Round Up the Un-Usual Suspects*

Crypto-Zoo-Archaeology Made Easier If One Doesn’t Have to Assume Creatures Went Extinct Millions of Years Ago

By Chris Parker 2023

*Round up the usual suspects", a famous line of dialogue, from the 1942 film Casablanca.

The identification of mysterious, cryptid creatures can be complicated by the fact that certain animals may be disqualified as a potential match for the descriptions provided by, sometimes multiple witnesses, because the identification would be for an animal thought to have gone extinct hundreds of thousands or even millions of years ago.

This is not a problem for the Christian Crypto-zoo-archaeologist who is not saddled with such evolution-affirming paradigm presumptions. It’s not that this advantage will automatically lead to the correct identification, it’s simply that a tentative identification may not be prematurely ruled out.

That said, here we believe we have identified two cryptids, one  that is thought to have become extinct 110,000 to 1.7 million years ago and one that is thought to have gone extinct between 5 million and 15 million years ago, both of whom may still have been very much alive.

Photo 1: Holding up an ancient Thai object (incense burner or candle holder) of art from the book Arts of Asia

The Moncton Gazeka

In 1910 the Stephens Point, Wisconsin Gazette published a syndicated story about a giant, prehistoric-appearing creature in the “wilds of New Guinea”.

According to the article, a prehistoric monster much larger than an elephant had been discovered and encountered not by common folks like me and you, but by scientists.

In addition, to the giant “monster”,  the scientists had come across a “marvelous race of pigmies” who averaged just over four feet in height.

According to the article, the expedition was sent out by a committee appointed by the British Ornithologist’s union to explore the great Snow mountains in Dutch New Guinea, and consisted of several famous scientists, headed by Walter Goodfellow, the naturalist.”

Photo 2: Front Page of the Stephens Point, Wisconsin Gazette, 1910 and a colorized version of the Gazeka. Note the “gazeka’ print provided in the now 113-year-old photo.

 “According to the official reports, the Gazeka is of “gigantic size and fearsome aspect. It is black and white striped, has the nose of a tapir and “a face like the devil.”

Among the English inhabitants of the island, the animal is known as Monckton’s Gazeka, in honor of Mr. C. A. W. Monckton, a former explorer In New Guinea, who first reported its presence in the mountains.

Mr. Monckton, during his ascent of Mount Albert Edward, in the west of British New Guinea, discovered the huge footprints and other indications of the very recent presence of some tremendous monster that had evidently been prowling on the grassy plains surrounding the lakes on the summit at an elevation of about 12,500 feet.

He followed the trail all day, and came upon the monster at dusk, just as it was devastating a settlement of the pigmies.

The little natives were screaming and running for their lives, although they turned every now and again to aim their poisoned arrows at the brute.

Monckton set fire as soon as he was able to get in a proper position, and the huge Gazeka at once turned upon him. As it reared upon its hind legs and pawed the air it looked to the hunter as big as a house, standing fully 25 feet high.

Two of Monckton’s bullets seemed to take effect, as a stream of blood flowed freely from the animal’s shoulder, but before Monckton was able to reload the animal turned and fled. By that time, it was too dark to follow him, and Monckton never had another opportunity to renew his pursuit.”

Since 1910 many have speculated as to the identity of the creature that is now known as Monckton’s Gazeka. The 1910 Stephens Point, Wisconsin Gazette Newspaper article had published a photo showing the giant footprint of Monckton’s Gazeka, along with a photo of one of the pygmies in order to provide some idea of the size of the “Gazeka” print.

No doubt, the scientists who took the picture hoped that sometime in the future the huge footprint could be identified.

In 2009, we came across a picture of a footprint of diprotodon, published in 2009, some 99 years after the Stevens Point Gazette article. That picture was printed in among other places the “Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology”, September 2009 entitled: Diprotodontid Footprints from the Pliocene of Central Australia”, Page 867

The footprint picture from the 1910 article matched the footprint picture of Monckton’s Gazeka-then a mystery creature printed in a newspaper 99 years prior.

Photo 3: The Journal Article picture of the manus and pes of the diprotodon-alongside the photo of the gazeka footprint on the front page of the 1910 Stephens Point, Wisconsin Gazette.

From the Journal Article: “The first Pliocene marsupial fossil trackways from Australia are described. The trackways, attributed to Euowenia grata (De Vis) (Diprotodontoidea, Marsupialia), occur in the middle Pliocene Tirari Formation, Warburton River, northern South Australia. The trackways were formed as the animals made their way across a soft claypan. Pad impressions, subsequently infilled by a gypsum-cemented clay, indicate how weight was distributed within the pes A , the collected footprint demonstrating morphology of the pes; B , the interpreted pad morphology showing the calcaneal pad (a), the navicular pad (b), the hallucal pad (c) and the metatarsal pad (d) and C , the articulated pes attributed to E. grata , scale bar equals 10 cm.””  Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology”, September 2009

Diprotodon

Photo:4 Man vs brain eating monster; diprotodon.

“Diprotodon (Ancient Greek: "two protruding front teeth") is an extinct genus of marsupial from the Pleistocene of Australia, containing one species, D. optatum. The earliest finds date to 1.77 million to 780,000 years ago, but most specimens are dated to after 110,000 years ago. Its massive fossils were first unearthed in 1830 in Wellington Caves, New South Wales, before any serious scientists were active on the continent, and were variably guessed to belong to rhinos, elephants, hippos, or dugongs. Diprotodon, formally described by English naturalist Richard Owen in 1838, was the first named Australian fossil mammal, and set Owen on a path to becoming the foremost authority of his time on other marsupials and Australian megafauna so enigmatic to European science.

Diprotodon is the largest known marsupial to have ever lived, far dwarfing its closest living relatives, wombats and koalas. It grew as large as 1.8 m (5 ft 11 in) at the shoulders, over 4 m (13 ft) from head to tail, and possibly almost 3,500 kg (7,700 lb) in weight.”  Wikipedia

The Nandi Bear; Chalicotherium?

The Terrace of Lions at Delos

“The island of Delos, recognized as the birthplace of the god Apollo, has been a sacred area used for various reasons throughout history. Today it is one of the most important archaeological sites in Greece and is covered in excavations, one of which is the famous Terrace of the Lions. This terrace was erected and dedicated to Apollo by the people of Naxos just before 600 BCE.

The terrace consisted of a row of nine to twelve marble carved lions that faced eastward towards the Sacred Lake of Delos along the Sacred Way from Skardana Bay to the temples.

…Today, only five of the original lions remain with remnants of three others and the headless body of another has been transported and put over the main gate of a Venetian arsenal.” Biers, William R. The Archaeology of Greece. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1996. Whitley, James. The Archaeology of Ancient Greece. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001.

Photo 5 The Delos “lions” also called Naxian Lions.

Question? Are these in fact lions? If they are lions, they are surely “stylized lions” because their proportions are incorrect. Their front legs are too long. They have three fingered paws. Their bodies are too long. This is from a culture that provides us many examples of museum level, realistic depictions of lions and other animals. If these are lions built to “guard” the sanctuaries, why aren’t they more self-evidently and accurately sculpted, lions?

Could they depict some other animal? Are they mythological?

Prior to trying to answer that, we switch to a more recent crypto-zoological mystery; the Nandi Bear of Kenya for reasons which I hope to make clear.

The Nandi Bear and Chalicotherium

Photo 7: Eyewitness Drawing of “Nandi Bear”, Left and A Delos “Lion” Right

“The Nandi Bear, also known as Ngoloko, is a cryptid, or unconfirmed animal, reported to live in Africa. It takes its name from the Nandi people who live in western Kenya, near where the Nandi Bear is reported as living.

Frank W. Lane wrote, “What the Abominable Snowman is to Asia, or the great Sea Serpent is to the oceans, the Nandi Bear is to Africa. It is one of the most notorious of those legendary beasts which have, so far, eluded capture and the collector’s rifle.

…Descriptions of the Nandi Bear are of a ferocious, powerfully built carnivore with high front shoulders (over four feet tall) and a sloping back; somewhat similar to a hyena. Some have speculated that Nandi Bears are in fact a misidentified hyena or a surviving Ice Age giant hyena: Karl Shuker states that a surviving short-faced hyena Pachycrocuta brevirostris,extinct ca. 500,000 years before present, would “explain these cases very satisfactorily.”

A syndicated news article appearing Mansfield News of January 6, 1924 reported that a very large fresh, fragment of un-fossilized claw of chalicotherium had been discovered at Bunyoro, Uganda ( Central Africa) and that the thought to be extinct chalicotherium might be very much still alive.

In fact, Zoologists were making a connection between the stories the Nandi peoples had been telling of a fearsome, man killing, brain eating deadly night creature they called “Gereit” might exist and was in fact, chalicotherium. The drawing above right, is from that 1924 article and is a depiction of chalicotherium.

“Chalicotherium, genus of extinct perissodactyls, the order including the horse and rhinoceros. Fossil remains of the genus are common in deposits of Asia, Europe, and Africa from the Miocene Epoch (23 to 5.3 million years ago). The genus persisted into the following Pliocene Epoch, and remains of a related genus, Moropus, are found in North America.

Chalicotherium and its relatives, collectively known as the chalicotheres, ( we’re not locking down on the genus) were very unusual in appearance and structure. In overall appearance the body and slim skull were horse-like. The front limbs were longer than the hind limbs, and the back sloped downward. The teeth were distinctive in structure and unhorse like. The feet were quite distinctive.

There were no hooves; instead, each of the three toes on each foot terminated in a strongly developed claw. It is probable that the development of claws was related to the feeding habits of the animal. Chalicotherium may have browsed on branches of trees, pulling them down with the front claws; the claws may also have been employed to dig up roots and tubers.”…Encyclopedia Britannica

The Crux: is the Nandi Bear a Chalicotherium? And What of the Lions of the Terrace at Delos?

Photo 8: Top left and right, Delos Lion, Bottom left a modern chalicotherium depiction and skeleton.

The Chalicotherium is supposed to have gone extinct up to 15 million years ago. The chalicotherium has been forth as a possible ID for the Nandi bear primarily because the chalicotherium is also known for having much longer front legs than back legs and to have claws as some eyewitness accounts of the Nandi bear have described it.

The Nandi bear is also a cryptid whose description fits no known, living animal so the late survival of some animal thought to have been prehistoric are put forward as potential suspects. Hyenadon is another animal thought to have been prehistoric that has also been put forth as a potential suspect for the same reasons, high front shoulders, long front legs, and a sloping back.

The chalicotherium ID is interesting in that this animal also has very unusual feet and claws which set him apart.

Photo 9; Comparison of chalicotherium feet with that of the Delos Lion’s.

I came across the Terrace of Lions of Delos quite by accident while investigating some other matter and was struck by how un-lion-like the lions were. They are magnificent animals to be sure but not like any lions I’ve ever seen. Could they be depictions of real creatures-who were not lions?

I did a quick Google search for prehistoric animals with long front legs and immediately was taken to articles about chalicotherium. Articles about chalicotherium also eventually led to articles concerning modern day speculation by cryptozoologists that chalicotherium was a potential match for the Nandi bear, a cryptid that I was unaware of.

The photo at the top of this section shows a very common drawing of the Nandi bear (of unknown source) along with a frontal photo of one of the lions of the Terrace of Lions. This is interesting because as far as I know no one has ever speculated that the “lions” of the Terrace of Lions has anything to do with either the Nandi bear or with chalicotherium. So is this visual similarity (if your filters aren’t preventing you from seeing it or mine forcing me to) just a coincidence?

Chalicotheres are usually depicted as thick, slow, and sloth-like and not as fast, relatively slim, and dangerous as the lions of Delos seem to appear. However, it could be that chalicotherium was a “late survivor” and could even still be alive.

Final note: this article was cut down from a longer one wherein more focus was given to the
“nandi bear” connection to the Delos lions and chalicotherium. Chalicotherium fossils have been found on the continents of Africa, Europe, and Asia. The various depictions of chalicotherium from the same skeletal material indicate that no one really knows what this creature looked like. For a presumed vegetarian it is certainly armed with some impressive claws. Beyond that, I’m doing what cryptologists all do, speculating.

Except for Moncton’s Gazeka. The footprints are conclusive.

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