A NEW DAWN FOR THE SUN DOG?

A pre-Inca Peruvian depiction of the New World's mythical sun dog (public domain)

Continuing my intermittent series of early cryptozoological and other anomalous animal articles of mine reproduced here on ShukerNature from their defunct original British and continental European magazines, here is one that was first published in the May-June 1997 issue of a long-discontinued bimonthly British magazine entitled All About Dogs.

Photograph of American zoologist and writer A. Hyatt Verrill (public domain)

It concerns a mysterious pet once owned by American zoologist and writer A. Hyatt Verrill (1871-1954), and which in his view may constitute a living representative of the supposedly entirely mythological sun dog of Mexico, Mesoamerica, and South America. He dubbed his enigmatic pet 'the Monster', and here is a drawing of it from life, prepared by Verrill himself, as it appeared in his book America's Ancient Civilisations (1953):

'The Monster' as drawn from life by A, Hyatt Verrill during his ownership of it (© A. Hyatt Verrill – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial educational Fair Use basis for review purposes only)

And here now is my two-page All About Dogs article investigating the sun dog and Verrill's associated claims concerning his pet:

My All About Dogs article from the May-June 1997 issue re the mythological New World sun dog and Verrill's unusual pet - please click images to enlarge for viewing and reading purposes (© Dr Karl Shuker)

In 2003, I included a coverage of this same subject, inspired by my above article, in a chapter on canine controversies contained within my book The Beasts That Hide From Man.

NB - Please note that these early articles of mine are being reproduced here for their historical interest; their content may be outdated in places, hence my mentioning above the later account of this subject that appears in my Beasts book.

A photograph taken by A. Hyatt Verrill of his pet 'monster' (© A. Hyatt Verrill – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial educational Fair Use basis for review purposes only)