The Story Of The Mysterious 'Chupacabra' At Texas Zoo Isn't Over Yet

It's been over five months since the Amarillo Zoo first reported a strange and mysterious creature outside its gates. Remember it? It looked like a "person with a strange hat who likes to walk at night" or a "large coyote on its hind legs."

The zoo also hypothesized it was a chupacabra, which brings us here, to today.

The legend of the chupacabra started in the 1900s, with its first sightings reported in Puerto Rico. These animals are said to kill livestock and drink the blood of goats. "It looks very bizarre. You see one at night at dusk or dawn; it’s probably a pretty scary-looking creature," Texas A&M veterinarian Terry Hensley told KEYE.

A team of researchers at Texas A&M University is looking into this legend and wants to get to the bottom of it.

"You look in Latin America folklore and it’s an idea that’s been around a long time. But until sometime in the early 20th Century you didn’t have a real concrete image of what this animal was. You had kind of vague descriptions. It’s not actually dissimilar to the vampire in Slavic cultures where there isn’t a concrete description of what it is until Bram Stoker writes his book. And everyone says, 'Ah, that’s what it looks like,'" said Texas A&M Wildlife Specialist John Tomecek.

When people report a chupacabra sighting, however, it's likely all they saw was a coyote with an advanced stage of mange, Tomecek said. Mange is a skin disease caused by parasites that impacts an animal's physical appearance.