Life-sized reconstruction of the North American
scimitar cat Homotherium serum (© Dr
Karl Shuker)
To date, in Components 1 and a pair of (click on right here
and right here
to learn them) of my complete 3-part article on lesser-known Mexican
thriller cats, I’ve documented no fewer than six completely different examples,
incorporating an excessive amount of worthwhile data provided to me on Fb
by Mexican palaeo-artist and cryptozoological fanatic Hodari Nundu, who’s
additionally a longstanding good friend of mine on FB. As well as, he has very kindly
permitted me to incorporate in my article numerous his beautiful illustrations –
thanks Hodari!
And now, right here is its third and last half, which
offers with one last, seventh feline cryptid from Mexico, however which can
conceivably be probably the most mysterious one among all.
THE CUITLAMIZTLI – MONTEZUMA’S WOLF-PUMA
You might have seen beforehand on this prolonged article
that I’ve generally employed the much less particular time period ‘feline cryptids’ (moderately
than persistently utilising ‘thriller cats’) when referring to its topics –
and this is why. The topic into consideration right here now was apparently feline
(i.e. cat-like) in superficial look however might not have really been a bona
fide felid (i.e. a cat).
The creature in query is the cuitlamiztli, the mystifying
so-called wolf-puma or wolf-cat that was exhibited within the personal zoo, the
Totocalli, of the Aztec emperor Montezuma (=Moctezuma) II (c.1471-1520) and was
seen there by one of many Spanish conquistadors – earlier than their chief Hernán
Cortés ruthlessly licensed its complete destruction in 1521, together with many
different vital buildings and edifices within the Aztec Empire’s capital metropolis,
Tenochtitlan. However what precisely was it – a wolf, a puma, or one thing else
totally? Learn on, and resolve for your self.
Here’s what I wrote about this enigmatic beast in
my guide Thriller Cats of the World
Revisited:
What would be the earliest recognized reference to this felid [the onza]
(though the time period ‘onza’ was not really used right here) was made by Bernal Díaz
del Castillo (c.1496-1584) – below the command of the notorious conquistador
Hernán Cortés. In a report a while after having visited the well-known zoo of the
Aztec king Montezuma, Castillo recorded seeing “tigers [jaguars] and lions
[pumas] of two sorts, one among which resembled the wolf”. In view of the
wolf’s lengthy limbs and the corresponding attribute of the onza, it’s
historically assumed that Castillo’s ‘wolf-cat’ (recognized to the Aztecs because the
cuitlamiztli) was certainly the onza…
Creative illustration of Montezuma’s wolf-puma
as a bona fide felid (© Hodari Nundu
[However,] one additional tantalising matter to think about relating to the
onza is whether or not it actually is the identical
creature because the ‘wolf-cat’ spied by Castillo in Montezuma’s zoo. For though
one would naturally assume this to be the case, it’s not at all conclusively
established. In any case, regardless of its lengthy limbs the onza does not likely
resemble a wolf to any diploma. Is it conceivable, subsequently, that the Aztec ‘wolf-cat’
was really another, nonetheless unknown beast? I might be inclined to dismiss
this concept completely – had been it not for a sure tantalising fossil species.
Though extra intently associated to cats, hyaenas are fairly dog-like
in outward look. Furthermore, whereas usually appeared upon as Outdated World
species, some hyaenas did exist at one time within the Americas too, which leads us
into probably the most fascinating facet of this topic.
In a number of completely different Mexican localities, skeletons have been discovered
of a really exceptional hyaena, which lived throughout the Pleistocene, i.e. a
modern of M. trumani [the
now-extinct Truman’s cheetah – see Part 2 of this article]. Nevertheless, this
species, the looking hyaena Chasmaporthetes
ossifragus, shared way more than a geological time interval and a
geographical locality with the latter American felid.
Creative illustration of an enormous floor squirrel Paenemarmota confronting the looking
hyaena Chasmaporthetes in Pliocene
Mexico (© Hodari Nundu)
For C. ossifragus was a
cursorial dog-like hyaena – possessing notably lengthy, slender limbs, and a really
gracile physique. Briefly, its look in life would have been the very epitome
of the descriptive time period ‘wolf-cat’. Is it potential that C. ossifragus didn’t die out throughout the Pleistocene, however as a substitute endured
at the very least to the time of the Aztecs within the extra distant Mexican mountain lands?
No stories of such a creature are recognized at the moment, therefore even when it had survived to such a current date, it
is definitely extinct now.
I really feel that it’s much less probably for Mexico’s mountains to own two
thriller gracile carnivores than one in trendy instances, particularly when they could
have competed with each other to some extent, having tailored to occupy comparable
ecological niches. Nonetheless, it’s actually a thought-provoking coincidence
{that a} creature becoming Castillo’s description much more intently than the onza
ought to have existed inside this exact same nation at the very least as late because the
Pleistocene.
In his
Fb message to me of 13 January 2024 relating to the tiricuate (see Half 2
once more), Hodari additionally instructed a brand new and, in view of a current, very exceptional
discovery in Siberia (see beneath), very pertinent putative id for
Montezuma’s wolf-puma. Particularly, the scimitar cat Homotherium, belonging to the taxonomic household of machairodontids
or sabre-toothed cats, all of that are formally long-extinct.
Two Homotherium
scimitar cats (© Hodari Nundu)
Right here
is his suggestion:
You point out Chasmaporthetes [in my mystery cats
books] as a potential id for the wolf-puma in Montezuma’s zoo – have you ever
thought of although the potential of it being Homotherium itself? As far we all know Chasmaporthetes died out round a million, 700,000 years in the past. Homotherium was probably nonetheless round [in
Mexico, represented there by the North American species H. serum] within the late Pleistocene.
There isn’t any
described stays from Mexico from this time, however the mummy* exhibits they had been current within the late
Pleistocene in Eurasia the place they had been thought to die out sooner than within the
Americas so it would not be a stretch to assume a few of them might have survived
late in Mexico.
[* =
the recently-described mummified anterior half of a three-week-old Homotherium latidens cub discovered in 2020 after its frozen
carcase had emerged from Siberian Upper Pleistocene permafrost – click here to read the official scientific paper documenting
this unique, spectacular find, which was approximately 35,500 years old, making
it the youngest-known Asian specimen of Homotherium, and see photo below]
The final Homotherium species had been moderately
wolfish-bodied, endurance runners, lengthy legs, comparatively small paws with
semi-retractable claws – already fairly wolf-like in that regard. Their jaws
could be longer. Their entrance incisors are protruding. These are probably
wolf-like options too.
After all Homotherium was a lot larger than a wolf
or a puma as far we all know however we might be speaking concerning the southernmost
inhabitants of Homotherium in North
America, which means perhaps Bergmann’s rule would apply [i.e. within a broadly
distributed taxonomic clade, populations and species of larger size are found in colder regions,
whereas populations and species of smaller size are found in warmer regions].
Cat meals for
thought!
Completely!
Hodari’s insightful feedback
present an enchanting new line of well-reasoned hypothesis to ponder over
regarding the nature of Montezuma’s thriller specimen. The mummified Homotherium cub’s discovery was
extraordinarily dramatic – the primary time that bodily stays (aside from
fossilised bones) of a semi-complete machairodontid had ever been procured – so
how actually unbelievable it could be if researchers someday revealed {that a} dwelling
machairodontid species had endured till as not too long ago because the 1500s in Mexico,
or wherever else for that matter!
In abstract re my 3-part
article: I’ve to ask whether or not it’s credible that even a rustic as giant and
ecologically numerous as Mexico might at one time or one other have been house to
no fewer than eight feline cryptids (together with the onza). May or not it’s extra
prudent to imagine that sure of those thriller cats (or cat-like entities) are
synonymous with sure others? Having stated that, none of them seems to be
primarily based merely upon distorted descriptions of any present-day species recognized to
exist right here. Maybe, subsequently, if certainly actual, a few of them are literally
already recognized to science however as numerous formally extinct, prehistoric species
whose erstwhile existence in Mexico is confirmed by fossil proof, but which
might have lingered elusively into the current.
As ever in cryptozoology,
with out bodily modern proof of them that may be formally examined, there
isn’t any technique of verifying the truth of any of the thriller beasts reported right here
(if solely Sanderson’s ruffed cat skins had survived – see Half 1). Nonetheless,
documenting these stories of them is the following greatest process, to make sure that
such particulars are available for perusal by different researchers and are
subsequently by no means misplaced – despite the fact that, sadly, at the very least a few of these creatures
themselves could be.
As soon as
once more, I want to thank Hodari most sincerely for his kindness in allowing me
to incorporate his illustrations right here and for sharing such fascinating crypto-felid
data with me.
No
article on Mexican thriller cats, lesser-known or in any other case, could be full
with out at the very least one onza-related illustration, so right here is the entrance cowl of
the definitive guide on this crypto-cat (© Neil B Carmony/Excessive-Lonesome Books –
reproduced right here on a strictly non-commercial Honest Use foundation for
instructional/assessment functions solely)