What Is A Chupacabra?
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WHAT IS A CHUPACABRA?
From Wikipedia.org

The Chupacabra or Chupacabras is a creature said to inhabit parts of the Americas. It is associated particularly with Puerto Rico, where it was first reported, and Mexico. The name, which translates literally from Spanish as "goat-sucker", comes from its reported habit of attacking and drinking the blood of livestock.

Physical descriptions of the creature vary. Sightings began in Puerto Rico in the early 1990s, and have since been reported as far north as the Carolinas and as far south as Chile.

Though some argue that the chupacabra may be a real creature, mainstream scientists and experts generally contend that the chupacabra is a legendary creature, or a type of urban legend.

Chupacabras are said to prominently appear in three specific forms.

The first and most common: a lizard-like being, appearing to have leathery or scaly greenish-gray skin and sharp spines or quills running down its back. It stands approximately 3-4 feet high, and stands and hops in a similar fashion as a kangaroo (in at least one sighting, the creature hopped 20 feet). This variety is said to have a dog or panther-like nose and face, a forked tongue protruding from it, large fangs, and is said to hiss and screech when alarmed, as well as to leave a sulfuric stench behind.

The second variety also stands and hops as a kangaroo, and it has coarse fur with greyish facial hair. The head is similar to a dog's, and its mouth has large teeth.

The third form is simply that of a strange breed of wild dog that is mostly hairless, has a pronounced spinal ridge, unusually pronounced eye sockets, teeth, and claws, but is otherwise a typical canine. This animal is said to be the result of interbreeding between several populations of wild dogs, though enthusiasts claim that it might be an example of a dog-like reptile. The account during the year 2000 in Nicaragua of a chupacabras corpse being found supports the conclusion that it is simply a strange breed of wild dog. The alleged corpse of the animal was found in Tolapa, Nicaragua, and forensically analyzed at UNAN-Leon. Pathologists at the University found that it was just an unusual-looking dog. It should be noted that there are very striking morphological differences between different breeds of dogs (which wild dogs are generally descended from) that easily account for the strange characteristics of such an animal.

Some say the chupacabras' red eyes have the ability to hypnotize and paralyze their prey—the prey animal is mentally stunned, allowing the chupacabras to suck the animal's blood at its leisure. The effect is similar to the bite of the vampire bat or certain snakes or spiders that stun their prey with venom. Unlike conventional predators, the chupacabras sucks all the animal's blood (and sometimes organs) through a single hole or two holes.

ARTICLES

Has a Mythical Beast Turned Up in Texas?
ABC News September 1, 2007

Cuero, Texas: Phylis Canion lived in Africa for four years. She's been a hunter all her life and has the mounted heads of a zebra and other exotic animals in her house to prove it. But the roadkill she found last month outside her ranch was a new one even for her, worth putting in a freezer hidden from curious onlookers: Canion believes she may have the head of the mythical, bloodsucking chupacabra....For the full article, click here.

Chile Suffers First Chupacabras Attack
Discovery.com August 28, 2000

Iquique, Chile: Last April, farmers in Calama, a mining town in the heart of Chile's harsh northern desert, awoke to find their goats and sheep dead in their pens. An unidentified predator had mutilated the animals' necks. By the time the television cameras arrived, the rumor of a Chupacabra attack, Chile's first, was spreading fast through the slender Pacific nation...For the full article, click here.

Puerto Rican Policeman Chases Chupacabra
The Why? Files

In October 1995, Luis Guadaloupe walked into his local police station in the town of Canovanas on the island of Puerto Rico in the Caribbean. He had an unusual story to report to the police - whilst going about his normal business for the day, he had a strange experience. Luis had encountered a bizarre creature -
"It was really ugly, like a demon, around four to five feet tall with huge elongated red eyes. It moved like a kangaroo - jumping on its powerful back legs..." For the full article, click here.

Chupacabras Reportedly Attacks Again In Brazil
CNI News | Vol. 5, No. 17, Part 2 | November 1, 1999

According to the October 28 edition of the Brazilian journal Correiro Braziliense, the recent killings of numerous farm animals in the region of Sorocaba, in Brazil's Sao Paulo state, looks like the work of the dreaded chupacabras.

During mid October, two farms in Cesario Lange together reported the loss of 8 goats and 3 sheep, seemingly killed by an unknown predator. Blood had been sucked out of the animals, according to the witnesses -- a tell-tale sign of the chupacabras, or "goat sucker." Similar attacks have been sporadically reported in the region during the past two years...For the full article, click here.

Texas Farmer Claims He Caught Legendary "Chupacabra"
NBC-4 News, August 25, 2005

COLEMAN, Texas -- A Texas farmer may have found what some would call a "chupacabra," a legendary animal known for sucking the blood out of goats. Reggie Lagow set a trap last week after a number of his chickens and turkeys were killed. What he found in his trap was a mix between a hairless dog, a rat and a kangaroo. The mystery animal has been sent to Texas Parks and Wildlife in hopes of determining what it is. For the video of this feed, click here.

On The Trail Of The Chupacabras
Paranormal.About.Com | Paranormal Phenomena

Their first known attacks were in March of 1995 in Puerto Rico. Eight sheep were discovered dead, each completely drained of blood. Investigators found three strange puncture wounds in the chests of the animals. Despite the odd circumstances, authorities could only attribute the killings to a known predator - a fox, perhaps. Others, however, recognized the similarities in these deaths to the enigmatic cattle mutilations which had been taking place in the American southwest with increasing regularity. Was there a connection?... For the full article, click here.

History Of The Chupacabras
Crystallinks.com

The legend of los Chupacabras began in about 1992, when Puerto Rican newspapers El Vocero and El Nuevo Dia began reporting the killings of many different types of animals, such as birds, horses, and, as its name implies, goats. At the time it was known as El Vampiro de Moca since some of the first killings occurred in the small town of Moca. While at first it was suspected that the killings were done randomly by some members of a satanic cult, eventually these killings spread around the island, and many farms reported loss of animal life. The killings had one pattern in common: each of the animals found dead had two punctured holes around their necks...For the full article, click here.

OTHER RESOURCES

El Chupacabra.com

Home for all things chupacabra. Contains links to books, an online discussion board, and paraphernalia.

ABC News Story

Has a Mythical Beast Turned Up in Texas? September 1 2007

The Skeptics Dictionary

Provides a definition, some of the history, sightings and debate on the topic.

C.R.A.V.E.S. the Book

Based on actual accounts, this book is a novel about a novice geneticist who travels to Puerto Rico to discover the truth about the chupacabras.

Crystallinks.com

An in-depth description of the chupacabras, its history and where and by whom it has been sighted. Includes a short interview.