Global Gargoyle Distribution

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DaleDrinnon has pulled together a stack of individual reports on giantbats all over the globe. We can make a few observations.
1 Thecreature and its sub species have a global distribution. This wasinevitable because it has a huge flying range and is notgeographically restricted.
2 Thewing span is up to twelve feet but it has long strong hind legs andthe capacity to also walk on its hands(?). In that mode it is ableto bunch the wing skin onto its back out of harms way.
3 Bodymass is comparatively small and the head may vary considerably amongsub species.
4 Itis unconfirmed, but I think that this creature specializes invampirism and some soft tissue.
5 Itis obviously nocturnal and has been disturbed in caves. They arenotably aggressive.
6 Thiscreature is almost certainly the model for the gargoyle of the middleages.
Asnoted here we are presented with a global distribution of reports anda long history. They did not go unnoticed even if actual specimensappear unnoted.
ChupaBats in Texas, and More on Big Bats
FRIDAY, 2 NOVEMBER2012
http://frontiersofzoology.blogspot.ca/2012/11/chupabats-in-texas-and-more-on-big-bats.html

 While doing aphotosearch re colour photo indicated above turned up as an unuecreature from Texas. It was an anonymous piece of artwork used to illustrate Kark Shuker's blog about an unusual "batman-big birdcreature" seen in 1976:
"Sitting in hismother-in-law's backyard at Raymondville, Texas, on the evening of14January 1976, Armando Grimaldo suddenly heard a strange whistling,and a sound that reminded him of flapping bats' wings - a highlypertinent comparison, as it turned out. For just a few seconds later,he was attacked by a man-sized monstrosity with the face of a bat ormonkey, a pair of large flaming eyes but no beak, dark, leathery,unfeathered skin, and a pair of huge wings yielding a massive 10-12ft wingspan (i.e. twice that of any known species of bat).Swooping down at the terrified man, the creature snatched at him withits big claws, but, happily, Grimaldo was able to flee inside beforehis aerial attacker had inflicted any serious injuries. Nevertheless,his encounter was just one of several on file from this particularregion of Texas during early 1976, all documenting sightings of asimilar entity

 As soon as I saw theillustration I saw the resemblance to my reconstruction for theChupabat, a giant False Vampire bat reported the size of amedium-sized dog when running on all fours on the ground, and with awingspan as large as the largest known bats or even a moderate-sizedeagle; six or seven, maybe even as much as eight feet ( tenor twelve feet would be closer to half again than to double thesize) which is said to predate upon livestock occasionally inMexico and Central America, so finding one in Texas or New Mexicowould not be too unusual. The real resemblance in the illustrationis with the shape of the head. The black and white illustration shownabove is clip art of the known (Smaller) False Vampire bat. Ascaled-up version could easily have fanged canies more than an inchlong.


 "Chupacabras-likedepradations occur in the Southwest USA on occasion and could belinked to such Chupabats or Gargoyle Bats. Sheepmutilations, victims severely wounded and gutted without leaving muchevidence of spilled blood on the ground, are reported from the 4Corners region of New Mexico and thought to have been done by a largeChupaBat such as implicated in similar cases in Mexico:JC Johnson 1year ago
Typical protocol in this situation,- the tribeinsists that all of the animals be put down in case of rabies. Noother recourse I'm afraid. Theinjured sheep were being shot as we were leaving the scene.

JC Johnson 1year ago We don't know for surewhat did this 

1stofer 1month ago in playlist More videos from cryptofourcorners sounds likethe jersey devil 

Heyoka Ha 2months ago Very peculiar indeed. The hoof (foot) prints were inpairs, that is what you mean by bipedal? In any of the sheep injured,Was there any indication that the blood could have been taken firstand then the animal attacked again? I am thinking there was more thanone of these creatures. 

brjames06 4months ago lmao!!.. @ 3:05.. theshit didnt come out... [Ordinarily when an animal isslaughtered, the bowels dump]

OziBushMysteries4 months ago thats not 'horse shoe prints ' i'd haveto tell u? [Jersey Devil prints? the footprints wereirregular ovals and I could not tell what they were. I would guessthey were blurred sheep tracks]

The exampleabove was from August 2011: the one below is from April 2010 

Special thanksto JC Johnson for pointing out the videos.

Mixed in withthe other reports of Giant bats are reports of an evenlarger but flatfaced bat, also seen in Texas in 1976. They seem to bea northen extension of the American equivallent of the Ahool, inMythology known as Camazotz.

Monkeyfaced "BigBird" of Texas 1976. Obviously the artist is confused about thearms and the legs and the wings. They have drawn a birdlikeinstead of a batlike body plan A policeman seeing one of thesecreatures hiding in the branches described the face as lookinglike that of a gorilla

Ahool

TheAhool is the latest addition to the InCryptid Field Guide!
Source: seananmcguire.com                                           

Cave Demons andGiant Bat-like CreaturesLarge bat-like creature sighting inCalifornia
Normally, only UFO andextraterrestrial sightings are reported to MUFON but on Saturday,June 5, 2010 an interesting account of a bat-like creature, purportedto have been seen near Lodi, California was reported:

MUFON Case23617
2010-05-14 at02:45
Lodi, California

“I had takenmy dogs for a run early in the morning - about 2:30 on May 14th 2010.I was southeast of Lodi on Live Oak Road where the road to the wineryintersects. There are outside lights and I saw something crouched inthe road which I thought at first was a coyote eating something. Thenit stood up and was about 4 1/2 feet tall so I knew it wasn’ta coyote. It stooped back down and appeared to gather up whatever ithad been eating; gave a little hop and soared away over thegrapevines in an up down, up down motion. The wings sort of glistenedin the light and did not seem to have feathers. I thought itlooked like a gigantic bat, but have never heard of a bat that big.The dogs seemed to be frightened and jumped into the car. I was soamazed at what I saw.”
What are they?
According tomainstream science, the world’s biggest bat is the Bismark flyingfox, an animal that never gets larger than six feet from wingtip towingtip. According to cryptozoology, mainstream scientists might bewrong. Many sightings from seemingly reliable people suggest thatthis might not be the case.
Giant Bat People orJust Giant Bats of Lore?
Sightings ofmysterious human-sized bats have been reported in all corners of theworld. They are described as having black or gray fur, amonkey-like face, clawed feet and a 10-15 foot wingspan.


In Brazil theyare called “bat people.” The rainforests of Java echo the criesof a bat creature called the “Ahool”because of its distinct “a-hool” vocalization.

The island ofJava, not very far from the Bismark flying fox’s home of NewGuinea, is supposed to harbor this cryptid bat with a twelve-footwingspan. The Ahool eats fish and has gray fur and a flattenedface with huge black eyes, with its head overall looking like amonkey’s head. It is not attributed with supernatural powers,and seems like such a plausible animal that it has drawn theattention of naturalists. If a giant bat lived anywhere, the denserainforests of Java would be a likely place. 

In Vietnamthey are known as “night flyers.” These winged humanoids aregenerally 5 feet tall with eerie feminine features. They are known toswoop down on their victims and attack several times.

Anotherplausible place for an undiscovered giant bat to live is Cameroon, acountry in Africa where scientists have reported seeing a verysimilar bat. This creature is apparently called the olitiau bylocals.It also has a twelve-foot wingspan with thin membranous skinand a monkey-like face, but its fur is pure black. The beings aredescribed as terrifying to look upon, with what looks like a mixtureof human or monkey and bat-like features in the face. Long,wild, disheveled, hair around the head, much like a mane, with pitchblack fur covering the entirety of it’s body. The body of thefearsome creature stands about the size of a human being upon clawedfeet and it’s teeth which can clearly be seen, are razor sharp,pointed daggers. It is regarded with a great deal of superstition andfear. It is not improbable that both of these bats might havemonkey-like faces. Bats have a notoriously wide variety of headshapes, and many known species have heads resembling differentanimals such as foxes, dogs, lemurs or even horses! 

Anotherpossible African giant bat is the kongamato,which has also been interpreted as a pterosaur by some people. Thiscreature is not quite so large, has reddish fur, and has a long snoutinstead of a flattened face. Madagascar, a large island just off thecoast of Africa, has tales about a bat called the fangalabolo, with awingspan larger than 5 feet, bigger than any other bat known to livein Madagascar.

The Guiafairoof Senegal in West Africa is described as a giant bat that is verysmelly and often manages to terrify people by making its way indoors.It is hated very much, and its name translates to “the fearthat flies by night.” The Guiafairo is mentioned in KarlShuker’s “The Secret Animals of Senegambia” in the November1998 issue of Fate Mag where it is described as having a humanface and is said to be able to appear behind locked doors.

The mlularukaof Tanzania is perhaps the most tame and ordinary of undiscoveredAfrican bats. Like known species of giant bats, it is a fruit-eaterand thus is mainly spoken of as a pest to agriculture. It isdescribed as being the size of a dog.

Other giantbat reports sound less plausible and shade off into an area where itis nearly impossible to separate the few facts that might exist fromthe masses of folklore and the paranormal that these alleged factsare buried in. One such creature is the sasabonsam from Ghana inAfrica. Depicted in folklore as a bearded human with bat wings, theone known body (which has sadly disappeared, along with the onlyphotograph of it) was described as being far less human than thelegends say. It was an animal like a huge bat, with a twenty-footwingspan and stiff black-and-white spotted fur. It had huge teeth andheavy ridges over its eyes.

TheIndonesian orang-bati iseven more mythical. These human/bat monsters live in an extinctvolcano on the island of Seram and abduct children. Still, someresearchers working in the field of cryptozoology think that a realbat may be hiding behind these fantastical tales.

Giant vampirebat reports are generally kept separate from giant bat reports,mainly because the giant vampire bat is large for a vampire bat, butstill medium-sized when compared to bats in general. 

In Mexico, anancient Mayan cult worshiped the “death bat.”

Around 100B.C., a peculiar religious cult grew up among the Zapotec Indians ofOaxaca, Mexico. The cult venerated an anthropomorphic monsterwith the head of a bat, an animal associated with night, death, andsacrifice. This monster soon found its way into the pantheon of theQuiché, a tribe of Maya who made their home in the jungles of whatis now Guatemala. The Quiché identified the bat-deity with their godZotzilaha Chamalcan, the god of fire. 

Popol Vuh, a Mayansacred book, identifies Zotzilaha as not a god, but a cavern, “TheHouse of Bats”. Zotzilaha was home to a type of bat calledcamazotz; one of these monsters decapitated the hero Hunahpú.Camazotz has been translated as “death bat” and “snatch bat”.It is recorded in chapter 10 of this book that the Camazotz’s callwas similar to eek, eek. A vastly different story appearsin Chapter 3. Here a demon called Camalotz, or “SuddenBloodletter”, clearly a single entity, is identified as one of fouranimal demons which slew the impious first race of men.
In the Latin Americanregion, it seems that the ancient belief in the “death bat”survives even to the present day. Several cultures have traditions ofbat-demons or winged monsters; for example, legends of theh?ik’al, or Black-man, still circulate among the Zotzil people ofChiapas, Mexico. Perhaps revealingly, the H?ik’al is sometimesreferred to as a “neckcutter”. Other bat-demons includethe soucouyant of Trinidad and the tin tin ofEcuador.
Yet another similarcreature appears in the folklore of rural Peru and Chile.The chonchon is a vampire-type monster; and it is trulybizarre, even for a legendary creature. It is said that after aperson’s death, the head will sometimes sprout enormous ears andlift off from the shoulders. This flying head is the Chonchon; itssound, as recorded by Jorge Luis Borges, was like tui-tui-tui.Could the legends of the Chonchon have sprung from the same source asthe Camazotz legends?
But what exactly wasthe basis for the Camazotz legend? Most archaeologists believe thatthe monster was based on the common vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus),a bat traditionally associated with bloodletting and sacrifice.Another suspect is the false vampire bat (Vampyrum spectrum), due toits large size and habit of attacking prey around the head or neck.
One of the mostprominent and commonly mentioned features of the Camazotz is “anose the shape of a flint knife”, which could be an exaggeratedinterpretation of the nose-leaf possessed by members of thePhyllostomidae, or leaf-nosed bats. The vampire bat is a relative ormember of this group; thus we are once more forced to look at D.rotundus, or its relatives, as suspects.
In 1988, a species offossil bat related to Desmodus rotundus, but 25 percent larger, wasdescribed as D. draculae. It was described on the basis of twospecimens from Monagas State, Venezuela. A third specimen from SãoPaulo State, Brazil, was described in a 1991 article by E. Trajanoand M. de Vivo. The Brazilian specimen had not yet been dated whenthe article was written, but the two biologists suggest a “relativelyrecent age” for the skeleton. They refer to reports circulatingamong local natives of large bats which attack cattle and horses;these reports may suggest that the bat still lives. Its recentage and large range suggest that the bat could have co-existed withthe Quiché, giving rise to the legends of the Camazotz. Trajano andde Vivo also speculate that D. draculae may have fed on larger preythan did normal-sized vampire bats; possibly even humans?
Several other storiessupporting the idea of a large bat-like creature have come out ofLatin America in the last century. A 1947 report of a creaturepresumed to have been a living pterosaur may in fact have been of alarge bat. J. Harrison saw five “birds” with a wingspan of about12 feet. Harrison’s birds were brown, featherless, and beaked.
The next report of abat-like monster from the area is a story told by a Brazilian couple,the Reals. One night in the early 1950s, they were walking through aforest outside of Pelotas, Brazil, when they saw two large “birds”in a tree, both of which alighted on the ground. Although reported aswinged humanoids, the proximity of the sighting area to the RibeiraValley, where the Brazilian specimen of D. draculae was found, forcesone to wonder whether the Reals’ “birds” were actually bats.
In March, 1975, aseries of animal mutilations swept the countryside near the PuertoRican town of Moca, and during the incident a man named Juan MuñizFeliciano claimed that he was attacked by a large, gray-featheredcreature. These bird-like creatures were seen numerous times duringthe outbreak.
These reports didn’tgain real notoriety until the mid-1970s, when a number of sightingsof large birds or bats surfaced in Rio Grande Valley, Texas. Thefirst report came from the town of San Benito, where three peoplereputedly encounters with a bald-headed creature. But rumors had longcirculated among the Mexican inhabitants of the town about a largebird-like creature, believed to make tch-tch-tch sounds.
On New Year’s Day,1976, two girls near Harlingen watched a large, birdlikecreature with a “gorilla-like” face, a bald head, and a shortbeak. The next day, a number of three-toed tracks were found in thefield where the creature had stood. On January 14, Armando Grimaldosaid he was attacked by the creature at Raymondville. He said it wasblack, with a monkey’s face and large eyes. Further reportssurfaced from Laredo and Olmito, with a final sighting reported fromEagle Pass on January 21.
The reports citedabove, as well as countless others which await careful researchers,support a conclusion that a mysterious winged creature exists in thedeserts and jungles of Mesoamerica. The prominence of the bat inLatin American mythology and the discovery of the recently-extinctDesmodus draculae in South America point to the possible identity ofthe creature as a large, as-of-yet unknown bat, rather than a livingpterosaur, as is generally supposed.
New Species or AncientBeast?
A number of batspecies that are just as big or bigger might be out there, waitingfor science to formally recognize them.

In this everchanging world, it seems as if mysteries and bizarre creatures arearound every dark corner and can be found in deep bodies of murkywater. They appear in abandoned buildings, colossal tracks ofdesolate land, spooky swamps and the vastness of our underground andcliff side cave systems.

The show ”Lost Tapes” ran a program on Animal Planet, that was all aboutthese mysterious winged beings.

The showhighlighted famed naturalist , Ivan T. Sanderson who journeyed on anexpedition in 1932, to the Rain Forest of Cameroon and found anextraordinarily fearsome entity. The report given by Sandersonstated upon entering a cave, the entire exploring party were swoopeddown upon, by giant bat-like beings. Ivan’s exact words describedthem as, “Black as coal with membranous wings and long sharpteeth!”


Othersurprising accounts come from soldiers who have been at war,throughout our history. A large number of men have come forward andgiven testimony to this creature, that comes soaring out, when thesun begins to set in the sky. Maybe it is because the soldiers areexposed to the open of the night, when hunkered down in the fields,that they have had so many sightings.

Although notas common in the United States as other parts of the world, it hasbeen sighted on our soil numerous times. The most widely recordedaccount belongs to mountaineer Butch Whittaker. The sighting tookplace in the year 1994, when Butch was out preparing to climb Mt. St.Helens, in the state of Washington. In the broad light of day, thecreature soared overhead near the volcano top and even though Butchwas in a state of disbelief about what he was seeing, he managed toget several photographs of the winged humanoid, before it completelydisappeared. It was later described by Butch as having blood-redeyes, purplish toned skin, wings of a Pterodactyl and the head andface of monkey mixed with the features of a bat. It was immediatelydubbed, “Batsquatch.”

On thedescriptions of the Cave Demon, ALL who have had an encounter andlived to tell about it, state that it is clearly a bat/something(human or primate) type of creature.

So once againwe find our self asking the same question, What are they?

Sources:cryptoflorida.webs.com/apps/blog/show/3948914-large-bat-creature-sighted-in-california,newanimal.org/gbats.htm,kellyskrazynews.blogspot.com/2010/02/cave-demons.html,blueroadrunner.com/camazotz.htm
Cryptid Chroniclesreaders, what do YOU think??
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Gouache on paper.Cryptozoology assignment. Marissa Louise.

#cryptozoology#marissalouise#owl


121strangeaccounts
Ahool
The ahool is alegendary giant bat, or by other accounts, a pterosaur or flyingprimate. Named for its distinctive call “A-hool”, it is said tolive in the deepest rainforests of Java. It is described as having amonkey/ape-like head with large dark eyes, large claws on itsforearms approximately the size of an infant, and a body covered ingray fur. Possibly the most intriguing and astounding feature is thatit is said to have a wingspan of 3 m 10 ft. This is almost twice aslong as the largest known bat in the world, the common flying fox.Source: cryptozoology.wikia.com#Cryptid#Paranormal



The Island of Java,formed mostly as the result of volcanic activity, is the worlds 13thlargest island, and the 5th largest island of Indonesia. Java is oneof the most densely populated regions on earth and with a populationof roughly 124 million is also the most populated island in theworld. It is because of this overpopulation that the rainforests ofJava have all but disappeared in recent times, the Gunung HalimunNational Park is one of the last remaining stretches of lowlandforest on the island. What remains Java’s once great rain forestssupports a wide array of wildlife including over 23 mammal species,over 200 bird species, over 500 forms of plant life and according tothe native population of the forests is the home to a largeunidentified winged creature known as the Ahool.
The Ahool, named afterits call, a long ahOOOooool, is said to be a bat like creature, andis described as the size of a one year old child with a gigantic wingspan of roughly 12 feet. It is reported to be covered in short, darkgrey fur, have large, black eyes, flattened forearms supporting itsleathery wings and a monkey like head, with a flattish, man likeface. It has been seen squatting on the forest floor, at which timesits wings are closed, pressed against the Ahool’s body, its feetappearing to point backwards. It is thought that the Ahool is anocturnal creature, spending its days concealed in caves locatedbehind or beneath waterfalls; its nights spent skimming across riversin search of large fish upon which it feeds.
One account of theAhool occurred in 1925 when naturalist Dr. Ernest Bartels, son ofnoted ornithologist M.E.G. Bartels, was exploring a waterfall on theslopes of the Salek Mountains when a giant unknown bat, the Ahool,few directly over his head. Two years later in 1927, around 11:30 pm,Dr. Ernest Bartels encountered the Ahool again, this time he waslaying in bed, inside his thatched house close to the TjidjenkolRiver in western Java, listening to the sounds of the jungle when hesuddenly heard a very different sound coming from almost directlyover his hut, this loud and clear cry seemed to utter, A Hool!

Grabbing historch Dr. Bartels ran out of his hut in the direction the soundseemed to be heading. Less than 20 seconds later he heard it again, afinal A Hool! which floated back towards him from a considerabledistance downstream. As he would recall many years later, he wastransfixed on the sound, not because he did not know what produced itbut rather because he did, the Ahool.
At one time, Bartelshad suggested that perhaps the creature was not a bat, but some typeof bird, possibly a very large owl, but this theory did not sit wellwith others and was greeted with passionate denials by his friends,who assured him in no uncertain terms that they were more thancapable of distinguishing a bat from a bird.
Bartels accounts ofthe Ahool were passed down to cryptozoologist Ivan T. Sanderson byBernard Heuvelmans, and after much research Sanderson concluded thatthe Ahool is a form of unclassified bat. Sanderson took specialinterest in the Ahool because he too had met with such a creature,but not in Java, his encounter took place in the Assumbo Mountains ofCameroon, in western Africa. Sanderson thought that the Ahool couldbe an Oriental form of the giant bat like creature he witnessed inAfrica; this creature was known by the African natives as theKongamato.
Some researchers havesuggested that the Ahool may be a surviving population of pterosaur,a flying reptile thought to have gone extinct around the time of thedinosaurs, some 65 million years ago. Indeed the description of theAhool does match what we currently know about pterosaur species,including large forearms supporting leathery wings. The majority ofinvestigators seem to agree however that the Ahool is more thanlikely a form of unknown giant bat, looking to the creatures reportedfacial features as evidence against the flying reptile theory. Athird, less popular theory, also based on the reported facialfeatures of the Ahool is that this beast may be the worlds firstreported case of a flying primate.
Regardless of whichtheory you may subscribe to it may only be a matter of time before wefind out exactly what the Ahool is. With the continued destruction ofJava’s rainforests the Ahool’s habitat continues to shrink whichmay lead to more encounters with the creature by modern man as weencroach further on its home. Unfortunately the destruction of theAhool’s home may also lead to its extinction before we even get achance to fully understand its identity.
The Evidence
There is currently nophysical evidence to suggest the existence of a creature like theAhool living in the rainforests of Java.
The Sightings
In 1925, naturalistDr. Ernest Bartels, son of noted ornithologist M.E.G. Bartels, wasexploring a waterfall on the slopes of the Salek Mountains when agiant unknown bat, the Ahool, few directly over his head.
In 1927, around 11:30pm, Dr. Ernest Bartels encountered the Ahool again. Bartels waslaying in bed, inside his thatched house close to the TjidjenkolRiver in western Java, listening to the sounds of the jungle Bartelssuddenly heard a very different sound coming from almost directlyover his hut, this loud and clear cry seemed to utter, A Hool!
From Wiki:

The ahool is aflying cryptid, supposedly a giant bat, or by other accounts, aliving pterosaur or flying primate. 

Like manycryptids, it is not well documented, and little reliable information- and in this case, no material evidence - exists. Named for itsdistinctive call A-hool (other sources render it ahOOOooool), it issaid to live in the deepest rainforests of Java.

It isdescribed as having a monkey/ape-like head with large dark eyes,large claws on its forearms (approximately the size of an infant),and a body covered in gray fur. Possibly the most intriguing andastounding feature is that it is said to have a wingspan of 3 m (10ft). This is almost twice as long as the largest (known) bat in theworld, the common flying fox.

According toLoren Coleman and Jerome Clark [Quoting Sanderson], it was firstdescribed by Dr. Ernest Bartels. 

Bartelspublished regular accounts of his work while exploring the SalakMountains on the island of Java.

Onespeculation on its existence by the cryptozoologist Ivan T. Sandersonis that it might be a relative of Kongamato in Africa. Others havesuggested it were a living fossil pterosaur, on account of itssupposedly leathery wings. As is known today, most pterosaurs seem tohave had wings that were covered with a downy fluff to prevent heatloss; this may or may not have been necessary in a tropicalenvironment depending on these animals’ metabolism. On the otherhand, there might be an entirely mundane explanation:

Twolarge earless owls exist on Java, the Spotted Wood-owl (Strixseloputo) and the Javan Wood-owl (Strix (leptogrammica) bartelsi).They are intermediate in size between the Spotted Owl of NorthAmerica or the Tawny Owl of Eurasia, and an eagle owl (horned owl),being 40–50 cm (16–20 in) long and with a wingspan of perhaps1.20 meters (4 ft). Despite this discrepancy, wingspans are usuallyoverestimated[verification needed]in flying animals not held in hand(see also Thunderbird), especially by frightened observers.

Sizenonwithstanding, the Javan or Bartels’s Wood-owl seems anespecially promising candidate to resolve the ahool enigma: it has aconspicuous flat “face” with large dark eyes exaggerated by blackrings of feathers and a beak that protrudes but little, and itappears greyish-brown when seen from below. Its call ischaracteristic, a single shout, given intermittently, and soundinglike HOOOH!

Like mostlarge owls, it is highly territorial in breeding season and willfrighten away intruders by mock attacks from above and behind. Itsflight, being an owl, is nearly completely silent, so that the victimof such sweeps usually becomes aware of the owl when it is homes insnarling and with outstretched talons (held at “breast” height tothe observer), and would just have time to duck away. The JavanWood-owl is a decidedly rare and elusive bird not often observed evenby ornithologists, and hides during day. It is found in remotemontane forest at altitudes of probably around 1,000-1,500 meters,and does not tolerate well human encroachment, logging and otherdisturbances.

From itsappearance and behavior, the Javan Wood-owl matches thecharacteristics of the ahool surprisingly well, despite the cryptidat first glance giving the impression of a mammal. Observer error dueto the circumstances of being dive-bombed in a remote gloomy forestby a fierce snarling and clawing bird may well account for theapparent discrepancies. Notwithstanding, the wood-owls of Java arenot generally mentioned in cryptozoological discussions of the ahool,and most authors of cryptozoologial works seem to be entirely unawareof the birds’ existence.

Be that as itmay, it is not resolved how well the owls are known to locals,especially the local name - if any - and whether they are present inlocations of ahool reports would seem to be highly relevant.