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The mapinguari (or mapinguary) (IPA: /mapiŋgwa'ri/), also known as the Isnashi (IPA: /ɪsˈnæʃiː/), is a legendary ground-dwelling sloth-like creature with red fur living in the Amazon rainforests of Brazil and Bolivia.^[1]

Habits

According to some native accounts the creature has a series of unnatural characteristics related to other fantastic beings of Brazilian mythology, like long claws, caiman skin, backward feet and a second mouth on its belly.^[2] These characteristics are not shared by all accounts of the creature. However, natives of the region are notorious for tall tales and stretching the truth.

According to legend, it is slow but ferocious and very dangerous due to its ability to move without noise in between the thick vegetation, its only weakness being that of avoiding water bodies (which limits its movements in a region where so many rivers, brooklets and lagoons exist, especially during the rainy season). Most accounts state that the creature is carnivorous – though not necessarily man-eating. When it smells the presence of humans it stands up on its back feet, becoming as tall as two metres, a movement similar to Grizzly bears.

Cryptozoology

Many cryptozoologists are intrigued by reports of this creature, though some have dismissed it as a folkloric/mythologic creature, or a long-preserved folk memory of the giant animals that existed in South America in the Pleistocene, in particular the giant ground sloth Mylodon.^[1]

Among the many researchers who have tried to find evidence for the existence of the Mapinguari is the ornithologist David Oren. During his various expeditions, he has collected a range of material some of which was later shown to be agouti fur, anteater feces, and casts of tracks that were inconclusive. Nevertheless, Oren still considers the creature to be real, but highly elusive, and nowadays extremely rare, avoiding contact with humans whenever possible.

See also

• List of legendary creatures
• List of cryptids
• Maricoxi

References

From Wikispecies

Taxonavigation

Main Page
Cladus: Eukaryota
Supergroup: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Cladus: Protostomia
Cladus: Ecdysozoa
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Hexapoda
Classis: Insecta
Cladus: Dicondylia
Cladus: Pterygota
Cladus: Metapterygota
Cladus: Neoptera
Cladus: Eumetabola
Cladus: Endopterygota
Superordo: Panorpida
Cladus: Antliophora
Ordo: Diptera
Subordo: Brachycera
Infraordo: Asilomorpha
Superfamilia: Asiloidea
Familia: Mydidae
Subfamilia: Mydinae
Genus: Mapinguari
Species: M. politus

Name

Mapinguari Papavero & Wilcox, 1974: 52

Type species: Mydas politus Wiedemann, 1828 (original designation)

References

• Papavero, N. & Wilcox, J. 1974: Studies of Mydidae (Diptera) systematics and evolution. I. A preliminary classification in subfamilies with the description of two new genera from the Oriental and Australian regions. Arquivos de Zoologia, São Paulo, 25:1–60.
• Bequaert, M. 1961a: Contribution a la connaissance morphologique et a la classification des Mydaidae (Diptera). Bulletin Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique, 37: 1–18.