cryptozoology topic #4

[penguins]

The Nandi Bear is often described as being like a large hyena about the size of a lion. It is said to have a brownish red to a dark color coat. It is a nocturnal animal and is said to attack humans only on dark moonless nights. It has been said to prey upon the children and natives from the villages. There are cases when natives haved killed the beast, normally by burning a hut it had entered. Westerners have also shot at the beast, but without success. The Nandi Bear has eluded both hunters and researchers alike to remain unclassified by the scientific community.

 

only a sketch <_<

 

 

When you were a kid, stuffed bears were a welcome and comforting sight. Who doesn't want something warm and snuggly to cuddle up with to keep them safe at night? If your parents managed to somehow bring a Nandi Bear home for you to play with, in all probability you'd be in a world of hurt. When you're a kid, nightmares tend to last a lifetime, and judging by the ferocity of the Nandi Bear, you'd never go back to your room.

 

Believed by many to be Africa's symbolic equivalent to Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster in folklore stature, the Nandi Bear and its numerous sightings have given both scientist and hardened skeptics alike reason to pause and ponder the existence of such a mysterious beast. Alleged eyewitness accounts describe the beast as bear-like, the size of a lion, resembling an oversized hyena. Nocturnal in nature, the Nandi Bear is rumored to be either red or brown in color with a taste for human blood, allegedly snatching local villagers in the dead of night.

 

Most frequently reported by the Nandi tribe in East Africa, its name is derived from both its appearance and proximity to the tribe itself. As witnessed by two well-known Kenyan colonists, the Nandi Bear is reported to be upwards of four feet high at its shoulders, with a thick, impenetrable coat of fur and a back sloped to its hindquarters much like a bear. Further accounts have been documented in the Journal of East Africa and the Uganda Natural History Society, detailing the head of the creature as being very long and pointed - in line with bear-like features. Although many sightings have been consistent, anything with a pointed head is either cause for abject fear and terror, or simply outright mockery and humor if you're not of a fan of The Coneheads.

 

Despite a lack of solid proof, the Nandi Bear is a creature that many believe could very well exist, given how it's rooted in a grounded sense of reality. Unlike other anomalies in the Cryptozoology universe, the Nandi Bear isn't half-reptile-half-beast, isn't a human hybrid, nor does it lean to an outrageous level of fiction and imagination. Could the Nandi Bear exist? Although many have their doubts, taking into account its limited size, fur and appearance, such a bear-like creature borders within the realm of possibility more so than many other mysterious creatures.

 

To date, many researchers look at the hyena family as a source for the Nandi Bear's ancestry. Many scientists have suggested and likened the creature to a short-faced Chalicothere, a creature now extinct from the Paleolithic era. However, other Zoologists believe the Nandi Bear may very well be, or have been, a giant baboon or even a member of the aardvark family. It's unclear whether the Nandi Bear does exist, but given hundreds of sightings and the fact that it is more animal than outlandish beast, further study may yield conclusive proof of an unknown species we're on the verge of discovering.

 

Until then, if you're planning a trip to East Africa, walk softly and carry a big, big, big stick.