The Amazon is full of myths and superstitions. Some have ancient roots, and others are urban legends passed down through European influence. In the Amazon, there is a legend of a two-legged beast called the mapinguari. It aggressively pursues humans and eats them. According to the legend, the mapinguari may have backward armadillo feet, one eye, or a huge mouth on its stomach.
The tunchi or mapinguari is said to be an evil spirit that pursues people in the jungle with a bloodcurdling whistle. Some say it is a fusion of souls that have died in the forest. It brutally murders anyone who damages the environment or people who respond in any way to its whistle. It is easier said than done because as you go deeper into the forest, the whistle gets louder and louder, making it harder to ignore.
The curupira, another name for the Mapinguari, is also a guardian creature of the forest, but it is short like a child and its feet are inverted, with the toes pointing backwards. It is the protector of animals and trees, and according to legend, it will lead hunters and other invaders of the forest astray. In the state of São Paulo, the curupira is the official symbolic protector of the forests and all the animals that live in them.
1. Etymology
“Mapinguari” is variously translated as “the roaring animal” or “the fetid beast,” although this claim seems to have its origin. It is given the etymology described as “defender of the forests.” According to Felipe Ferreira Vander Velden, “mapinguari” is a contraction of several Tupi-Guarani words: “mbaé-pi-guari,” which means “a thing that has a crooked leg.” “Kida so’emo” means “black-faced beast” in Karitiana. “Mao de pilao” means “mortar hand” in Portuguese.
2.
Folklore describes the mapinguari as having relationships with other animals in the rainforest. It is said to be followed by swarms of flies or herds of peccaries. Those who believe in the mapinguari as a spirit see it as a protector of the rainforest who punishes hunters who kill more animals than they need to survive.
3. Variants of the Mapinguari
In the Amazon, there are many legends about the mapinguari, but depending on the tribe that tells them, its name changes.
The Chullachaqui
The chullachaqui is one of the many guardians of the Amazon. It is said to be an elf of agriculture who plays with humans who do not respect the rainforest in any way. Legends say that to keep away from clearings, as they wear him out, he builds his farms. He also has one goat’s leg and one normal human leg.
Mapinguari
Rumors have swirled for generations about a giant, dangerous beast lurking in the dense brush of the Amazon rainforests of South America. At first glance, it appears to resemble an ape, or perhaps a giant sloth. It moves slowly, but upon closer inspection, it could not be a sloth at all.
The giant beast stands at least seven feet tall on its hind legs, with matted reddish fur and long claws that curl inward as it crawls on all fours. It usually stays close to the ground, but when it stands up, it exposes an open mouth on its stomach that is large enough to consume any creature that crosses its path.
Over the years, it has acquired the name “mapinguari,” which means “roaring animal” or “foul beast.” This roaring beast roams the forests of South America, knocking down bushes and trees with its powerful claws and leaving a trail of destruction behind as it searches for food.
4. Mapinguari: Fact or Fiction?
Although the existence of the mapinguari is often dismissed as folklore or simply another urban legend, there is some scientific evidence that this story is based on reality. The description roughly matches that of the giant ground sloth, a species of sloth the size of an elephant, officially called “Megatherium,” which lived in South America until the end of the Pleistocene era.
Scientists have found fossils dating back more than 11,000 years that belong to the giant sloth Megatherium, proving that it once existed. Although now extinct, some people believe that reported sightings of the mapinguari are actually evidence that the giant sloth is not really extinct, but still lives deep in the Amazon rainforest.
Of course, it could also be the case that the story, although once based on fact, was embellished as it passed from generation to generation, creating the urban legend of the terrifying mapinguari that is so well known today. While Megatheriums were vegetarians, Mapinguaris are said to be carnivores, attacking livestock and other large animals with their sharp claws and teeth and eating them.
There are no current reports of a mapinguari attacking a person, but those who have claimed to have seen it in person say that there is a strong warning sign that the mapinguari is approaching: its smell. The mapinguari emits a putrid odor, which is enough to alert people nearby that something disgusting is approaching and that it would be wise to leave. It is also said that mapinguari have an aversion to water, so they tend to stay in forests where the ground remains dry.
5. Sightings of the Mapinguari
Rumors of mapinguari sightings have become so common that scientists have been drawn to the area to investigate. Dr. David Oren, former director of research at the Goeldi Institute, led an expedition to South America to search for clues that the sightings may be based on more than just urban legend. But so far, there is no real evidence.
Dr. Oren claimed to have found no evidence and remains convinced that it is nothing more than a myth. “It is quite clear to me that the legend of the Mapinguari is based on human contact with the last of the ground sloths. We know that extinct species can survive as legends for hundreds of years. But whether or not such an animal still exists is another question we cannot answer,” he told the New York Times in 2007.
Even so, hundreds of people have reported sightings. Lucas Karitiana, a member of the Karitiana tribe in Brazil, insists that his son encountered one in the forest and, although he escaped unharmed, the entire surrounding area looked “as if a rock had rolled down and knocked down all the trees and vines.”
Whatever the truth may be, the legend does not seem to be going away anytime soon. And since it seems that scientists will never be able to accurately verify every creature that roams the mysterious rainforest, it may be best to avoid wandering through the Amazon alone in the dark, avoiding the risk of whatever may be lurking there.
The mapinguari is a large cryptid reported from the deepest parts of the Amazon rainforest. Eyewitnesses describe it as a bipedal ape-like animal with long red hair, a foul odor, a single eye, and a mouth on its stomach.
Many cryptozoologists and some mainstream zoologists, including David Oren, best known for his research on the mapinguari, believe it may exist as a relict ground sloth or an unknown hominid. Like many other cryptids, what is called “mapinguari” may be two animals, a ground sloth and a great ape.
6. Physical evidence
There is alleged evidence found by cryptozoologists demonstrating the physical and real presence of the Mapinguari.
Hair
Cryptozoologist David Oren has collected several hair samples that he believed came from the Mapinguari, but the test results were inconclusive, although in one case a strand of hair was found to come from an agouti.
Stool
Cryptozoologist David Oren has also collected several samples of feces that he believed to be from the Mapinguari, but the test results were inconclusive, and in one case, the feces were found to be from a giant anteater.
Audio
During Spain’s Bestia Hunter investigation, a strange call may have been heard in response to a modified sloth call, but it is unclear whether it was picked up by the recording team. Josh Gates’ investigation for Destination Truth also recorded a call from an animal that a former Los Angeles guard was unable to identify.
Sightings
David Oren has compiled more than ninety accounts of the mapinguari or animals like it, and by 2002 he had interviewed seven hunters who claimed to have shot specimens. In 1994, Oren attempted to mount an expedition to search for the mapinguari.
According to Discover Magazine, a native hunter named Manuel Vitorino Pinheiro dos Santos shot four peccaries before hearing the mapinguari’s call. He fled to the river when the second call shook the trees and hid underwater. The calls faded as the animal seemed to move deeper into the jungle, but Manuel remained hidden for hours.
There have been several sightings of the mapinguari in the Karitiana tribe’s reserve, especially near an area apparently known as the “Mapinguari Cave,” although the Karitiana name for the animal is said to be “kida so’emo.”
In one incident, a Karitiana man named Moaci was hunting when he saw what he believed to be a giant anteater, due to its claws; but when the animal stood up, it was taller than a man. Moaci fled, pursued by the animal, and hid under a tree, which the animal tried to uproot.
A man named Edinalo worked for an oil company that was laying pipes across the Amazon. When he got out of his boat onto dry land, he was attacked by a large, smelly, hairy animal that broke his jaw. Overwhelmed by the smell, he fainted and was later found by other people. The encounter was so terrifying that he quit his job and refused to enter the forest again.
Testimony
Richard Terry’s guide, Samuel, told Terry a story told by his grandfather about an encounter with a mapinguari in the remote border region between Brazil and Venezuela:
“He said he came face to face with a supernatural beast. He was convinced it was the Mapinguari, which had entered his remote cabin at night. It was so big that when it stood upright and roared at him, it lifted the wooden roof.
“Apparently, the creature threw the man to the ground with a powerful blow from its arm, breaking his jaw. He believes he was only able to save himself because he had a gun, which he used to shoot directly at the hairy monster, which fled, leaving a trail of blood.”
Other supposedly real accounts tell:
- A native woman was picking fruit near her home when she was harassed by a mapinguari. She fled back to her house.
- A native hunter was stalking peccaries when a mapinguari emerged from the trees. The man fled.
- A man was cooking dinner inside his hut when the entire thatched roof was torn off. He fled outside, only to be attacked by a mapinguari.
7. Chronological order of sightings
Here are some supposedly real accounts and evidence of the sighting of the Mapinguari over time.
In 1930, an explorer named Inocencio or Inocencio was exploring the Urubu River with ten friends, but got lost while searching for a troop of black monkeys he intended to shoot. He became separated from his friends and was spending the night in a tree when he was disturbed by what sounded like a man shouting three times, before a large animal approached him:
“About forty meters away, there was a small clearing where a samaumeira tree had fallen and its branches had knocked down other smaller trees. That was where his last cry had come from. Immediately afterwards, there was a loud noise of footsteps, as if a large animal was approaching at full speed. When it reached the fallen tree, it let out a growl and stopped. Finally, a silhouette the size of a man of medium height appeared in the clearing.”
It remained where it was, looking perhaps suspiciously at the place where I was. Then it roared again as before. I couldn’t wait any longer and fired without even bothering to aim. There was a wild roar, followed by a crashing noise. I was terrified to see the animal running toward me, so I fired a second bullet. The terrifying creature was hit, leaped incredibly fast, and hid near the old samaumeira tree.
From behind this barricade, it emitted threatening growls so fiercely that the tree I was clinging to seemed to shake. I had been on jaguar hunts before and had actively participated in them, and I know how wild this cat is when it is cornered and cornered. But the roars of the animal that attacked me that night were more terrible and deafening than those of a jaguar.
I reloaded my gun and, fearing another attack, fired in the direction of the roar. The black shape roared louder, but then retreated and disappeared into the depths of the forest. From time to time I could still hear its growling in pain until it finally ceased.
After spending the night in the tree, the next morning Inocencio cleared away broken bushes, blood splatters, and a strong sour smell that permeated the entire area.
A 1937 report from central Brazil claimed that a mapinguari had run amok for three weeks, killing more than 100 cows and tearing out their tongues.
In 1975, a miner named Mário Pereira de Souza claimed to have come face to face with a mapinguari in a mining camp on the Jamauchim River. He heard a scream, and the animal charged at him, unstable on its hind legs.
In 1980, a group of Kanamarí Indians living in the Juruá River valley claimed to have raised two infant mapinguari on bananas and milk, but after a year or two their smell became too strong to bear, and they were released.
In 1981, a Brazilian man (Teófelo) and his daughter (Lydia) who lived in Valeria told Pat España that, in September 1981, Lydia was at the edge of the forest near her home at night when she was startled by a howl. She ran to her father, who grabbed a gun and went to untie his cow. He saw an animal outside that he identified as a mapinguari, and shot it before fleeing back to his house. The next day, all the villagers moved away and settled on the riverbank.
In 1997, Glenn Shepard Jr., an American ethnobiologist and anthropologist based in Manaus, said that he was among the skeptics regarding Oren’s theory of the mapinguari until 1997, when some members of a tribe that had evacuated their village identified the segamai, a creature resembling a hairy sloth that inhabited the hills, with a model of a giant sloth they had seen at the Natural History Museum in Lima.
Sometime in the late 1990s, Dutch primatologist Marc van Roosmalen heard that a tribe along the Purús River had found mapinguari footprints near their settlement and moved their homes to the other side of the river out of fear. When asked if he believed the mapinguari really existed, Van Roosmalen replied, “I’m not going to say it’s not possible. Who am I to say that?”
Around 1993, a 70-year-old man named Joao Batista Azevedo was working by a river when he heard the cry of a mapinguari. He came out of the forest, but did not approach or attack it.
Between 2003 and 2004, a Karitiana man named Geovaldo claimed to have encountered a mapinguari in 2003 or 2004 near an area called “La Cueva del Mapinguari” (The Mapinguari Cave), although he gives contradictory explanations about the sighting. In the first report, he simply said that he had seen it and that the smell had knocked him unconscious:
“I was going to the village and it was making a lot of noise. It stopped when it got close to me, and that’s when the bad smell made me dizzy and tired.”
This account was confirmed by Geovaldo’s father, Lucas, who said that when his son took him back to the site of the encounter, he saw a clear path where the creature had gone, “as if a rock had rolled down and knocked down all the trees and vines.”
In the very different account given later in Beast Hunter, Geovaldo actually shot the animal. He said he was hunting wild pigs when he was attacked by a mapinguari. He shot it several times before loading his gun with a lead bullet and shooting the animals in the face. The mapinguari stopped and screamed in pain, and Geovaldo escaped.
In July 2007, a report from Rio Branco, Brazil, stated that a creature with one eye and an open mouth was seen wandering in the deep jungle. The creature was tall, seven feet or more when standing on two legs, emitted a strong and extremely unpleasant odor, and had thick, matted fur.
In 2014, a group of acai berry pickers in the Sumaúma Forest Reserve on the Japiim River reported seeing a mapinguari in September 2014. While in a remote area of the forest five hours from the nearest village, the pickers heard a scream:
“I started to imitate the cry and realized that the sound was coming toward us. That’s when we started to hear a loud, intermittent popping sound. At that moment, a dark-colored creature appeared, about two meters tall, with only one reddish eye like flames.“
The men fled back to the river to spend the night in their tent, but the creature appeared again, and they returned to their village in their canoe during the night, abandoning their equipment. Some of the men were unable to sleep for several days, and as of October 2014, none of the villagers had dared to return to the forest.
In 2008, an investigation by Destination Truth saw Josh Gates travel to the Amazon to interview eyewitnesses, including Geovaldo. He and his team conducted a nighttime investigation, where they heard the noise of trees and found palm trees torn apart. They also recorded an animal call that a former Los Angeles guard could not identify.
In 2011, Pat Spain’s investigation revealed that the mapinguari was a giant sloth. He called out and received a response; both calls sounded like deeper sloth cries. He interviewed Geovaldo, who identified the animal he saw as a giant sloth.
8. Mapinguari (giant sloth)
Since the 1990s, the most common theory regarding the identity of the mapinguari is that it is a giant ground sloth, a diverse family of mammals that lived from the Oligocene to the early Holocene, for millions of years.
Mylodon and Megatherium are the giant sloths variably named as the culprits, although the immense size of Megatherium is not consistent with the more conservative size reported in mapinguari encounters. David Oren initially suggested a Mylodon identity, but in light of the problems with this identification discussed below, he later changed his theory to support an identification of the mapinguari as a species of megaloniquid ground sloth.
In Pat España’s research, a sloth call slowed down in the rainforest. Pat obtained a vocal response that sounded similar to his modified sloth call; a large sloth would sound like a normal sloth but slower and deeper. A ground sloth, Glossotherium, is known to have had large ossicles in its ear, suggesting that it was adapted for long-range communication.
In España’s research, eyewitness Geovaldo was shown images of various animals, both South American and African. Geovaldo identified the South American animals, but not the African ones, as would be expected. When shown an image of a ground sloth, Geovaldo identified it as what he had seen.
