Trunko
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Trunko | |
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| Artistic depiction of Trunko being mauled by orcas by Bill Asmussen. | |
| Creature | |
| Name: | Trunko |
| AKA: | N/A |
| Data | |
| First reported: | 1924 |
| Last sighted: | 10 days later |
| Country: | South Africa |
| Region: | Africa |
| Habitat: | Water |
| Status: | Unconfirmed |
Trunko is the nickname for an animal reportedly sighted in Margate, South Africa on October 25, 1924, according to an article entitled "Fish Like A Polar Bear" published in the December 27, 1924 edition of London's Daily Mail. The animal was reputedly first seen off the coast battling two killer whales, which fought the unusual creature for three hours. It used its tail to attack the whales and reportedly lifted itself out of the water by about 20 feet. One of the witnesses, Hugh Ballance, described the animal as looking like a "giant polar bear" during a final fight.
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[edit] Description
The creature reputedly washed up on Margate Beach but despite being there for 10 days, no scientist ever investigated the carcass while it was beached, so no reliable description has been published, and no photographs of it have ever been published. Some people who have never been identified were reported to have described the animal as possessing snowy-white fur, an elephantine trunk, a lobster-like tail, and a carcass devoid of blood.
While it was beached, the animal was measured by beach-goers and turned out to be 47 feet in length, 10 feet wide, and 5 feet high, with the trunk's length being 5 feet, the trunk's diameter 14 inches, the tail 10 feet, and the fur being 8 inches long. The trunk was said to be attached directly to the animal's torso, as no head was visible on the carcass. For this feature, the animal was dubbed Trunko by British cryptozoologist Dr Karl Shuker in his 1996 book The Unexplained[1]. In the March 27, 1925 edition of the Charleroi Mail, in Charleroi, Pennsylvania, an article entitled "Whales Slain By Hairy Monster" reported that whales there were killed by a strange creature which was washed up on a beach exhausted and fell unconscious, but made its way back into the ocean and swam away after 10 days, never to be seen again.
[edit] Explanations
Many suggestions have been made to explain this phenomenon, the most common explanation being that Trunko was the carcass of a large whale, basking shark, or whale shark, whose decaying body made it appear furry and that the orcas were feasting on its corpse[2]. The second most common theory is that Trunko was a sighting of a strange-looking new species of huge whale, pinniped or sirenian. It is generally considered to be a cryptid, part of the field of cryptozoology
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Trunko article on American Monsters
- Kryptid's Keep analysis of Trunko reports
- Cryptozoology.com glossary description of Trunko
[edit] References
- ^ Shuker, Karl P N (1996). The Unexplained. Carlton. ISBN 1-85868-186-3.
- ^ Shuker, Karl P N (1996). The Unexplained. Carlton. ISBN 1-85868-186-3.
