On Freshwater Turtles in Patagonia - Update

In a previous post earlier this year, I mentioned that the movie director Miguel Angel Rossi suggested that the "Lake Monster" of Lake Nahuel Huapi was probably a turtle and I listed different species found in Argentina, none of which live in Patgonia due to the low temperatures. However, looking into the matter I found several references on these animals in the Patagonian rivers.

In August 2016, (Source), a freshwater turtle was photographed swimming in the Rio Negro River at Paso Córdoba (Google map), Pablo Chafrat, from the Museo Patagónico de Ciencias Naturales, a museum in the neighboring city of General Roca said that it could be an "exotic" turtle that someone bought and then grew tired of it, discarding it in the river. Below is a picture of the animal.

Turtle, Paso Córdoba, Rio Negro.

An article published in May 2019 reported finding a turtle (Phrynops Hilarii) in the Plottier irrigation channel during works on it. This irrigation system takes water from the Limay River. After draining it, they checked for any fish that may have become stranded, to capture them and place them back in the Limay River. They found a turtle which was rescued ant taken to the local fish-stocking station. It is pictured below.

Lagoon Tortoise (Phrynops Hilarii), Plottier channel.

The director of the fish-stocking station of Plottier, Jorge Figuolo said that the animal was checked by a veterinarian to make sure it was healthy, adding that its habitat is the Paraná River basin, and that they would return it to that area as they don't believe it could adapt to the cold water in Neuquén. They couldn't understand how it found its way into the irrigation channel (see the location on google maps). This spot is 58 km (35 mi.) upstream from Paso Córdoba.

A second turtle was found by a fisherman in Dec. 2023, 15km - 9 mi. east of Plottier, in the waters of Duran Creek (Source, with video), it was also identified as a Phrynops hilarii specimen. This spot is not far from Plottier, and is actually a branch of the Limay River (Map with location). The same explanation was given: a pet that was returned to the wild.

Turtle, Durán Creek, 2023

In Dec. 2024, the media reported (see video) a turle at Paso Córdoba (was it the same one spotted in 2016?) and again the fact that it was an exotic animal was mentioned. The turtle in the video looks well adapted to its habitat! See its picture below.

Turtle, Paso Córdoba, 2024

The facebook page of the Reserva Ecológica Plottier (Plottier Ecological Reserve) mentions several sightings in the area, not only the one mentioned in 2019, but others: Jan. 2025, and the turtle was left where it was found. The post says that these animals are now part of the local fauna. It also has a picture from Nov. 2022, a sighting in 2018 and another at Santa Helena Lagoon in the Plottier botanical gardens.

So, are these native creatures that had gone on undetected until now, or were they brought to the Neuquén, Limay, and Negro rivers area as pets from another place outside of Patagonia, and then set free in the environment? By the way, they seem to be thriving in the area, despite the cold winter temperatures.

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Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia Copyright 2009-2025 by Austin Whittall © 

The Chilludo - A Patagonian Yeti

Lon Chaney as the werewolf. Would The Chilludo look like him?

The Chilludo is another Patagonian hominid, which I mentioned briefly in a post (Patagonian Bigfoot?). Today’s entry will deal with this strangely named being.

Origin of the name

Though the word “chilludo” may seem to derive from the Spanish verb “chillar” which means to scream, to yell, to screech, to squeal or to squeak, it actually comes from a local Argentine word: “Chilludo: Said of people who have long straight and bristly hair or the body covered with this type of hair”.

The word is applied to sheep and goats that have long straight wool (Lincoln variety sheep are “chilludos” while Merino sheep are not).

Sightings

The only “old” source that I can find referring to it is in Gregorio Alvarez (1889-1986), who was Patagonia’s first native born to graduate as a Doctor in medicine in 1919. His book El Tronco de Oro compiles his anecdotes and experience during his years as a country doctor who rode about on horseback taking care of the ill children in the Andean region of Neuquén province.

Trivia: a dinosaur discovered in that region in 1991 bears the name Alvarezsaurus.

So, getting back to the Chilludo. Alvarez recorded it in the 1950s:

”The Chilludo” is the name of a giant that appeared for the first time at Colo Michi Co, a rugged place where the stones engraved by the ancient Pehunches can be found, and whose meaning is still a mystery. According to don Julio Della Cha, the first report of the apparition of The Chilludo was around 1950. A youth, upon seing it, lost his mind.
[...]
He is described like “a big man” covered with long hair (chillas), that runs and jumps about the mountain slopes and gullies; a kind of yeti or snowman like those seen in the Himalayas

He adds that in that same place, Colo Michi Co, a Hungarian miner named Bela Beico also went mad (Patagonian Cabin Fever?)

According to another source, this man, Della Cha, owned a ranch in the area, at Cancha Huinganco, close by, so the man existed.

The stones mentioned by Alvarez, engraved by the native Pehuenche Indians, can be seen online at the following site:
Colo Michi Co rock art, they date back to about 500 AD.

Sources

Gregorio Alvarez. (1981) El tronco de oro: folklore del Neuquén. pp. 116.

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Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia Copyright 2009-2012 by Austin Whittall © 

Culebrón in Neuquén, Lake Polcahue

 
During our recent four day vacation in San Carlos de Bariloche, we stopped by our favorite bookstore to take a peek at what was for sale (they sell second hand books as well as new ones, and they have a wide range of books on my beloved topic: Patagonia).

I managed to buy three jewels. Two old ones:

• Gregorio Alvarez's El Tronco de Oro, Ediciones Corregidor, 1994.
• Rodolfo Casamiquela's En pos del Gualicho, Fondo Editorial Rionegrino - EUDEBA, 1988.

And a new one on Rio Negro province's place names: R. Casamiquela (1998), Estudios de la Toponimia Indígena de la Provincia de Río Negro. Ed. del Autor.

The first two are especially interesting since they mention some cryptids. The second one focuses on the Ellengassen monster, also known as Gualicho.

But today I will mention something I found in Alvarez´s book, the Culebrón a snake-like aquatic creature.

On page 247 Alvarez wrote:

At lake Polcahue there is a culebón whose body must be about one meter [3.3 ft.] thick. It appeared after a herd that had rushed to the frozen lake to drink, sank in it. This lake is located close to China Muerta, in a place known as Pulmary. The locals say that Mr. César Fosbery saw it. [1]

Mr. C. Fosbery was a local pioneer (1898-1976)[2]. The name of the lake has two possible meanings:

Polcahue: Deformation of pulcu, a native alcoholic beverage and hue = place. So, it means "Place where there is pulcu". Alternatively, it may derive from "Polca = slippery. Hence: "Slippery place".[3]

You can see the lake at this link leading to Google maps or, at another scale below:


View Larger Map

The lake drains towards the east through the Arroyo China Muerta (China Muerta Creek) by the way this name (China Muerta) means "Dead" [Muerta] and "Native woman" [China]. Yes, China means Chinese in Spanish, but in the local Pampean and Patagonian dialect it means a native American woman (due to the oriental appearance of the American indians).

This stream drains into the Aluminé River, which flows from Lake Aluminé (to the north of Polcahue). Aluminé River flows throguh the Collón Curá River into the Limay River, and then into the Negro River and into the Atlantic Ocean.

Close by (south) is Lake Quillén with its Cuero lake creature.


Important. The bookstore is: La Barca Libros Usados, on Mitre street, 534. San Carlos de Bariloche.

Sources
[1] Gregorio Alvarez's El Tronco de Oro, Ediciones Corregidor, 1994.
[2] Fosbery Cesar Family tree.
[3] Juan Perón Toponimia Patagónica de Etimología Araucana, pp. 42.
Yes, the (in)famous former President 1946-1951(and then dictator 1951-1955, exile 1955-1972 and again President 1973-1974) of Argentina, whose wife was Eva Perón, (better known as Evita of musical fame). He left us his last wife as Vice President, who upon his death in office on 01.Jul.1974, swore in as President. Her job qualifications were poor (former cabaret dancer) so she lost the grip on things, and one tragedy followed another until on 24.March.1976 the military took over and ran the country until 1983. In the meantime they did horrendous things (disappearing people, torturing women, giving away the babies of people held in custody. Genocides and murderers). So yes, I do blame Perón for his ill choice of his running mate! He could have chosen someone with experience, but no, he left us his cabaret dancer wife "Isabelita" (yes, she even had a "nom de guerre") María Estela Martínez de Perón.
Enough history for today. It makes you wonder who are the real Monsters.

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Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia

2011 International Year of Forests Copyright 2009-2011 by Austin Whittall ©