Nandi bear
 Nandi bear illustration (1961) | |
| Creature information | |
|---|---|
| Other name(s) | Chemosit, Kerit, Koddoelo, Ngoelo, Ngoloko, Duba |
| Sub grouping | Bear |
| Origin | |
| Region | East Africa |
In East African folklore, the Nandi bear is a creature said to live in East Africa.[1][2] It takes its name from the Nandi people, who live in western Kenya, the area in which the Nandi bear has been reported. It is also known as Chemosit,[1] Kerit, Koddoelo, Ngoloko, or Duba, which derives from the Arabic words dubb ('bear') or d.abʕ / d.abuʕ ('hyena').[3] The Samburu Nkampit also appears to be a version of this creature.
Scientists tend to doubt the existence of the Nandi bear, arguing instead such accounts are misinterpreted encounters with known animals, but a variety of fringe proposals have been made to identify the creature.
Description
[edit]Descriptions of the Nandi bear are of a ferocious, powerfully built carnivore with high front shoulders (over 1.2 m (4 ft) tall) and a sloping back. Stories of the Nandi bear claim it is fierce, nocturnal, stands on its hind legs and can kill animals.[4] In 1914, Charles William Hobley authored a diagram of a footprint attributed to a Nandi bear.[4][5]
The Nandi people call it kerit. Local legend holds the Nandi bear has reddish hair, long feet and is said to scalp people.[1] In 1961, Gardner Soule noted sightings were reported in Kenya throughout the 19th century and early 20th century, but it "never has been caught or identified".[6] Sightings of the Nandi bear decreased over time. In 1905, Richard Meinertzhagen speculated the creature may have been an "anthropoid ape now extinct on account of decreased rainfall."[7]
Scientific evaluation
[edit]There is no scientific evidence supporting the existence of the Nandi bear.[2][8] Alleged sightings are suggested to be misidentifications of known species.[2][8][9]
In 1923, Charles William Andrews suggested the Nandi bear may be a surviving representative of the extinct Chalicothere.[10] In the 1930s, Louis Leakey also suggested Nandi bear descriptions matched the Chalicothere, though those extinct creatures were herbivores.[11] The Chalicothere hypothesis was later abandoned. In 2000, palaeontologist Louis L. Jacobs commented: "if chalicotheres existed now, they would have been found out just like the giant forest hog was."[2] He concluded that "if there is anything to the Nandi bear story besides imagination, I suspect it may be the word-of-mouth description of gorillas passed across the continent from areas where they live to areas where they do not."[2]
Zoologist Reginald Innes Pocock claimed reports of the Nandi bear were misidentified hyenas, specifically the spotted hyena.[9] In 1932, the British Natural History Museum stated many reports of the Nandi bear have "proved to have been nothing more than a spotted hyena."[12] Similarly, palaeontologist George Gaylord Simpson commented how the Nandi bear "turned out to be in most if not all cases a ratel [honey-badger], an animal which had been known to scientific zoologists since 1776."[8]
In popular culture
[edit]- The Nandi bear (spelt 'Nandibear') appears as a monster in the Fighting Fantasy gamebook series.[13]
- The Peculiar Exploits of Brigadier Ffellowes, a collection of contemporary fantasy stories by Sterling E. Lanier, includes a short story called "His Only Safari", in which the title character briefly sights a kerit and speculates that such creatures formed the basis for the Egyptian legends of Anubis.
- Tarzan #134 (Gold Key Comics, March 1963) features Tarzan meeting and later battling a Nandi bear, which is pictured as a shaggy sloth bear-like creature with floppy ears.
- Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, a fantasy role-playing game published in 2009 by Paizo Publishing, features the Chemosit, a fantastical creature inspired by Nandi bear stories.[14]
- The daily comic panel True-Life Adventures for 22 May 1956, featured the Nandi bear.
References
[edit]- 1 2 3 Huntingford, G. W. B. (1927). "Miscellaneous Records Relating to the Nandi and Kony Tribes". The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. 57: 417–461. doi:10.2307/2843712. JSTOR 2843712.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Jacobs, Louis L. (2000). Quest for the African Dinosaurs: Ancient Roots of the Modern World. Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 250. ISBN 0-8018-6481-X.
- ↑ Wehr, Hans (1971). Milton Cowan, J. (ed.). A dictionary of modern written Arabic (3 ed.). Ithaca, N.Y.: Spoken Language Services, Inc.
- 1 2 "Journals and Magazines". The Lancet: 1052. 1914.
- ↑ Hobley, C. W. (1913). "On Some Unidentified Beasts". Journal of the East Africa and Uganda Natural History Society. 6: 48–52.
- ↑ Soule, Gardener (December 1961). "Nandi Bear". Boys' Life. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
- ↑ Meinertzhagen, Richard (1983). Kenya Diary (1902-1906). Eland Books. p. 206.
- 1 2 3 Simpson, George Gaylord (1984). "Mammals and Cryptozoology". Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. 128 (1): 1–19. JSTOR 986487.
- 1 2 Pocock, Reginald I. (1930). The Story of the Nandi Bear. Natural History Magazine 2: 162–169.
- ↑ Wayland, E. J. (1934). Rifts, Rivers, Rains and Early Man in Uganda. The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland 64: 333–352.
- ↑ Leakey, Louis S. (November 2, 1935). Does the Chalicothere—Contemporary of the Okapi— Still Survive?. Illustrated London News 187: 730–733.
- ↑ Game Animals of the Empire. The Trustees of the British Museum, 1932. p. 46
- ↑ Jackson, Steve; Livingstone, Ian (1985). Out of the Pit. Fighting Fantasy Monsters. Puffin. p. 222. ISBN 0-14-034131-5.
- ↑ Hitchcock, Tim. "Chemosit". d20pfsrd. Pathfinder Adventures Path. Retrieved 14 September 2019.