowing eyes, extremely long ears and long face. It had muscular legs and arms. Pit bulls or any dog really don't match this description. I think these news stories may be a red herring to disguise us from the truth.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI am certain the chupacabra is a breed of hairless dog probably a xolo that is ferile..i have a preuvian hairless dog and it is an old breed it looks exactly like this..i cant believe someone hasnt realized this yet
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peruvian_Hairless_Dog here look at these pics and you will see the chupacabra!!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisanything people make up just to make pit-bulls look bad.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this