I have come up with an idea that Chupacabras might be descendants of the dinosaur Troodon. And this is why I believe so:
I think the Chupacabras’ origin is a lot more complicated than what most people think, and I will explain why. In 1995, a horror movie had just come out in theaters, and this film is probably behind the sightings of the alien-like creatures, as Benjamin Radford correctly pointed out a few years back. However, this cannot explain the dead animals.
My opinion is that the animals most likely died from mundane reasons, such as disease. I do think that Chupacabras are real animals. However, I do not think that they are responsible for the dead and mutilated corpses that were found.
What do I think the Chupacabra is? I do not think it is a dog, and I also don’t think it’s an alien, a shapeshifter from another dimension, or any of that stuff. Instead, I have come up with an idea that, in my opinion, neatly explains the sightings. I am inclined to think that the Chupacabra sightings are most likely caused by an undiscovered species of bird-like reptile.
Reports and references to animals resembling the Chupacabras have been around since long before 1995. In the 1970′s, sightings of an animal resembling a large bipedal reptile were reported by farmers. And the ancient Native American civilizations which lived in Latin America many centuries ago have legends of creatures similar to those sighted nowadays.
There were also many legends about feathered serpents.
I think that a Troodon or one of its relatives managed to survive the Mass Extinction at the end of the Cretaceous Period, and evolved into a Chupacabra. I am aware that this idea may sound very far-fetched, and that many people will probably disagree with me. However, I will now explain why I think so.
Back in the mid-1990′s, 2 distinct types of Chupacabras were most-commonly sighted by eyewitnesses. One of them was the alien-like creature, which I think was probably misidentification on the witnesses’ part, caused by seeing that sci-fi movie.
However, the other type of sighting was of a bipedal creature with sharp fangs, sharp claws on its hands and feet, large, egg-shaped eyes, and feathers. This creature was often sighted at night, which means it is probably nocturnal. When all of these characteristics are put together, it reminds me of a certain genus of dinosaur, which lived at the end of the Cretaceous period: Troodon.
Troodons were likely nocturnal, and they also had large eyes, sharp claws and teeth. They are now also believed to have been covered in feathers, since they were closely-related to birds. Also, of all the dinosaurs besides birds that were living at the time, Troodons were probably the most likely (or the least unlikely!) to survive the K-T extinction event. This is for several reasons; It is now widely believed that an asteroid hitting the Earth was the cause of the Extinction. When this asteroid struck, it caused particles of dust to go into the air, and surround the Earth. When this happened, sunlight could not reach through, so the entire planet became cold and dark. Most of the dinosaurs could not adapt to these new conditions, so they died out.
However, Troodon was different. First of all, it wasn’t very large, compared to the other dinosaurs. And most of the animals which survived the extinction were small to medium-sized. Second of all, it had large eyes, and it was nocturnal, which meant that it could probably live well in the dark. Third of all, it was well-adapted to surviving in cold climates. This is because it was warm-blooded, and had feathers for insulation against the cold. Also, fossils of Troodon have been found in Alaska, and paleontologists have evidence that they probably lived there year-round, which means that they had no problem surviving the tough Alaskan winters. Fourth, it was a very adaptable dinosaur. Dinosaurs similar to Troodon survived for 20 million years, and they lived from Alaska all the way down South to Mexico. Troodons were also omnivores, which meant that they were not picky eaters. Therefore, if they could find no prey, they probably could have survived on plants, and vice versa.
So if a small population of Troodons had survived the extinction, and survived until now in remote areas where fossilization was unlikely, I guess it isn’t really that far-fetched to extrapolate that they might still be alive now, and that they might be responsible for at least some of the Chupacabra sightings.
Also, several eyewitnesses have reported seeing spikes that stick up on the creature’s back. Troodon might be able to make its feathers erect, and stand up stiff. To an inexperienced witness, if viewed from far away, these could probably be easily mistaken for spikes, on its back.
So, this is my hypothesis. I realize that it isn’t perfect, and I am not certain that it is true, of course. However, I think that it does a pretty good job, overall, of explaining the Chupacabras phenomenon. So, what does everyone else think about my idea?
I have to point out that during the late cretaceous the earth was much warmer than it is today with tropics extending extremely far north. Alaska would have been tropic to sub-tropic and so your suggestion that it was adapted for cold weather at that time is flawed.
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Jeff Albertson, on 15 December 2012 - 04:25 PM, said:
