Unknown elephants and other large beasts
A statue found in the congo which allegedly depicts emela-ntouka; most likely a composite image imported from India by the native peoples
The word "pachyderm" means "thick skin", and animals included in it are elephants, rhinoceroses, and hippos . However, for this list I am including tapirs, pigs, and sea cows because they too have thick skins, and because it's easier to find a category for them this way. These animals are not related to one another (except rhinos and tapirs, which are), but are lumped together for their superficial similarities. They will be ordered as follows; elephants, rhinos, hippos, sirenians, tapirs and pigs.
Mammoths/mastodons (North America and Asia): Mammoth- or mastodon-like animals have been sighted with decreasing frequency for hundreds of years. It is very possible that wooly mammoths, and perhaps other proboscideans survived in North America, as the natives couldnt've killed them all off, but it is doubtful that they still survive today.
Pygmy elephant (Equatorial Africa): An elephant much smaller than the forest elephant is said to live in the central Congo rainforest. Most likely a new species of elephant, adapted to me much smaller to survive in dense forest.
Water elephant (French Congo AFRICA): An aquatic elephant that has been reported from the French Congo. Possibly a new genus of semi-aquatic elephant, or maybe even a surviving Platybeledont.
Sea elephant (Gambia AFRICA): A marine elephant like creature that has been reported from the Gambian coast. Possibly the same as the "trunko" creatures that have been sighted in very different places, like Africa's Natal coast, Queensland Australia, and Glaciar Island off of Alaska (these will be discussed more under misc). Probably the representitive of a new family of proboscideans that is adapted to a marine existence.
Thai "mammoths" (Thailand ASIA): Large, primitive-looking elephants have been seen commonly in a remote Thailand valley. These aren't really cryptids anymore, because photographs have been taken of them and a DNA sample was taken. This proved that these elephants were not surviving mammoths or stegodonts as once thought, but are really a strange population of Asian elephants which are using the fall-back gene for their hair, tusks and top of the head instead of the normal gene for the species. Whether these creatures are a new species or not is up for debate.
Congolese forest rhinoceros (Congo Basin and Western areas AFRICA): According to science, the only rhinos in Africa are the black rhino and the white rhino, both of whcih live in South and East Africa, with some populations formerly in the North. But rhinos have been reported from the Congo. They have been said to be long-bodied and low to the ground, with two horns of equal length and armour-like pleats of skin on their flanks. The only known rhinoceros that fits this description is the Sumatran rhino. It would be interesting tofind a second species of that genus in the Congo.
Emela-ntouka (Congo Rainforest AFRICA): A rather interesitng beast, there is much confusion over it's identity. There has been so much confusion regarding congolese cryptids, that many of them get lumped together and their identities warped. So it is with emela-ntouka. It is usualy said to be a squat creature with a long, strong tail and a single ivory horn protruding from it's snout. Sounds like a ceratopsian dinosaur. But, the forest rhinos reported from the Congo, which are specified to definitely be rhinos, are called emela-ntouka by the natives. And to add to the confusion, a sculpture from that same region (pictured top) portrays an animal that seems to blend the characterisitcs of the "popular" emela-ntouka and the "rhinoceroid" emela-ntouka. The creature in the sculpture is definitely a mammal, as it's elephant-like ears show, and it reminds me much of a titanothere, but they didn't have a thick tail like that! I can only asume that it is some formof large mammal who's identity will remain unknonw until one is captured.
Papuan rhinocerous (Papua New Guinea INDONESIA): The natives of PNG have long spoken of "a wild pig that is much bigger than a pig and that has a horn on it's nose" that lives in the mountains of Papua. This, and the fact that rhino-like dung heaps, rhino-like grunts, and rhino-like animals have all been seen/heard lends heavy credence to the idea that PNG might harbour a rhino species. Would deffinitely be a thrid species of one-horned rhino, closely related ot the Javan and Great Indian rhinos. Possibly extinct, or at least critically endangered.
Madagascan hippo (Madagascar AFRICA): A dwarf hippopotomous has been reported from Madagascar, off the coast of Africa. It is possible that hippos somehow made it to Madagascar, but it has seperated from Africa for millions of years, so you would expect some kind of intermediate form, like a semi-marine hippo, if an over-seas migration took place.
Titicaca manatee (Lake Titicaca in Peru SA): A 12 foot long aquatic mammal, resembling a seal or, more likely, a mantee has been observed in Lake Titicaca in South America. Possibly a new species of manatee, or maybe a large freshwater seal of some kind.
African freshwater seacows (Chad and Ethiopia AFRICA): Manatee-like animals have been reported from Lake Tana in Ethiopia and from Lake Chad and Lake Yoan in Chad. Most deffinitely new species of manatee or dugong which live in these lakes.
Steller's seacow (Bering Strait between Alaska and Siberia): A 20-odd foot long seacow which was once plentiful in the Bering Strait, but was wiped out less than 50 years after it's discovery. However, some Russian whalers a while back saw several alrge sea mammals that looked exactly like the giant seacows, and there have been numerous other sightings up until the present. It is highly likely that some of these have survived.
Arctic seacow, North Atlantic seacow, Polynesian seacow (Arctic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, and the Pacific Ocean): These are places without known sirenians, but where sirenians are often seen. Usually called "mermaids", it is alot more liekly that they are really unknown seacows. Most probably relatives of Steller's seacow and the dugon, as manatees live primarily in the tropical Atlantic Ocean.
New Brazilian tapir (Amazon rainforest SA): While on an expedition to find a rare monkey species, a researcher who's name I forget discovered 6 new monkeys, only 3 of which he brought bakc specimens of. He claimed to have seen 3 other new species, along with anew kind of tapir and a new kind of jaguar. His "new jaguar" may be one of the felids discussed earlier, but his tapir is some species which is obviously different enough from the other three American tapirs for him to mention it. Obviously an undescribed species of American tapir, probably similar to the mountain tapir.
A gazeka attacking a Papuan hunting party
Gazeka (Papua New Guinea INDONESIA): A large, tapir-like animal that is reported to live in the Owen Stanley Mountains. There are, however, several key differences between the gazeka (name means "pig devil") and tapirs. The gazeka is said to possess a horse-like tail, an agressive disposition, claws on it's feet and the ability to rear on it's hind legs. I agree with with most researchers, who have proposed that the gazeka is a survivor of the marsupial "tapir", a species of diprotodont with a tapir-like trunk.
Borneon tapir (Borneo ASIA): The Maylaysian tapir ranges through the Maylaysian peninsula and down through Sumatra, Jave, and Bali, including all of the small islands in that region. But officially they don't exend into Borneo? Enough reports have come out of Borneo, however, to consider that maybe they do inhabit Inonesia's second largest island. If they didn't, that would be a mystery of nature, so it makes more sense for them to live on Borneo than for them not to.
Razor-backed hog (Florida and nearby islands): A very dangerous pig, reported to live in the Everglades and other Floridan swampland, the razorback hog is supposed to be a large carnivorous pig-like animal with razor-sharp spikes of bone sticking out of it's back. If such a creature exists, the "spikes of bone" would obviously be the tops of it's vertebrae which, like in the theropod Spinosaurus or the therapsid Dimetrodon, stick out through the back and form "spines". These are supposedly used as offensive weapons. If it exists, it would be a new species of peccary, as true pigs are native to the Old World.
Ecuadorian peccary (Ecuador SA): Peccaries that don't fit the description of the three known species have been reported from Ecuador. Most definitely a new species.
Pukau (Borneo ASIA): A pig-like animal that has been reported from the island of Borneo. It could be that the supposed Borneon tapirs are responsible for these sightings, as tapirs can be mistaken for giant pigs, but this seems unlikely. It is more likely to be a new species of wild pig, perhaps similar to the bearded hogs of Sulawesi or the babirusia of the same island.
