Dogs

Adjulé

Adjulé

Adjulé : Dog-like animal of North Africa. Etymology: Tamahaq (Berber) name. Variant names: Kelb-el-khela (“bushdog,” in Mauritania), Tarhsît (for the ...
Andean Wolf

Andean Wolf

Andean Wolf : Unrecognized mountain dog of South America. Scientific name: Dasycyon hagenbecki, given by Ingo Krumbiegel in 1949. Physical ...
Barguest

Barguest

Barguest : Black Dog of northern England. Etymology: Possibly from the German Bargeist (“spirit of the [funeral] bier”), the German ...
beast-of-gevaudan

Beast of GĂ©vaudan

The Beast of Gevaudan is shown in an illustration made during the time of the mystery attacks. (FPL) In the ...
Black Dogs

Black Dogs

Black dogs are spectral animals associated with Demonic powers, death, and disaster. Phantom black dogs are widespread in folklore ...
black-shuck

Black Shuck

The Black Shuck is a large spectral dog in British folklore, especially in Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and Devon—in areas steeped ...
Chagljevi

Chagljevi

Chagljevi : Unknown Dog of Eastern Europe. Physical description: Doglike. The size of a puppy. Behavior: Nocturnal. Afraid of humans ...
Cù Sìth

Cù Sìth

Cù Sìth : Black Dog of Scotland. Etymology: Gaelic, “fairy dog.” Physical description: Size of a yearling bullock. Usually dark ...
Daisy Dog

Daisy Dog

Daisy Dog : Doglike Entity of Cornwall, England. Etymology: From the cross-shaped plot of daisies on the dog’s grave. Physical ...
Gally-Trot

Gally-Trot

Gally-Trot : Black Dog of southern England. Etymology: Possibly from the French gardez le tresor (“guard the treasure”); from gally ...
Shunka Warak'in

Shunka Warak’in

SHUNKA WARAK’IN In the wilds of the upper midwestern United States lives a frightening-looking, primitive wolf-like beast known to Indians ...
The Beast of Cannock

The Beast of Cannock

The Beast of Cannock Chase is back - and on the hard-shoulder. Motorists on Junction 10A of the M6, near ...
The Wendigo

The Wendigo

A DNA test has been ordered to determine the species of a mystery beast killed in Turner, Maine, that some ...
Wish Hound

Wish Hound

Wish Hound: Black Dog of southern England. Variant names: Wisht hound, Witch hound, Yell hound, Yeth hound. Physical description: Often ...

The Dog family (Canidae) arose from primitive carnivores in the Eocene, about 35 million years ago, in North America. Common characteristics include elongated jaws, long legs relative to body size, five toes on the front feet and four toes on the hind feet, nonretractile claws, and an omnivorous diet. Most species are uniform in colouration, with special markings usually confined to the head and the tip of the tail. In size, canids
range from the Fennec fox (Fennecus zerda) that weighs about 3 pounds to the Gray wolf (Canis lupus) that weighs up to 175 pounds.

The earliest canids were the hesperocyonines of North America, small- to medium-sized predators of the Late Eocene, 35 million years ago. They were replaced by the borophagines, a group that ranged in size from foxes to lions and was dominant from the Miocene through the Pleistocene, 25–1.5 million years ago. An early true dog (Canis davisi) moved across the Bering land bridge to Asia and Europe in the Miocene.

About the size of a coyote, it ultimately gave rise to the foxes and wolves that colonized all of Eurasia. From 2 million to 700,000 years ago, wolves, coyotes, and foxes moved back into North America from Asia. All domestic dog
breeds are descended from the gray wolf, which was apparently domesticated at different times and places as early as 12,000 years ago.

Of the twenty canids in this list, only a handful could represent new or surviving species (perhaps the Hungarian Reedwolf or the Waheela); most will likely turn out to be colour morphs, deformed individuals, or misidentifications of known animals. Some, such as the Alien Big Dog or the Phantom Wolf, are undoubtedly multicausal.

SOURCE:

Mysterious Creatures – A Guide to Cryptozoology written by George M. Eberhart – Copyright © 2002 by George M. Eberhart

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