NANDI BEAR (pages 74-75)

    “Throughout Kenya there are rumors of a large and terrifyingly ferocious creature called by many names, among them the Nandi bear. Nandi, because it is from the land of the Nandi people that most of the rumors originate; bear, because the creature is said to look like a bear – though no native species of bear is known to exist on the African continent anymore. The natives have a number of names for this creature, among which chemosit is perhaps the most common.

    “The traditions and tales concerning the Nandi bear are confusing; they run from the very ordinary to the almost supernatural. Geoffrey Williams, who had taken part in an expedition into Nandi territory in 1912, described his sighting of the strange beast:

    “’Looking in the direction to which he [my guide] pointed I saw a large animal sitting up on its haunches not more than 30 yards away. Its attitude was just that of a bear at the ‘Zoo’ asking for buns, and I should say it must have been nearly 5 feet high…. Before we had time to do anything it dropped forward and shambled away….’

    “A number of other equally moderate reports led some zoologists to conclude that there might indeed be some yet unclassified species of bear or bearlike animal in Africa. As they began to question the natives about the creature, they were told, yes indeed there is a bearlike animal living in the jungle, but it is no ordinary animal; it is the most ferocious and bloodthirsty animal in all Africa . One of its nicknames is ‘brain eater,’ meaning that when it kills it eats only the brain of its prey. According to one report:

    “’Men told me it came down to the villages at nights and murdered the inhabitants in their huts. It made its entrance through the roof, killed the occupants, and ate their brains. That was one of the beast’s pecularities; it ate only the brains of its victims. Women gathering firewood in the forest would be missed, and later their bodies would be discovered, always minus the tops of their skulls.’

    “According to the stories, the Nandi bear would crouch on a low-lying branch above a path. When a potential victim ambled by, the beast would rip off the top of its skull with a single swipe of its great claws. Then it would eat the unfortunate victim’s brain. In his book On the Track of Unknown Animals, cryptozoologist Bernard Heuvalmans makes a heroic effort to sort out the various traditions attached to the Nandi bear. He found that many of the stories apparently relate to known animals like the hyena, the ratel, even the baboon, that have simply been misidentified. But he also cites the ‘daring theory’ of Dr. Charles Williams of the British Museum of Natural History, who suggested that the Nandi bear might be a survivor of a unique mammalian group, he Chalicotheridae. These strange-looking beasts had short hind legs, sloping backs, heavy heads, short tails, and enormous claws. They were, however, vegetarians who used the claws for tearing down leaves and branches. No one knows exactly when these creatures became extinct, but it appears to be in fairly recent times.

    “Writes Heuvelmans: ‘There is no doubt that if a Chalicotherium were clad in a furry coat – which is pure supposition – it would agree perfectly with most witness’ descriptions [of the Nandi bear]. And that is all that one can say for the moment.’”

“See also: MNGWA”