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Identity Of A Strange Bird In Japan?

Dickydevo

Gone But Not Forgotten
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Please can anyone identify what this bird,if indeed it was a bird,might have been? And if there are any artists ,would anyone like to post a drawing as it was described in the North China Daily Herald of March (or May) 26th 1923? " Like a goose but ten times larger, claws like a dog,teeth like a saw. Two feathers like horns on its head which were very thick."
 
Ten times larger than a goose?
That would make it HUGE.
It sounds like a garbled report from an unreliable witness.
 
Geese have very teeth-like serrated bills. There were some very large and now extinct geese around. Was the actual sighting in China do you know? Do you have any more information at all?
 
Two giant geese said to have had particularly large tooth-like lamellae, the Maui Nui Moa-nalo and the Oahu Moa-nalo, both from Hawaii. It is not known when they became extinct.
 
It's so tempting (but impossible) to wish that this could somehow have been a vestigal pterodactyl.

But: is it conceivably not as simple as that just being an impossible dream?
http://www.livingpterosaur.com
 
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Unlikely yes, but good to keep the skeptical imagination open. Also Papua New Guinea isn't downtown London or New York. It rates with the Congo basin (Likouala wilderness), and perhaps parts of the the Amazon as well as having some of the most remote, yet to be reveled terrain on Earth.
Rumors of other cryptids emanate from there as well, such as the New Guinea dragon.
 
Ten times larger than a goose?
That would make it HUGE.
It sounds like a garbled report from an unreliable witness.
Well I first thought it would be huge myself,but if you think about it,how tall is the average goose? 2ft? So that`s 20ft tall,er,you`re RIGHT! That is tall, but even a 20ft tall bird or mammal is too tall,so must be a mistaken identity.
 
Geese have very teeth-like serrated bills. There were some very large and now extinct geese around. Was the actual sighting in China do you know? Do you have any more information at all?
Unfortunately in the early stages of using this Brill online database which covered the N.China Daily Herald and Japan Chronicle,I couldn`t work out how to download or print the stories,so I just made very quick notes.Later I learnt I could use print screen. If you type in to Google `Brill online newspaper archive North China Daily Herald` you should find the individual 24 hour subscription item
 
Two giant geese said to have had particularly large tooth-like lamellae, the Maui Nui Moa-nalo and the Oahu Moa-nalo, both from Hawaii. It is not known when they became extinct.
The strange bird was seen in a S.W. Kweichow,modern spelling Guizhou. Much more information on the following:" N.China Daily Herald Feb 16th 1929. A 2ft 6 inch tall monkeyman type animal seen at Edie,Papua New Guinea. In a mountainous area,height of a child,it left 3 toed tracks. It had a long prehensile tail which was yellow,the rest of it was dark brown. Carnivorous teeth. Mr R.M.Glasson saw it in 1927 and in 1929 a man called Mackreth shot one,photographed it and skinned it." From my notes.
 
And if there are any artists ,would anyone like to post a drawing

12998691_10153965520276352_7994448293594868267_n.jpg
 
Ten times larger than a goose?
That would make it HUGE...

Yes...about the size of a light aeroplane. If I saw a bird that size with claws, horns and teeth I'd probably be running too hard in the opposite direction to make an accurate identification.
 
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Yes...about the size of a light aeroplane. If I saw a bird that size with claws, horns and teeth I'd probably be running too hard in the opposite direction to make an accurate identification.
Me too!
 
Ten times larger than a goose?
That would make it HUGE.
It depends how you interpret 'larger'.

If its height and breadth, etc, were ten times larger, then it would be 1000 times heavier than a goose, which would be huge!

But if it was ten times heavier than a goose, its linear dimensions would be about the cube root of ten larger, ie approximately 2.15 times larger. So, big but not hugely big. :)
 
Geese not only have pseudo-teeth on their bills, but have similar extrusions on their raspy tongues, so you really wouldn't want to be bitten by one, whether it's normal size or an order of magnitude larger!

geese.jpg
 
Not being a zoologist those look sufficiently like teeth that I would have described them as teeth if asked (I know better now of course!)
 
Not being a zoologist those look sufficiently like teeth that I would have described them as teeth if asked (I know better now of course!)

They don't have the structure of true teeth, but they would sure as hell hurt as much if a goose bit you. Given that birds are the descendants of therapod dinosaurs, I guess we shouldn't be surprised at the goose's toothy maw!
I don't think emus or ostritches have any trace of teeth, but their feet certainly resemble those of a T-Rex:

https://www.reddit.com/r/interestin...3/comparison_of_t_rex_and_emu_feet/?limit=500
 
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Here's a drawing of the pterosaur claimed to have been seen by US Marine Eskin Kuhn, flying near Guantanamo Bay in 1971
Pterosaur-by-Kuhn.jpg


"The height of the 'birds' may have been no more than 40 ft or 50...it was impossible to tell with any degree of certainty.

The size of the creatures was a little easier to judge, but not much, their span could have been 8 ft or 12 ft, with a body length of perhaps 30 to 40"....."


"There is no mistaking what I saw, it was middle of the day during our free time, a work day, no booze, no drugs, bright sun and full visibility with vision I wish I still had, eyes that qualified me as Expert Rifleman and the Pistol shot in the Marine Corps.

I saw what I saw...wish others would go there and see the same
"
 
I have to say, I'd have called those teeth too if I'd seen them and not known otherwise.
 
Here's a drawing of the pterosaur claimed to have been seen by US Marine Eskin Kuhn, flying near Guantanamo Bay in 1971
Pterosaur-by-Kuhn.jpg


"The height of the 'birds' may have been no more than 40 ft or 50...it was impossible to tell with any degree of certainty.

The size of the creatures was a little easier to judge, but not much, their span could have been 8 ft or 12 ft, with a body length of perhaps 30 to 40"....."


"There is no mistaking what I saw, it was middle of the day during our free time, a work day, no booze, no drugs, bright sun and full visibility with vision I wish I still had, eyes that qualified me as Expert Rifleman and the Pistol shot in the Marine Corps.

I saw what I saw...wish others would go there and see the same
"
I do like that account. It's unadorned and I'm inclined to think he believes what he saw - nice picture as well, that's not a bad drawing.
 
They don't have the structure of true teeth, but they would sure as hell hurt as much if a goose bit you. Given that birds are the descendants of therapod dinosaurs, I guess we shouldn't be surprised at the goose's toothy maw!
I don't think emus or ostritches have any trace of teeth, but their feet certainly resemble those of a T-Rex:

https://www.reddit.com/r/interestin...3/comparison_of_t_rex_and_emu_feet/?limit=500
Trouble is though officially there are or were no emus or ostriches in Guizhou,China in the early 20th century where this strange "goose" turned up.
 
I'm glad that is extinct. [shudder]
 
I'm glad that is extinct. [shudder]
I believe the Guizhou Goose was a wyvern at least I was reading descriptions of European wyverns today and the Guizhou cryptid fits the bill,if you`ll excuse the pun!
 
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