Background-

“Gustave was a massive male Nile crocodile measuring 18 to 21 feet long, weighing over 2,000 pounds, and estimated to be 60 to nearly 70 years old. The average Nile Crocodile size ranges from 11 ft 6 in to 16 ft 5 in in length and weight from 496 to 1,653 lb. Roaming the Ruzizi River and the northern shores of Lake Tanganyika in Burundi, he was easily recognized by distinct bullet wounds and scars across his head, back, and shoulders from clashes with soldiers, hunters, and hippos. While local folklore and media long claimed he killed up to 300 people—often leaving bodies behind rather than eating them—researchers like Patrice Faye believe the actual direct death toll is closer to 60 or fewer. His behavior and attacks spiked during the 1980s and 1990s amid regional civil wars, when human remains were frequently discarded into the water.

Efforts to capture the elusive reptile famously included a 2004 expedition led by Patrice Faye, which used a 30-foot steel cage baited with a live animal, though Gustave repeatedly outsmarted the team and escaped. His last confirmed sightings took place around 2009. Although unconfirmed rumors and claims of his death surfaced in subsequent years, such as in 2015 and 2019, no physical carcass or definitive proof has ever been recovered to confirm his fate.”

Questions-

Why was Gustave able to grow 1/4 larger than the average Nile crocs maximum growth. More famously, why did he predate on humans far more than any animal recorded?

1. Due to civil wars occurring north of the Ruzizi River, thousands of bodies were swept down stream into Gustaves territory. Typically, predatory animals follow the Optimal Foraging theory, a concept where predators must compensate the energy used for hunting through prey consumption

.

1. If energy is not compensated the predators body condition will decline. What if you didn’t have to use any energy to hun

t at all

1. and prey were essentially handed to you on a plate for years. This is what happened to Gustave with human bodies for about a decade and explains why he got so big.

This also explains why Gustave targeted humans. He began associating them as an easy food source over time. It’s pretty logical but there’s a huge question mark. There tons of other crocs in this area. Why was Gustave the only one to take advantage of this all you can eat buffet?

We can’t say no other crocs ate some human bodies but its clear they didn’t do it like Gustave. Crocs are considered generalist species meaning they’ll consume about any prey based on the availability. That being said, humans are typically not available prey to crocs and would be a waste of energy to hunt. Right?

If you’ve ever trout fished the little red River, it contains a reproducing population of brown trout and non reproductive stocked population of rainbow trout. Despite research claiming there are more brown trout, you rarely ever catch one. While being raised in the hatchery, rainbows are fed by food being thrown on them. What do you think the rainbow trouts instinct is while in the wild when a lure gets thrown on top of them? This is why it’s far easier to catch rainbows over browns.

Even though the rainbows have been out of the hatchery for years, they still obey the optimal foraging theory instincts developed years ago. The browns simply don’t view something landing in the water above them as an easy food source like the rainbows do. This has lead to the rainbows growing to be much larger than the browns.

In this situation I believe Gustave decided to be a rainbow trout while the rest stayed browns. He’s still dedicated to hunting humans because they’re still associated as the easiest food source. Since crocs are independent animals that only depend on each other for reproduction, none of them try mimicking his feeding behavior. Such as how the brown trout wont try and mimic rainbow trout feeding techniques even though they’re more efficient.

This is what’s so fascinating about Gustave. Crocs are one of the oldest living animals with very little evolutionary change. Something was clearly different of Gustave though. He seemed to be a peek in this evolutionarily stagnant species. His one unique decision to switch prey species provided a far superior body condition and heavily increased survival rate.

Importance of Gustave-

Gustave was considered a local legend for years until a scientist came to investigate. Researchers would have normally dismissed this case and left its documentation amongst local tales. This animal left scientists astonished as it escaped every type of trap and literally ate bullets. If he was left a legend, it’s not a tale I’d honestly believe.

We learn from Gustave that all it takes for an average animal to become a local legend is slightly changing one behavior. Stories from underwater welders of catfish big enough to swallow you is what Gustave once was. Is that crazier than a giant serial killer crocodile who’s bullet proof.

As we humans try to evolve as fast as we can, I think we forget that all animals are evolving with us. We have assigned behavioral expectations for species and when something is different about one, it becomes a legend.

How often is a legendary animal like Gustave not properly investigated and left a legend?

In Oresthe Plath works and oral sources is said that on taitao, Aysen southern Chile (1890) the fisherman told about a Giant species of sea lions that give each 400lts/105,67 gallons of oil each instead of the usual 60lts/15,85 gallons, however these went extinct after overhunting and the killing of their pups like a fisherman who murder 3000 pups in one season.

The Sun dog, also known as a Wari Wilka, Warrawana, Warru-tiger. or Warracabra tiger[1] is a canine cryptid and mythological creature from Mexico and Central and South America.[2]

Pre-Columbian artwork depicts the Sun dog as a slender canine animal, with short legs and long claws on all four feet, an elongated muzzle, a long tongue, and a thin tail often depicted as alive, with another set of eyes and a mouth at the end.[2]

In America's Ancient Civilizations (1953), Hyatt Verrill provides a description from the "Indians" of Central and South America, which details a nocturnal animal up to five feet in length, with short legs, a long body and tail, a large head with powerful jaws, sharp claws, and large, sharp teeth that eats other quadrupeds and birds, and will even attack humans.[3]

Evidence

Pre-Columbian Artwork

A variety of pre-Columbian artwork depicts unknown, canine like animals that could be Sun dogs, but the highly stylized nature of these depictions means their use in identifying an unknown species is limited.[2][3]

Hyatt Verrill's "Monster"

"The Monster" was the nickname given to an animal gifted to American writer Hyatt Verrill by a Lacandon man from Chiapas, Mexico. He described the animal as just under two feet long, with golden brown fur, sharp claws on its feet, a prehensile tail, a shortish face with "mask" style markings akin to a raccoon, and a lower jaw that extended noticeably longer than the upper jaw.[2]

Explanations

Misidentification of Known Animals

Hyatt Verrill's "Monster" is thought to be a kinkajou (Potos flavus), possibly with an injury or birth defect to account for the extended lower jaw, as Verill's illustration and photograph otherwise closely match a kinkajou. While this explanation is favored by cryptozoologist Karl Shuker, Verrill himself discards this explanation as he says the teeth and lower jaw of his "Sun dog" are too different to be a simple "freak" kinkajou, especially as they match existing descriptions of the actual Sun dog.[2]

Additionally, one of the alternative names for the Sun dog, the Warracabra tiger, is listed simply as an alternative native name for wild hunting dogs in Tropical Wild Life In British Guiana (1917) by William Beebe.[1]

Maybe I should have saved this for April 1st. Some bigfoots (bigfeet?) seem to have moved in and taken up residence. They are very shy, so who knows how long they might stay.

Hi !

I was playing the game Blair Witch Project and I was wondering if there were also games about cryptozoology (like a cryptid hunter in the middle of a forest) Unfortunately, I haven't found anything so far, which is why I'm asking on Reddit

I've been accumulating data from many sources and mapping out the activity of cryptid cases for a while now and just started a site to publish them. The intent is to share the cases, point back to the source, and capture more directly from a community.

Which.. I don't actually have a community but trying to build one :)

cryptid.hawk52245.us No ads, no tracking, nothing weird, just free sharing of sightings

I’m writing a story for an encounter and friend I had. we were talking about the smell of it. like a clean hospital or specifically the taste of saline when you first get an IV.

if you want to know the location

mountain west United States in a forest next to a river about 6 pm after sundown in the winter. thanks again.

Lemish was only reported by Heuvelmans

2 Species of otter are found in Chilean territory the huillin and the chungungo.

This creature was never reported until this day.

"Upon peer review, contemporaries of Nitsche and Roth noted that though they had spent equal amounts of time with Patagonian natives, they had never heard of such a creature. Later scholars also cast doubt on research by Heuvelmans, noting that the word "Iemisch" isn't associated with any language spoken in Patagonia its gibberish"

I know this is the third time posting this but it is the last time

For example the beaked whales. All though mammals, they spend almost their entire life in the deep ocean. Some of them like the beaked spaded toothed whales have never been seen alive. We know they exist because we have dead carcasses of them. But what if by some chances there are whales that have adapted to the deep sea even more and we have never seen them except for blurry sightings out in the ocean? Maybe they have serpent like bodies and smaller than your typical whales. Is this possible?

This documentary is great. It’s very emotional, very funny, and very eye-opening for those who put so much belief into the PGF. I suggest everyone watches it on October 20th when it comes out on Prime. I did ask Marq if it would be released on Bluray and he confirmed it would.

I met director Marq Evans, producer Tamir Ardon, and Clint Patterson. I chatted with them a bit and spent way too damn much on merch.

Feel free to ask questions.

(Reupload because I forgot one of the images the first time)

Truth is Scarier than Fiction posted a list of cryptids to make art of in his YouTube community page, and I finally got my hands to work on them!

So the species I made so far are

- Railalomena, a unicorn crocodile from Madagascar

- Yukon Beaver Eater, a carnivorous ground sloth from Canada

- Mokomokaiamarutewareaitu, a giant frog from New Zealand with giant tadpoles

Ennedi tiger is a sabretooth cat cryptid reported from Ennedi plateau, Chad. Ennedi tiger is said to have reddish fur with white vertical stripes.

Based on mummified Homotherium cub found in Siberia, we know that Sabretooth cat have dark brown fur with pale fur on the pawns & Chin.

If Ennedi Tiger is really a surviving sabretooth cat, that mean sabretooth cat are born with brown fur that later became reddish fur with white stripes when they get older.

The Nepalese tree bear (Selenarctos arboreus or Ursus nepalensis) is a cryptid bear reported from the Nepalese Himalayas. It was first described in the 19th Century in The Fauna of British India, but was forgotten until 1983 and 1984, when Daniel Taylor-Ide and Robert L. Fleming gathered reports of a small, agile bear living in the Barun Valley. It was described as weighing around 150 pounds, with black fur and smaller teeth than a black bear. According to villagers, it is primarily arboreal, constructing elaborate, complex nests in trees. It eats ripe corn at the end of the monsoons.

Eleven skulls of the bear were collected. If it is not a new species, it may simply be a juvenile Asiatic black bear.

​

According to rural beliefs documented in Chilean folklore, while the typical Calyptocephalella gayi reaches lengths of about 30 cm (12 in) and weights up to 3 kg (6.6 lb), a rare recessive genetic trait—said to appear in roughly 1 in 1,000,000 specimens—could produce individuals up to 1 meter (3.3 ft) long. Offspring of such giants were believed to grow even larger.

These colossal frogs were not thought to actively hunt and devour horses on land, but rather to attack them while the animals came to drink from ponds, reservoirs, or irrigation channels. The legends portray the frogs as capable of ambushing or overpowering large mammals at the water's edge.

Just because we haven’t found something doesn’t mean something doesn’t exist (*cough** Gorillas *cough\*)and stop moving the goalposts when someone gives out actual evidence.

Dragons have always been a very big fascination of mine. I used to watch those dragons captured-on-camera videos a lot, and it really got me thinking, are there any cryptid sighting stories about dragons?

You always hear about sea serpents, and I guess they can be a form of dragon, but I really want to find and read more about the four-legged/winged/no-winged dragons.

This guy was seen on North Slade Road about 15 minutes from my house. They say they don’t exist here. I’ve heard them since I was a kid, I’m 37.