The chupacabra or chupacabras (, literally meaning 'goat-sucker', from , 'sucks', and , 'goats') is a legendary creature, or cryptid, in the folklore of parts of the Americas. It is said to prey on livestock, particularly goats, although reports also attribute attacks to sheep, chickens and other domesticated animals. According to accounts, the chupacabra kills its victims by puncturing the neck and consuming their blood, a characteristic that gave rise to its enduring association with vampirism.
Descriptions of the creature vary considerably by region. In Puerto Rico and much of Hispanic America, it is commonly portrayed as reptilian or extraterrestrial-looking, about the size of a small bear, and with a distinctive row of spines extending from the neck to the base of the tail. In contrast, reports from the Southwestern United States typically describe the creature as a hairless, canine animal with pronounced fangs.
The first widely publicized sightings and descriptions of the chupacabra emerged in Puerto Rico in 1995. Since then, alleged encounters have been reported throughout the Americas, ranging from Maine to Chile, as well as in countries outside the region, including Russia and the Philippines. However, these reports remain anecdotal and have not been supported by verifiable evidence. Investigations of purported sightings in northern Mexico and the Southern United States have instead identified the animals involved as canids afflicted by severe mange.
Name The name literally translates to 'goat-sucker', deriving from the Spanish words ('to suck') and ('goats'). Both and are used throughout the Americas; the former is the original Spanish term states that both singular and plural is chupacabras., while the latter emerged later as a regularized singular form. The name is generally attributed to Puerto Rican comedian Silverio Pérez, who coined the term in 1995 while discussing the reported livestock attacks during his radio program in San Juan.
History In 1975, a series of unexplained livestock deaths in the municipality of Moca, Puerto Rico, came to be attributed to a mysterious entity dubbed ('the vampire of Moca'). Authorities and local residents initially suspected the killings to be the work of a Satanic cult; similar cases were subsequently reported elsewhere on the island. Contemporary accounts described the affected animals as bearing small, circular puncture wounds and appearing to have been drained of blood.
The first reported attack later associated with the chupacabras phenomenon occurred in Puerto Rico in March 1995. Eight sheep were found dead, each reportedly bearing three puncture wounds to the chest and alleged to have been completely drained of blood. Several months later, in August, a resident named Madelyne Tolentino reported a sighting of the creature in the municipality of Canóvanas. The incident coincided with a series of livestock and pet deaths in the area, with accounts claiming that as many as 150 animals were killed.
Puerto Rican comedian and entrepreneur Silverio Pérez is credited with coining the term soon after the first incidents were reported in the press. Shortly after the first reported incidents in Puerto Rico, other animal deaths were reported in other countries, such as Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, and the United States.
Reports of alleged sightings of the creature proliferated in the mid-1990s in various locations. In Nayarit, dozens of mutilated animals began to appear, as well as in other parts of Mexico, the southwestern United States and in China. The first reports from Puerto Rico numbered more than 200 in 1995.
In April 2000, in the mining city of Calama in northern Chile, approximately one hundred farm animals were reportedly found drained of blood or mutilated under unusual circumstances. Reports of similar incidents continued to emerge in the area until the end of 2002. Soon afterward, sensationalist media outlets began reporting complaints from other parts of the country, although none of the alleged incidents produced evidence of an extraordinary or unidentified cause.Farmer claims on television to have been attacked by a chupacabra In one case, a farmer killed a güiña (Leopardus guigna), an incident that attracted international attention, while in a separate case the fetus of a monito del monte (Dromiciops gliroides) was reportedly mistaken for the creature. An urban legend subsequently emerged claiming that a purported NASA mission had arrived in the country to investigate the phenomenon. Analysis of the physical evidence, including footprints and hair, supported this conclusion: “Both the footprints and hair indicated they were domestic dogs.”
During the first half of 2002, reports of mutilated cattle emerged from several areas of Argentina, in the region between the provinces of Río Negro and Santa Fe. Although the animals suffered the removal of reproductive organs, the cases were widely associated by the media with the chupacabra phenomenon or with alleged satanic ritual practices. Shortly thereafter, the Servicio Nacional de Sanidad y Calidad Agroalimentaria (SENASA) concluded that the mutilations had been carried out by foxes or hocicudo rats.
In July 2004, a rancher killed a creature resembling a hairless dog, which he discovered attacking his livestock near San Antonio, Texas. The animal, initially named the Elmendorf Beast, was later identified as a coyote with sarcoptic mange after its DNA was examined by the University of California, Davis. In October of that same year, two more carcasses were found in the same area. Biologists in Texas examined samples from both carcasses and determined that they were also coyotes suffering from very severe cases of mange.
In Coleman County, Texas, a farmer named Reggie Lagow captured an animal using a trap he had set after some of his poultry were found dead. The animal's appearance was described as a mixture of hairless dog, rat and kangaroo. Lagow made the animal available to Texas parks and wildlife officials for identification, although he later stated in an interview with John Adolfi that he had disposed of the creature two days after finding it.
In mid-August 2006, a woman named Michelle O'Donnell, from Maine, photographed a strange animal by a roadside. O'Donnell recalled having seen the same animal near her home a week earlier, and her husband described it as a mixture between a rodent and a canid. The animal had apparently been struck by a car and was not identifiable. It was originally reported that the carcass had been destroyed by vultures before experts could examine it, but later wildlife officials were able to obtain a DNA sample, determining that it was a hybrid of wolf and dog.
In August 2007, a woman named Phylis Canion was informed of the discovery of the remains of a strange-looking animal in Cuero, Texas, outside the property of a neighbor. Canion had spent the previous weeks attempting to photograph or film a supposed strange creature she believed responsible for the deaths of around 30 of her chickens over several years. Canion also claimed to have seen three creatures similar to the remains discovered. After photographing the remains, Canion contacted a taxidermist to preserve the creature, which she later began displaying in her home. After the story gained national attention, experts from Texas State University–San Marcos offered to conduct DNA testing. The analysis identified the creature as a coyote. Unsatisfied, Canion contacted experts at the University of California, Davis for a second analysis, which determined that the creature was specifically a hybrid: a cross between a coyote and a Mexican wolf. According to scientists and wildlife specialists, this hybrid is not unknown and has been studied before. The unusual appearance of the animal is believed to have been caused by mange, which may explain its grayish-blue skin.
The town of Cuero would again be the setting for another sighting a year later, in August 2008, when Brandon Riedel, a deputy sheriff of DeWitt County, filmed an unidentified animal in alleyways using his patrol car dashboard camera. The animal was the size of a coyote but hairless, with a long snout, short front legs, and long hind legs. Sheriff Jode Zavesky suspected it was the same type of coyote identified in 2007.
In September 2009, CNN broadcast a video showing a close-up of an unidentified dead animal. Local speculation suggested it might be a chupacabra. A taxidermist in Blanco County, Texas stated that the animal was likely a genetically mutated coyote.
In July 2010, animal control officers reportedly shot and killed a supposed chupacabra in Hood County, Texas. Scientists from Texas A&M University later identified it as a coyote–dog hybrid with signs of mange and internal parasites.
On 18 December 2010, in Nelson County, Kentucky, a man named Mark Cothren shot and killed an unrecognizable animal. Numerous photographs were taken, and the story was widely reported. The animal was described as having long ears, whiskers, a long tail, and being the size of a domestic cat. It was reportedly submitted for analysis.
On 4 July 2011, Jack Crabtree of Lake Jackson, Texas reported seeing a supposed chupacabra in his backyard. He later accepted expert explanations that it was likely a coyote with mange.
In September 2013, a family in Rosario, Santa Fe Province, Argentina, presented the body of a small unidentified animal found in Vera. It was later identified as a naturally mummified cat.
In September 2013, reports in St. Louis, Missouri, were attributed to a dog with mange.
On 23 February 2014, a Texas couple claimed to have shot and killed a chupacabra; wildlife experts attributed the animal to known mammals affected by mange.
On 3 April 2014, another Texas couple claimed to have captured a chupacabra in Ratcliff, Texas. Benjamin Radford suggested it was likely a raccoon affected by sarcoptic mange.
In 2019 a video recorded by showed the results of a supposed attack on chickens in the Seburuquillo sector of Lares, Puerto Rico.
Reputed origin A five-year investigation by Benjamin Radford, documented in his 2011 book Tracking the Chupacabra, concluded that the description given by the original eyewitness in Puerto Rico, Madelyne Tolentino, was based on the creature Sil in the 1995 science-fiction horror film Species. The alien creature Sil is nearly identical to Tolentino's chupacabra eyewitness account and she had seen the movie before her report: "It was a creature that looked like the chupacabra, with spines on its back and all... The resemblance to the chupacabra was really impressive", Tolentino reported. Radford revealed that Tolentino "believed that the creatures and events she saw in Species were happening in reality in Puerto Rico at the time", and therefore concludes that "the most important chupacabra description cannot be trusted". This, Radford believes, seriously undermines the credibility of the chupacabra as a real animal.
The reports of blood-sucking by the chupacabra were never confirmed by a necropsy, the only way to conclude that the animal was drained of blood. Dr. David Morales, a Puerto Rican veterinarian with the Department of Agriculture, analyzed 300 reported victims of the chupacabra and found that they had not been bled dry.
Radford divided the chupacabra reports into two categories: the reports from Puerto Rico and Latin America, where animals were attacked and it is supposed their blood was extracted; and the reports in the United States of mammals, mostly dogs and coyotes with mange, that people call "chupacabra" due to their unusual appearance.