Feb 8, 2008 9:39 pm US/Pacific
UC Davis Tackles Legend Of Chupacabra
Davis, Calif (CBS13) ―
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coyotee, Chupacabra, cuero, texas
CBS
Its name translates to 'goat sucker' and the mystery of the Chupacabra (chu pa' ka bra) is one step closer to being solved. Researchers at UC Davis who were asked to dig into this mysterious creature.
Those who've seen it say it almost always comes out at night. They say that it crawls in the weeds and lurks in the bushes,
but this creature doesn't target people. According to the story it goes after goats, tearing off their heads and drinking the blood.
When one Texas woman found one of these mysterious creatures dead she sent samples of it to UC Davis. The debate and the mystery have been around for decades; stories of a creature unknown to science, systematically killing goats and other animals.
The sightings started in Central America where one veterinarian made the shocking claim the creature could even be part human.
More recently, the mystery of the Chupacabra has crossed the border.
Last month a woman in Texas found a hairless animal, its skin was blue and its teeth were jagged and strange.
Doctors say they received some tissue, a little bit of skin and also a tooth.
At UC Davis inside one of the top animal labs in the world they dug into the mystery looked at the DNA knowing full well what some wanted them to find.
"Coming from Texas and past experience I knew they suspected it was a Chupacabra."
It was not.
"And in this case it came back coyote."
But there's more, as researchers took a closer look they found this was no ordinary coyote it was also part Mexican wolf with a bad case of mange.
"They tend to be hairless and discolored. They're very sick animals."
So the Chupacabra mystery continues to lurk see, this wasn't the first Chupacabra test Davis researchers have been asked to do and it won't be the last.
"I think it's a way for people to give meaning to something they don't understand."
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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