The Beasts that Hide from Man (10 page)

Consequently, not only can this not offer an explanation for the death of the geologist who prodded an
allghoi khorkhoi
with the iron rod, but also it cannot explain how his colleagues, who were all nearby at the time, survived.

As mentioned earlier, attempts to decide upon a plausible identity for the death worm, if it is indeed a bona fide mystery beast, are irrevocably influenced (in the present absence of tangible physical evidence) by the proportion of this creature that owes its origin not to biology but rather to local folklore.

Assuming that its death-dealing capabilities are fictitious, I consider the most reasonable identity for the
allghoi khorkhoi
to be an unknown species of giant amphisbaenid (or—less plausibly, but even more dramatically if correct—a radically novel species of giant water-impervious oligochaete), with its predilection for sunbathing on the surface of the sand during the Gobi’s hottest months just another example of unfounded local folklore. Perhaps it also surfaces during other months, but in areas less readily traversed by nomads, and hence is less commonly spied during those months.

If, conversely, it can indeed squirt or similarly emit a lethal venom, a currently undescribed species of specialized snake, most probably allied to the death adder or some other elapid, is certainly the most plausible identity available.

And if it can kill by electrocution? This talent would distance it so emphatically from all previously documented desert fauna that, without having first examined a specimen, I would hesitate to offer any taxonomie categorization whatsoever for such an astonishing animal.

Cryptozoological skeptics may seek to dismiss the death worm as an example of “foaflore” (i.e. a typical “friend of a friend” tale, lacking any traceable origin or firsthand testimony), due to the frequent reluctance of the nomads to speak of it (or even mention it by name) and to admit having spied it personally. Moreover, while adamant that this creature does exist, they will sometimes deny that it exists in their particular region, and will send European investigators elsewhere to look for it.

However, such evasive behavior on the part of local people in relation to a given animal species is by no means unique. There are many species already known to science, including various lemurs in Madagascar and even the tiger in certain parts of India (e.g. Purnia), that are treated in precisely this manner by the native peoples sharing their domain. Induced by superstitious fear that is often (but not always) groundless, such reluctance to talk about these animals certainly assists in keeping them hidden from scientific scrutiny, and may well explain why certain cryptids, including the death worm, continue to elude formal discovery.

Many cryptozoological analyses can incorporate clues drawn not only from the fauna of the present, but also from that of the past. In the case of the death worm, however, nothing remotely like it has ever been documented in the paleontological literature. Of course, if it is an invertebrate worm, this is not too surprising, because soft-bodied animals rarely yield fossils anyway. Equally, impressions of soft organs capable of performing the deadly deeds attributed to this creature would probably not be preserved even in vertebrate fossils.

Clearly, then, we must look to the future, and not to the past, if we are ever to obtain a conclusive answer to the unique riddle posed by the Mongolian death worm. If such a creature truly exists, its discovery and formal recognition by science will unquestionably be one of the most sensational zoological events of modern times. However, the Gobi is an exceedingly big place, as well as an inaccessible and highly inhospitable one, so it is likely that its most mysterious inhabitant will remain mysterious for a long time to come.

And who knows, perhaps that may be no bad thing. In the words of Ben Okri, from
Astonishing the Gods
(1995):

A MAJOR FIGURE IN AMERINDIAN MYTHOLOGY ACROSS much of North America is Raven. Specific details concerning its appearance vary from one tribal group to another, but the traditional description quoted by certain native tribes of the southern U.S. is of particular cryptozoological interest. This is because it tantalizingly recalls an incredible bird hitherto assumed to have died out long before humans first entered its North American domain, and so monstrous in form and behavior that paleontologists informally call it a “terror bird.”

One of Africa’s strangest birds is a long-legged vaguely stork-like species known as the secretary bird
Sagittarius serpentarius
. Standing three to four and a half feet tall and famous for its snake-killing talents, it has long posed a problem for zoologists anxious to determine its precise taxonomie relationship to other species of bird. Traditionally, it has been classed as a bird of prey, but some researchers claim that it is most closely related to a couple of intriguing South American species known as seriemas. These are certainly reminiscent of the secretary bird, but are also of great paleontological interest, because they appear to be the closest living relatives of a group of spectacular extinct flightless birds known technically as phorusrhacids, but referred to colloquially (and very aptly) by their researchers as terror birds.

Plenty of phorusrhacid fossils have been found in South America, which for many millions of years had been an island continent, just like Australia still is, until it finally became linked to North America via the emergence from the sea of the interconnecting isthmus of Panama, around two to four million years ago. Prior to this event, however, the ecological niche of “big carnivore,” occupied in many other regions of the world by dogs, cats, and other placental mammals, had been filled to a large extent in South America by the phorusrhacids.

The first known phorusrhacids were modest-sized species, but by the mid-Miocene (around 15 million years ago), the plains of Patagonia were being stalked by the terrifying spectacle of
Phorusrhacus inflatus
. Standing five to six feet tall, this flightless but very efficient running bird possessed a massive hooked beak, bore four huge, razor-sharp talons on each foot, and preyed upon ungulates and other very sizeable herbivorous mammals.

As the top predators in the island continent of South America, the phorusrhacids ruled supreme. Once it became connected to North America via the Panamanian isthmus, however, large placental mammalian carnivores such as dogs, cats, and bears soon traveled down into South America, where they established themselves and decimated most of the unique herbivorous mammals that had evolved in isolation there. For a long time, paleontologists assumed that the phorusrhacids had also succumbed, losing out in competition with these invading furry predators from the north. In 1963, however, this assumption was dramatically swept aside by the remarkable news that some fossilized remains from a huge species of phorusrhacid had been found in Florida. Only two million years old, it was clear from these fossils that far from dying out, some phorusrhacids had actually succeeded in journeying up along the Panamanian isthmus from South into North America, and had established themselves in Florida.

The new, North American phorusrhacid was christened
Titanis walleri
, and attracted great attention because some researchers estimated that this flightless, flesh-eating bird had stood 10 to 12 feet tall—more than two feet taller than the ostrich! Truly a terror bird! More recently, it has been downscaled by certain researchers to a somewhat more modest six feet or so—but a human-sized carnivorous bird would still be a frightening prospect by anyone’s standards.

The two most remarkable discoveries concerning
Titanis
did not occur until the 1990s. The first came after paleontologist Dr. Robert Chandler began seeking its fossils in the Santa Fe River passing through Florida. During one search, he found some
Titanis
wing bones. This was very important because phorusrhacid remains had been notable for their absence of wing skeleture, leading researchers to assume that during the course of evolution these birds’ wings had degenerated until they had eventually vanished altogether. Chandler, however, proved that this was not so. Moreover, the wing was hardly vestigial, measuring three feet long. But it was its structure that so amazed Chandler, for the bones had evolved in a manner that had literally converted the wing into an arm, equipped with a three-clawed “hand” or “paw.” Chandler believes that
Titanis
used its arms to prevent its prey victims from attacking it with their horns or hoofs, and also that it could manipulate its victims with its hands, and impale them with its claws. It would thus behave in a manner unexpectedly reminiscent of certain bipedal carnivorous dinosaurs, such as the infamous
Velociraptor
.

Even more dramatic, however, was a
Titanis
revelation by paleontologist Dr. Jon Baskin. He recently found a
Titanis
toe in a gravel pit along the Nueces River—in Texas. But that was not all. The other fossils found with it in the gravel pit came from two well-delineated time periods. One was five million years ago, i.e. quite some time before South America rejoined North America, enabling the ancestors of
Titanis
to travel north. Hence it would seem that the
Titanis
toe could not possibly be from that period. However, the other time period represented by fossils found with the
Titanis
toe was a mere 15,000 years ago! In other words, if the toe were not five million years old (which our current zoogeographical knowledge dictates that it could not have been), it must be no more than 15,000 years old!

If so, this is highly significant, because instead of dying out entirely around two million years ago (as hitherto assumed), it means that
Titanis
not only had existed in Texas (as well as Florida) but had survived here until at least as recently as 15,000 years ago— by which time, according to current belief, humankind had reached the southern regions of North America. Suddenly, we are faced with the amazing possibility that some humans had actually encountered the most terrifying species of bird ever to live on planet Earth!

If only there was some other evidence to support this fascinating hypothesis. Perhaps, as lately discussed by Czech cryptozoologist Dr. Jaroslav Mares in his book
Svet Tajemnych Zvifat
(1997), there is. As he points out, the Kwakiutl and Haida tribes of the southern U.S. describe the mythological being Raven as a monstrous giant bird with a massive hooked beak, long sturdy legs on which it runs rapidly across the ground, and a feathered body like other birds—but possessing front paws with claws, instead of wings!

Now where have we come across a bird that possessed clawed paws (or hands), instead of wings, before? Is it just a coincidence that legends of such a bird can be found in the one region of North America where a species fitting this description apparently did coexist with humans? Today,
Titanis
is long since gone, but perhaps its formidable
memory
lingers on.

THIS CASE IS A MYSTERY WELL DESERVING OF SHERLOCK Holmes’s attention—due not only to its complexity, but also to the fact that it features Holmes’s creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.