View source for Mapinguari

{{Short description|Legendary cryptid in the Amazon}}
{{For|the orchid genus|Mapinguari (plant)}}
[[File:Mapinguari statue, Parque Ambiental Chico Mendes, Rio Branco, Brazil.jpg |thumb |right |Mapinguari statue, Parque Ambiental Chico Mendes, [[Rio Branco, Acre|Rio Branco]], [[Brazil]] ]]

'''Mapinguari''' or '''mapinguary''' are mythical monstrous jungle-dwelling spirits from [[Brazil]]ian [[folklore]]. They are said to protect the [[Amazon rainforest]] and its animals. According to folklore, when humans grow too old they can transform into man-eating Mapinguari.

They have either a gaping mouth on the stomach or a mouth split open from throat to belly. Their dense hair makes them [[bulletproof]], except around the navel. They have a single eye on their foreheads, like a [[cyclops]], at least in more recent ethnography.

==Terminology==
Casudo and later commentators speculate the name ''mapinguari'' to be a [[Tupi–Guarani languages|Tupi-Guarani]] compound ''mbaé-pi-guari'' ([[Guarani language|Guarani]]: {{lang|gn|[[wikt:mba'e|mbae]]}} "that, the thing"<ref name="ramiz_galvao1879Vocab-mbae"/> + {{lang|gn|pĭ}} "foot"<ref>''Vocabulario'' s.v. {{URL|1=https://books.google.com/books?id=w6EzAQAAMAAJ&pg=383|2=pî s.}} "{{lang|pt|pé, pés, assento, base}}"</ref> + {{lang|gn|guarî}} "crooked, twisted"<ref>''Vocabulario'' s.v. {{URL|1=https://books.google.com/books?id=w6EzAQAAMAAJ&pg=136|2=guarî adj.}} "{{lang|pt|torto, contorto, retorcido}}"</ref>) meaning "the thing that has a [[Clubfoot|clubbed]], twisted, or backwards-turned foot".{{sfnp|Cascudo|1983|p=191}}<ref>Cascudo (2002), p. 223 cited by {{harvp|Vander Velden|2016|p=211}}, n 5.</ref>

Mapingurai is known to the [[Karitiana]] people as '''{{lang|ktn|kida harara}}''' ([[Karitiâna language|Karitiâna]]: "laughing beast"), '''{{lang|ktn|kida so'emo}}''' ("beast with black face") or '''{{lang|ktn|Owoj/Owojo}}''' (lit. "maternal grandfather" or "mother's brother's son").{{sfnp|Vander Velden|2016|p=211}}<ref name="vander_velden2009"/><ref name="demello2024"/>

The Mapunguari also answers to the  '''''segamai''''' of the [[Machiguenga]] people, according to some commentators.<ref name="ROHTER-NYT" /><ref name="demello2024"/> However, ethnologist Glenn H. Shepard, who conducted the fieldwork among the [[Machiguenga]] of Peru and obtained testimonies about the ''segamai''{{sfnp|Oren|2001|p=3}} had focused on a different Machiguenga mythical being as comparable to the Mapinguari, namely the so-called '''''oshetoniro''''' ("mother of spider monkeys"), a large monkey-like creature "equipped with demonic powers and gigantic penises. They can summon wind and darkness, cause panic and confusion, and are said to rape and kill human victims". Shepard not only stated the ''oshetoniro'' may be a variant of the Brazilian Mapinguari, but added these may both be folkloric memories of the ground sloth (cf. {{section link||Cryptozoology}}).<ref name="shepard2002"/><ref name="veracini&camphora2024"/>{{efn|As Shepard (2002) explains in note 3, names like 'mother of squirrel monkey' does not imply this creature is taxonomically close to a squirrel monkey, hence, "mother of spider monkey" is not necessarily even a primate.}}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|name="lizarralde-shaaroba"|In the same anthology, Manuel Lizarralde (2002) remarks on  the ''shaaroba'' which [[Barí people]] of Venezuela variously describes as a 500–800 kg giant red monkey, similar to a spider monkey with jaguar-like claws, or a cross between cow and jaguar: this shaaroba, like Shepard's mythological creature might be a memory of the giant sloth, in Lizarralde's opinion.<ref name="lizarralde2002"/><ref name="veracini&camphora2024"/>}}

The  ''juma'' has been listed as an alias for mapinguari,<ref name="demello2024"/>{{sfnp|Oren|2001|p=2}} but [[Candace Slater]] distinguish the two as different beings,<ref name="slater2002"/> though both of them together with "Matinta-Perera" (alias of Saci) are grouped together as "Curupiras" by her.<ref name="slater2001"/>

== Description ==
There are various depictions of the mapinguari. It is a man-eater,<ref name="cascudo1962"/> and may eat the victim head-first, plunging the victim's head in the long gaping oral cavity (that runs from nose to stomach, cf. {{section link||Mouth in abdomen}}) and chewing slowly.{{sfnp|Cascudo|1976a|p=18}}{{Refn|name="torres"}} While legend says it only devours the head,{{Refn|Cascudo: "Mas devora somente a cabeça"{{sfnp|Cascudo|1983|p=191}}{{sfnp|Cascudo|2002|p=224}}<ref name="cascudo1962"/>}} one documented [[Rubber tapping|rubber tapper]] witness has seen the creature devour the entire body piecemeal: the head, limbs, entrails, and torso of a man fallen victim.<ref name="magalhaes&silva_campos1928"/>{{Refn|Cascudo too noted it can tear the flesh in many pieces, as described in this tale (edited by Silva Campos<ref name="magalhaes&silva_campos1928"/>).<ref>{{harvp|Cascudo|2002|p=223}}: "No conto de J. da Silva Campos, o Mapinguari arranca a carne de sua vítima em largos pedaços".</ref>}}

It was still believed to haunt the forests of [[Pará]], [[Amazonas (Brazilian state)|Amazonas]] and [[Acre (state)|Acre]] into the 20th century.<ref name="cascudo1962"/>

The lore of the {{linktext|anthropophagous}} giant mapinguari may well be a composite, taking on the characteristics of the Gorjala (a giant or gigantes<ref name="cascudo1962-Gorjala "/>), the [[Pé de Garrafa]] ("bottle footed"<ref name="cascudo1962-PeDeGarrafa"/>), the invulnerability, the inverted feet of the [[Curupira]] and Matutiú (black-haired, long-armed and clawed giant).{{Refn|Matutiú as described by Father Cristóvão de Acunha.{{sfnp|Cascudo|1976a|p=18}}}}<ref name="cascudo1962"/> Its giant stature is cloaked by long black hair, it has long arms and clawed hand, etc.<ref>{{harvp|Cascudo|1976a|p=17}}; {{harvp|Cascudo|1983|p=189}}</ref><ref name="cascudo1962"/>

It is not nocturnal like other monsters, but lies in wait in the dim light of the depth of the forest by daylight, and lunges to attack. It also announces itself with heavy screaming, frightening the humans into terrified flight.{{sfnp|Cascudo|1976a|p=17}} Cascudo suspects this to be relatively young lore, found in the narrative of the [[rubber tappers]], since the old chroniclers of the colonial period do not mention it.{{sfnp|Cascudo|1976a|p=18}}

The mapinguari (mapinguary) in the [[Purus River]] basin of Amazonas is described as a gigantic monkey, as hairy as a {{lang|pt|coatá}} ([[spider monkey]]), with [[donkey]] [[Hoof|hooves]] for feet that are turned backwards (like the Curupira),{{Refn|Silva Campos (1928) ''Brasil'', pp. 321–322,<ref name="magalhaes&silva_campos1928"/> ''apud'' Cascudo.{{sfnp|Cascudo|1983|p=191}}<ref name="cascudo1962" />}}{{Refn|name="torres"|An independent informant, Genésio Xavier Torres, court clerk formerly rubber-tapper gives a more succinct but description similar to the tale edited by Silva Campo, that Mapinguari is a monkey larger than man with hooves turned in reverse direction, that its mouth was split from nose to stomach, and it chewed the victim's head like chewing tobacco.<ref name="cascudo1976"/>}} This description was by a witness who was a ''{{linktext|seringueiro}}'' at a rubber plantation who liked to go hunting, and one Sunday, dragged along his co-worker roommate with who he shared the same hut or tent,{{efn|"{{linktext|barraca}}".}} though the latter was against not observing the day of rest (cf. {{section link||Christian element}}). They got separated in the woods, and then the man saw his tent-companion devoured by such a mapinguari, which had jaguar-like claws and a mouth (lower jaw?) "as big as [[lapel]]",{{efn|"grande como uma solapa".}} "torn" to the level of the stomach (interpreted to mean a mouth split from around the face to its stomach).<ref name="magalhaes&silva_campos1928"/>

=== Transformations of old men ===
The lore of the state of Acre tells that Indians who attain an advanced age transform into this monster, and describes it as having an alligator-like hard-shelled skin, with identical feet like the (ends of) a [[pestle]] or [[Brazil nut]] [[Capsule (fruit)|capsules]].{{efn|''ouriço de castanha'' is literally "chestnut burr" but "castanha-do-acre" or Brazil nut must be meant here.}}{{Refn|Francisco Peres de Lima (1938) ''Folclore acreano'', p. 103 ''apud'' Cascudo<ref name="cascudo1962"/>}}

The mapinguari has been recorded in the belief among the [[Macuna]] of [[Colombia]] as a man-eater, greatly feared. It was supposed that men who grow too old turned into these. The custom existed among the Indians of the Yotahy (Jotahy) River of killing the superannuated for fear they will turn into Mapinguaris.<ref name="deleyto1966"/>

In a book on rubber farming, one informant has told it to be an "ancient king of the region".{{Refn|Cascudo's dictionary<ref name="cascudo1962"/> and {{harvp|Cascudo|1983|p=191}}: "o Mapinguari era o “antigo rei da região' [the Mapinguari is the 'ancient king of the region']”according to an old ''tuixaua'' (indigenous chief) who was already semi-civilized, reported by Guedes, Mário (1920) [1914] ''Os Seringaes'', pp. 221-222.<ref name="guedes1914"/>}}

Some folklore also describe it as a former human [[shaman]] turned into a hairy humanoid [[cyclops]].<ref name="Dunning">{{cite web |last1=Dunning |first1=Brian |author-link=Brian Dunning (author) |title=On the Trail of the Mapinguari |url=https://skeptoid.com/episodes/4888 |website=Skeptoid |publisher=Skeptic Media |access-date=15 June 2023}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=March 2023}}<!--need a secondary source that points to an RS primary source saying shaman, brujo, payé, pajé or whatever.-->

Cf. also Quibungo (aged [[Afro-Brazilians|black Brazilians]] turned monster) described below.

=== Mouth in abdomen ===
This traditional mapinguari is often said to have a gaping mouth on its abdomen,<ref name="ROHTER-NYT">{{cite news |last=Rohter |first=Larry |date=2007-07-08 |title=A Huge Amazon Monster Is Only a Myth. Or Is It? |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/08/world/americas/08amazon.html |access-date=2020-04-12}}</ref> with its feet turned backwards, as already testified by the rubber-tapper of the Purus River basin, Amazonas.<ref name="magalhaes&silva_campos1928"/> Creatures with such feet, which confuse those trying to track it, are found in folklore around the world.<ref name="Dunning"/>

A parallel can be found in the legendary [[Quibungo (legendary creature)|Quibungo]], a monster which old black men turned into,<ref>{{harvp|Cascudo|1983|p=205}}: "Quibungo, Negro africano, quando fica muito velho, vira Quibungo. É um macacão todo peludo, que come crianças. (Recôncavo da Bahia)" citing  da Silva Campos, João (1928) “Contos e Fábulas populares da Bahia”, in ''O Folclore no Brasil'', p. 219</ref> which also has a strange gaping mouth running from nose to stomach<!--do nariz ao estômago-->{{sfnp|Cascudo|1976a|p=18}} (or throat to stomach<ref>{{harvp|Cascudo|1983|p=9}}: "Uma característica do Quibungo é sua bocarra aberta verticalmente da garganta ao estômago"</ref>) from which the Mapinguari may have borrowed the trait.{{sfnp|Cascudo|1983|p=189}}<ref>{{harvp|Cascudo|1983|p=191}}: "Do africano Quibungo, o Mapinguari tem a posição anômala da boca"</ref> Though the Quibungo according to some accounts has its mouth on its back.<ref name="souza_carneiro1937"/>{{sfnp|Zarka|2022}}

Thus the alternative description is not a mouth at the stomach, but an oral cavity that slits vertically from face/throat to navel, as already touched upon in the rubber-tapper's testimony above.<ref name="magalhaes&silva_campos1928"/>

Also, the spot around its navel is the only place where a gunshot would penetrate, and elsewhere his dense hair makes him invulnerable to bullets.<ref name="cascudo1962"/><ref name="galeano2014"/>

=== Christian element ===
The hunter's encounter with the Mapniguari contextualized as punishment for breaking [[Sabbath in Christianity|Sabbath]] on Sunday is seen as a Christian influence.{{sfnp|Galeano|2014|p=145}} The hunter goes out to hunt game saying "one goes hungry even on a Sunday" despite his wife's warning — tale published by Galeano (2014),<ref name="galeano2014"/> as well as the version edited by Silva Campos (1928), where the tapper defended his hunting habit saying "one still must eat on Sunday".<ref name="magalhaes&silva_campos1928"/> The "Catholic [[catechism]]" had already been noted by Cascudo (1976) who writes that the Mapniguari deliberately chooses a holiday or Sunday to do its prowling, so that the hunter who hunts on those days is risking death.<ref>{{harvp|Cascudo|1976a|p=18}}: "Caçador que encontrar matando caça nesses dias proibidos e de preceito é homem morto"; {{harvp|Cascudo|1983}} [1976], p. 191; Cascudo (2002), p. 223 ''apud'' {{harvp|Bezerra|2011|pp=91–92}}</ref>

=== Single eye ===
Cascudo noted that like the ogre of Europe, the [[Labatut (legendary creature)|Labatut]],<ref>{{harvp|Cascudo|1983|p=199}}: Labatut is an imaginary being in the folklore of the mountainous [[Microregion of Chapada do Apodi|Chapada do Apodi]] region in the state of [[Rio Grande do Norte]] and parts of the adjoining state of [[Ceará]]</ref> the Mapinguari, and the [[Capelobo]] of Brazilian lore were all ascribed a single eye.{{sfnp|Cascudo|1983|p=187}}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Galeano writes that the Capé-lobo in [[Pará]] and [[Maranhão]] is a variant of the Mapinguari.{{sfnp|Galeano|2014|p=145}}}}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|The [[curupira]] was also ascribed one-eyedness locally in the [[Tapajós]] basin in Pará.<ref name="barbosa_rodrigues1890"/>}}

Some additional ethnography from other tribal peoples attest to the Mapinguari being described as single-eyed,<ref>Cf. infra</ref> like a [[cyclops]],<ref name="monteiro1977"/>{{sfnp|Galeano|2014|p=145}}<ref name="Dunning"/> as follows:

The woodsmen of [[Amazonas (Brazilian state)|Amazonas]] have known of the Mapnguari as a hairy man, sometimes with an eye on the belly, sometimes a single eye on the forehead like a cyclops, according to {{interlanguage link|Mário Ypiranga Monteiro|pt|Mário Ypiranga Monteiro}} (1977).<ref name="monteiro1977"/>

A collective narrative tale describes a hunter who lives in the Amazon near [[Tefé]], Amazonas who went out to hunt on a Sunday against advise, and encountered a Mapinguari which was like a hairy black ape, with a single green eye. It also had a shell like a turtle's.<ref name="galeano2014"/>

As another example, the lore among the present-day [[Mura people]] is that the Mapinguari has a single eye on its head and a mouth on its belly, according to the gloss given by indigenous writer Márcia Nunes Maciel (aka Márcia Mura).<ref name="nunes_maciel2023"/>

== Fauna identification ==
{{interlanguage link|Mário Ypiranga Monteiro|pt|Mário Ypiranga Monteiro|lt=Monteiro}} (1977) conjectured that the Amazon natives were reporting on their fears for the Amazonian bear or  [[spectacled bear]], known in Quechua as the {{lang|qu|[h]ucumari}} ("bear that hugs").<ref name="monteiro1977"/>

[[Câmara Cascudo|Cascudo]] (1962) commented there was close similarity between the Mapinguari and the Mongolian "wild man" or {{Transliteration|mn|kümün görügesü}}.{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Cascudo gives "Khoun-gouraissou" (without hyphenation) which is the French transliteration in [[Nikolay Przhevalsky|Przhevalsky, Nikolay]] (1880) ''{{URL|1=https://books.google.com/books?id=5fSPpsvj6WAC&pg=PA304|2=Mongolie et pays des Tangoutes}}'', p. 304. But an English translation "kung-gurresu" as 'man-beast' occurs in Przhevalsky (1876) ''{{URL|1=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z5P_0XYQ9EoC&pg=PA249|2=Mongolia, the Tangut Country}}'' '''2''': 249. The orthography is taken from [[Byambyn Rinchen|Rinčen]] (1964).<ref name="rincen1964"/>}}<ref name="cascudo1962"/> This creature is otherwise designated by its Russian name [[Almas (folklore)|Almas]],<ref name="rincen1964"/> and discussed (as [[cryptid]]) by [[Ivan T. Sanderson]]'s ''Abominable Snowmen'' (1961).{{sfnp|Rinčen|1964|p=188}}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Hence other commentators such as geneticist [[Bryan Sykes]] writes of almas as the Russian name for the [[Yeti]], which is the more famous example of a cryptid.<ref name="sykes2016"/> Sykes's team conducted the DNA analysis in 2014 that debunked the purported Yeti hair samples to be those of bears, etc.}}

=== Cryptozoology and paleontology ===
[[Bernard Heuvelmans]] (1958) and other [[cryptozoologists]] also speculated that the mapinguari might be an unknown primate, akin to [[Bigfoot]].<ref name="Dunning"/>{{Refn|[[Paleontologist]] Richard Cerutti (private communication to Oren).{{sfnp|Oren|2001|p=3}}}}

Then David C. Oren in a 1993 paper, suggested it might be a modern-day sighting of a giant [[ground sloth]], an animal estimated to have gone [[extinct]] at the end of the [[Late Pleistocene]].<ref name="ROHTER-NYT" />{{sfnp|Oren|2001|p=3}}

Oren, an [[ornithologist]], who during his research (1970s–1990s in the [[Tapajós]] River basin) heard stories about recent huntings of this creature (including anecdotes that some hunters kept the hair and claws but were discarded due to the stench), and hypothesized they might be the extinct ground sloths. One of Oren's arguments was that some ground sloths had bony plates like protective armor (cf. mylodontid pelt below), which coincided with the lore that the mapinguari was invulnerable to projectile weapons on most parts of its body. Oren's conjecture was met by criticism by [[scientists]] at the time, but an article Oren's 1993 announcement was picked up by major news papers despite no evidence.<ref name="Dunning"/>

Ethnologist Gerard H. Shepard (2002), focused not on the ''segamai'' of the Machiguenga (syn. mapinguari) but rather the ''oshetoniro'' ("mother of spider monkeys") as a likely variant of the Mapinguari lore, which might be folkloric memory of a ground sloth.<ref name="shepard2002"/><ref name="veracini&camphora2024"/> Manuel Lizarralde (2002) writing in the same essay collection compares his findings on the legendary red-colored "giant monkey" ''shaaroba''{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|name="lizarralde-shaaroba"}} of the Barí people to Shepard's creature insofar as it may also be the memory of a living ground sloth encounter in the remote past.{{Refn|Lizarralde goes on to say that what the Barí calls a "monkey" may be something different; when asked what beasts they count as "monkey" (''mono'' in Spanish), the Barí people's answers named monkeys species but also included [[kinkajou]] and [[olingo]] of the [[Procyonidae|raccoon family]].}}<ref name="lizarralde2002"/>

Long before Oren, [[Florentino Ameghino]] (1898) claimed the ground sloth was still living in South America.<ref name="holloway1999"/> He obtained a samples of scales from a pelt he considered fresh, and he published his opinion that ground sloth were recently alive, fortified by the testimony of a trained geologist about witnessing a [[pangolin]]-like creature in [[Patagonia]] ([[Santa Cruz Province, Argentina]]).<ref name="ameghino1898"/> But the identical pelt sample bearing [[osteoderm]]s from a [[Mylodontidae|mylodontid]] ground sloth{{efn|The sample, derived from Cueva del Milodón, Chile, but held at the [[La Plata Museum]].}} has recently dated to 13,200 years ago, in the late Pleistocene.<ref name="benialgo2020"/> The investigation was conducted by the team of Néstor Toledo.{{Refn|Benialgo (2020 & 2021)<ref name="benialgo2020"/><ref name="benialgo2021"/> citing Toledo et al. (2020); in English (2021)<ref name="toledo&boscaini&pérez2021"/>}}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|A different sample at Berlin had been rehydrated with water vapor and remounted before being X-rayed for a 1906 study.}}

Skeptical [[Geobiology|geobiologist]] [[Paul Schultz Martin|Paul S. Martin]] has also argued against any credible possibility of such survival (in the face of encroachment by mankind), pointing out that there have not been any ground sloth remains found in any of the modern ([[Holocene]]) fossil records spanning many thousands of years.<ref name="martin2005"/> While the youngest dated ground sloth fossil found on the South American mainland is from Brazil, from 13,000 BP (Pleistocene), the ground sloth did survive much later into the Holocene in the [[Caribbean]], to anywhere from 5,600 to 2,500 years ago based on radiocarbon dating.<ref name="mcDonald2014"/>{{Refn|4,000 years ago given by Dunning.<ref name="Dunning"/>}}

A 2021 published study headed by paleontologist Julia Tejada (now at Caltech<ref>Dajose, Lori (Fall 2024,) "{{URL|1=https://magazine.caltech.edu/post/ioc8k90zywsgmifedo7oh2de79csod |2=Signatures from the Past: How isotope research digs digs deep to solve mysteries from ancient Earth and beyond".}} ''Caltech Magazine'',  pp. 16–17 (14–20).</ref>) indicates that the ground sloth was not a strict herbivore as had been assumed, but was an omnivorous creature.<ref name="ColumbiaClimateSchool2021"/>

A 2023 academic study of the 1995 discovery of giant sloth bones “modified into primordial pendants”suggested that humans lived in the Americas contemporaneously with the giant sloth, though these artefacts date back to 25,000 and 27,000 years of age. The reporter comments that though the ground sloth went extinct 11,000 BP (or BC),{{efn|Presumbly 11,000 BC is meant, which fits the 13,000 BP science.}} their fossils are plentifully to be found, so they may very well have "served as inspiration for the Mapinguari, a mythical beast that, in Amazonian legend, had the nasty habit of twisting off the heads of humans and devouring them".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/14/science/archaeology-sloths-human-migration.html|work=The New York Times |last=Lidz |first=Franz |author-link=Franz Lidz |title=When Were We Here? Ask the Sloth Bones: A discovery revives a longtime debate about the arrival of the earliest Americans.|date=18 July 2023 |accessdate=28 July 2023|page=D3 |url-access=subscription |postscript=;}} reprinted as "{{URL|1=https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/when-did-humans-first-occupy-the-americas-ask-the-sloth-bones/?amp=1|2=When did humans first occupy the Americas? Ask the sloth bones}}" in ''The Seattle Times'', 23 July 2023</ref>

== In popular culture ==
A reference to Mapinguari occurs in the 2020 animated film ''[[The Red Scroll]]'', during the final scene when the character Wupa transforms into a giant sloth monster.<ref>{{cite web |date=20 September 2021 |last=Santos |first=Rodrigo |author-link=<!--Rodrigo Santos (escritor)-->|title=O Pergaminho Vermelho |url=https://rodrigosantosescritor.com.br/site/o-pergaminho-vermelho-16-referencias-que-voce-nao-viu-na-primeira-animacao-brasileira-da-disney-plus/ |website=Rodrigo Santos Escritor |accessdate=2025-03-31 |language=pt}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of legendary creatures]]
* [[Capelobo]] - resembles Mapinguari but with snout like [[giant anteater]] ([[Xenarthra]])
* {{annotated link|Homo floresiensis|''Homo floresiensis''}}, ''aka'' "Hobbit" man
* {{annotated link|Mylodon|''Mylodon''}}
* {{interlanguage link|Pai do Mato|pt|Pai do Mato}} - "Father of Forest", compare to Mapinguari, part of "ciclo dos monstros" (Cascudo)
*  [[Quibungo (legendary creature)|Quibungo]] - resembles Mapinguari, same mouth at (reaching to) stomach, transformed from aged black men.

==Explanatory notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist|2|refs=
<ref name="ameghino1898">{{cite journal|last=Ameghino |first=Florentino |author-link=Florentino Ameghino |title=An existing ground sloth in Patagonia |journal=Natural Science |volume=13 |date=1898 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fk3PAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA324 |pages=324–326 }}</ref>

<ref name="barbosa_rodrigues1890">{{cite book|last=Barbosa Rodrigues |first=João |author-link=João Barbosa Rodrigues |chapter=O Korupira |title=Poranduba amazonense: ou, Kochiyma-uara porandub, 1886-1887 |volume= |location=Rio de Janeiro |publisher=Typ. de G. Leuzinger & Filhos |date=1890 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ik4TAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA6 |page=6<!--3–92--> |series=Annaes da Bibliotheca Nacional de Rio de Janeiro 14, Fasciculo No. 2 |language=pt}}<!--[[:pt:Bittencourt Sampaio ]] ed.,  https://books.google.com/books?id=tnMn25GWWd0C&pg=RA1-PA6--></ref>

<ref name="benialgo2020">{{cite journal|last=Benialgo |first=Mercedes |author-link=<!--Mercedes Benialgo --> |title=Secretos de una joya del Museo de La Plata: científicos del CONICET dataron con precisión la piel momificada de un perezoso gigante |journal=Conicet La Plata |date=9 December 2020|url=https://laplata.conicet.gov.ar/secretos-de-una-joya-del-museo-de-la-plata-cientificos-del-conicet-dataron-con-precision-la-piel-momificada-de-un-perezoso-gigante/|publisher=CONICET, [[National Scientific and Technical Research Council]], La Plata |accessdate=2025-03-31|language=es}}; tr. English: "{{URL|1=https://slothconservation.org/the-mummified-skin-of-a-giant-sloth-proves-that-they-coexisted-with-the-first-humans-of-south-america/ |2=The ‘mummified’ skin of a giant sloth proves that they coexisted with the first humans of South America}}" @ slothconservation.org</ref>

<ref name="benialgo2021">{{cite journal|last=Benialgo |first=Mercedes |author-link=<!--Mercedes Benialgo --> |title=Examinan con rayos X la piel de un perezoso gigante para desentrañar el misterio de su "armadura"interna |journal=Conicet La Plata |date=3 March 2021 |url=https://laplata.conicet.gov.ar/examinan-con-rayos-x-la-piel-de-un-perezoso-gigante-para-desentranar-el-misterio-de-su-armadura-interna/|publisher=CONICET, [[National Scientific and Technical Research Council]], La Plata |accessdate=2025-03-29|language=es}} tr. English: "{{URL|1=https://slothconservation.org/the-hidden-armor-found-in-the-skin-of-a-giant-ground-sloth/ |2=The hidden “armor” found in the skin of a giant ground sloth}}" @ slothconservation.org</ref>

<ref name="cascudo1962">{{cite book|last=Cascudo |first=Luís da Câmara |author-link=Luís da Câmara Cascudo |chapter=Mapinguari |title=Dicionário do folclore brasileiro |volume=2 (J–Z) |edition=2 |date=1962 |orig-date=1954 |location=Brasília |publisher=Instituto Nacional do Livro |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q1UNAQAAMAAJ&q=mapinguari |pages=456–457 |language=pt}}</ref>
<ref name="cascudo1962-Gorjala ">{{harvp|Cascudo|1962}} '''1''': 353 "{{URL|1=https://books.google.com/books?id=aVUNAQAAMAAJ&q=Gorjala |2=Gorjala}}"</ref>  
<ref name="cascudo1962-PeDeGarrafa">{{harvp|Cascudo|1962}} '''2''': 583 "{{URL|1=https://books.google.com/books?id=aVUNAQAAMAAJ&q="de Garrafa"|2=Pé de Garrafa}}"</ref>

<ref name="cascudo1976">{{cite book|last=Cascudo |first=Luís da Câmara |author-link=Luís da Câmara Cascudo |chapter=Mapinguari |title=Geografia dos mitos brasileiros |publisher=Livraria J. Olympio Editora |date=1976b |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9d8MAAAAYAAJ&q=%22mapinguari+pelas%22|pages=192 |language=pt}}</ref>

<ref name="ColumbiaClimateSchool2021">{{cite news|author=Earth Institute |title=Ecology Now-Extinct Giant South American Sloth Likely Devoured Meat With Its Vegetables |newspaper=Climate Change News |date=7 October 2021 |url=https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2021/10/07/now-extinct-giant-south-american-sloth-likely-devoured-meat-with-its-vegetables/ |publisher=Columbia Climate School }}</ref>

<ref name="deleyto1966">{{cite journal|last=Deleyto |first=José María  |author-link=<!--José María Deleyto--> |title=Mundo de la Amazonia |journal=Revista Española de Indigenismo |number=8 |date=September 1966|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YUMSAQAAIAAJ&q=Mapinguari |page=17<!--16–20--> |publisher=<!--Seminario de Estudios Americanistas--> |language=es |quote=Los Macuna también creen en monstruos , de los cuales va- rios pasaron al al folklore . Mui temido es el Mapinguari , un ser gigantesco y cabelludo que come gente. Se dice que gente demasiado vieja se transforma en  Mapinguaris. Esta creencia parece venir de los indios del río Yotahy , donde se mata a los viejos para que no alcancen edad avanzada y no se conviertan en Mapinguaris}}</ref>

<ref name="demello2024">{{cite encyclopedia|last=DeMello |first=Margo |author-link=<!--Margo DeMello--> |entry=Mapinguary |title=Bigfoot to Mothman: A Global Encyclopedia of Legendary Beasts and Monsters |location= |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA |year=2024 |entry-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V_PiEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT113 |page=113 |isbn=<!--1440877262, -->9781440877261}}</ref>

<ref name="galeano2014">{{cite book|last=Galeano |first=Juan Carlos |author-link=<!--Juan Carlos Galeano--> |chapter=Mapinguari |title=Cuentos amazónicos |location=Iquitos, Perú |publisher=Tierra Nueva |date=April 2014 |chapter-url=https://myweb.fsu.edu/jgaleano/pdf/amazonia2014.pdf |pages=71–72|language=es |postscript=;}} Galeano  (2009) "{{URL|1=https://books.google.com/books?id=SOfWAAAAMAAJ&q=mapinguari |2=Mapinguari the One-eyed Ogre}}" ''Folktales of the Amazon'', Bloomsbury. pp. 39–40</ref>

<ref name="guedes1914">{{cite book |last=Guedes |first=Mario |author-link=<!--Mario Guedes--> |chapter=Mapinguary |editor1-last=Fuentes |title=Os Seringaes: pequenas notas |location=Rio de Janeiro |publisher=Typ. de Martins de Araujo |year=1914|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SZg_AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA246 |pages=245–246 |language=pt}}</ref>

<ref name="holloway1999">{{cite journal|last=Holloway |first=Marguerite |author-link=<!--Marguerite Holloway--> |title=Beasts in the Mist |journal=Discover  |volume=20 |date=September 1999 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KdfaAAAAMAAJ&q=Ameghino |page=62<!--58–65--> }}</ref>

<ref name="lizarralde2002">{{cite book |last=Lizarralde |first=Manuel  |author-link=<!--Manuel Lizarralde --> |chapter=Chapter 5. Ethnoecology of monkeys among the Barí of Venezuela: perception, use and conservation |editor1-last=Fuentes |editor1-first=Agustín |editor1-link=Agustín Fuentes |editor2-last=Wolfe |editor2-first=Linda D. |editor2-link=<!--Linda D. Wolfe--> |title=Primates Face to Face: The Conservation Implications of Human-nonhuman Primate Interconnections |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2002 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zYg3eOqjq4UC&q=shaaroba |pages=89–90<!---85–100-->|isbn=<!--1139441477, -->9781139441476}}</ref>

<ref name="martin2005">{{cite book |last=Martin |first=Paul S. |author-link=Paul Schultz Martin |date=2005 |title=Twilight of the mammoths: ice age extinctions and the rewilding of America |location=Berkeley |publisher=University of California Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d7owDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA98 |pages=98–99 |isbn=978-0-520-94110-6 |oclc=62860983}}</ref>

<ref name="mcDonald2014">{{cite book |last=McDonald |first=H. Gregory |author-link=<!--H. Gregory McDonald--> |chapter=Ground Sloths |editor1-last=Reid |editor1-first=Basil A. |editor1-link=<!--Basil A. Reid--> |editor2-last=Gilmore |editor2-first=R. Grant III |editor2-link=<!--R. Grant Gilmore III--> |title=Encyclopedia of Caribbean Archaeology |publisher=University Press of Florida |year=2014|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a37SEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA171 |pages=171–172 |isbn=<!--0813048532, -->9780813048536}}</ref>

<ref name="monteiro1977">{{cite book|last=Monteiro |first=Mário Ypiranga |author-link=:pt:Mário Ypiranga Monteiro  |title=História da cultura amazonense |volume=1 |location=Manaus |publisher=Edição do Governo do Estado do Amazonas, Administração Ministro Henoch da Silva Reis|date=1977|url=https://books.google.com/books?&id=KHMYAAAAYAAJ&q=mapinguari|pages=88–89|language=pt}}</ref>

<ref name="nunes_maciel2023">{{cite book |last=Nunes Maciel |first=Márcia |author-link=<!--Márcia Nunes Maciel--> |chapter=Povo Mura |editor1-last=Negro |editor1-first=Mauricio |editor1-link=<!--Mauricio Negro--> |editor2-last=Dorrico |editor2-first=Trudruá |editor2-link=:pt:Trudruá Dorrico |title=Originárias: Uma antologia feminina de literatura indígena |publisher=Companhia das Letrinhas |year=2023 |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=bc_KEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT59 |page=<!--unpaginated--> |isbn=<!--6581776874, -->9786581776879}}</ref>

<ref name="magalhaes&silva_campos1928">{{cite book|last1=Magalhães |first1=Basílio de |author1-link=:pt:Basílio de Magalhães |last2=Silva Campos |first2=João da |author2-link=<!--João da Silva Campos--> |chapter=LXXVI O Mapinguary |title=Ditados Populares: a verdade que o povo consagrou |location=<!--s.l.--> |publisher=Editora Dialética |date=1928|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-7vjAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA321 |pages=321–322 |language=pt |postscript=;}} --; -- (1960) {{URL|1=https://books.google.com/books?id=xXTYAAAAMAAJ&mapinguari |2=LXXVI O mapinguari}} p. 335</ref>

<ref name="ramiz_galvao1879Vocab-mbae">{{cite dictionary|last=Ramiz Galvão |first=Benjamim Franklin de  |author-link=Ramiz Galvão |chapter=mbaê |title=Vocabulario das Palavras Guaranis usadas pelo traductor da «Conquista Espritual» do Padre A. Ruiz de Montoya |location=Rio de Janeiro |publisher=Typographia Nacional |date=1879 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w6EzAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA223 |page=223|series=Anais da Biblioteca nacional do Rio de Janeiro 7|language=pt}}</ref>

<ref name="rincen1964">{{cite journal |last=Rinčen |first=P. R. |author-link=Byambyn Rinchen |date=1964 |title=Almas still exists in Mongolia |journal=Genus |volume=20 |issue=1/4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6NUsAQAAIAAJ&q=kümün |pages=187–189<!--186–192--> |issn=0016-6987 |jstor=29787582}}</ref>

<ref name="shepard2002">{{cite book |last=Shepard |first=Glenn H. |author-link=<!--Glenn H. Shepard--> |chapter=Chapter 6. Primates in Matsigenka subsistence and world view |editor1-last=Fuentes |editor1-first=Agustín |editor1-link=Agustín Fuentes |editor2-last=Wolfe |editor2-first=Linda D. |editor2-link=<!--Linda D. Wolfe--> |title=Primates Face to Face: The Conservation Implications of Human-nonhuman Primate Interconnections |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2002 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zYg3eOqjq4UC&pg=PA131|at=pp. 111–112. p. 131, n4<!---101–131-->|isbn=<!--1139441477, -->9781139441476}}</ref>

<ref name="slater2001">{{cite book |last=Slater |first=Candace |author-link=Candace Slater |others=Translated by Astrid Figueiredo |title=A Festa do boto: transformação e desencanto na imaginação amazônica |publisher=Funarte |year=2001 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4q1uAAAAMAAJ&q=curupiras |page=206 |isbn=<!--8585781807, -->9788585781804}}</ref>

<ref name="slater2002">{{cite book |last=Slater|first=Candace |author-link=Candace Slater |title=Entangled Edens: Visions of the Amazon |publisher=University of California Press |year=2002 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c7AwDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA250 |page=250, n42|isbn=<!--0520226429, -->9780520226425}}</ref>

<ref name="souza_carneiro1937">{{cite book |last=Souza Carneiro |first=Antônio Joaquim de |author-link=<!--Antônio Joaquim de Souza Carneiro--> |title=Os mitos africanos no Brasil: ciencia do folk-lore |publisher=Companhia Editora Nacional |year=1937|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e-9ZAAAAMAAJ&q=%22nas+costas%22 |page=316 |language=pt}}</ref>

<ref name="sykes2016">{{cite book |last=Sykes |first=Bryan |author-link=Bryan Sykes |title=Bigfoot, Yeti, and the Last Neanderthal: A Geneticist's Search for Modern Apemen |publisher=Red Wheel/Weiser |year=2016 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uoRNCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA66 |page=250, n42|isbn=<!--193887515X, -->9781938875151}}</ref>

<ref name="toledo&boscaini&pérez2021">{{cite journal|last1=Toledo |first1=Néstor |author1-link=<!--Néstor Toledo--> |last2=Boscaini|first2=Alberto |author2-link=<!--Alberto Boscaini--> |last3=Pérez |first3=Leandro Martín |author3-link=<!--Leandro Martín Pérez --> |title=The dermal armor of mylodontid sloths (Mammalia, Xenarthra) from Cueva del Milodón (Última Esperanza, Chile) |journal=Journal of Morphology |volume=282 |issue=4 |date=April 2021 |pages=612–627 |doi=10.1002/jmor.21333}}</ref>

<ref name="vander_velden2009">{{cite journal|last=Vander Velden|first=Felipe Ferreira |author-link=<!--Felipe Ferreira Vander Velden--> |title=Sobre caes e indios: domesticidade, classificacao zoologica e relacao humano-animal entre os Karitiana |journal=Avá: Revista de Antropología |volume=15 |date=2009 |url=https://www.scielo.org.ar/pdf/ava/n15/n15a06.pdf |page=131, n9<!--125–144--> |doi=10.1590/1981.81222016000100011  |language=es}}<!---http://ref.scielo.org/3f49st --></ref>

<ref name="veracini&camphora2024">{{cite book |last1=Veracini |first1=Cecilia |author1-link=<!--Cecilia Veracini--> |last2=Camphora |first2=Lucia |author2-link=<!--Lucia Camphora -->|chapter=Ch. 4. The Americas: 4.2.1.1 Spider Monkeys |editor1-last=Veracini |editor1-first=Cecilia |editor1-link=<!--Cecilia Veracini-->  |editor2-last=Wood |editor2-first=Bernard |editor2-link=<!--Bernard Wood (primatologist)--> |title=Primates in History, Myth, Art, and Science |publisher=CRC Press |year=2024 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TC0BEQAAQBAJ&pg=PT168 |at=<!---unapginated: cite subchapter-->|isbn=<!--1351981870, -->9781351981873}}</ref>
}}

=== Bibliography ===
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite thesis|type=MA |last=Bezerra |first=Sandra Nancy Ramos Freire |author-link=<!--Sandra Nancy Ramos Freire Bezerra--> |title=Oralidade, memória e tradição nas narrativas de assombrações na Região do Cariri |trans-title=Orality, memory and tradition in the narratives of apparitions in the Cariri |publisher=Universidade Federal do Ceará |date=2011|url=https://repositorio.ufc.br/bitstream/riufc/3015/1/2011_dis_snrfbezerra.pdf |page= |postscript=;}} ({{URL|1=http://repositorio.ufc.br/handle/riufc/3015 |2=repository}})
* {{cite book|last=Cascudo |first=Luís da Câmara |author-link=Luís da Câmara Cascudo |chapter=Mapinguari |title=Mitos brasileiros |publisher=Ministério da Educação e Cultura, Departamento de Assuntos Culturais, Fundação Nacional de Arte, Campanha de Defesa do Folclore Brasileiro |date=1976a |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OpoMAAAAYAAJ&mapinguari |pages= |series=Cadernos de folclore 6 |language=pt}}
* {{cite book|last=Cascudo |first=Luís da Câmara |author-link=Luís da Câmara Cascudo |chapter=Mapinguari |title=Geografia dos mitos brasileiros |publisher=Livraria J. Olympio Editora |date=1983 |orig-date=1976 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9-EMAAAAYAAJ&q=mapinguari|pages=189–192 |language=pt}}
** {{cite book|last=Cascudo |first=Luís da Câmara |author-link=Luís da Câmara Cascudo |chapter=Mapinguari |title=Geografia dos mitos brasileiros |publisher=Global |date=2002  |orig-date=1976 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N3kSAQAAIAAJ&q=mapinguari|pages=222–223 |language=pt}}
* {{cite journal|last=Oren |first=David C. |author-link=<!--David C. Oren--> |title=Does the Endangered Xenarthran Fauna of Amazonia Include Remnant Ground Sloths? |journal=Edentata: A Newsletter of the IUCN Edentate Specialist Group |number=4 |date=2001 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pelGAAAAYAAJ&q=mapinguari |pages=2–5|postscript=;}} {{URL|1=https://www.scribd.com/document/421880062/Edentata-4|2=fulltext}} @scribd
* {{cite journal|last=Vander Velden|first=Felipe Ferreira |author-link=<!--Felipe Ferreira Vander Velden-->|title=Realidade, ciência e fantasia nas controvérsias sobre o Mapinguari no sudoeste amazônico |trans-title=Reality, science and fantasy in the controversies about the Mapinguari in southwestern Amazonia  |journal=Boletim do Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi Ciências Humanas |volume=11 |number=1 |date=January–April 2016 |url=https://www.scielo.br/j/bgoeldi/a/SH8jW3RF4Z7zv8RQD57JSvk/?format=pdf&lang=pt|language=pt}}
{{refend}}

=== External links ===
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite episode|credits= |last=Zarka |first=Emily |author-link=<!--Emily Zarka--> |author-mask=Zarka, Emily, hosted by |others=Commentary by Andriolli Costa, Ph.D. |title=Mapinguari: Fearsome Beast and Protector of the Amazon  |series=Monstrum |series-link= |season=4 |number=6 |network=PBS |url=https://www.pbs.org/video/mapinguari-fearsome-beast-and-protector-of-the-amazon-xnse9d/ |date=2 June 2022}}<!-- episode supplied added info such as mapinguari having 4 canines and Quibungo having slit mouth on its back, -->
{{refend}}

[[Category:Brazilian folklore]]
[[Category:Cryptozoology]]
[[Category:Forest spirits]]
[[Category:Hominid cryptids]]
[[Category:Indigenous Amazonian legendary creatures]]
[[Category:Indigenous South American legendary creatures]]