THE RAINCROSS GAZETTE - Scotland has the Loch Ness monster, Tibet has the yeti, and the Pacific Northwest has Bigfoot. Cryptozoology is the study of such creatures—legendary animals which may or may not be real. Riverside has its own cryptozoological species: the chupacabra.
The Chupacabra
The origin of the chupacabra is younger than I am. Reports of mysteriously killed livestock with all of their blood drained, vampire-style, first occurred in Puerto Rico in 1995. More reports followed, combined with sightings of a red-eyed, huge-fanged, giant lizard with spikes along its backbone. The sightings spread rapidly through the island and then to other parts of Hispanic America. A Puerto Rican comic named this creature "chupacabra" (= "goat-sucker") after its blood-sucking habits. Tales of chupacabra sightings have since accumulated from throughout the Western Hemisphere, and even as far flung as the Philippines, Portugal, Spain, and Russia.
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This article was written by UCR Distinguished Professor and Geneticist, Norm Ellstand.