Chupacabra (goat sucker)

[Barry Popik]

OED doesn't have "chupacabra"? A Texas indigenous species?
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 <a href="
http://news.aol.com/story/ar/_a/has-a-mythical-beast-turned-up-in-texas/20070831222309990001?ncid=NWS00010000000001">AOL
News</a>
 Has a Mythical Beast Turned Up in Texas?
AP
Posted: 2007-09-01 01:09:48
 CUERO, Texas (Sept. 1) - Phylis Canion lived in Africa for four years.
She's been a hunter all her life and has the mounted heads of a zebra and
other exotic animals in her house to prove it.

Chupacabra means "goat sucker" in Spanish, and it is said to have originated
in Latin America, specifically Puerto Rico and Mexico.
(...)
The "chupacabras" could have all been part of a mutated litter of dogs, or
they may be a new kind of mutt, he said.

As for the bloodsucking, Schaar said that this particular canine may simply
have a preference for blood, letting its prey bleed out and licking it up.

Chupacabra or not, the discovery has spawned a local and international
craze. Canion has started selling T-shirts that read: "2007, The Summer of
the Chupacabra, Cuero, Texas," accompanied by a caricature of the creature.
The $5 shirts have gone all over the world, including Japan, Australia and
Brunei. Schaar also said he has one.

"If everyone has a fun time with it, we'll keep doing it," she said. "It's
good for Cuero."
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chupacabra
*Chupacabra* (also *chupacabras* /tʃupa'kabɾas/, from Spanish *chupar: to
suck*, *cabra: goat; goats sucker*) is a
cryptid<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptid>said to inhabit parts of
the
Americas <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americas>. It is associated
particularly with Puerto Rico
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_Rico>(where it was first
reported),
Mexico <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexico>, and the United
States<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States>,
especially in the latter's Latin
American<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_American>communities. The
name translates literally from the
Spanish <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_language> as "goat sucker." It
comes from the creature's reported habit of attacking and drinking the blood
of livestock, especially goats <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goat>. Physical
descriptions of the creature vary. Eyewitness sightings have been claimed as
early as 1990 in Puerto Rico, and have since been reported as far north as
Maine <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maine>, and as far south as
Chile<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chile>.
Mainstream scientists and experts generally hypothesize that the chupacabra
is a legendary creature <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legendary_creature>,
or a type of urban legend <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_legend>. It is
supposedly a heavy creature, the size of a small bear, with a row of spines
reaching from the neck to the base of the tail.