Nandi bear
Creature from east African folklore
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In East African folklore, the Nandi bear is a creature said to live in East Africa.[1][2] It takes its name from the Nandi people, who live in western Kenya, the area in which the Nandi bear has been reported. It is also known as Chemosit,[1] Kerit, Koddoelo, Ngoloko, or Duba, which derives from the Arabic words dubb ('bear') or d.abʕ / d.abuʕ ('hyena').[3] The Samburu Nkampit also appears to be a version of this creature.
Nandi bear illustration (1961) | |
| Creature information | |
|---|---|
| Other name(s) | Chemosit, Kerit, Koddoelo, Ngoelo, Ngoloko, Duba |
| Sub grouping | Bear |
| Origin | |
| Region | East Africa |
Scientists tend to doubt the existence of the Nandi bear, arguing instead such accounts are misinterpreted encounters with known animals, but a variety of fringe proposals have been made to identify the creature.
Description
Descriptions of the Nandi bear are of a ferocious, powerfully built carnivore with high front shoulders (over 1.2 m (4 ft) tall) and a sloping back. Stories of the Nandi bear claim it is fierce, nocturnal, stands on its hind legs and can kill animals.[4] In 1914, Charles William Hobley authored a diagram of a footprint attributed to a Nandi bear.[4][5]
The Nandi people call it kerit. Local legend holds the Nandi bear has reddish hair, long feet and is said to scalp people.[1] In 1961, Gardner Soule noted sightings were reported in Kenya throughout the 19th century and early 20th century, but it "never has been caught or identified".[6] Sightings of the Nandi bear decreased over time. In 1905, Richard Meinertzhagen speculated the creature may have been an "anthropoid ape now extinct on account of decreased rainfall."[7]
Scientific evaluation
There is no scientific evidence supporting the existence of the Nandi bear.[2][8] Alleged sightings are suggested to be misidentifications of known species.[2][8][9]
In 1923, Charles William Andrews suggested the Nandi bear may be a surviving representative of the extinct Chalicothere.[10] In the 1930s, Louis Leakey also suggested Nandi bear descriptions matched the Chalicothere, though those extinct creatures were herbivores.[11] The Chalicothere hypothesis was later abandoned. In 2000, palaeontologist Louis L. Jacobs commented: "if chalicotheres existed now, they would have been found out just like the giant forest hog was."[2] He concluded that "if there is anything to the Nandi bear story besides imagination, I suspect it may be the word-of-mouth description of gorillas passed across the continent from areas where they live to areas where they do not."[2]
Zoologist Reginald Innes Pocock claimed reports of the Nandi bear were misidentified hyenas, specifically the spotted hyena.[9] In 1932, the British Natural History Museum stated many reports of the Nandi bear have "proved to have been nothing more than a spotted hyena."[12] Similarly, palaeontologist George Gaylord Simpson commented how the Nandi bear "turned out to be in most if not all cases a ratel [honey-badger], an animal which had been known to scientific zoologists since 1776."[8]
In popular culture
- The Nandi bear (spelt 'Nandibear') appears as a monster in the Fighting Fantasy gamebook series.[13]
- The Peculiar Exploits of Brigadier Ffellowes, a collection of contemporary fantasy stories by Sterling E. Lanier, includes a short story called "His Only Safari", in which the title character briefly sights a kerit and speculates that such creatures formed the basis for the Egyptian legends of Anubis.
- Tarzan #134 (Gold Key Comics, March 1963) features Tarzan meeting and later battling a Nandi bear, which is pictured as a shaggy sloth bear-like creature with floppy ears.
- Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, a fantasy role-playing game published in 2009 by Paizo Publishing, features the Chemosit, a fantastical creature inspired by Nandi bear stories.[14]
- The daily comic panel True-Life Adventures for 22 May 1956, featured the Nandi bear.