Nandi Bear Contents Description In popular culture References External links Navigation menuHidden Animals: A Field Guide to Batsquatch, Chupacabra, and Other Elusive CreaturesCryptozoology.com"Nandi Bear"The Nandi Bear: Ferocious killer from the past, by Matthew J. EatonThe Cryptid Zoo: Nandi BearPDF about Hyaena brevirostrise
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Carnivorous cryptidsMythological bearsMammals of KenyaNandi CountyEast African legendary creatures
AfricaNandi peopleKenyaAbominable SnowmanAsiaSea Serpentoceanslegendary beastshyenaKarl ShukerhyaenaAtlas bearextinctbearsEtruscan bearLouis LeakeyBernard Heuvelmans
Drawing | |
Grouping | Cryptid |
---|---|
Sub grouping | Bear |
Other name(s) | Kerit |
Country | Kenya |
The Nandi Bear is an unconfirmed animal, reported to live in East Africa.[1] It takes its name from the Nandi people who live in western Kenya, in the area the Nandi Bear is reported from. It is also known as Chemisit,[1]Kerit, Koddoelo,[1]Ngoloko, or Duba (which derives from the Arabic words dubb or d.abʕ / d.abuʕ for 'bear' and 'hyena' respectively[2]).
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."[3]
Contents
1 Description
2 In popular culture
3 References
4 External links
Description
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 hyaena Pachycrocuta brevirostris, extinct c. 500,000 years before present, would "explain these cases very satisfactorily."[4]
Other than the Atlas bear (extinct by the 1800s), no modern bears are known to be native to modern Africa, though the Etruscan bear, and species of the prehistoric genera Agriotherium and Indarctos, lived in Northern Africa during the Pliocene and Pleistocene. Louis Leakey[5] suggested that Nandi Bear descriptions matched that of the extinct Chalicotherium, though chalicotheres were herbivores.
The Nandi people call it "kerit". Local legend holds that it only eats the brain of its victims. Nandi Bears were regularly reported in Kenya throughout the 19th century and early 20th century.[6]Bernard Heuvelmans's On the Track of Unknown Animals and Karl Shuker's In Search of Prehistoric Survivors[4] provide the most extensive chronicles of Nandi Bear sightings in print.
In popular culture
The Peculiar Exploits of Brigadier Ffellowes, a collection of contemporary fantasy stories by Sterling E. Lanier, includes a short story called "His Only Safari," in which the title character briefly sights a "kerit" and speculates that such creatures formed the basis for the Egyptian legends of Anubis.- Tarzan #134 (Gold Key Comics), March 1963, features Tarzan meeting and later battling a Nandi Bear which is pictured as a shaggy sloth bear-like creature with floppy ears, like a cocker spaniel.
References
^ abc Newton, Michael (2009). Hidden Animals: A Field Guide to Batsquatch, Chupacabra, and Other Elusive Creatures. ABC-CLIO. p. 136. ISBN 0313359067. Retrieved 5 January 2018..mw-parser-output cite.citationfont-style:inherit.mw-parser-output .citation qquotes:"""""""'""'".mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-free abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-registration abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-subscription abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registrationcolor:#555.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration spanborder-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg/12px-Wikisource-logo.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output code.cs1-codecolor:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-errordisplay:none;font-size:100%.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-errorfont-size:100%.mw-parser-output .cs1-maintdisplay:none;color:#33aa33;margin-left:0.3em.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-formatfont-size:95%.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-leftpadding-left:0.2em.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-rightpadding-right:0.2em
^ Hans Wehr (edited by J. Milton Cowan): A dictionary of modern written Arabic, ed. 3, Ithaca, N.Y., 1971, Spoken Language Services, Inc.
^ Cryptozoology.com
^ ab Shuker, Karl P N (1995). In Search of Prehistoric Survivors. Blandford. ISBN 0-7137-2469-2.
^ Louis S. Leakey, “Does the. Chalicothere—Contemporary of the Okapi— Still Survive?” Illustrated London News Vol 187, as cited in Mysterious creatures: a guide to cryptozoology, Volume 1, By George M. Eberhart, ABC-CLIO, 2002,
ISBN 1576072835,
^ Soule, Gardener (December 1961). "Nandi Bear". Boys' Life. Retrieved January 5, 2018.
External links
- The Nandi Bear: Ferocious killer from the past, by Matthew J. Eaton
- The Cryptid Zoo: Nandi Bear
- PDF about Hyaena brevirostris