Paraguay has its myths and legends but one of the strangest ones is the story of a creature called Mboya Jagwa, dog snake, a
water serpent 60 or 70 feet long with a head like a dog and a hooked tail. The
local people all agree the description of it, and one village was
said to have moved to another part of the country because one of these
creatures had settled nearby.
So a huge water serpent which is said to attain a
length from 60 to 100 feet. It is
unknown to modern science, although one white man now living in Paraguay is
said to have discovered a huge skeleton on the banks of a Riacho in the Choco.
He did not realise the value of his find, and took no steps to preserve it. The
Indians describe the creature as having a head like a dog, and as carrying that
similarity still further by yelping like a puppy.
“I have heard the story of an Indian who was
attacked by one in crossing a little river in the central (arid quite
populated) part of Paraguay. The serpeant swam swiftly towards the frightened
man, and swirling in the water attempted to envelop his victim in the coils of
his tail. The old man escaped this fate only by diving and escaping to the
shore.
All the Indians, the Paraguayans, and the
Correntinos of the North of Argentina vouch for the existence of this horrible
animal, and agree down to the smallest details in their descriptions of the
creature and its habits. I have known an Indian village to be moved to another
part of the country on account of the terror inspired by an "Mboya
Jagwa" which had taken up its abode at the river crossing in front of
their "toldos."
In the Cordilleras, stretching from Villa
Rica to the Rio Parand, people describe a probably extinct monster called the
Tiger Jaguar (Iguana-Dog)—a creature with the head and tail of an alligator and
the body of a dog. Now, these people have never had access to words of geology,
so cannot know that they are giving a fairly accurate description of the
"Dinosaurus," which existed in Colorado and Nebraska in immense numbers
during other geological periods”
Could there be
an ancient type of large snake living in Paraguay? It is always possible with
new creatures being discovered all the time and some that were thought to be
extinct re-appearing. Boa Constrictors are common there so another type of
snake could also survive there. I wonder if any modern day sightings will turn
up or will it remain just a story.
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