Living Cryptids: Chupacabra

It has been speculated that in the southwestern United States and parts of Mexico, there is a creature that preys on livestock and has a distinct calling card.  On its victims, it leaves a puncture wound with three holes in a tight grouping.  The creature is the chupacabra which means “goat-sucker.”

The description of this animal ranges from being a dog-like creature, to a two-legged reptilian that was an accidental government experiment.  The dog-like description seems to be the least outrageous, so we will look at that.  It is about the size of a coyote and looks like a coyote, except it has little to no fur covering the body.  Its source of food is livestock blood.  Other than that, there is not much else that is known about this creature.

The important thing when discussing about this creature is its need for blood.  As most people know, creatures extracting blood as a source of nutrition is not uncommon.  Insects like the mosquito are the most well-known, but vampire bats, and some birds also feed off blood.  The reason blood is sometimes a source of nutrition, is has a high nutritional value and is relatively easy to extract.  It is possible that a large creature, such as the chupacabra could have evolved to prefer blood.

This may be because it requires a lot of energy to stay active.  Waiting for its prey to “fatten” up and then killing it to take its blood may require a lot of energy, and in order to regain that energy, it drinks the blood.  When livestock is added to the equation, the creature can live an easy life.

What does not make sense though is if this creature does exist, and feeds of livestock, why has it never really been documented?  It must remain close to its source of food so it has to have been seen.  One answer to this is that due to the nutritional value of blood, and size of its food source, it may not have to feed often and therefore, remains hidden for most of its life.  You wonder if the chupacabra is a universal donor or receiver.