Chupacabra is a legendary monster often said to attack farm animals . The name comes from el chupacabra, Spanish for the goat-sucker. Chupacabra is said to attack farm animals—particularly chickens , lambs , and goats —in the middle of the night. It attacks by biting its victims in the neck and sucking the blood. Once the blood has been drained, the animal’s lifeless body is left behind.
The first reported sighting of a chupacabra was in 1995 by a woman in Puerto Rico . The woman described a beast about 4 feet (1 meter) tall, walking on two legs, with large eyes, fangs, and raised spikes along its back. News of the encounter quickly spread, and other people in the region soon claimed to have seen the creature. Chupacabra sightings have since been reported as far away as Texas and Maine in the United States and in Mexico, Chile, and even Russia. Later descriptions of chupacabras varied wildly from the first reported sighting. Some reports, for example, claim that the creature walks on four legs.
Most scientists reject the existence of chupacabra. They think that reported sightings are more likely the result of imagination, misidentification of other animals, or deliberate hoaxes . Investigators point out that the person who made the first sighting had just seen a movie that featured a monstrous creature. The creature in the film fit the description of the one she claimed to have seen. A number of photographs of supposed chupacabras have been made public. Biologists and other skeptics claim that the photographs simply show dogs or coyotes suffering from extreme cases of mange . This condition causes the infected animal to become emaciated (unusually thin) and to lose its hair. Some conspiracy enthusiasts say that the chupacabra is the result of secret genetic tests carried out by the United States government. However, there is no real evidence to support this theory.
See also Cryptozoology .
