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| Smilodon fatalis of North America, James St. John on Flickr, Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0) |
One of the many South
American cryptid cats which seem to be reported from across the
continent under different names is the water tiger. Though the
physical details can be variable, water tigers are basically
described as cats or cat-like animals with long fangs, man-eating
habits, and often short, ungulate-like tails. For obvious reasons,
they are frequently theorised to be living examples of Smilodon
(one of the only sabre-toothed cats to reach South America) adapted to a
semi-aquatic lifestyle, though a similarly-adapted Thylacosmilus
or a putative sabre-toothed giant otter have also been suggested.
Whatever its identity, the water tiger has a counterpart (a case of
convergent evolution, if both are sabre-tooths) in Central Africa in
the form of the water lion, which is known by dozens of names and is
reputedly even more dangerous.
Unlike the numerous
water lions, there are only three known water tigers – the French
Guianese maipolina (also popoké, mamadilo, or wata bubu); the
Brazilian aypa; and the Paraguayan-Argentine yaquaru, which is a
little different to the other two. The Ecuadorean entzaeia-yawá
(literally “water tiger”) might also be the same animal, though
it isn't described as having long fangs; an another, unnamed water
tiger was described from Guyana by Richard Freeman. However, the
mythology of the Bribri and Cabécar people of Talamanca in Costa
Rica may feature a fourth water tiger: the dinamu.
Now, I'll suggest at
the outset that the dinamu probably owes more to mythology than to
reality – unlike the aypa, maipolina, and yaquaru, there don't
appear to be any actual sightings, only folkloric descriptions –
but it's worth recording its supposed existence anyway, since it does
share some characteristics with the more tangible water tigers, as
well as with the African water lions, and is notably placed much
further north than any of them.
In the belief systems
of the Bribri and Cabécar, the dinamu – literally “water tiger”
or “water cat” – is an enormous and terrible cat with two tails
and “eyes like fire” which lives in the river (one source gives
its haunt as the Dapali River, which appears to be untraceable), its
coat changing colour with the water, first brown and now black. The
Cabécar describe it as a more supernatural creature, made of the
water itself. It catches travellers wandering through its territory,
dragging them into the river to drown them, sucking up their blood,
then taking their body to a pool and leaving it in the water for two
or three days. However, river animals such as the kingfisher, the
cormorant, and the otter are friends of man, and when the dinamu
appears, they give warning to travellers and to the storm god, Sërkë,
who protects them. According to Richard J. Chacon, the Bribri shamans
offered the only human defense against the dinamu, which they
controlled by turning it into a stone (the shamans are also said to
have reduced the numbers of birds, jaguars, and venomous snakes).
So far, there's no
reason to connect the dinamu with the water tigers instead of a
simple jaguar, which of course are also semi-aquatic. However,
according to the website of the National Museum of Costa Rica, the
dinamu has one unique characteristic which immediately brings to mind
the water tigers:
According
to Talamancan traditions, it is a mysterious being and can have
several descriptions. However, it is usually described as a species
of great jaguar or feline, fierce and with large proportions. It has
the power to change its colours, so it can be black, brown, or
mottled. Sometimes it is described with two tails, and it has the
power to grab or capture the unsuspecting humans who penetrate its
domains. Its fangs are large, sometimes sticking out of its mouth.
It is said that it can cause floods and go down with them to hunt
their prey.
Alfredo González
Cháves concurs with the description of fangs, listing the fang of a
dinamu as part of traditional Talamancan medicine. The Diccionario
de Mitología Bribri (2003) adds that its large fangs “protrude
on either side of its snout” and are red, stained with the blood of
its human victims. Clearly, the dinamu's fangs are not of an ordinary
proportionate size for a jaguar or any other known modern cat.
Just a coincidence? If
so, it's not the only one. Although the supposed feeding habits of
the South American water tigers are not really known beyond them
being alleged man-eaters, some of the water lions, Africa's
counterpart to the water tigers, either do not seem to eat the flesh
of their kills or are outright said to drink their blood instead,
leading Bernard Heuvelmans to theorise that (1) they may be forced to
drink blood due to the size of their fangs prevented them from
chewing fresh kills, and that (2) they may leave their dead prey in
the water to rot, making the meat easier for them to chew. The first
of these characteristics is explicit in the dinamu's folkloric
description, and the second might be inferred from its habit of
leaving prey in a pool for days.
However, the (two) long
tails are incongruous with the maipolina, and with all but one of the
African water lions, all of which are said to have short, bushy,
cow-like tails, just like many sabre-toothed cats. However, the
yaquaru is described as having a long, tapering tail (as is the
African water lion dingonek), and the website of the National Museum
of Costa Rica states that the dinamu is only “sometimes” said to
have two tails. The website also speculates that belief in the dinamu
originated in attacks by jaguars, crocodiles, and otters, which
eventually became confused into a single creature.
If the dinamu were an
actual cryptid, as opposed to a pure myth, a confused mixture of
known animals, a story inspired by the “real” water tigers to the
south, or simply a jaguar with unusually large fangs, it represents
the northernmost report of a water tiger, and possibly the
northernmost example of any “aquatic sabre-tooth”: Costa Rica is
about even with the northernmost reaches of South Sudan and the
Central African Republic, which are allegedly home to Africa's most
northern water lions.
Another cryptid, also
called the “water tiger” – was nahwani or li lamya – is
reported by the Miskita and Mayangna people of Nicaragua, even
further north, but, despite its name, it apparently lacks the
diagnostic feature of long fangs, and seems to be a very different
sort of animal. This cryptid was described by Luxembourgish
ethnologist Eduard Conzemius in his book Miskitos y Sumus de
Honduras y Nicaragua (1984). Conzemius was told by Mayangna
elders that the was nawahni was a dangerous animal found in the
largest rivers of the country, where it lived among the rocks,
waiting to devour people or livestock which entered the water. Very
unlike a cat, Conzemius described this animal as:
…
a manateelike animal, but covered with otterlike, glossy hair and
a mane. Different species are said to exist, which have the same
variety of color as the various species of Felis,
the black variety being, however, the most common. This beast has
webbed feet and walks awkwardly on land, but it is very swift in the
water.
Proving its status as a
bona fide cryptid, Conzemius reported that the locals claimed to have
seen and taken shots at this animal, though they had never managed to
kill one.
According to Mayangnas
interviewed for Conocimientos del Pueblo Mayangna Sobre la
Convivencia del Hombre y la Naturaleza (2010), it is famed for
its speed and power, has the same colours as a normal jaguar, and
also feeds on various fish and even snapping turtles, but the
Mayangna are not sure if it is a supernatural creature or a normal
wild animal. A drawing included in the book makes the animal resemble
a giant river otter, albeit with a much shorter tail: it does not
have either the jaguar coat ascribed to it by the Mayangna, nor the
long fangs one would expect it to have if it were a true water tiger
(though it does have fangs, they do not protrude). It is also said to
live in caves along the riverbanks of headwater streams (like some
other water tigers and African water lions), caves which it
supposedly shares with the black river turtle (Rhinoclemmys
funerea), which
it befriends in a traditional Mayangna story.
Moving further north,
into Mexico and the American south, stories of somewhat similar
animals without long fangs are encountered, including the ahuizotl,
pavawkyaiva (“water dog”)
and “California water dog”. These are all river-dwelling animals
which are supposed to drown their human victims.
Whilst researching the
dinamu, I've also discovered quite a few names for mythical South
American Amazonian creatures which may refer to
cryptozoological water tigers. These will be described in a future
post, if I can find more details beyond names.
Sources
- Chacon, Richard J. (2007) The Taking and Displaying of Human Body Parts as Trophies by Amerindians, Springer Science & Business Media, ISBN 9780387483030
- Heuvelmans, Bernard & Rivera, Jean-Luc & Barloy, Jean-Jacques (2007) Les Félins Encore Inconnus d’Afrique, Les Editions de l'Oeil du Sphinx, ISBN 978-2914405430
- Jara, Carla Victoria & Segura, Alí García (2003) Diccionario de Mitología Bribri, Editorial Universidad de Costa Rica, ISBN 9789977677385
- Conocimientos del Pueblo Mayangna Sobre la Convivencia del Hombre y la Naturaleza (2010), UNESCO, ISBN 9789233041509
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