MONTEZUMA'S MYSTIFYING WOLF-PUMA – LESSER-KNOWN MEXICAN MYSTERY CATS, PART 3 (OF 3)

 

Life-sized reconstruction of the North American scimitar cat Homotherium serum (© Dr Karl Shuker)

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.

 

Might Montezuma's cryptic 'wolf-cat' have looked something like these? (created by me using Magic Studio)

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...

 

Artistic representation of Montezuma's wolf-puma as a bona fide felid (© Hodari Nundu

[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.

 

Artistic representation of a giant ground squirrel Paenemarmota confronting the hunting hyaena Chasmaporthetes in Pliocene Mexico (© Hodari Nundu)

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.

 

Two Homotherium scimitar cats (© Hodari Nundu)

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!

 

The head of the three-week-old Homotherium latidens scimitar cat discovered in frozen, mummified condition in Siberia and formally documented in 2024 (© A.V. Lopatin et al., 2024/Wikipedia –CC BY 4.0 licence)

 

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.

 

No article on Mexican mystery cats, lesser-known or otherwise, would be complete without at least one onza-related illustration, so here is the front cover of the definitive book on this crypto-cat (© Neil B Carmony/High-Lonesome Books – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

 

DEADLY DEER-PUMAS, LITTLE LIONS, GIANT JAGUARUNDIS, AND MORE! – LESSER-KNOWN MEXICAN MYSTERY CATS, PART 2 (OF 3)

 

One long-recognized and three currently-unrecognized Mexican felids – (top left) the puma; (top right) the mazamiztli; (bottom left) Montezuma's wolf-puma; (bottom right) the tlalmiztli (© Hodari Nundu)

In Part 1 of my ShukerNature blog article on lesser-known Mexican mystery cats (please click here to read it, and also click here to read my earlier ShukerNature article documenting Mexico's best-known mystery cat, the onza), I documented the mystifying ruffed cat, some skins of which were actually procured by American zoologist and cryptozoologist Ivan T. Sanderson while visiting Mexico, only for them to be destroyed when the building in which they had been deposited by him for safe-keeping was flooded – isn't that always the way with cryptozoological specimens?!

Now, here in Part 2 I am casting my metaphorical nets much wider, to take in no fewer than five additional feline cryptids from this self-same North American country, most of which were brought to my attention by Mexican palaeo-artist and cryptozoological enthusiast Hodari Nundu on Facebook, where we have been friends for many years. In addition, Hodari has very kindly permitted me to include in this present article a number of his wonderful illustrations – thanks Hodari!

So, without further ado, let's commence our survey of these five additional feline cryptids of Mexico, beginning with the mazamiztli or deer-cat.

 

THE MAZAMIZTLI

On 22 and 23 January 2024, Hodari posted on his Facebook page some fascinating details regarding a third Mexican mystery cat, seemingly distinct from both the onza and the ruffed cat.

Hodari noted that in his 1570s magnum opus Historia Natural de la Nueva España, dealing with the wildlife of what is nowadays Mexico, Spanish naturalist Francisco Hernández de Toledo wrote about an intriguing, unidentified beast referred to locally as the mazamiztli. This name is a combination of two others, both of Nahuatl (imperial Aztec) origin – maza ('deer') and miztli ('puma'). Hernández stated that it was called by this compound name due to its combining various deer traits and puma traits, but unfortunately he did not elaborate further.

 

Hodari's exquisite artistic rendition of the mazamiztli based upon descriptions of it in historical documents (© Hodari Nundu)

However, a second author, the 16^th-Century Franciscan missionary priest and Aztec scholar Friar Bernardino de Sahagún, did provide additional details. He stated that the mazamiztli is the size and colour of deer, and also possesses paws and (in males) antlers like deer, but it sports the very sharp claws and fangs of a puma, and it does not eat grass like deer. Instead, it walks among deer and when hungry it seizes one of these unsuspecting creatures, disembowels it with its claws, and eats its entrails. Apparently, the mazamiztli looks so similar to real deer that it can only be distinguished by them via its foul smell (so presumably it hunts downwind of them to conceal its scent?).

 

A mazamiztli seeking to stealthily infiltrate a herd of deer before selecting one of them as its next prey victim (© Hodari Nundu)

Recalling that the onza is itself supposedly gracile like deer, might this cat and the mazamiztli simply be one and the same? However, the onza has its own, separate Nahuatl name, cuitlamiztli ('wolf-puma') – but see also Part 3 of my article for further, potentially conflicting details regarding this name.

Having said that, the mazamiztli seems irresistibly like a feline version of the South American maned wolf Chrysocyon brachyurus, whose very elongate limbs and extra-large ears make it look remarkably deer-like in superficial appearance.

 

The surprisingly deer-like maned wolf (© Markus Bühler)

Consequently, I have wondered if what we are dealing with here is a sexually dimorphic feline species, i.e. with the onza aka cuitlamiztli conceivably being one sex of this species and the mazamiztli being the other, visibly different sex. Certainly, males are often noticeably larger or burlier than females in a number of different cat species. However, Fr Bernardino's inclusion of antlers as a male mazamiztli characteristic argues against this creature being real rather than folkloric.

It would be very interesting if more information regarding this Mexican mystery beast is unearthed in the future, and it is very encouraging to know that serious researchers such as Hodari are actively perusing historical manuscripts that have not previously attracted specific cryptozoological attention. Who knows what other discoveries may be made in this way?

 

THE LEONCILLO

And as if three Mexican mystery cats were not extraordinary enough, I also received in January 2024 some information concerning a potential fourth one!

It took the form of a short account posted on 8 January beneath my ShukerNature blog article on the onza (click here) by a reader based in Mexico. The reader did not reveal their name, but affirmed their long fascination regarding the onza and then provided some thought-provoking information concerning not only this cat but also a smaller, separate feline form that they termed the leoncillo.

The older members of the reader's Jalisco-inhabiting family have spoken about this animal, which they liken to a diminutive lion with a small mane. The reader showed their uncle a picture of an Asiatic lion, which famously has a much smaller, sparser mane than African lions and is smaller in stature too, and the uncle replied that this is exactly what the leoncillo looks like. Moreover, even its name translates as 'little lion'.

 

Two male Asiatic lions in Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Borivali, Mumbai Lion Safari (© supersujit/Wikipedia – CC BY-SA 2.0 licence)

Could this creature be one and the same as the ruffed cat? I gave the latter crypto-cat that name in the apparent absence of any known local name for it, but perhaps its local name is leoncillo. Alternatively, might the leoncillo genuinely be a fourth Mexican mystery cat in its own right?

Yet although Mexico is a very large country, with plenty of remote mountainous areas, could it truly harbour no fewer than a quartet of mystery cats? Without any physical evidence to examine for at least three of them (or maybe all four if, as I suggested a while back, the alleged Rodriguez onza specimen wasn't a true onza after all, but merely a puma that looked like one), at this point we simply can't say. In any case, as will now be revealed, the Mexican mystery cat count doesn't even stop at four...

 

THE TLALMIZTLI

In his afore-mentioned 1570s magnum opus Historia Natural de la Nueva España, dealing with the wildlife of what is today Mexico, Spanish naturalist Francisco Hernández de Toledo has been revealed by Hodari to have written about not one but two Mexican mystery cats. One is the mazamiztli, but the other is very different, the tlalmiztli.

Providing details on his Facebook page on 26 January 2024, Hodari notes that this unidentified felid was said by Hernández to be smaller than a domestic cat but with a face like a lion, and despite its small size was very ferocious. Hernández also stated that a specimen of what he felt likely to have been this same mysterious species had been sent from Isla Margarita (in modern-day Venezuela) to the King of Spain but, tragically, it had died during the long sea voyage to Spain. Once again, it resembled a very small lion.

 

Artistic representation of the tlalmiztli's likely appearance in life (© Hodari Nundu)

Hodari speculated that it may have possibly been the jaguarundi Herpailurus yagouaroundi, a lithe, slender, low-slung, and very long-tailed wild cat slightly larger than a domestic cat, which is native to much of South America (including Venezuela) and Central America, with its range stretching up as far north as northern Mexico in North America, with occasional specimens documented in the USA. To my mind, however, it looks if anything more like a miniature lioness than a lion as far as potential leonine comparisons are concerned. Another possible identity candidate suggested for it by Hodari is a kinkajou Potos flavus, that small golden-furred Latin American procyonid related to raccoons and coatis.

 

Vintage colour engraving from 1849 of a kinkajou (public domain)

I am reminded of the leoncillo, the maned lion-like Mexican mystery cat that I've documented earlier here, but this was not said to have been smaller than a domestic cat. So, just like the latter animal and also the mazamiztli, the tlalmiztli currently remains an anomaly.

Incidentally, worth noting here is that the jaguarundi is most closely related to the puma (aka cougar and mountain lion) Puma concolor. Indeed, some authorities actually classify it as Puma yagouaroundi, and  these two species collectively form a sister clade to the Old World cheetah Acinonyx jubatus, a species that as recently as the Pleistocene possessed gracile puma-like New World relatives, housed in the genus Miracinonyx. In fact, a surviving Miracinonyx cheetah, specifically Truman's cheetah M. trumani (which officially became extinct 12,000 years ago), is one identity that has been proposed in the past for the onza.

 

Artistic representation of the possible appearance in life of Truman's cheetah (© Sheatherius/Wikipedia – CC BY-SA 4.0 licence)

 

THE TIRICUATE

On 13 December 2024, I received from Hodari via Facebook a message containing some information regarding yet another Mexican mystery cat. This one is called the tiricuate. It is said to inhabit the area around Lake Chapala, Mexico's largest lake, in the state of Jalisco, and Hodari speculates that this cat may derive its name from 'tilcuate', a name often applied by the locals to a snake. It is described as a black arboreal cat sporting a very long tail, and it attacks people, hence it is quite feared.

Hodari once saw a taxiderm specimen of a cat resembling a giant jaguarundi (see below). Consequently, he wonders if that specimen and the tiricuate may be related.

 

Grey/black phase of the jaguarundi (© Cédric Gravelle/Wikipedia – CC BY 2.5 licence)

As is well known, the jaguarundi exists in two discrete colour phases, both of which can occur within a single litter. One of these phases is bright red to dull brown and is known as the eyra (it was once mistakenly thought to be a separate species in its own right), the other is ash-grey to black in colour. This latter version certainly resembles the tiricuate based upon Hodari's description, and jaguarundis are indeed arboreal.

So whereas a normal-sized jaguarundi is too small to pose a threat to humans, perhaps an extra-large variety does also exist – one that is big enough, and savage enough, to be capable of attacking people?

 

A GIANT TAXIDERM JAGUARUNDI?

Following my request to Hodari for details concerning the intriguing taxiderm specimen of a cat resembling a giant jaguarundi that he had once seen in Mexico, I received the following in-depth account of it from him via Facebook on Christmas Day 2024:

Let's see. This happened in the early 2000s – most likely between 2000 and 2003. Sadly I didn't have a camera and of course smartphones weren't a thing yet so I am relying on my memory for this, but my memory is quite good for creature related experiences. The place was a town in Jalisco (my home state) called Mazamitla (from Nahuatl, "place where deer are hunted with arrows" – you might recognize the word mazatl, deer, because of the mazamiztli).

Anyway this is a town about 124 km south of Guadalajara. People from the city often visit it on weekends or holidays to rest and enjoy nature: it is located in a mountainous region which is largely covered on pine forests. I went there with my family on vacation. It is not uncommon for hotels or restaurants in Jalisco to have taxidermied animals but usually it is deer's heads or various birds so I was taken by this cat I saw on a restaurant, the name of which unfortunately I can't remember. It was one of those countryside restaurants so common in Jalisco (I imagine in much of Mexico) that sell sheep and goat meat dishes that you'd be hard pressed to find in the city.

 

Hodari's reconstruction of how in life the giant jaguarundi-like cat that he observed as a taxiderm specimen in a restaurant at Mazamitla during the early 2000s may have looked (© Hodari Nundu)

The cat was mounted at a certain height so that it looked like it was perched near the ceiling waiting to pounce. The mount was quite good and naturalistic. I immediately identified it as a jaguarundi based on the following traits:

- Plain brown coat, richer and darker than a puma's.

- Lack of the puma's distinctive black and white muzzle markings.

- short rounded ears.

- shorter, wider face overall.

- shorter limbs compared to the body than in a puma.

- long, rectangular shaped torso without the characteristic higher rump of the puma (due to long jumping legs).

- Fur had a sort of grizzled or agouti-patterned appearance so that even though the animal's color was plain, the individual hairs must have been tipped or streaked with light and dark bands. This is very common in jaguarundi but not so much in puma.

Having worked as a zookeeper in a park that kept jaguarundi, I was very familiar with them, and my brain wanted to identify this as a jaguarundi because it definitely leaned more towards it than towards puma, but the problem was the size. Even assuming the skin could be somewhat stretched (which wasn't evident to me at the time as the mount looked natural with no obvious distortions), it still would have been a c. 30 kg cat in life which is far superior to the size of any jaguarundi (but comparable in size to the prehistoric Puma pumoides, which is believed to have been closer to jaguarundi than to puma [and is known from fossil remains uncovered in Argentina]).

 

Puma pumoides hunting Argyrolagus, a polydolopimorphid marsupial (© Hodari Nundu)

Unfortunately like I said I had no camera or smartphone back then, nor was I able to find out more about the specimen. I would assume that it was hunted somewhere in the vicinity since the mounted animals you see in these sorts of place usually are. Also there's a rich tradition of mystery cat sightings in Jalisco, most of which are thrown under the catch all moniker of onza. Many Jaliscan biologists and photographers will tell you that the onza is the jaguarundi, but this doesn't explain the wild disparity in size between the regular jaguarundi and the cats reported to be large enough to attack people, and described as in between the jaguarundi and puma in size, or even puma-sized but with different proportions. I have collected a few sighting reports from people in my region and most of them are adamant that the onza is not the puma, and that it is too big to be jaguarundi.

My hypothesis is that there's a third form of acinonychine cat [i.e. in addition to the puma and the jaguarundi] in Jalisco (and possibly elsewhere since Mazamitla is close to the border with neighboring state Michoacán) that is more closely related to the jaguarundi (or at least LOOKS to be), and is sized between the jaguarundi and puma. It is consistently reported from mountain areas which means:

- it might be a form of jaguarundi evolving larger size as a response to the decline of larger predators like puma and jaguar.

- it might be a form of jaguarundi that evolved larger size as a response to colder climate in higher altitudes.

- it might be a relic of the Pleistocene, a larger acinonychine that hasn't been properly identified yet and which (as is known from other Mexican endémics) may have been more widespread during glacial periods but is now isolated in cold regions in mountain ranges.

As such it might be a new species, subspecies, or even a giant jaguarundi population stretching the size range of the species beyond what we thought possible. After all, the jaguarundi still is poorly known.

 

Vintage 19^th-Century illustration of the eyra, the jaguarundi's red/brown colour phase (public domain)

Any of the above options regarding the identity of extra-large jaguarundis would be exciting. So too would the rediscovery of the taxiderm specimen seen by Hodari in that Mazamitla restaurant, but whether after two decades it is still there can only be determined if the restaurant in question can be identified, visited (if still in existence), and, if this specimen is indeed still there, photographed and asked questions about its origin and history. If a sample of its fur could also be procured (but only with the owner's permission, naturally), that would be of great value scientifically, as a basis for conducting comparative trichological studies. Consequently, if (so many 'ifs'!) anyone reading this blog article of mine is thinking of visiting Mazamitla, be sure to look out for a restaurant there containing such a specimen!

Incidentally, as Hodari describes its pelage colour as brown, it would appear to have been a specimen of the jaguarundi's eyra (red/brown) colour phase – always assuming, of course, that it were indeed a normal (albeit extra-large) jaguarundi. For in addition to his above-quoted description, Hodari has also mentioned to me that its head was bigger and its tail shorter than those of a normal jaguarundi, and that he has sought to depict these distinguishing features in his illustration of it.

 

In the time-honoured tradition of saving the best – or at least the most mysterious – to the last, be sure to check out the third, final part of this article when I post it on ShukerNature later this week, because its subject is so strange that although apparently feline in superficial appearance it may prove to be something very different indeed taxonomically from any bona fide felid. I'm referring of course to Montezuma's wolf-puma, so don't miss it!

 

Portrait of Montezuma (=Moctezuma) II, attributed to Antonio Rodriguez (1636-1691) (public domain)