Legend Of The Chupacabra

El Chupacabras is known as a cryptid. According to Wikipedia a cryptid is a plant or animal whose existence has been suggested but is not yet recognized by scientific consensus.  For instance Yeti is a cryptid but the Unicorn is considered to be a legendary creature.

Here in the United States we know El Chupacabras as simply chupacabra.

The chupacabra is a fairly new creature. That isn't too surprising because we are constantly discovering new living beings these days.

 In 1975 the mass killings of animals in Puerto Rico were thought to be the work of The Vampire of Moca. Then in 1995 eight sheep were found dead.

Each of the dead sheep had three puncture wounds in its chest. Each had been completely drained of blood. During the following months about 150 more animals were found in the same condition.

This time there was an eyewitness. A woman from the area said she had seen a lizard-like animal that stood on its hind legs using the front legs to grasp its prey. It was gray in color and had a series of spies along the middle of its back. It had sharp teeth in order to bite and then suck the blood from the animals.

People who lived around there were terrified. The livestock that was killed was food and barter power for them. Without them the people could go hungry. They also were afraid that humans might be targets for the monster.

A comedian in Puerto Rico is responsible for the creature's name. He started calling it El Chupacabras. The name means goat sucker in Spanish. It was named that because it sucked all the blood from the animals it killed.

Soon after there were reports of deaths caused by chupacabra in other countries. Most of the animals killed are sheep, goats, and chickens. But there have been reports of larger animals like horses being sucked dry of blood. There are even reports of humans who say they have been attacked by chupacabra.

It was originally thought that the chupacabra was confined to Latin America but there have been sightings all the way from Peru to Maine. There have even been sightings in the Philippines and Russia.

Descriptions of chupacabras vary. There is the lizard type. Some say they look like flying monkeys. They have been called living gargoyles. Bat-type wings and kangaroo-like bodies have been mentioned. Some people say it is a dog-like creature.

There have been pictures and videos made of chupacabras but none have been confirmed to be authentic. Some of the chupacabras captured have turned out to be of the canine family when DNA was examined. Some testing has proved to be inconclusive.

Why didn't we know about chupracabras until recently? There are many theories. Maybe they were living in rain forest areas and as deforestation occurred they moved into more populated areas.

Maybe scientists were conducting genetic experiments on animals and the animals escaped. Maybe they have always been around but we didn't notice. Some people even think they are pets from alien beings who were either accidentally or purposely left behind. There are people who think they are merely known animals with genetic anomalies.

No matter how you look at it, there are a lot of dead animals. How did they die if not for chupacabras? What do you think?