hexentotchen

"Welcome back. I hope you all had a decent vacation," Jon said. "Today we're discussing the chupacabra." He put up the standard visual reference. "The name means something like 'goat sucker' in Spanish, because it apparently sucks animals' blood. Not only goats, though." He sighed. "It was named by a comedian, in case you were wondering."

He gestured at the picture. "This is one popular conception of the thing. In the southwestern US, it's considered to be fairly dog-like, whereas elsewhere in Latin America it's more reptilian, larger, and heavyset. The most common description is somewhat reptilian, with leathery or scaly skin in some variation of grey, with sharp spines down its back. It is around one meter tall, but capable of standing on its hind legs and moving by hopping. Like a kangaroo." Because apparently all weird animals were kangaroos now."

"The earliest accounts were in Puerto Rico in 1995, when several sheep were discovered dead, with three puncture wounds in their chest and completely drained of blood, although this was never confirmed and documented.

"A few months later, an eyewitness reported seeing the thing in a nearby town that reportedly had up to one hundred fifty livestock and pets murdered. However," Jon grimaced, "that eyewitness was later reported to have believed that the events of a recent movie were actually occurring in reality, and based her description of the chupacabra on the monster in that movie. So whether it was responsible for those deaths or not, we can hardly believe her description." Honestly, people. Be more creative!

"Since then, attacks have been reported worldwide, although primarily in the Americas. Several scientists have noted that, particularly regarding the more dog-like accounts, sightings could be simply coyotes or dogs with mange. Sick predators would also be more likely to attack livestock rather than hunt in the wild, and might kill them but not eat them entirely. I haven't noted any other origins for the things. They either are strange animals, or mangy canines. Or perhaps both; there's no reason cryptids should be immune to disease."

He gestured at the image again. "So, our discussion. Strange animals, mangy canines, or both. And why they might appear where they do and not have ever been caught on camera."