Artistic rendition of the das-adder's supposed appearance (© Peter Loh)
South Africa's
Drakensberg Range is supposedly home to a remarkable creature known locally as
the das-adder, which has been reported for well over a century here. 'Dassie'
is an alternative name for a hyrax – those small, rabbit-like hoofed mammals
whose closest living relatives are the elephants. The das-adder derives its
name from its head, which allegedly resembles that of a dassie, and its sinuous
body, reminiscent of an African puff adder's. Many native people sharing its
provenance claim that this curious mystery beast is extremely venomous and even
capable of hypnotising its victims with a single stare.
Rock
hyrax or Cape dassie Procavia capensis, native to southern Africa (©
Arikk/Wikipedia)
In 1940, W.L.
Speight published a lengthy article on African mystery beasts in the journal Empire
Review, and included a detailed account of the das-adder. Speight stated
that its tail was marked with yellow and red stripes, its external ear openings
were folded into a crest, and in the opinion of some authorities this cryptid
was not a snake at all, but rather a large lizard, with a 2-ft-long tail.
Juvenile
African puff adder Bitis arietans ready to strike (public domain)
One of those
authorities was 19th-Century zoologist Dr Andrew Smith of the Cape Town Museum, who was so
intrigued by stories of the das-adder that he even advertised for a specimen to
be brought to him for examination, but his advert did not elicit any specimens.
In his view, this elusive beast was probably based upon nothing more dramatic
than poor observation of the Cape rock monitor Varanus albigularis,
slipping half-hidden between rocks and boulders so that its limbs were
concealed from view.
Cape
rock monitor Varanus albigularis, illustration from 1838
An entertaining
idea, but as this varanid does not have a red and yellow tail or a
hyrax-comparable head, it leaves rather a lot to be desired as a convincing
identity for the das-adder - which, sadly, seems today to have become virtually
forgotten, even among cryptozoologists, with its status still unresolved.
This ShukerNature post is adapted from my book From Flying Toads To Snakes With Wings
Posts
By the way, here is a puzzling new species of jelly fish:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/new-potentially-deadly-jellyfish-baffles-scientists-n184071
Any idea why it has become gigantic? It reminds me of the giant eel larvae, but it is not a larvae of course.