The Arica Monster…
– –Destination Truth recently had an episode with a secondary storyline line on the Arica Monster, a supposedly raptor-like creature inhabiting the Northern Chilean desert. On the desert road, people have reported seeing a dinosaur-like beast keeping pace with their cars, a neat trick. Described as large, standing on his hind legs, and having leathery skin, the beast is a fast runner with a distinctive three-toed print who attacks with razor-sharp teeth.
Destination Truth often has comic overtones that MonsterQuest lacks (remember the Mongolian Death Worms episode?), and Josh Gates and his team have such a limited budget that they are reduced to pursuing travel arrangements on Orbitz. They tend to take spills and get sick even while thoroughly enjoying themselves. As for the raptor remnant, expert opinion is that it was a rhea, an ostrich-like bird with a three-toed print…
Tags: Arica Monster
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FOXSYLVANIA 
November 5, 2009 at 9:57 pm
The rhea could be one explanation. Or, it could be another form of cryptid…like a malnourished Phororhacos!
From what I’ve read of this ancient avian, its kind lived in the woodlands and grasslands of prehistoric Patagonia, running and hunting like seriemas (South American counterparts of the African secretary bird). That is; using their clawed, arm-like rudimentary wings to temporarily immobilize their prey. And, then, grabbing it with their beaks, in order to smash it to the ground, and disembowel it with a razor-sharp sickle claw!*
I’ve also read about a phenomenon called “feather-plucking” in domestic birds that can be the result of (among other things) malnutrition. Considering the desert-like environment of modern-day Arica, I would not be surprised that vitamin deficiencies–caused by
an inadequate supply of prey–might result in a flightless bird of prey self-plucking its feathers in an attempt to relieve itchy skin caused by malnutrition.
Now, I’m not saying for _certain_ that all the people who have sighted this cryptid have actually been seeing a malnourished Phororhacos. But, in terms of geographical and paleo-chronological convenience, it’s a little more plausible-sounding. Especially, if one assumes that the witnesses were familiar enough with their own local fauna to tell the difference between a rhea and something else!
*Like the velociraptors in “Jurassic Park.”
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November 6, 2009 at 1:25 am
(starts a food drive for the malnourished Phororhacos!)
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November 5, 2009 at 9:59 pm
P.S.—my apologies for the shrunken print. I have no idea how that happened. Budget cuts on font size, maybe?
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November 6, 2009 at 1:26 am
We all save on pixels where we can! 😉
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November 5, 2009 at 10:23 pm
Ah! There we go. Strictly a glitch in the “zoom” setting.
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