So far, in Parts 1 and 2 (click here and here to read them) of my comprehensive 3-part article on lesser-known Mexican mystery cats, I have documented no fewer than six different examples, incorporating a great deal of valuable information supplied to me on Facebook by Mexican palaeo-artist and cryptozoological enthusiast Hodari Nundu, who is also a longstanding friend of mine on FB. In addition, he has very kindly permitted me to include in my article a number of his exquisite illustrations – thanks Hodari!
And now, here is its third and final part, which deals with one final, seventh feline cryptid from Mexico, but which may conceivably be the most mysterious one of all.
THE CUITLAMIZTLI – MONTEZUMA'S WOLF-PUMA
You may have noticed previously in this lengthy article that I have sometimes employed the less specific term 'feline cryptids' (rather than consistently utilising 'mystery cats') when referring to its subjects – and here's why. The subject under consideration here now was apparently feline (i.e. cat-like) in superficial appearance but may not have actually been a bona fide felid (i.e. a cat).
The creature in question is the cuitlamiztli, the mystifying so-called wolf-puma or wolf-cat that was exhibited in the private zoo, the Totocalli, of the Aztec emperor Montezuma (=Moctezuma) II (c.1471-1520) and was seen there by one of the Spanish conquistadors – before their leader Hernán Cortés ruthlessly authorized its total destruction in 1521, along with many other significant buildings and edifices in the Aztec Empire's capital city, Tenochtitlan. But what exactly was it – a wolf, a puma, or something else entirely? Read on, and decide for yourself.
Here is what I wrote about this enigmatic beast in my book Mystery Cats of the World Revisited:
What may be the earliest known reference to this felid [the onza] (although the term 'onza' was not actually used here) was made by Bernal Díaz del Castillo (c.1496-1584) – under the command of the infamous conquistador Hernán Cortés. In a report some time after having visited the famous zoo of the Aztec king Montezuma, Castillo recorded seeing "tigers [jaguars] and lions [pumas] of two kinds, one of which resembled the wolf". In view of the wolf's long limbs and the corresponding characteristic of the onza, it is traditionally assumed that Castillo's 'wolf-cat' (known to the Aztecs as the cuitlamiztli) was indeed the onza...
[However,] one further tantalising matter to consider regarding the onza is whether it really is the same creature as the 'wolf-cat' spied by Castillo in Montezuma's zoo. For although one would naturally assume this to be the case, it is by no means conclusively established. After all, despite its long limbs the onza does not really resemble a wolf to any degree. Is it conceivable, therefore, that the Aztec 'wolf-cat' was actually some other, still unknown beast? I would be inclined to dismiss this idea totally – were it not for a certain tantalising fossil species.
Although more closely related to cats, hyaenas are quite dog-like in outward appearance. Moreover, whereas typically looked upon as Old World species, some hyaenas did exist at one time in the Americas too, which leads us into the most fascinating aspect of this subject.
In several different Mexican localities, skeletons have been found of a truly remarkable hyaena, which lived during the Pleistocene, i.e. a contemporary of M. trumani [the now-extinct Truman's cheetah – see Part 2 of this article]. However, this species, the hunting hyaena Chasmaporthetes ossifragus, shared much more than a geological time period and a geographical locality with the latter American felid.
For C. ossifragus was a cursorial dog-like hyaena – possessing notably long, slender limbs, and a very gracile body. In short, its appearance in life would have been the very epitome of the descriptive term 'wolf-cat'. Is it possible that C. ossifragus did not die out during the Pleistocene, but instead persisted at least to the time of the Aztecs in the more remote Mexican mountain lands? No reports of such a creature are known today, hence even if it had survived to such a recent date, it is surely extinct now.
I feel that it is less likely for Mexico's mountains to possess two mystery gracile carnivores than one in modern times, especially when they may have competed with one another to some extent, having adapted to occupy similar ecological niches. Nevertheless, it is certainly a thought-provoking coincidence that a creature fitting Castillo's description even more closely than the onza should have existed within this very same country at least as late as the Pleistocene.
In his Facebook message to me of 13 January 2024 regarding the tiricuate (see Part 2 again), Hodari also suggested a new and, in view of a recent, very remarkable discovery in Siberia (see below), very pertinent putative identity for Montezuma's wolf-puma. Namely, the scimitar cat Homotherium, belonging to the taxonomic family of machairodontids or sabre-toothed cats, all of which are officially long-extinct.
Here is his suggestion:
You mention Chasmaporthetes [in my mystery cats books] as a possible identity for the wolf-puma in Montezuma's zoo – have you considered though the possibility of it being Homotherium itself? As far we know Chasmaporthetes died out around one million, 700,000 years ago. Homotherium was likely still around [in Mexico, represented there by the North American species H. serum] in the late Pleistocene.
There's no described remains from Mexico from this time, but the mummy* shows they were present in the late Pleistocene in Eurasia where they were thought to die out earlier than in the Americas so it wouldn't be a stretch to think some of them may have survived late in Mexico.
[* = the recently-described mummified anterior half of a three-week-old Homotherium latidens cub discovered in 2020 after its frozen carcase had emerged from Siberian Upper Pleistocene permafrost – click here to read the official scientific paper documenting this unique, spectacular find, which was approximately 35,500 years old, making it the youngest-known Asian specimen of Homotherium, and see photo below]
The last Homotherium species were rather wolfish-bodied, endurance runners, long legs, relatively small paws with semi-retractable claws – already pretty wolf-like in that regard. Their jaws would be longer. Their front incisors are protruding. Those are potentially wolf-like features too.
Of course Homotherium was much bigger than a wolf or a puma as far we know but we would be talking about the southernmost population of Homotherium in North America, meaning maybe Bergmann's rule would apply [i.e. within a broadly distributed taxonomic clade, populations and species of larger size are found in colder regions, whereas populations and species of smaller size are found in warmer regions].
Cat food for thought!
Absolutely!
Hodari's insightful comments provide a fascinating new line of well-reasoned speculation to ponder over concerning the nature of Montezuma's mystery specimen. The mummified Homotherium cub's discovery was extremely dramatic – the first time that physical remains (other than fossilised bones) of a semi-complete machairodontid had ever been procured – so how truly incredible it would be if researchers one day revealed that a living machairodontid species had persisted until as recently as the 1500s in Mexico, or anywhere else for that matter!
In summary re my 3-part article: I have to ask whether it is credible that even a country as large and ecologically diverse as Mexico could at one time or another have been home to no fewer than eight feline cryptids (including the onza). Might it be more prudent to assume that certain of these mystery cats (or cat-like entities) are synonymous with certain others? Having said that, none of them appears to be based merely upon distorted descriptions of any present-day species known to exist here. Perhaps, therefore, if indeed real, some of them are actually already known to science but as various officially extinct, prehistoric species whose erstwhile existence in Mexico is confirmed by fossil evidence, yet which may have lingered elusively into the present.
As ever in cryptozoology, without physical contemporary evidence of them that can be formally examined, there is no means of verifying the reality of any of the mystery beasts reported here (if only Sanderson's ruffed cat skins had survived – see Part 1). Nevertheless, documenting these reports of them is the next best procedure, to ensure that such details are readily available for perusal by other researchers and are therefore never lost – even though, sadly, at least some of these creatures themselves may well be.
Once again, I wish to thank Hodari most sincerely for his kindness in permitting me to include his illustrations here and for sharing such fascinating crypto-felid information with me.
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