Lake La Plata is located well inside the Argentine Andean forests (44°52’ S, 71°48’ W) and has a surface area of 76 km2 (29.3 sq. mi.). It drains into Lake Fontana, and frome there, through the Senguer River towards the Atlantic. See map below (the lake is in the center of the map).
Map of Lake La Plata area. See Footnote[*].
Here, local people “saw animals coming out of the lake” but when they tried to approach them, “they rushed and back into the lake again”. At night they heard “horses neighing, bulls bellowing and all kinds of animals bleating in the lake”. They were frightened because these “lake animals want[ed] to take” their cattle into the lake. It seems that they were carnivores.[1]
This “kidnapping” or “cattle rustling” behavior by the “lake monsters” is a common feature found in many other Patagonian lakes: we have seen it happen at Lago del Toro (Bull Lake).
Bibliography.
[1] Vidal de Battini, B. E., (1980). Cuentos y leyendas populares de la Argentina. B. Aires: Ediciones Culturales Argentinas v.7. pp. 307.
[*]Footnote.
Map adapted from: Nuevo Atlas de la Argentina © Cases i Associats S.A. 1995. Published by Clarin. Edición especial para la Secretaría de Turismo de la Nación 1996. ISBN 987 9153 00 6.
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Patagonian Monsters
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