Sunday, December 20, 2009

Day XX - Mapinguari

Amazon jungle,
Sloth-like carnivore lurking,
Biting belly mouth.



Hanging around the Amazon rainforest causing considerable dread for the tribes and other animals that live there, the Mapinguari is a South American mythical creature claimed to be like a large sloth with red fur. Though descriptions of it vary across different accounts, it's generally agreed that the giant animal has a gaping toothy hole in the middle of its body and extra bad breath to go with its second mouth. It may be slow and scared of water, but it's a stealthy cold-blooded predator, impervious to bullets and arrows and better to avoid considering its nasty odour and extra teeth. Ornithologists and scientists reckon legend may have come from memory of possibly-extinct giant sloths and the people of South America still fear being swallowed up by the belly of the 'Fetid Beast'.

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