the.com/chupacabra
a goat-sucking legend that turned out to be a sad bald coyote with mange.
means A creature of Latin American folklore said to attack livestock and drain their blood, most famously goats.
from Pure Spanish, and refreshingly literal: chupar, 'to suck,' plus cabra, 'goat' — the goat-sucker. The name was coined in Puerto Rico in the mid-1990s after a wave of mysterious livestock killings, and it spread fast through the Americas. Many of the 'sightings' since have turned out to be coyotes or dogs ravaged by mange, but the word stuck because it does exactly what folklore names should: tell you precisely what the monster wants.
- name means
- goat-sucker in Spanish, blunt and accurate
- first sighting
- Puerto Rico, 1995, after a horror movie
- actual culprit
- mangy coyotes mistaken for alien beasts
- trademark crime
- draining livestock blood, leaving no bite
- shape-shifter
- described as both spined reptile and hairless dog
puerto rico livestock attacks — eight sheep found exsanguinated in canóvanas, puerto rico in august 1995, sparking the chupacabra legend
el chupacabra del valle — coyote shot in elmendorf, texas in 2004 that locals claimed was the legendary creature