The Island of Giants, Samson, and the Falklands-Malvinas

Recently, it was Falkland Islands' Day in the UK, commemorating the discovery of the islands by John Davis on August 14, 1592. As expected, with these islands claimed by Argentina, as the Islas Malvinas (claim that, unfortunately, led the last military dictatorship to invade them in 1982, in a stupid and sensless war that caused an irreparable breach with the islanders as well as hundreds of young men, dead and maimed, on both sides, Britain, and Argentina), their discovery is also contested.

The Argentine side argues that they were discovered by a cartographer named Andrés de San Martín who, on board of the ship San Antonio, made the first map of the islands. This ship was part of Magellan's voyage to discover a soutern pass from the Atlantic into the Pacific Ocean, to reach the spice islands of the Far East. In this post we will look into this alleged discovery.

The Story of the San Antonio

When Magellan left Spain in 1519, he had five ships, Trinidad, San Antonio, Concepción, Santiago, and Victoria (the only one to make it back to Spain after sailing around the globe). Of these, the Santiago capsized on the coast of Patagonia at the mouth of the Santa Cruz River in 1520 with no loss of life. y la Santiago. The four remaining ships set sail after wintering in San Julian, in what is now Argentina's Santa Cruz province and entered the Strait of Magellan in October 1520.

Magellan sent the Concepción and the San Antonio into the Strait to explore it. They reached a spot called Cape Forward, that jutted out into it, and marked a place where there were two separate channels to follow. They returned, reported their findings to Magellan who advanced with his fleet to the Cape.

Magellan decided to send the San Antonio and Concepción to explore the two channels, but he first called his pilots and captains to a meeting. Esteban Gómez, the pilot of the San Antonio (which was commanded by Alvaro de Mesquita, Magellans nephew) expressed his point of view: the fleet lacked supplies and was not equipped to face the stormy seas that lay ahead. He proposed that they turn back, and return to Spain. Magellan would have none of this. He ordered the two ships to proceed ahead into the channels. The Concepción returned, but the San Antonio vanished. Magellan waited for it, and finally decided to head west into the Pacific. The loss of the San Antonio was a blow, with a displacement of 120 tons, it was the largest ship in the fleet, and it was packed with supplies and food. This led to famine for the remaining ships as they sailed across the Pacific.

What Magellan didn't know was that the San Antonio had turned around, and in the dark of night, sailed past the ships in the Strait, and headed by the route of Guinea (Africa) to Spain. The crew, led by Gómez seized Mesquita and took control of the ship on November 8, 1520. They reached Seville and complained about the behavior of Mesquita and Magellan, accusing them of treason against the King of Spain (both were Portuguese). Mesquita was sent to prision, and only released when the Victoria returned to Spain in 1522 and its crew, led by Sebastián Elcano told the truth.

During the return trip, from the Strait, to Africa, is where the mythical story of the discovery of the Falklands arose.

There is No written record or map or entry in the ship's log mentioning any islands. But the Argentine version is that they discovered some islands during a stormy spell, and named them San Antón Islands, or Sanson (Samson) Islands.

An article published in the Boletín de la Socieded Geográfica de Madrid, 1899 Volume 41, Annex VIII, p 212 in Pigafetta's First Voyage Around the World quotes a contemporary letter written at the time of the arrival of the San Antonio to Seville:"prendieron al dicho Mezquita en ocho de Noviembre del dicho año veinte é vinieron derechamente á este puerto... Sevilla 12 de Mayo 1521" ("They arrested the said Mezquita on the eighth of November of the said year '20 and came directly to this port... Seville, May 12, 1521") no reports of islands or anything along their voyage back to Spain. They didn't even head north, to San Julián to rescue two men (Cartagena and Calmette) who had been cast asho, in exile, by Magellan to punish them (Cartagena was the King's overseer, and Calmette a priest) for mutiny.

The islands, were not mentioned during the following expeditions to the Strait, conducted by Spanish navigators. This is added proof that they had not been discovered.

Thevet

The map often attributed to the San Antonio is, in fact, the work of André Thevet (1502?–1590). Thevet was a Frenchman, a Franciscan friar, and cosmographer to several kings of France. He traveled extensively and visited South America in 1555. Upon his return to France, he published his experiences in the books "Les singularitez de la France Antarctique" (1557) and "Cosmographie Universelle" (1575). I have discussed Thevet in my book, because he mentioned two strange Patagonian creatures, the Succarath and the Pyrassouppi.

Thevet also wrote a book titled "Le grand Insulaire et pilotage d'André THEVET, Angoumoisin, cosmographe du Roy, dans lequel sont contenus plusieurs plants d'isles habitées et deshabitées et description d'icelles" (The Great Insular Book and Pilotage by André Thevet, native of Angoulême and Cosmographer to the King, containing various plans of inhabited and uninhabited islands and descriptions thereof), a description of the most important islands in the World. It is a manuscript, unpublished, and the original handwritten text can be seen online here. It mentions on page 269, the Isles des Geants (Islands of Giants) he states that they were discovered by the Portuguese sailors that accompanied Magellan on his voyage and that a captain from the Portuguese city of Lisbon told him about them. See the text below:

He included the map, naming them Samson Islands - Giants Islands, shown below (see plate on p. 268)

In the Islario general de todos las islas del mundo (General list of all the islands in the world) by Alonso de Santa Cruz (1505-1567), first published in 1541, the author mentions the islands of Patagonia as reported by Magellan and (see it here online), on page 552, says "...they discovered some islands that were to the east of San Julian, by eighteen leagues and they named them Islands of Samson and the Ducks because on them they found many and very fat that could hardly walk, and half-plucked of which they took many for their voyage and are at 51 degrees of latitude..."

The location is far too close to the coast of Argentina to be the Falkland-Malvinas; 18 leagues is 87 km or 54 miles. The islands are 571 km - 354 mi from San Julian.

The ducks were probably penguins. Looking at the map published by de Santa Cruz, reproduced below, you can see Cabo Blanco, located at 47° S on the upper left side of the map — north is left, south is right (see it in Google maps), a Rio de los Trabajos river (perhaps modern Rio Deseado), and nearby, the Sanson Islands.

Interestingly, just south of Rio Deseado is a Provincial Natural Park, called Isla Pinguino (Penguin Island) with some other smaller islands, that protects a penguin colony there (see it in Google maps). Could these bre the Samson-Ducks islands?

The name Samson, and Giants Islands surely came from the large-sized Patagonian natives, the Patagons reported by Magellan's expedition. Samson, is mentioned in the Bible (Book of Judges ch. 13-16) as an extremely strong man, so he is comparable to the large, muscular Patagonian natives.

Summing it up, I doubt that the San Antonio, or Magellan's ships set eyes on the Malvinas-Falklands Islands. Thevet probably took note of de Santa Cruz's Islands book and included it in his own version.

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Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia Copyright 2009-2026 by Austin Whittall © 

Hantavirus Patagonia and the current cruise ship scare

The media is full of news about an outbreak of a Patagonian strain of hantavirus that caused three deaths on board a cruise ship, the MV Hondius, that had set sail from Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego on April 1, 2026.

Apparently the cases zero and one, were a Dutch couple that had arrived in South America last November, and traveled extensively in Chile, Uruguay, and Argentina, where they visited Neuquen, Mendoza, Salta, Misiones, and Buenos Aires, before arriving in Tierra del Fuego on March 29, a couple of days before embarking on the MV Hondius (pictured below).

The strain of hantavirus that killed these two tourists is unique to the Patagonian Andean region, it is carried by a species of mouse that lives in the Andean forests which passes it on to humans, and then, and this is the worrying part, it can jump from human to human. A unique feature of this strain.

The latest epidemiological bulletin (online, in Spanish) issued by the Argentine Ministry of Health discloses that the frequency of infection is very low, 0.32 per 100,000 people. Furthermore, there were 101 cases during 2025-2026 ytd vs. 57 for 2024-2025. The highest prevalence has been in the Northwestern provinces with 0.60 per 100,000, with 36 cases, 83% of them in Salta. There have been 32 deaths with a lethality of 31.7%. The following map shows the hotspots (red yellow, highest, black lowest) in the NW and Buenos Aires regions.

Hantavirus strains are found around the world, originally detected in Korea in the 1950s it was later identified in other places, including the Southwestern USA. These virus cause a high level of mortality. In Argentina there are different strains, and can be found in Buenos Aires, the Northeast (Misiones), Northwest (Salta), Cuyo and Patagonia regions.

It hasn't been detected yet in Tierra del Fuego, though sampling is ongoing, to capture mice and check them for the virus.

Contagion takes place when a person is exposed to the feces or urine of mice, in the forests, or while entering or cleaning rooms that have been closed for a long time where mice may have nested or lived, the dust particles in the air can carry the virus.

Back in 2018-2019, there was an outbreak in Epuyen, the region around the lake and river where the Plesiosaur was reported back in 1922. It infected dozens and killed eleven people with a very high mortality rate.

In this latest outbreak, the Dutch man died at sea on April 11, his wife died in a South African hospital on April 26, and the third person on May 2. A high death toll of 3 out of 147 people on board between crew and passengers.

Before the 2018-2019 Epuyén outbreak, only 2.5% of the cases were due to human-to-human transmission of the virus. This time it seems higher, and strengthened by the closed quarters of a ship at sea.

The 2018 Epuyén outbreak began with a man who had gathered mushrooms in the forest and fell ill, he infected people who he met, and more died after getting infected at the wake of one of the deceased. The lag between contact and end of contagion was determined to be 45 days. This outbreak had a 20-30% mortality rate.

Furhter reading about the 2018 outbreak here, online (Spanish).

No cases have been reported in Tierra del Fuego, and the local rodent, of the Oligoryzomys longicaudatus magallanicus subspecies does not seem to be a carrier. Further studies should clarify the issue. So, when visiting Patagonia, stay on the trails when trekking, keep in the open, avoid places where mice live and stay out of old sheds, barns, closed areas. The CDC has some interesting tips for protection against hantavirus, which are valid for the Andean strain.

In Patagonia, there is a cycle of population growth among the mice that are the carriers of the virus. When food is abundant, mice proliferate and they can be found by the hundreds in the forests. Some make it into settled areas and the interaction of mouse and human can lead to contagion. However, as the figures show, the chances of infection are extremely low. These people seem to have had bad luck.

Personally, seing how cruise ships were hit by Covid-19 during the pandemic, and how this virus and others (like norovirus), I will stay away from them.

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Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia Copyright 2009-2026 by Austin Whittall © 

Halloween & Patagonians

Halloween wasn't celebrated in Argentina on most of Latin America until recently. The typical Catholic festivity was All Saints' Day on November 1st, and until the late 1970s it was a National Holiday in Argentina. Mexico is known for celebrating the Dia de los Muertos to remember their dead relatives (Nov. 1 and 2).

Halloween is a recent cultural addition introduced by the TV, and American movies. We learned about trick or treat by watching them.

Patagonian natives had different beliefs about the dead, the Aonikenk believed that the dead person rode on his horses into the afterlife (see p. 308 - Source), so the relatives killed the horses of the deceased and placed them by the tomb. Among the Mapuche, there were propiciatory rituals that helped the spirit or püllü of the dead move on, from the material plane into the plane of their ancestors (Source).

There was also the belief among the Tehuelches that the dead went to heaven and lived in an enclosure of stars (the enclosure -like a pen- of the dead), where they enjoyed a good afterlife.

Subtitulo

An AI image I created on Halloween and Paleoindians & megafauna (weirdly inhuman).

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

Across the Atlantic - The gateway to South America (Cabral & Americo Vespucio)

The Portuguese worked systematically to open a sailing route to the spices, silk and riches of Asia, bypassing the Middle East, where the local merchants held a tight grip on Oriental goods and made good profit margins. That region had become part of the Ottoman Empire since the 1300s, and finally defeated and conquered the Eastern Roman Empire in 1453 when the Turks took Constantinople, renaming it Istanbul.

The Portuguese had been looking for a route to Asia around Africa and had developed their navigation skills since the early 1400s. They had begun by advancing into the Atlantic, discovering Madeira Island (1419) and the Azores Islands (1427). The Canary Islands were known to the Europeans, and Castille had taken them starting in the early 1400s. The Portuguese made their way along the African Coast, discovering the Cape Verde Islands (1450s), the Gulf of Guinea and Santo Tomé and Principe Islands (1470), and finally Cape of Good Hope (1488) in South Africa, and a route along the Eastern coast of Africa, and the Indian Ocean into India in 1498. Later they would extend their reach into South East Asia, what is now Indonesia and the Philippines, Taiwan, which they named Formosa, and Macao where they established a post, and held onto it until 1999.

The Discovery of Brazil

The official version is the following: An expedition led by Pedro Alvares de Cabral set off for India in the year 1500. Columbus had discovered America 8 years earlier (in 1492). After passing by the Canary Islands on March 14, 1500, they set sail towards Cabo Verde Islands which they reached on March 22. They crossed the Equator on April 9, 1500, and to avoid the Equatorial calms or "doldrums" (an are close to the Equator with lack of wind, or very light winds), they moved away from the African coast. The wind and the east-to-west South Equatorial Sea Current took them across the South Atlantic and on April 22 they saw seaweeds and the next day, they saw a mountain, Monte Pascoal (Easter Mountain) named so because it was discovered on Easter. They had "accidentally" reached the Brazilian coast, which "what a surprise" was also within the Portuguese sphere of influence, as determined by the Treaty of Tordesillas.

The use of oceanic currents to cross the seas was a technique developed by the Portuguese known as "Volta do mar" (around the sea) in the South Atlantic it was a counter clockwise circuit from the Gulf of Guinea westwards to Brazil (South Equatorial Current) south along the Brazilian coast pushed by the Brazilian Current and then to the southeast, towards the southern tip of Africa. They used it on their Portugal to Asia journeys. A similar route was used by sailors in the North Atlantic as there is a current rotating clockwise.

The cunning Portuguese diplomats had secured a Treaty (Tordesillas Treaty) with Castille and Aragon (Spain) in 1493, by which the Pope divided the world into two hemispheres, one would be Portuguese, the other Spanish. The meridian that divided the globe was set (as requested by Portugal) 370 leagues west of the Cabo Verde Islands. This is roughly 1785 km or 1110 mi. wests of these islands, and cuts right through the northeastern tip of Brazil. The Portuguese must have known back in 1493 that Brazil was there, and they wanted to secure their piece of the New World that had just been discovered by Columbus.

The antipodes of this meridian sliced across the eastern side of Papua New Guinea and Australia, and Japan and eastern Siberia. The Pope had excluded all other nations from the discovery and trade with Asia. The Dutch and French were not happy.

The Portuguese may have discovered South America by accident during one of their voyages along the coast of Africa between 1450 and 1490. They then found the currents and winds that allowed them to return to Brazil, and developed the "Volta do Mar" technique. The Spaniards were unaware of Brazil's existence in 1493.

Later, Portugal managed to breakout from the constraints of the 370 leagues and expanded their foothold in Brazil into the fifth largest country in the world, spanning most of South America, a country with a surface area of 8.515.767 km² - 3,287,956 sq. mi.

I prepared the following map. It showed the sea currents, I added the site of Cabral's landing in 1500, and the Tordesillas Treaty Meridian, with Spain to the West and Portugal to the East.

South Atlantic Gyre, Tordesillas Treaty. A. Whittall, based on Source

Americo Vespucio and Patagonia

Americo Vespucio, the man who gave America his name (and the first person to realize that Columbus had discovered a new continent), navigated across the Atlantic several times, on one occasion with Spanish ships to the Caribbean, and later with the Portuguese.

According to Pohl and Loeb (1), in one of these journeys, in May 1501 he left Portugal, and sailed along the coast of Brazil to the meridian of the Tordesillas Treaty at a spot named Cananea River (modern town of Cananea in the state of Sao Paulo roughly 25°S. See it in Google maps).

Continuing south along the coast in 1501 would mean that they were the first to explore the area, and that they would enter the Spanish sphere of influence. The expedition continued (this is disputed by some scholars) after Gonzalo Coelho the Portuguese commander resigned his post and Americo took over (as a Florentine citizen he was supposedly not affected by the Treaty).

The ships navigated not too close to the shores of South America and supposedly discovered the Rio de la Plata (River Plate) named River Jordan, then along the coast of Patagonia to Porto San Giuliano (very likely San Julián where Magellan wintered in 1519-20). Americo stated they reached 50°S, almost the latitude of the Strait of Magellan. The weather turned sour and the expedition returned to Lisbon persuaded that America was a continent that ran from north to south on the western side of the Atlantic Ocean.

Vespucio wrote that he had sailed to a southern latitude of fifty degrees (source) and this is reasonable since he also stated that they had sailed 600 leagues south of Cabo Frías (close to Rio de Janeiro), this would take them right down to the Strait of Magellan.

For those interested in the Argentine and Patagonian part of Vespucio's journey see this El descubrimiento del río de la Plata y la Patagonia por Vespucio en 1502 - Pruebas y concordancias By Roberto Levillier. Argentina Austral, 1952, Vol. 24 No.256.

Could the Ancient seafaring nations of the Mediterranean have used the same route that Cabral or Vespucio used? The Phoenicians, Carthaginians, and Romans didn't have ships as versatile as those used by the Iberian people like caravels, and lacked the compass and astrolabe used by the Spaniards and Portuguese. However, the Vikings managed to weather the choppy North Atlantic, and the Ancient navigators sailed around Africa, to "Thule" and traded with Britain and Gaul, so why should we have doubts about the navigating skills of the ancient Mediterranean people?

Sources.
(1) Americo Vespucio—Pioneer Celo-Navigator And Geographer. By Frederick J. Pohl and Captain Leonard B. Loeb, U. S. Naval Reserve (Ret.) April 1957 Proceedings Vol. 83/4/650.

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

The 1922 Plesiosaur Expedition

Caras y Caretas magazine in its issue 1224 of March 17, 1922 published two articles about the "Plesiosaur". One was written by Clemente Onelli ("Lo del Animal Misterioso" - "About the Mysterious Animal"), he was the Director of the Buenos Aires Zoo (see article here), and it included the famous letter written to him by Martin Sheffield, telling him about the plesiosaur he saw at a lake beside his hunting cabin.

About the mysterious animal by Clemente Onelli. From Caras y Caretas No. 1224.

The second article was titled "En Busca del Plesiosaurio" - "In Search of the Plesiosaur" (see the page here), can be seen in the image shown below, that included a cartoon of the expedition with the long-necked animal in the distance, captioned "how the author of Sarrasqueta sees the expedition that Mr. Onelli is organizing". There is a photograph of Dr. Vaccari, and the text says that Doctor Augusto Vaccari representing Caras y Caretas will go on this "risky and worthy exploring commission that will go to Patagonia in search of the plesiosaur, the famous animal of prehistoric origin whose fantastic appearance in a southern lake has stirred intense emotions in all social and scientific circles around the world. Whatever outcome the expeditionaries reach it is undoubtable that the risk of hunting it or not hunting it will duplicate the pictouresque value of the great adventure."

Vaccari and the cartoon. Caras y Caretas

Our next posts will look into this extravagant expedition chasing a non-existent plesiosaur

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

Jules Verne's hippo in Chilean Patagonia

Back in 2009 I posted about refernces on the Patagonian hippopotamus.

In it I noted that Jules Verne had mentioned this animal in one of his books (Deux Ans de vacances), from where (see page 250) is the text quoted below, which I translated from its original French into English. In it, he mentions the hippopotamus:

"Around eight o'clock, while the team was painfully making its way along the edge of the bog, the shouts of Cross and Webb, who were walking a little ahead, brought Doniphan running first, then the others after him.
In the middle of the Bogwoods mud, about a hundred paces away, wallowed an enormous animal that the young hunter immediately recognized. It was a hippopotamus, fat and pink, which—fortunately for him—disappeared beneath the thick tangle of the marsh before it could be shot. What good, anyway, was such a useless shot!
"What's that big beast?" asked Dole, quite worried just from having glimpsed it.
"It's a hippopotamus," Gordon replied.
"A hippopotamus!... What a funny name!" "It's like a river horse," replied Briant.
"But it doesn't look like a horse!" Costar remarked very aptly.
"No!" cried Service, "and I think we would have done better to call it a pigpotamus!"

Hippopotamus text. Jules Verne

The original English language translation appeared in 1889 as a two-volume edition "Two Year's Vacation". It was also published in the UK under the name "Adrift in the Pacific".

On page 165 Verne also has the marooned boys find a ñandú, the South American ostrich, a distant relative of the African ostrich. They also hunted guanacos on the island.

Below is an engraving from the book (source) with the castaways lasooing guanacos in a thick forest.

There are no ñandús or guanacos on the western side of the Andes, they don't live in the rain-drenched islands along the coast. They are creatures of the arid steppe, to the east of the Andes. Right animals, wrong place. In the case of the hippopotamus, it is wrong animal, wrong place. Why would Verne place a hippopotamus on the island?

The boys are shipwrecked on an Island on the Southwestern Pacific coast of Chile, they named it Chairman Island, after their boarding-school in Auckland, New Zealand. The real island would probably be Hannover Island.

The castaways manage to get back to civilization and reach Punta Arenas, Chile.

Hippos in South America

There have been references (see my 2009 post) about hippos in South America, and I have found another one.

Thomas Ewbank, in his work "A Description of the Indian Antiquities Brought from Chile and Peru" published in 1855, (see pages 134 and 135 displays an image (below, red arrow "I") and comments that "Figure I. Is a calcareous stone, wrought in imitation of a bear or hippopotamus. The resemblance to the latter is the greatest; but the difficulty is, how ancient Peruvians could obtain a knowldege of that animal."

Hippopotamus-like sculpture, Peru. Source

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

George Musters journey (1869-70): An interactive Map

I have just finished an interactive Google Map with the campsites mentioned by Musters during his long journey from Pavón Island on the Santa Cruz River in Southern Patagonia, and Carmen de Patagones on the Negro River, in Buenos Aires province, in Northern Patagonia.

This is the link to the map.

It includes text from Musters book (online)

And I used the maps in this book (big one) and (small one) as references.

I read an interesting book (Patagonia - Following in the footsteps of Musters, by Álvaro de Brito and Marlis Kuhlmann) about Muster's journey. It helped confirm several locations, though I disagree with several campsite locations and chose other spots.

I will, at a later date, add his first leg, from Punta Arenas, Chile, to the Santa Cruz River.

Musters map. Copyright © 2025 by Austin Whittall

Some locations are approximate, Musters did not provide latitude or longitude of his campsites, and lakes, springs, gullies, crags, hills and dry rivers are found all across Patagonia. His map isn't very clear either. So, it is work ongoing! Suggestions are welcome.

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

Patagonia during the Last Ice Age

Glaciers covered the Andean region, and part of the Patagonian steppe during the Ice Ages that took place over the past 2 million years. The remaining Ice Field are minute in comparison to the ice sheets that the first natives, the Paleo-Indians encountered when they reached the area around 20,000 years ago.

I found an Excellent interactive map online (see it online here) ) that shows how the ice fields evolved as they melted, the glacial lakes they formed, and how the Patagonian coasline changed as sea levels rose. Below are two still from the animated map showing the panorama 35 and 15 kya.

Ice sheets over the years. Source: Patice

It is interesting to point out that the Patagonian sea shelf covered a vast aerea (now submerged) covering around 180,000 km² (70,000 sq. mi.). Sea levels were roughtly 120 m (395 ft) lower than current levels, and the shelf would have been on average, 170 km wide (110 mi.) This was a unique ecological niche for the first Patagonians to hunt, gather, and live on. The megafauna and forests would have extended eastwards along what is now the steppe region more in this paper).

The Ice Fields nowadays

Below are some pictures of the remaining Ice Fields. The Southern Ice Field ranks third globally in size after the Antarctic and Greenland. But, declining due to climate change.

North Patagonian Ice Field, seen from space. Looking West. It is 125 km (78 mi.) long.

South Patagonian Ice Field, seen from space. From left to right Lakes Argentino, Viedma, San Martin, Cardiel in Argentina. Far left lakes in the Torres del Paine Nat. Park, Chile . Looking West. It is 350 km (220 mi.) long.

Mount Fitz Roy and a part of the South Patagonian Ice Field

Monte Sarmiento in the Darwin Ice Field, Tierra del Fuego.

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

Sites in Chile show Human activity 17.3 to 12.8 Ky ago

Arecent study published in 2024 (Pérez-Balarezo A, Pino M, Navarro-Harris X, et al. Revised pre-Younger Dryas chronocultural sequence at the Pilauco site, north-western Patagonia (40°–44°S). Antiquity. 2024;98(399):e16. doi:10.15184/aqy.2024.29) reported an older than expected date for stone tools in Patagonia.

These tools were dated to "17,300–12,800 cal BP, which indicates human presence in north-western Patagonia prior to the Younger Dryas period.."

The stone tools were obtained from two sites located in Pilauco and Los Notros, in the Chilean Lake Region in northern Patagonia, close to the city of Osorno.

The Younger Dryas was took place roughly 11,700-13,000 years ago during which the Northern Hemisphere cooled significantly while there was a warm period in the Southern Hemisphere. The Last Ice Age was coming to an end, but there were variations in the weather on a global scale, with rainfall pattern altered, global cooling, glaciers advancing in the North, but retreating in the South.

This finding is significant because it shows that modern humans were present in Chile at least 3,000 years before the currently accepted dates. This suggests that humans reached America much earlier.

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

The "lake Monster" of Lake Rosario: just a clump of algae (didymo?)

An article published yesterday (16 Sep. 2019) in the Spanish language online journal "Diario Jornada" (¿Un monstruo en Lago Rosario?, based in the Patagonian province of Chubut, Argentina, mentions a strange sighting in Lago Rosario, a lake set on the eastern foothills of the Andes. The article's title translated to English reads: "A monster in Lake Rosario?".

Well, no it wasn't a monster, actually it looks like a clump of algae trailing green scum underwater.

Photos from the article:

The "monster" was only a blob of algae. Diario Jornada

The video also shows a clump of lake weeds -although some might think it looks like a gigantic jelly fish or medusa:

It was filmed about four years ago, and published now. The lake is located close to the towns of Esquel and Trevelin in Argentina (see this Map.

In a post back in Feb. 2010 I mentioned the Lake Bulls, a Patagonian myth, and among the lakes that reported sightings, was Lake Rosario:

"Lake Rosario also Laguna del Toro Negro (Lake of the black bull). (43°16' S, 71°20' W). Set on the edge of the steppe its shores are surrounded by ñire forests and with the mighty Andes are its backstage.
The local natives tell an ancient tale about a fierce black bull that lived by the lake that killed the son of an Indian chief who had tried to hunt it. The grieving chief in turn killed the bull, which, even dead, can often be heard howling and "seen swimming in the lake".
Another version says that the lake was formed when a White Bull "one night, furious, pounded a water spring with its hoofs". In this version the howling being is not the bull, but the spirit of the dead Indian"

I also posted on Lake Rosario in Nov. 2009, saying that "The lake is also said to have a Cuero (see our post on Cuero)and a mermaid “sirena” - (see our post on Mermaids)".

Floating clumps of algae can surely explain these sightings. And I hadn't seen such masses of lake algae in any Patagonian lake until now. I should point out however that there is a species of exotic invasive algae, the Didymosphenia geminata also known as "didymo" or "rock snot" that has recently been expanding rapidly in Patagonia. It originated in the northern parts of the Northern Hemisphere and is now found in New Zealand, Chile, Argentina and the lower 48 states of the US. See distribution map below:

Could this algae in the video by rock snot? Below some photos of didymo:

Not all that floats in a lake and looks unusual is a monster. It can be some invasive algae.

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Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia Copyright 2009-2019 by Austin Whittall © 

Neanderthal Rock Art and Patagonia. A link.

In February 2012, I posted about the similarity between stencilled hands painted on rocks in Patgonia, South America and in New Guinea. Of course some readers pointed out that these hands are common and humans have painted them on rocks around the World. So I forgot about it until this afternoon when I read about the following image:

Neanderthal Rock Art. From Nature

And the surprising fact is that these hands were stencilled onto the stone walls of a cave by Neanderthals!

They were painted on what is known as the "Panel of Hands" in El Castillo Cave, Spain. At the site there are hand stencils and red disks. The hands were painted by blowing paint over a hand and once the hand is removed, the outline remains on the wall.

This is excactly the same technique that was used at the Patagonian World Heritage Site of the UNESCO, "Hands Cave" or "Cueva de las Manos"! (see the google map here to see where it is).

The red disks have been dated to be older than 40.8 ky old. And this is the point: it is the oldest rock art in Europe and it is attributed to Neanderthals because it is far too old to have been made by Homo Sapiens. [1]

Compare it with the Patagonian paintings, the similarities are striking:

These Patagonian paintings are old, very old by American standards: 9,500 to 13,000 years old (read more about this UNESCO site). And they are quite different from later rock art by the "descendants" of the Paleoindians who painted them. Below is an example of later rock art from Patagonia:

The Spanish Neanderthal also painted red dots onto the walls of their cave (see below):

The Cueva de las Manos site also has red dots, in two places at least; I saw them when I visited this place and took the following photographs. One shows the the top of the outcrop, yes, on the ceiling, and in the second photograph there are many dots, next to a hand and an animal tortoise? armadillo? (the latter are common in Patagonia):

And, surprisingly, so did the Patagonians at the Cueva de las Manos site! I saw them myself, and below is the photgraph I took:

Comments

The different Patagonian natives had several myths about the rock art in the caves; below are some quotes from my book Monsters of Patagonia:

• "Anchimalleguen or midget walichus [evil genies] that live in the caves of the Nahuel-Huapi"
• Ellengassen: "These beings existed before, but now they are extinct. They were harmless and never attacked. But when one came near them—especially at dusk—they threw stones. These strange beings lived in caves"
• "‘Kollón’ (the stone masked devil to whom they attributed rock-art)"

Were Kollón, Ellengassen and the Anchimalleguen different manifestations of Human - Neanderthal contact in America? I have posted about this Gualicho & Kollon myths: based on Neanderthal?, so I will not repeat the argument here. The fact is that now that I know Neanderthals also painted their hands on the walls of caves just like those found in Patagonia, I wonder... who painted the Cueva de las Manos? Humans? Paleoindians? or Neanderthals?

Sources

[1] A. W. G. Pik, (2012). U-Series Dating of Paleolithic Art in 11 Caves in Spain. Science 15 June 2012: Vol. 336 no. 6087 pp. 1409-1413 DOI: 10.1126/science.1219957

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Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia Copyright 2009-2014 by Austin Whittall © 

Iemisch sighting in Puerto Natales

One of our readers, recently wrote a comment to my post Iemisch the Patagonian Water Tiger, in which he describes a very unusual and interesting sighting of a Iemisch!. I want to share it with you and go over the possible creatures that could have been the "culprits" of this very odd sitghting.

You will notice that I am reluctant to jump to conclusions. That is: hey!!! you saw a IEMISCH! Wow!!.

I am a cautious yet optimist cryptozoologist.

An Unusual sighting in Puerto Natales, Chile

Anonymous
February 21, 2014 at 9:19 PM
hello there Austin , this is an interesting article , my wife and I live in Puerto Natales and were travelling back into Natales in the early hours of the morning on route 9 , when an animal crossed in front of us and I braked to avoid hitting it (it was a close call as I had to reverse to check I had been quick enough ) when I had done so we both saw that it was something we had not seen in the area before, (my wife was born and raised in Natales ) after searching the internet for Patagonian wild life and having no luck with a match , I stumbled upon your site today and the illustration is incredibly close to what we saw ,the other strange thing about this encounter is that the animal showed absolutely no signs of fear given the fact that we had almost hit it with our 4wd, it just continued on its way as if oblivious to our presence , the animal we saw seemed to be heavier than the illustration ,It almost appeared pregnant? as it had a waddle to its gait, just thought we would let you know about this encounter and would be interested to hear your comments on this

The ilustration that they mention is shown below, and further down a map showing the location of the sighting:

Iemisch. Copyright © 2014 by Austin Whittall

Map showing Puerto Natales in Chile. Copyright © 2014 by Austin Whittall

I racked my brains to find a candidate that was both a regular Patagonian animal but at the same time unkonwn in Puerto Natales, Chile. My reply is below:

AW
February 24, 2014 at 6:34 PM
Thank you for taking the time to share this interesting close encounter with us all.
How big was it? The only other option I can think about based on your comment about it being heavy is that it may be a beaver.
Beavers were introduced into Tierra del Fuego by the Argentine navy to make pelts and then set free!! they are now a scourge in the Isla Grande and moving north along the coast. They have reached the mainland and even spotted close to Puerto Natales.
See the article (it has a photo too) on one caught close to P. Natales.
http://www.laprensaaustral.cl/cronica/capturan-castor-que-era-intensamente-buscado-en-ultima-esperanza-30267.
Do any of our readers have any suggestions?
Thanks!
Austin

Beavers

I have more space here to expand my suggestion that the animal was a Beaver.

Beavers (Castor canadensis) are not native to South America, they live in Northern North America and, as exoctic animals were introduced into Tierra del Fuego in 1946 by the Argentine Navy.

They were trying to establish a fur industry in the region. The venture failed and the animals were set free in Lake Fagnano, which is shared by Argentina and Chile.

The lack of predators and a favorable habitat led to their proliferation. They have caused considerable damage to the island's forests and have further expanded their range to neighboring islands.

They have reached the mainland and have been spotted south of Puerto Natales, close to Punta Arenas, and, as can be seen in the article I quote above, now they have reached Puerto Natales.

Our exchange continues

Anonymous
March 13, 2014 at 11:20 AM
Hello there Austin , thanks for your feed back on this , with reference to your suggestion of this been a beaver , the animal we saw had a long thin tail ,not wide and short as you would expect to see on a beaver , and as for the size ,it was about the size of a small dog and was quite close to the ground , as mentioned before the impression you have of the lemisch in your gallery is almost identical to what we encountered on route 9 , and the fact that this was not a fleeting encounter leaves us a bit puzzled as to what it may have been , perhaps the lemisch is still around in Chilean Patagonia?

Evidently the long thin tail eliminates the beaver (which has a fat paddle shaped tail). Could it be one of the other infrequently sighted Patagonian mammals: the otters?.

AW
March 13, 2014 at 7:13 PM
Maybe it is a Huillin, the Patagonian otter. Quite rare and not often seen.
A picture can be found here... http://www.lacachania.com.ar/noticia.php?id_nota=1706

Otters

There are several "otter-like" aquatic mammals in Patagonia which are likely candidates to explain the sighting:

The coipo (Myocastor coypus) is also known as 'nutria' (Spanish for otter). Some English texts call it the South American beaver yet it is neither an otter nor a beaver.

Coipo (Myocastor coypus)

It is a small and stout vegetarian about 63 cm (25 in.) long and weighing about 7 kg (15.4 lb.). It has strong sharp claws and natatory membranes on its feet but not on its front paws.

It is riverine in north western Patagonia and sea-going in southern Chile.

There are two genuine otter species in Patagonia the chungungo or chinchimen (Lontra felina), which lives on the rocky and exposed shores of the Pacific coast all the way to Cape Horn and the huillín or Patagonian otter (Lontra provocax) whose currently reduced territory is located in some rivers and lakes in the Andean forest regions of Neuquén, Río Negro and (maybe) northwestern Chubut. Formerly their habitat included all the great rivers that cross the Patagonian steppe (Negro, Chubut, Corcovado, Senguer and also at Nahuel Huapi and, yes, Colhue Huapi lakes).

The chinchimen, is not very impressive size-wise, it is about 50 cm (20 in.) long, but it is quite vicious; the Spaniards called it "Sea Cat" and noted that "these little animals are as fierce as the wild cats and in a similar manner attack those who approach them and their shout is hoarse and very similar to the roar of the tiger".

The huillín on the other hand twice as long: 110 cm (3 ft. 7 in.); and more fearsome and bold.

Quite big and with short egs they woud be "Close to the ground" and "the size of a small dog" and have a "long thin tail". I took a photo of an embalmed Huillin at the Perito Moreno Museum in Bariloche, I have never seen a living one (even though I have spent many months strolling the shores of Patagonian lakes and plying their waters in boats while fishing).

An embalmed Huillín. Photo by A. Whittall

The American Mink

The American mink (Neovison vison) is a species os mustelid which is native to North America but, thanks to our help, as been introduced into different parts of the World, among them, Southern South America.

It was brought to southern Chile (Punta Arenas and Coyhaique) between 1934 and 1936, to breed them for their fine fur, but the scheme failed and the animals were set free. Nowadays they are found from the Bío Bío River in northern Patagonia, to Tierra del Fuego in the south. They prey on the huillín and may be responsible for its dwindling numbers. They also kill coipo.

They are not very big: 0.5 to 1.6 kg (1 - 4 lb.) and measure 31 - 45 cm (1 to 1.5 ft.) with a tail of 15 to 25 cm (6 to 10 in.).

An Anmerican Mink

The beaver, mink, coipo and otters are the "known" mammals, those described and studied scientifically. There are others, some only mentioned in native lore, cryptids, and others known from their fossil remains. Below we will look into them.

There is however another alternative, a creature seldom mentioned, the Saapaim, a cryptid:

Saapaim. The mysterious Fuegian creature

Apart from the modern invasion of beavers, Tierra del Fuego was home to another strange creature, the saapaim. See the map above (Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego Island and, Ushuaia the site of the Anglican Mission).

We know that it was not an otter, which the Yagan natives called aiapuk. In July 1869, The Anglican Missionary, Thomas Bridges wrote about this animal noting that the Indians called it "saapaim". He described it as: "very shaggy, about as large as a sheep, has very large and powerful claws and front teeth; it lives in the densest forests on the leaves, fungus and sap of trees. It climbs with ease. I think this animal must be a sloth.".

Previously, in 1866, he had written that there were "beavers" in western Tierra del Fuego (these were not Canadian Beavers, who were introduced 80 years later, but some local native creature).

Intiguingly he later (1886) dropped the sloth-beaver likeness and considered it a fresh-water otter "called saapai by the natives. His son Lucas also said that it was not an otter, but a coipo that the Yagans called "sayapie", and which he described as a large water rat.

However reverend Bridges' original description is not that of an otter or a coipo (they do not climb trees). It is also surprising that he believed that it was some sort of sloth thirty years before the mylodon remains were discovered in the region.

The Saapaim's powerful claws are interesting because it agrees with the native Patagonian myths of clawed monsters. However, having front teeth it can’t be an edentate. Size-wise it seems too small to have been a water tiger but much larger than any known otter. Maybe it is a surviving 'large rodent' related to some megafaunal remains were found at the Mylodon Cave close to Puerto Natales.

A Water Rat?

Rodents, also known as Rodentia is an order of mammals that are characterized by having continuously growing incisors in their upper and lower jaws; these must be kept short by gnawing.

Though most rodents are small (i.e. mice or rabbits) the largest extant rodent, the South American capybara or carpincho (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris), can weigh up to 80 kg (180 lb.). Carpincho is an aquatic hog-like animal, bulky and with thick bushy reddish hair.

The group of scientist led by Francisco Moreno which in the late 1800s tried to explain the iemisch, suggeste that "it is very probable that the amphibian that they [the natives] say walks on land as easily as it swims in the water, is a big rodent".

Could the water tiger be a big water rat? The remains that they found at Eberhardt Cave in Puerto Natales belonged to a rodent that was "much bigger than the carpincho […] but a bit smaller than the Megamys patagonensis".

A Capybara or Carpincho

However carpincho's don't have a long slender tail so they (or some related species) be the animal sighted in Puerto Natales. Nevertheless, a Megamys would have been a very big 'rat' indeed, because the M. patagoniensis were giants; they were four times larger than any living species of Rodentia, roughly the size of an ox.

The Megamy was related to the extant Chinchilla of the Andean mountains and, to the Desmarest's hutia or Cuban Hutia, which is endemic to Cuba (Capromys pilorides). It weighs up to 8.5 kg (18 lb.).

Looking at the photo below, it seems a close fit to the Puerto Natales sighting: short, stout, long thin tail... otter like.

A Cuban Hutia (Caproimys pilorides)

A big aquatic rodent, though herbivore could be quite a threat if frightened or protecting its young. It could be possible that the Iemisch water tiger was precisely this large ‘rat-like’ aquatic creature.

Biographies

Thomas Bridges (1842–1898). English Anglican minister who from 1869 until he retired in 1887 headed the mission among the Yagans, founding what is now the town of Ushuaia. He later obtained a land grant from the Argentine government close to the town, and set up his estancia (sheep ranch) at Harberton. He also wrote a very complete Yagan language dictionary.
Stephen Lucas Bridges (1874-1949). He was the third son of Thomas Bridges. Lucas was the first European to be born in Tierra del Fuego. He grew up among the Yagans and learnt their language and customs. He moved from Ushuaia to Harberton in 1887, where his father established a ranch after retiring from mission work. In 1902 he set up his own ranch at Viamonte, where he would meet and befriend the Selk’nam. His autobiographic book Uttermost Part of the Earth (1948) is a valuable source on Fuegian anthropology.

Source

My book, Monsters of Patagonia.

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Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia Copyright 2009-2014 by Austin Whittall © 

The enchanted city of Patagonia

I have already posted about the Professor J. G. Wolfe of La Plata University and his Tertiary Human skull,which turned out to be a geofact and not an ancient skull. Today I will post about his "enchanted city".

This Professor J. G. Wolf (or Wolff) was in Patagonia in 1922 - 23, during the period of the uproar over the alleged sighting of a Plesiosaur in that region. I have not been able to find out which were his academic qualifications or from what country he came from, but I have transcribed the most interesting part of his story from an article published in the New York Times on Sept. 4, 1922:

The Lost city

"I was awakened out of the drowsy wakefulness in which I was trotteng along by the curious aspect of a hill in front of me which showed a regular line of stones on top.
... I galloped near. Verily, it was a work of man and not a mere play of nature's fancy.
... Looking down from a height of about fifteen yards into the depth where a little creek was trickling along, my eyes took in the full view of a structure, a wall extending over about 150 yards, consisting of square boulders well chiselled and cemented with a dark substance. Two buttresses to what I instantly classed as remnants of an ancient fortification, and a number of smaller walls, one of them unmistakably the ruin of a former dwelling place.
Closer inspection revealed several strange designs carved on othe walls, one ornamental and reminding me of the designs found on Mexican ruins, the other still more curious, the tail of an animal, resembling the tail of the mysterious glyptodonte, a gigantic prehistoric turtle, extinct for hundreds of centuries. Besides that, I could discern two big arches well worked into the rear of the main wall, a proof of advanced workmanship and a state of high sculpture.

This finding took place in the southeast of the province of Santa Cruz, in Argentina, and Wolf describes the location as follows:

"I was riding with a Chilean friend from the latter's estancia in the north of the Lago Cardiel in a southerly direction intent upon visiting some Indian settlements southeast of that big lake..."

A few months later, an expedition under Riggs arrived at the Argentine port of Río Gallegos and: [2]

"... Shortly After Riggs' Arrival in Rio Gallegos, a certain J. G. Wolfe introduced himself and offered his services to the expedition. Wolfe claimed to have been a museum curator in Rio Gallegos and to have held a commission in the Argentine army. But what aroused Riggs' interest, more than his credentials, was Wolfe's description of a "Tertiary human skull" and an "enchanted city." [2].

They enlisted him into the expedition and went into the Patagonian wilderness keen on both findings. The skull turned out to be a stone, and the "city":

"Once there, Riggs experienced another disappointment as the "city" proved to be nothing more than an intrusive bed of lava or dike, as it is known in geological parlance. The "city" filled a fissure in the surrounding cays and had subsequently been laid bare by erosion. Local residents saw nothing unusual in it, for a number of similar structures were to be found in the area" [2]

The wall was a dike! Below is an image showing how lava dikes form:

How a Lava dike is formed, cross cut of the terrain. Copyright © 2014 Austin Whittall

The map below shows the area around Lake Cardiel. A large heart-shaped lake about 20 km diameter (12.5 mi) and 370 km² (143 sq. mil.) surface area. It is quite shallow (76 m - 249 ft. max. depth).

Unlike most Patagonian lakes, it was not excavated by the glaicers during the Ice Ages, and it is not the impact crater of a meteorite or a volcanic crater even though it is located in an area with vast basaltic fields. It was formed by faulting which caused a depression. Its waters are sligthly alkaline and is a good fishig spot for trout.

It is a closed basin that gathers the scant rainfall of the surruounding mesas. [3]

Sources

[1] Patagonia's Lost Race. New discovery of fortification and inscriptions indicates state of Culture, N. Y. Times, 04 Sept. 1922.
[2] Larry G. Marshal Adventures in Patagonia. Field Museum of Natural History Bulletin. March 1978 Vol 49 No. 3. pp 4+
[3] Route 40, Argentina From Tres Lagos to Perito Moreno.

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Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia Copyright 2009-2014 by Austin Whittall © 

Southern South American Manatees

Manatees belong to one genus, Trichechus. It is made up by three species: one living along the southeastern coast of the US, the Central and South American coast along the Caribean. Another lives in the Amazon and Orinoco Rivers and a third one, on the shores of Senegal, in Western Africa.

They are big aquatic mammals measuring over 4 m (12 feet) long and weighing more than 1,000 kg (2,200 lb.). They graze the grasses and plants that grow in the river beds.

Their have adapted well to their aquatic environment: their front limbs have flattened into webbed flippers and they have a flat - single lobed dorsal tail. Their body is streamlined and they are excellent swimmers, capable of staying under water for over 15 minutes. Nevertheless, they are not capable of moving on land. [3]

A manatee, from [3]

The Amazon manatee is exclusively a fresh water creature, the others live in sat water and freshwater. All live in warm waters, from the Equator to roughly 20° from it.

Could these placid animals explain the "lake creature" sightings in Patagonia such as the "lake bulls"? Today's post will look into this question.

South American home to ancient Manatees

Manatee remains have been found in Argentina, along the banks of the Paraná River. They have been dated to the Upper Miocene (see my post on Miocene Americas)

These remains belong to the Rigodon limbatus a genus of the extant Trichechus manatees; it lived in the Upper Tertiary, and very likely belongs to the filogenetic line that leads to the modern Trichechus manatees.

The genus was first described by Florentino Ameghino in 1883 based on an upper molar found embedded in the clary cliffs along the shores of the Paraná River. He originally thought it may belong to a genus of the Tapiridae family, but after checking other molars he correctly identified them as belonging to a Sirenid -Sirenids span not only manatees but their relatives, the dugongs- in 1892 (he believed it to belong to the familiy of the Halitheridae, but we now know that they were Trichechidae.) [1]

Florentino Ameghino (1854-1911) was an anthropologist, zoologist and paleontologist. In 1886, he worked as Secretary and Sub-Director of the La Plata Museum. Between 1902 and 1911 he was Director of the Buenos Aires National Museum. Together with his brother Carlos he secured a large collection of Patagonian fossils and transformed South American geological studies.

He firmly believed humans had evolved in America and dispersed to the rest of the world from here. He also belived that extant mylodons could be found in Patagonia. He was a controversial scientist, yet many of his discoveries have proved sound.

Nowadays there are no manatees in the River Plate Basin, which comprises a large portion of southern South America spanning Brazil, Paraguay,Uruguay, Bolivia and Argentina, including the Paraná, Paraguay and Uruguay Rivers.

Could they have lived there until recently? An article written in 1899 seems to confirm this idea. It was written by Florencio de Basaldúa, an Argentine government official:

"While I was on a tour of duty for the National Government in the Territory of Misiones, I heard that Left Tennant Basualdo, subdelegate at the Port of Santo Tomé, on the shores of the upper Uruguay River, on the border with Brazil, reported to the General Ports Commander the existence of a great amphibian monster, whose lair was in a deep pool, close to his post. He believed it to be a hippopotamus, which the Brazilians living along the shore called mio-cao," [Bold mine] "because they had seen it swim in the river and graze on its shores, assuring that it was not Danta, Anta or Gran Bestia, common in that area" [Great Beast, all these names refer to the Tapir]. "And was not similar to any other animal that lives in those regions... [2]

Of course, we are well aware that hippopotami only live in Africa, and we imagine Basaldúa knew that too. So when he later met Florentino Ameghino and jokingly told him about this creature. Ameghino told him not to laugh about that story,and mendioned that in the past Augusto Bravard had reported a creature, the Manatus of the Paraná and Uruguay rivers, similar to the Manatee or sea cow of the Amazon.

This does not mean that Bravard actually saw one, it is more likely that he found bones or teeth. More research is needed on this point.

Basualdúa's "Mio-Cao"

Interestingly, the creature mentioned by Basaldua as a Mio-Cao is a well known South American cryptid. It is the Minhocao or "Giant Earthworm". A snake-like being measuring 50 m (150 ft.) long and 5 m (15 ft.) wide.

However, being so big and, based on the description below, it is not something that one would identify with a Manatee. Perhaps Basaldúa used the wrong name to describe it.

The Minhocao's body is covered with scales, its skin is armored. It has a pig-like snout. Being a worm it lives underground but, is also amphibious. It burrows deep, attacks animals while they are crossing rivers and turns boats over. It knocks down trees, undermines roads and is found across the southern Amazon, southern Brazil and Uruguay.

All of these features are very unlike those of the placid grass munching manatee. Surely Minhocao and manatee are not the same creature. But the grazing bulky aquatic animal mentioned by Basaldúa is quite similar to a manatee.

Manatees, some extinct species

Manatees are endangered species, hunted for their blubber and meat, and accidentally hit by water craft and hurt by propellers, they are under pressure.

In a previous post, I mentioned another sirenid, a variety of manatee (Stller's sea cow) which lived in the North Pacific Ocean, close to Alaska and the Aleutian Islands and was hunted to extinction. I also conjectured about a possible "Sea Cow" in the South Pacific Coast of Chile.

There was also another manatee that lived on Saint Helena Island in the mid South Atlantic Ocean. These manatees were killed by the locals for their oil. The last sighting took place in 1810.

St. Helena is a tropical island located in the South Atlantic Ocean, about 1,950 km (1,210 mi.) from Africa and 2,900 km (1,800 mi.) from South America.

However, at the island's Manatee Bay -suggestive name indeed- manatee sightings have been reported recently [4][8].

An article printed in 1873 stated that in the early 1800s they were very abundant on the island: "at the beginning of this century the Manati or Manatee Sea cow or Sea lion existed in such numbers as to furnish employment for a fishery on it" [St. Helena Island] [5].

Yet, in the next paragraph it surmises that it was most likely a seal and not a manatee. Other authors belive it was a seal too (see:Theodor Mortensen, 1933).

Seals eat fish, manatees graze on sea grass and sea weeds... St. Helena island has over 60 marine algae and one species of red algae (Predaea feldmannii) is reported to be endemic. Close to the shore, at the base of the cliffs, there " is rock with a coating of seaweed and molluscs" [9], that means that there was food for them.

So here we have a possible sea-going manatee in the mid Atlantic. Could it have also dwelled along the South Atlantic coast? There is plenty of kelp in that area, enough to support a large manatee population. The cold water would not have been a problem (Steller's sea cow dealt with it in the freezing Alaskan waters).

Manatees and hippopotamus in Chile

We have information that there were manatees in Southern Chile: they are mentioned by Father Juan Ignacio Molina, the first European naturalist to describe Chilean animals in his book “Essay On The Natural History Of Chile” (1810) [6]:

"In the Araucanian seas certain animals known as Sea Cows can sometimes be seen by its inhabitants; I could not assure if they are Lamantines or Rosmars, [walrus] or if they belong to another genus. According to the fuzzy description that they have given me, I am more inclined to believe that they belong to the species of the Trichecus Manatee. The first Spanirds who settled the large island of Juan Fernández captured a large quantity of such animals, on whose meat they joyfully fed; but the continuous killing that went on, has forced them to abandon the island's shores. [6]

Molina also mentions a variety hippopotamus in Chile, though he is cautious about it being a real creature (see my post on this): [6]

"The hippopotamus of rivers and lakes of the Araucan country, different to the African and similar in height and shape to the land horse but with palmed feet like those of seals. The existence of this animal is universally believed in, all over the country, and there are people […] who say they have seen its skin, which, they say, is covered with soft hair, of a color similar to that of tiny sea wolves."

Molina's is a very strange hippo; its soft fur makes it very different from the hair-less African variety. Also, its palmed feet differ from the hippo’s sturdy toes.

Historian José Toribio Medina mentions hippos en Chile in 1878: "I did not have the chance to see the sea horse. Based on the description of those who have seen it under water, I did not think that it was different to the African hippopotamus. Later, others who have seen it out of the sea, have told me that has the height of an ordinary horse, which it resembles in its head, tail and back, that its feet are like those of the seals, webbed." [7]

Toribio Medina's and Molina's descriptions are quite similar, but the animal they refer to is not a manatee, it is another type of beast, though what it is, will remain a mystery.

Getting back to our "sea cows", if there were sea cows on the Pacific Ocean seabord, and in St. Helena island, were there any along the Patagonian Atlantic coast?

Assuming that there were, could these creatures have swam upstream (along the Negro, Neuquén, Limay, Chubut, Senguer, Santa Cruz Rivers) towards the Patagonian Andean lakes, and originate the "Lake Bull" myths?

I am reading old sources to find refrences about sea cows in the South Atlantic Ocean. Who knows, we might find some surprises hidden in ancient texts.

Sources

[1] Rosendo Pascual, (1953). Sobre nuevos restos de Sirénidos del Mesopotamiense. Asociacion Geologica Argetina pp. 167. VIII No. 3, July 1953.
[2] Florencio de Basaldua, (1899), Monstruos Argentinos, Caras y Caretas II No. 32. May 13, 1899
[3] Trichechidae
[4] Lynas Murdoch, (2010). Four Years on St Helena. AuthorHouse, pp 82.
[5] Andrew Murray, Dec. 17, 1868. On the Geographical Relations of the Chief Colepterous Faunae. The Journal of the Linnean Society of London. vol 11, 1873 pp 16.
[6] Molina, J., (1986). Ensayo sobre la historia Natural de Chile. Santiago: Ediciones Maule. pp. 266
[7] Toribio Medina, J., (1878). Colección de historiadores de Chile y documentos.... vol 11
[8] G. C. Retching. Letters to Editor. Nature 138, 33-34 (04 July 1936), doi:10.1038/138033b0. The Manatee of St. Helena
[9] St Helena cle - JNCC. Defra.gov.uk

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Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia Copyright 2009-2014 by Austin Whittall ©