I think I might have started a topic on this guy a while ago, i'm pretty sure i've mentioned it before, but anyway, i decided to give this guy his own topic. Tzuchinoko is a Japanese Snake, which is highly unusual. it's believed a speices of viper. it's said to be 2-3 feet long, and very fat. the body is reported to be triangular in shape instead of round, which is a charactersitic of crotalids (vipers) it travels in a straight line, unlike the way snakes slither. The snake is also sometimes reptorted to crawl like a catepillar. this snake is also said to be able to scrunch up it's body and leap!! as if that weren't enough strangeness, this guys is also sometimes reported to roll up into a ball to roll downhills being a reptile man, i love this guy so much, it sounds so cool. aslo, not too long ago, a new species of snake known as the sunbeam snake was found, and many believe this to be Tzuchinoko, but it doesn't match many features of Tzuchinoko except that ti's a dark colored snake. I had seen pictures of Tzuchinoko in books, and I'm trying to find a pic so you guys can get an idea of how it looks. also, Tzuchinoko is often reported to have horns, much like many vipers and sidewinders. anyway, any thoughts or comments on this guy?

btw, here is the sunbeam snake

http://images.google.com/images?client=fir...G=Google+Search

its so cute.. i have seen and heard of it but never that much.. Looks like it was dunked in oil...like the rainbow swirl you see on top of oil.. yah

yeah, i had seen this pic in books thanx for the link. yeah, this guy is cool. i wonder how it would be to see one balling up and rolling? lol. this guy is dope

odd snake...

anyone on this forum got a snake?

That sounds very similar to the Tatzelwurm is switzerland, except it is sometimes reported to have two legs. Could it possibly be an unusual kind of slug? You said that it travels in a straight line.

http://www.100megsfree4.com/farshores/cjsnake.htm

they think it is one

Looking at the head of the snake and it's body it looks to me like if it were a lizard that for some reason evolved and lost it's legs and it's tail shortened up .

possibly a type of skink? if it were in the process of loosing its legs but they were still usable then that would explain the straight line movement and some skinks have a triangularish shaped head, a skink with a nice fat tail would make it looks like it was just a short fat snake.

haha, nice one monster hunter, thanks for that . That is one cool mo fo

and to all you creationists out there

Is this creature a step in evolution between a lizard and a snake

of course not, youre right as usual as you can see, this guys a trained killer

well did you forget me? the owner of the most awesome species of snake, the legendary anaconda?



um, not neciassarily. I have an anaconda and it doesn't really slither. snakes move in 2 motion patterns. usually smaller snakes slither from side to side, where as larger snakes move in a straight line. the larger speicies of snakes have crossing muscles in their stomachs that arch up and together like the way a snail moves, so they move in a straight line

I think these snake exists, but rolling down hills and doing backflips I highly doubt.

I don't think we should jump the gun can call this "evolution proof" what about all the proof that proves evolution false?

I have two, a ball python and a small subterrainain species called an earth snake (Virginia valeriae).


No, there is a large distinction between slugs and snakes. Slugs = invertibrates. Snakes = vertibrates. And then there's the thing about scales and teeth. Slugs don't have those.


Most of evolution-debunking is experiments that have been performed incorrectly or information that has been interperted inccorrectly.

And here's my thoery on this snake. It is a type of leggless lizard. Looking at the face in the earlier picture of the "snake" it appears very lizard-like. You mentioned it is a type of viper. Is it posionous?

And by the way, current scientific thoery states that lizards and snakes evolved separatly. If you look at the physiology of legless lizards and snakes, they are very different. So this topic has no room for discussions of lizards evolving into snakes.

Could someone give the scientific names of the reptile(s) in question.

Either way, I have seen the sunbeam snake before and its a awesome snake.

That has to be one of the strangest things i've ever seen.

Tsuchinoko is like Godzilla, a famous imaginary animal from Japan. The difference is that Godzilla was created by a person, while Tsuchinoko's root go back to several hundred years back. I think it was triggered when they discovered skink or limbless lizard.

I think this might be authentic, but from the looks of it, especialy the small sensory tendrils, that it's some sort of Caecalian.

Wow, Mr. Jellyfish. That is some animal. Any more info on it?

Nope. Site's in some other language. I've got info on Caecilians, though.
And according to a quick and probobly inacurate internet translation, it says:

The strange living thing where old the people had relation from age of old thing description, is similar to the snake. There is also a theory of mutation of the snake, but we, believe that it is kind of fixing. That descendant it exists that death is and is. This sight of the hammer is conveyed from entire country, but generally it is something like the rough sketch, those of Yoshii area are thought as hammer saw A type. Hammer saw A type This kind the torso is long, does not jump excessively, but top and bottom motion (the movement like the shaku taking insect) it does, it does that it stands vertically. The face the っ ぺ り doing, is kind relatively. It is mistaken for the snake. The eye is large roundly. (Name name) hammer saw (hammer no child), tube mamushi, キネノコ, hammer and ワラヅチ etc. Hammer saw B type As for this kind being something which is called the genuine hammer saw top and bottom motion jumps from the first 5 meters or more. Being thicker than A type, it is short. The eye is visible, calls. (Name name) straw bag snake, liquor botter snake and 苞 snake, 58 suns/size, turtle, コロゲ and コロガリ etc. This feature length 30cm of hammer? The 80cm rank body color black brown, dark brown, black and gray (abdomen yellow, in the back section to be a spot the head of triangle has come out demurely from the torso about of the) somatotype beer bottle. Merit snore is scratched. The ま it goes back and forth. It stands vertically. It rolls. Without meandering, it moves back and forth straightly. It jumps. (There is a theory of 2m rank from the) spring fall (4? November) it frequents. Habitat north Akita, from Iwate south to Kyushu Kagoshima is witnessed at the all parts of the country. Name 58 sun/size, the liquor botter snake, the ten roller, the flying snake, and so on there are about 50 types.

Wow, online translators SUCK! <-- Ya tell me something I don't know.

Anywho, from what I can gather of the horrible translation, it sounds like the earlier descriptions of Tzuchinoko. And I, too, believe it is some undiscovered type of caecilian. They are an interesting type of animal. Yet few people know of them. That probably lead to Tzuchinoko being called a "snake."

This is a very interesting animal and has sparked my curiosity. I wish we could find either a) someone who speaks Japanese an English site c) a plane ticket to Japan and all the equipment we would need to hunt this beastie.

Yes, it amazes me how many people stil lthink Snakes an most other Herpatiles are "Slimy".
Here's the site, if it does anything for you: Tsuchinoko

Thanks for the site. It doesn't do much seeing as I can't read Japanese And I too am amazed at how many people don't like herps or think they are creepy/slimy. I love them. They arent slimy; fish and amphibians are slimy. But I like those, too.

Anyway, have you found anything else on Tzuchinoko? Like anything in books?

Ahem (clears throat)...actually, I do speak some Japanese.
Please give me the site, I'll let you save your ticket to Japan. I'll translate it to you.

Furthermore, Tsuchinoko was never called "snake" by Japanese. It's simply called "Tsuchinoko". Snake is "hebi" in Japanese, while "Tsuchinoko" is...another creature.

I've got something for you all too. In Japan, they sell toys of all kind. There was a collection of toys depicting Cryptids, among them are the Flatwood Monster, Nessie, Yeti, Bigfoot, Kongamato, Mokele Mbembe, Megalodon, Kraken and of course...Tsuchinoko!

Here's some links;
http://www.cryptomundo.com/bigfoot-report/...action-figures/
http://www.clawmarktoys.com/index.php?cPath=102

Oh yeah... You can find those on EBay sometimes. I love toys, and I love cryptos.
And here's the site: Tsuchinoko

I have a little Nessie figurine, but I never knew that there were so many others. I have to get me some of them. What would I search of EBay to find them? Type in cryptid figurines or something?

Anyway, while searching for Tsuchinoko, I found this:


Full article here.

^Emmm...sorry to say, but what Rosenrot posted up there, was actually the overall translation of the page you gave me, SJOD. As for the pictures, It was not a true Tsuchinoko, but a sculpturer's rendition of the supposed creature.

Opps, I had no clue. But that saves you a little work, right? So I guess this leaves the trail cold unless anyone else can come up with some other new account.

Crap.

If that is what it looked like, it would look mighty odd.

But seriously guys, Tsuchinoko is like the only true cryptid from Japan (instead of Kappa, Kitsune, Tanuki and Tengu which are actually folklores, rather than a true cryptid). The only problem with this is that there are sooo few reports and no tracks/evidence/leather whatsoever been found. And it appears only on 20th Century. I guess it appears for the first time around 60s-80s, where aliens and cryptozoology booms, along with Japanese Tokusatsu (Sci-fi such as Godzilla, Gamera, Mothra, Ultraman and many more).

I know about Kappa,Tengu and Kitsune but never heard Tanuki whats that?

^Tanuki is a raccoon dog. No it's not a Raccoon or a Dog, it's a Raccoon Dog. Seriously, search for the keyword 'Tanuki' in this site, you'll dig up some infos.

Alrighty, thanks for the help!

Raccoon Dogs are real.

They're a type of Canine, from East Asia.
Anyways, I still say its some sort of Caecillian.

^Oh, I know it's a real animal, but I was actually talking about the mythical ability of the creature to shapeshift itself to almost anything.

Hey capoeiranger, ever heard of Gaia Online? There is a item on there called Yokai's Treasure, it allows the avatar to have items like...Oni Club,Kitsune Tails,Oni mask and the like. What do you think about it?

I for one think Gaia online sucks.

Ya, I don't mean to sound like a weirdo, but I heard somewhere that raccoon dogs have very large testicles. I haven't seen them!! So I wouldn't know, but maybe someone else here would know. Someone more in tune with Japanese fauna.

And I'm still in agreance with Mr. Jellyfish. The tsuchinoko sounds like some sort of undiscovered caecillian. Even given the size of the creature. We need an expert on herps.

EDIT: yes, I figured out that racoon dogs do have unusaully large testicles. here

Wait a minute. I read on Wikipedia that there are records of the tsuchinoko going back to Jomon period. It's wikipedia, so I'm not too sure how accurate it is, but the page does offer another source. Here is the page.

Yeah, the size and shape seem consistent with a Caecillian, as do the tendrils indicated in some reports. The only slightly odd thing is the enlargement of the midsection.

I agree, the part about the enlarged midsection is uncharacteristic of caecilians or legless lizards. I have looked into types of legless lizards, too. But nothing there really seems to fit with the description of little proboscuses coming off the face. What led me to investigate legless lizards was the OP. Deimos was talking about tsuchinoko having horns and possibly being a viper. However, horns could be mistaken for tendrils on a Caecilian.

I really wish that someone in Japan would lead a scientific investigation into the existence of tsuchinoko. There might acutally be something there. It fits two of my three requirements: it has existed in local legends for years (yes), thought to exist in remote locations (not too sure about this); and some physical evidence exists (yes).

It's certainly not possible every one anyone's ever seen has just finished it's lunch. I was thinking it could be an aquatic adaptation, but Caecillians can only undulate their bodies sideways, as far as I know. The only explanation for that would be Mammilian characteristics.

I believe we have come to an impass on this, my friend. Damn. There appears to be very little information on this creature. All we can do is speculate. And We have come up with some very real possibilities. We need someone who lives in Japan to do a little digging around there. Hell, I want to go to Japan and do a little digging around.

HERE IS MY CALL TO ANYONE IN THIS FORUM WHO LIVES IN JAPAN!! PLESE HELP US INVESTIGATE TSUCHINOKO!!!

I don't think anybody heard that.

I abandoned my speedrun of Half-Life 'cause I discovered I can't kill twenty soldiers with a crowbar. :/
Anyways, w00t! I managed to find this:
http://farshores.org/c04snake.htm

Yes, It's mostly crap. But it's got a bit of info.
EDIT: Edited out stupid annoying stuff.

I'd hug you if I could. This is good info!! It seems I'm not the only one who wants to take to the hills and hunt this beastie!! And it also offers more details to go on... Moves like a giant inchworm; brown in coloration; no mention of scales; wide head. But the one thing that puzzled me was the lack of mentioning about the tendrils. And we don't have any mention of what it is supposed to eat. Hmm. Good find, buddy

You boys and your video games. ... Oh, I'm such a hypocrite. Nothing short of a crowbar can pull me away from my friend's Wii or PS2.

Nooo... Antiquated PC game from 1998. Still fun as hell, though.

Well, we may have a reason for the wide, flat body. Perhaps the thing grows sideways as it ages, like a flounder? They may not mention the tendrils, as the site really seemed to focus on how ridiculous the "Hunter" was. I belive it's some adaptation for aquatic life, and the thing may be blind, like some caecillians.

Hmm. That's an interesting thought. A website I've been looking at says that one eyewitness described the beastie's body as being more triangular. And what's even more unusual is that unlike you and I, this website repeatidly refers to our tsuchinoko as a snake, a type of viper actually. It also makes mention that a few specimens have been caught in the past. Here is the site. I have also found a mention of this creature on Loren Coleman's website.

Another interesting fact: you get very different sources if you search tzuchinoko instead of tsuchinoko.

This contradicts the other website. I feel this one is more reliable, anyways.


...
Crap.

I found something else. Goes against everything else we've read, 'though. I don't know how relaible this site is.


Here."Pair of front limbs"? I haven't seen this anywhere else...

That's much more characteristic of the Tatzelwurm. We need to find out a few other names for this guy.