Читать книгу The Element Encyclopedia of Magical Creatures: The Ultimate A–Z of Fantastic Beings from Myth and Magic - John Matthews - Страница 384

This vampire animal, also known as the Goatsucker, has been reported since the mid-1990s throughout Latin America, especially round Mexico and on the island of Puerto Rico. There are a variety of reported descriptions: one is that of a lizard-like being with greenish skin and dorsal spines, standing 3–4-ft high, with a long nose and forked tongue, that hops like a kangaroo; another says that it hops like a kangaroo but has coarse grey fur and facial hair, and the head of a dog with long teeth; a third description is that of a hairless wild dog with a high dorsal ridge, deep eye sockets, long teeth and claws. Further reports say the Chupacabras is covered with black hair, has red eyes and bat-like wings, or that it can crawl on all fours and stand upright like a prairie dog. They move remarkably quickly and some say that it has basilisk-like eyes that paralyse its prey.

The Chupacapras sucks the blood of livestock such as goats, horses, fowl and cattle. Sudden animal deaths are laid at its door, especially if two puncture wounds are found on their necks. In July 2004, a Texas rancher killed a hairless, dog-like creature that was attacking his livestock. Skeletal analysis of the creature is proceeding at the University of California. The Chupacabras may originate from Central American aboriginal myths concerning the ‘mosquito-man’ who sucks blood from animals through his long nose, just like a mosquito. (See Cryptozoology.)