Tests to Find Out If its The CHUPACABRA?

Coyotes, or prairie wolves, normally have a coat of hair
US scientists say an animal found in Texas is not the chupacabra - or goat-sucker - of American myth, but a coyote with a hair loss problem.
DNA tests on the carcass found at a ranch south-east of San Antonio yielded a virtually identical match to coyote DNA, biologist Mike Forstner said.

The coyote was one of three found dead by rancher Phylis Canion this summer.

Central American myth has long spoken of a vampire-like creature that slays livestock by sucking out their blood.

The chupacabra is said to attack its victims at night, leaving a trail of carcasses with their throats torn out.

Mr Forstner said that he himself had assumed the creature brought in for testing at Texas State University was a domestic dog but "the DNA sequence is a virtually identical match to DNA from the coyote".

Ms Canion and some of her neighbours discovered the 40-pound (18-kg) carcasses of three of the animals over four days in July outside her ranch in Cuero, 90 miles (145km) south-east of San Antonio.

She said she had saved the head of one of them to get it properly tested.

Additional hide samples have been taken to try to determine the cause of the animal's hair loss, Mr Forstner said.
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comments:

Yep seen lots of them... They even have a den at the golf course. Funniest encounter was when my playing partner had hit a great shot onto the green only to have his ball taken off the green and into the bushes by one of the younger members of the pack. They are very adaptable creatures and excellent urban hunters.
William Parkyn, Calgary. Canada


I've seen plenty of coyotes, even around my city's downtown area at night, but never any bald ones. I'm not sure if the chupacabra exists, but I know people who claimed to have seen it before.
Michael, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA


Obviously Mr. Russell has never been to the San Joaquin Valley, you see a lot of road kill coyotes up and down the valley... and I have even had one pace my car on the pavement during a valley dust storm... at night. The animal in the chupacabra photo does not look like a coyote though. The ears are too small, and the fangs protrude too much. Perhaps that can be explained away as dessication from the sun... but the jaws and musculature look more like a dog than a canis latrans.
beatrice, bakersfield, ca


I was raised on a sheep & cattleranch in Southeast Idaho. We had about 1,500 sheep. During the summer they were pastured in the forested mountains. One summer in the mid 1960's during one particular night, coyotes attacked our sheep, killing 120 that one night (the older coyotes were obviously teaching the young ones how to kill, because hardly none of the carcasses had had any meat eaten from them). The very next year the same thing happened, killing 80. I therefore grew up with no love for coyotes.
carlin, gilbert, arizona, usa

My dog brought home a bald coyote and I had a heck of a time getting it away from him. Eventually we got it before he could eat much. He came down with mange after so I presume this to be the cause of the baldness. I frequently see coyotes with hairless tails, this is what loses fur first. The rest of their coats are poor. Other coyotes chase these weak ones away from food in the winter and I expect most die. Some fights I have seen suggest they get killed and eaten as well. Luckily for them, as the animal rights folks tell us: 'they feel no pain if they die in the wild only if people kill them' This must be of considerable comfort to them. Yeah right.
Warren Clayton, near Calgary Alberta

In the coastal mountain range of the peninsula south of San Francisco, I have seen many coyotes. One was very scraggly with patches of hair, it looked malnourished and probably had mange. My neighbours dog had mange recently, so I am wondering if dogs can pick up mange from coyotes living nearby that nestle in leaves that domestic dogs may also lay down in.. And in Sacramento I saw 2 adorable coyote pups this past summer, grooming each other with their tongues, with ears as large as a lamppost! Baby Coyotes are now my favourite animal...
Lisa Bryant, Los Altos, CA USA


The chupacabra myth probably came from a rabid coyote or dog which attacked farm animals at night. Coyotes are increasingly common in the US and it's believed that their populations bred with wolves in Canada some years ago and then spread east and then south back into the United States. The result is a slightly bigger, braver animal than the coyote of the old west which were unknown in the eastern US until a few decades ago. They're wily, tough and farmers will tell you they're omnivorous... They're known to go after cats and small dogs to eat. Adults are human-shy but the young ones have been known to get nearer to people when exploring. When I was in the army in the American desert southwest, a soldier sleeping in camp was awakened one morning by a coyote pup licking his hand.
Jeremy Mason, Houston, Texas

I live in a semi-rural area of Southern Arizona. Coyotes are a common occurrence. I have often seen coyotes virtually hairless, gross and sick-looking. The pictures of "chupacabras" I have seen look just like the horribly mangy coyotes that are seen during seemingly cyclical periods. You may see quite a few afflicted animals during a short period of time, then not see any for a couple of years.
BT, Tucson, Az


I grew up in Apple Valley California, and lived in the desert for most of my life. I've seen coyotes up close, this is either the ugliest coyote on record, or they're not being truthful. Coyotes are shy and wouldn't have been caught and killed like this one, they're way too smart for that. You never see them run over in the highway! (Skunks, that's another story) and they have much more delicate and petite features...
Roger Russell, United States

Source: k9news