Ahuizotl
Location: Mexico
Time: Known primarily from ancient Aztec mythology.
Even with fairly ridiculous-sounding mythical beasts, occasional cryptozoological explanations and speculations are offered. Finding real animals behind myths may not be very fruitful, but looking into the cultural and psychological causes of monster myths can often tell us about the human psyche.
The ahuizotl is a mythical beast from Mexico that is said to resemble a dark-coloured, smooth pelted dog-like creature, with the hands of a racoon and a long prehensile tail ending in a growth that resembles a gripping human hand. These creatures were said to be responsible for dragging people into the water and drowning them, eating only the eyes, teeth and fingernails. What we may be seeing here is an attempt to rationalize deaths by accidental drowning, attributing them to a mythical creature. Fittingly, some stories tell of these beasts luring unwary people into drowning, by making calls like a crying baby. If someone was to discover a drowned corpse, whose eyes and other parts had fallen out due to early decay and scavengers, it would be all to easy to blame these odd symptoms on an evil spirit of the water. As to the animal behind the myth, aside from the grasping tail, otters may have served as an archetype for the myth, despite not being responsible for the drowning deaths themselves.
But how could we reconcile a speculative ahuizotl? An aquatic opossum, like the yapok (Chironectes minimus) would possess most of the requisite features, short smooth coat, dextrous hands, and prehensile tail. So, here we see the Ahuizotl (Lutradidelphis caninus), a large predatory water-opossum weighing up to 15 kilograms, with a very long tail. Being found mainly in secluded waterways, lakes and marshes, it builds a large den close to water where it will sleep and raise young. They possess strong, fanged jaws not unlike those of other opossums, and most often feed on fair sized fish and amphibians, as well as waterbirds. Prey is dispatched by a quick powerful bite, after which they will manipulate the food with their dextrous hands while eating. During the breeding season, male ahuizotl will fiercely attack humans that come too close to the breeding den, but stories of them drowning people with their tails are most probably exaggerated. Their tails are partly flattened and provide propulsion and steering when swimming, along with swimming strokes of their hind feet. True to the myth the tail is also prehensile, mainly being used to help gather nesting material for their dens. Mating occurs in the dry season, to prevent the den from being flooded; the male and female remain bonded until the young leave the pouch. When the joeys are in the pouch, the female refrains from swimming, being fed by the attentive male in her den. When the babies are big enough, they leave the pouch and follow their mother into the water; initially they cling to her tail as she swims, until they learn to swim on their own.
Location: Mexico
Time: Known primarily from ancient Aztec mythology.
Even with fairly ridiculous-sounding mythical beasts, occasional cryptozoological explanations and speculations are offered. Finding real animals behind myths may not be very fruitful, but looking into the cultural and psychological causes of monster myths can often tell us about the human psyche.
The ahuizotl is a mythical beast from Mexico that is said to resemble a dark-coloured, smooth pelted dog-like creature, with the hands of a racoon and a long prehensile tail ending in a growth that resembles a gripping human hand. These creatures were said to be responsible for dragging people into the water and drowning them, eating only the eyes, teeth and fingernails. What we may be seeing here is an attempt to rationalize deaths by accidental drowning, attributing them to a mythical creature. Fittingly, some stories tell of these beasts luring unwary people into drowning, by making calls like a crying baby. If someone was to discover a drowned corpse, whose eyes and other parts had fallen out due to early decay and scavengers, it would be all to easy to blame these odd symptoms on an evil spirit of the water. As to the animal behind the myth, aside from the grasping tail, otters may have served as an archetype for the myth, despite not being responsible for the drowning deaths themselves.
But how could we reconcile a speculative ahuizotl? An aquatic opossum, like the yapok (Chironectes minimus) would possess most of the requisite features, short smooth coat, dextrous hands, and prehensile tail. So, here we see the Ahuizotl (Lutradidelphis caninus), a large predatory water-opossum weighing up to 15 kilograms, with a very long tail. Being found mainly in secluded waterways, lakes and marshes, it builds a large den close to water where it will sleep and raise young. They possess strong, fanged jaws not unlike those of other opossums, and most often feed on fair sized fish and amphibians, as well as waterbirds. Prey is dispatched by a quick powerful bite, after which they will manipulate the food with their dextrous hands while eating. During the breeding season, male ahuizotl will fiercely attack humans that come too close to the breeding den, but stories of them drowning people with their tails are most probably exaggerated. Their tails are partly flattened and provide propulsion and steering when swimming, along with swimming strokes of their hind feet. True to the myth the tail is also prehensile, mainly being used to help gather nesting material for their dens. Mating occurs in the dry season, to prevent the den from being flooded; the male and female remain bonded until the young leave the pouch. When the joeys are in the pouch, the female refrains from swimming, being fed by the attentive male in her den. When the babies are big enough, they leave the pouch and follow their mother into the water; initially they cling to her tail as she swims, until they learn to swim on their own.