Fanged
mouse-deer identified after vanishing for a generation
A small group of silver-backed chevrotains, tiny
deer-like creatures, has been photographed in a Vietnamese forest after an
intense search. Lost to the
outside world for a generation—and feared extinct—a small deer-like species
with tiny fangs has been photographed tiptoeing through a dry lowland forest in
southern Vietnam. The last known scientific recording of the animal, known as
the silver-backed chevrotain (Tragulus
versicolor), dates to 1990, when a hunter killed one and donated the
specimen to scientists.Source :https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2019/11/silver-backed-chevrotain-mouse-deer-reappears-vietnam/
This made me think about other extinct fanged
creatures I wrote a blog in 2010 about sabre toothed tiger sightings.
Since then I have come across two other reported
sightings that I hadn’t included.
A 1998 Science Ilustrée article said that a
sabre-toothed cat had been seen emerging from a cave in Paraguay by a French
sailor named François Piquet in 1984. Loren Coleman wrote that this report could
be a rehashing of Matthiessen's story. The Science Ilustrée article also says that another sabre-toothed cat had been seen in Mexico.
Then this from 1991
“thanks
to the extensive and deep knowledge that the inhabitants of the region possess
their inhabitants, most of them hunters or farmers who spend a lot of time in
the forest. They had heard of the Dantero tiger and referred to him as any
other animal of the local fauna. However, we only obtained a unique and
invaluable detailed description of this elusive carnivore specialized in large
prey. The observation took place during the dry season - from November to March
- of 1991, while Tirson Sosa, a 50-year-old Indian Pemon was in the jungle
hunting, about three days upriver on the left bank of the Carrao River. The
animal, the size of an adult jaguar, emerged from the thicket to drink water in
a well. It was not a puma, since it did not present its long tail, nor a jaguar,
because it did not have the characteristic spots of its camouflage. He also
noted an important detail that caught his attention: although the cat was
positioned on fairly flat ground, the front legs were taller or more robust
than the rear. Its colour was yellowish brown or light brown, and what appeared
to be two large fangs emerged from the mouth.He immediately knew that he was
facing the rare, elusive and feared wairarima. "I've never seen anything
like this before," he told us. "He quietly appeared, and cautiously
vanished." When we show him a "field guide" illustration of a
prehistoric sabre-toothed feline, Sosa positively identified him as the Dantero
tiger. These prehistoric predators have powerful front legs, useful for
immobilizing their prey. The hunting manoeuvre ends with a heartbreaking bite
in the throat that its formidably armed mouth provides.”
Also in South America:
An ancient tar pit exposed when Venezuelan oil
workers laid a pipeline has yielded a rich trove of fossils, including a type
of sabre-toothed cat that palaeontologists had never found before in South
America. Scientists say the find holds the promise of many discoveries to come.The
fossils are 1.8 million years old and include skulls and jawbones
of six scimitar-toothed cats a variety of saber-toothed cat with shorter,
narrower canine teeth than other species.Researchers led by Venezuelan palaeontologist
Ascanio Rincon announced the discovery this month, saying in addition to
proving the cat once lived here, the find also should offer a rare window into
the environment shortly after North and South America became connected
following an age of separation.
When the sabre toothed tiger was roaming the
world,it was a colder, snowy or grassy plains environment. It would have to
adapted a lot to exist in hot areas ,in a jungle environment with different prey
to catch .However that is not impossible and at least one scientist thinks it
possible.
Alan Turner, paleontologist specialist in felines
and mammals in general, and author of ‘The big cats and their fossil relatives’,
believes that sabre-toothed felines, as well as other prehistoric species, can
survive today in a suitable environment.
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