Africa, a continent where myth and reality intertwine in the shadows of forests and the depths of rivers, hides creatures that defy science. While on other continents, "fantastic beasts" are exploited as attractions, here they remain secrets closely guarded by local communities.

This 4-part series on Fantastic Beasts of Africa delves into cryptids (1) Africans – beings whose existence is witnessed, but so far not proven by traditional science.

From the Congo Basin to the savannas of Kenya, we'll uncover ancient legends and modern research that question the limits of what's known. In this final installment, Part IV, we'll celebrate instances in which myths and legends became reality and transformed into science.

Get ready for a journey through surprise and the inexplicable that could only happen in this “Unknown Africa”.

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The Marsupilami is a fantastic animal that supposedly exists in South America and Africa.

Anyone who is a fan of comics must be surprised at this point and thinking that the famous Marsupilami, created by André Franquin, is actually an animal based on a Cryptid that already existed and that he would have simply adapted this Cryptid to comics.

Actually, no. The story is much more bizarre and only shows that the human will to believe in something can overcome all realities.

André Franquin invented/created the Marsupilami in 1952 and released it that same year in the comic book “Spirou and the Heirs”, giving it the scientific name Marsupilamus fantasii (2). Its African version, the Marsupilamus africanus, appears for the first time in 1956, in the album “Blondin and Cirage and the flying saucers”, drawn by Jijé (3).

Over the years, other Marsupilamis species appeared in Spirou's various albums. So, in 1985, Franquin tried to figure out how to give the Marsupilami an official scientific name, since it had existed as Marsupilamus fantasii since 1952.

However, he had not taken into account article 13 of the international code of zoological nomenclature, which states that the name given to a new species is only valid when there is a publication of the scientific description of that species.

Franquim then decided to contact the head of the education and nature department at the Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique (Royal Institute of Natural Sciences of Belgium), Alan Quintart, and challenged him to write an article about the Marsupilami in such a way that it looked like a real animal and to publish it.

Quintart accepted the challenge and, in 1989, wrote the entire morphology of Marsupilami, classifying it as a mammal of the order “Monotremata” (monotremes), since it lays eggs, even explaining that it had originally been misclassified in the infraclass “Marsupialia” (marsupials), hence its name Marsupilami.

Continuing the description, from that point on, he explained its origin, its color and variations, weight, height, eating habits, etc. Once the description was finished, he gave it the scientific name “Marsupilami franquini”, since new species normally have the name of their discoverer in their scientific name, in this case André Franquin. (4).

After presenting the article to Franquin, they decided to publish it in the Belgian magazine “Les Naturalistes Belges”, under the name, “Le Marsupilami, a new species for Science”. To their surprise, no one realized that the article was a joke and not a real scientific paper.

In fact, a series of other publications and several other articles on the subject appeared, with the renowned British magazine Zoological Record, considered the bible of zoology that covers the scientific discoveries of the year, even publishing in 1989, in edition 89-90, the story of the Marsupilami, assigning it the number 6093, for a new species. (5).

Of course, the joke couldn't have lasted forever, but even though the hoax was undone, the Muséum des sciences naturelles de Belgique (Natural Sciences Museum of Belgium) maintained a permanent exhibition on the Marsupilami for years, which has led to the fact that even today, there are people who believe that the Marsupilami is, in fact, a real animal. (6).

Thus, it can be concluded that if the human mind is capable of transforming an animal invented/created for a comic strip into a real animal, it is also possible and feasible that the human mind, when faced with a phenomenon in nature that it cannot understand or identify, transforms that phenomenon, in this case, these animals, into something fanciful and fantastic.

One thing is certain, our brains cannot accept that something seemingly implausible and illogical may in fact not be true, assuming that this object/animal actually exists.

Here's a small example that might surprise a lot of people and, interestingly or not, has 3 African entries.

However, this sea monster is nothing more than a very ancient species of fish that has undergone little change in the last 10 years, which gives it a somewhat prehistoric, monster-like appearance.

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This friendly, smiling aquatic creature was once considered a sea monster by the Aztecs.

Axolotls are a species of amphibian that retains many characteristics from its tadpole stage. Their strange "antennae" make them even more bizarre. Considered a myth, the "monster" was discovered to be just over 25 cm long.

Its great capacity for regeneration has already led the scientific community to map its genome, the largest identified to date, with 32 billion base pairs of DNA, ten times larger than the human genome, with only 3,2 billion pairs.

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One of the most well-known sea monsters, praised by legends around the world, the giant squid, had its existence proven in 2004, when scientists from the National Science Museum in Tokyo managed to photograph a live specimen near the Ogasawara Islands off the coast of Japan.

After several investigations, they discovered that females can reach 13 meters in length from head to the tip of their tentacles.

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Could a fish walk? Of course not, such a fish was a myth and never existed... or did it? The coelacanth is a true missing link from the time when the first animals emerged from the water onto land.

Existing for 400 million years, about 170 million years before the emergence of dinosaurs, this fish has two pairs of front fins that function as legs, allowing it to walk out of water.

It was thought to be extinct and when it was seen in the South African region, no one believed it was true and thought it was a joke, however, it was rediscovered in 1938, which makes this fish a true living fossil.

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The Borneo proboscis monkey seems to have come straight out of a cartoon; for those familiar with Tintin stories, it will be difficult not to draw a comparison with the villain Rastapopoulos.

His large nose serves to attract females during mating season. He is considered by the natives to be a being from another plane of existence who descended to Earth with the intention of improving human beings through examples of character and generosity, transforming the world into a better place.

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The Okapi was considered a myth, and it was even said to be a joke, as no one wanted to believe that an animal with a long neck like a giraffe and striped legs like a zebra could exist.

However, its existence was confirmed in 1901, when it was discovered in the Republic of Congo and classified as the closest relative of the giraffe.

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The platypus is the strangest mammal ever known and, for a long time, considered a fraud by the scientific community who had difficulty accepting its existence and you only have to look at this strange mammal to understand why.

The Australian Aborigines themselves described it as a cross between a duck and a water rat and when the first specimen was stuffed, many scientists believed it was a fraud. After that, it took more than 2 years to find reliable evidence of the platypus for it to be recognized as real.

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This is one of the strangest animals in the world (it rivals the platypus in weirdness). It has a pig's snout, donkey's ears, and digs burrows underground like a mole. But although it's also known as the aardvark or aardvark, this strangely named animal isn't a pig at all, but rather resembles a cross between several others, much like the platypus.

It is an African mammal found in central and southern Africa, in regions with sandy or clayey soils. It is solitary and nocturnal: it sleeps during the day in its burrow and only comes out at night to forage for food. Its dentition is so peculiar and different from that of all other animals that it has been classified in a specific order, the Tubulidentata.

For years they were considered a myth, due to the fact that they are so solitary and shy (at the slightest sign of danger, they lean on their strong tail and quickly dig a hiding place).

Tasmanian Tiger (Thylacinus cynocephalus)

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When Australia began to be colonized, cave paintings over a thousand years old portrayed it as a legend. However, stories of footprints and traces of its existence emerged regularly.

It took some time to prove that it existed and when they did, they realized that the Tasmanian tiger has little to do with a tiger, despite the stripes indicating it and looking more like a strange cross between a dog and a feline.

After all, it's a marsupial, related to kangaroos. The last specimen supposedly died in 1936, but reports of footprints and regular sightings continue to emerge today, leading some to believe its predicted demise was premature.

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When Europeans arrived in Indonesia, natives told them stories of a huge, dangerous lizard that resembled a dragon. As expected, they didn't believe them and concluded it was a fantasy of the islanders.

However, in 1910, scientists discovered a strange animal dubbed the Komodo dragon, a monitor lizard that could reach 3 meters in length, with sharp teeth like a great white shark and venomous saliva. It only lacked flight and fire-breathing to be like the dragons of ancient mythology.

1. Coelacanth, a “prehistoric” fish thought to have been extinct for 66 million years, was rediscovered in 1938 in South Africa because local fishermen insisted: “There is a walking fish here.”Ocapi (1901)
2. Ocapi, a “zebra with a giraffe’s neck”, was considered a joke until 1901, when expeditions confirmed its existence in the Congo forests.
3. Orichteropus, a A nocturnal creature with a pig's snout and mole's claws, it was considered a "hunter's fable" (discovered in the 18th century but only studied in the 20th century). Its isolation and shy habits made it the ultimate symbol of secrecy yielding to scientific persistence.

This trio proves that Africa still holds many secrets – and the lesson is clear:

“Where there is fire of legend, there is smoke of reality waiting to be discovered” – Francisco Lopes-Santos

As new reports emerge (such as the Zanzibar Golden Cat or the  orange cave crocodile of Gabon), science learns humility:

Africa remains the last stronghold of zoological mysteries not for lack of technology, but for the magnitude of its secrets. While 80% of the Amazon has satellite coverage, the Congo forests have regions where "GPS fails and the stories of the pygmies become the only cartography”, as explorer Roy Mackal wrote.

And the reality of Africa is exactly that, sometimes the most accurate compass is not the GPS, but the ancient wisdom.

The Nandi Bear may be the next to emerge from the shadows, or perhaps the much-famed Mokele-mbembe. Until then, Africa will continue to be the great laboratory where myths become legends and legends become truths—one creature at a time.

FIM

Notes and Bibliography

1. Cryptids are animals that are believed to exist somewhere in nature, but whose existence is doubtful or controversial, not being supported by science.
2. Franquin, André. Spirou et les héritiers. Charleroi: Éditions Dupuis, 1952. ISBN 2-8001-0006-0.
3. Jijé. Blondin et Cirage et les Soucoupes Volantes. Charleroi: Éditions Dupuis, 1956.
4. Devaux, Geoffrey. Le Marsupilami existe vraiment! dhnet.be. [Online] April 08, 2005. [Citation: December 17, 2020.] https://www.dhnet.be/archive/le-marsupilami-existe-vraiment-51b8182ae4b0de6db99e6deb.
5. ZoologicalRecord. Marsupilami franquini Quintart 1989. organismnames.com. [Online] 1989. [Citation: December 17, 2020.] http://organismnames.com/details.htm?lsid=787453.
6. National Museum of Natural History. The Marsupilami (09.07.98-30.08.98). National Museum of Natural History. [Online] 1998. [Citation: 20 December 2020.] https://www.mnhn.lu/blog/1998/07/le-marsupilami-09-07-98-30-08-98/.

(1) Marsupilamus africanus

Images GNU/CC BY-SA 2.5-3.0-4.0 [Wikipedia]