Strange creature found in Chile
November 2, 2002 1:36 PM   Subscribe

Strange creature found in Chile Article points to Babelfish translation. Original article here (in Spanish). Anyone have any idea what this is?
posted by oissubke (43 comments total)
 
Some cool pictures and more on the story here and here.
posted by mikhail at 1:54 PM on November 2, 2002


Didn't Sigourney Weaver have some problems with some slightly larger versions of this thing?
posted by UKnowForKids at 2:06 PM on November 2, 2002


Chupacabracito!
posted by machaus at 2:06 PM on November 2, 2002


It's either a momentous and historical event that will shatter our perceptions of the very world we live in or a bald-faced hoax.

Bets?
posted by yhbc at 2:11 PM on November 2, 2002


Hoax is safe money. I'll be keeping my eyes open for more information, though.
posted by ae4rv at 2:15 PM on November 2, 2002


Or, as proposed in Mikhail's first link, it could be the (slightly deformed) fetus of a wild animal.
posted by 4easypayments at 2:16 PM on November 2, 2002


They're not even sure if it is a baby.
posted by Nelson at 2:17 PM on November 2, 2002


Well, I for one welc.... nah. Spooky stuff.

I remember living in Los Angeles a while back, under the influence of lots of New Testament and religion because I was serving as a missionary in south central, and seeing these carcases of the huge, huge bugs that looked like a cross between ants, grasshopers, and scorpions. I asked some of the latinos in my neighborhood what they were... "hijos de la tierra". Spooky.
posted by namespan at 2:18 PM on November 2, 2002


Good call, Nelson. I forgot about that.
posted by ae4rv at 2:19 PM on November 2, 2002


The animal fetus theory is feasible. However, the head of the corpse looks suspiciously like the cartoon aliens with the slender, asexual humanoid body, large head and almond shaped eyes...I say probably a hoax..
posted by puffin at 2:19 PM on November 2, 2002


Nelson, just thinking about that film makes me want to vomit and hide under the covers.

Second mention of Eraserhead in two days. If these keeps up, I'm leaving Metafilter. I haven't had to think about that film for five years, and that was nice respite.

And I didn't even click on the links.
posted by namespan at 2:23 PM on November 2, 2002


there's another article here (google cache), which declares the case solved (although it uses info that another article linked to above seemed to dismiss).
posted by andrew cooke at 2:26 PM on November 2, 2002


Actually, the group which that article says is satisfied, is no longer sure (translated).
posted by mikhail at 2:33 PM on November 2, 2002


dang, correct link here.
posted by mikhail at 2:37 PM on November 2, 2002


Mikhail's article sounds more like they just want to verify the opinion of the vet in andrew cooke's link. I think the already-born, already-dying, marsupial theory is kind of wacky, but still the most plausible possibility.
posted by hippugeek at 2:44 PM on November 2, 2002


It kind of looks like the end of the dagger in the Evil Dead movies.
posted by stifford at 2:57 PM on November 2, 2002


Looks to me like Giger has designed a PEZ dispenser.
posted by duckstab at 3:02 PM on November 2, 2002


Cthulhu.
posted by pupil1 at 3:04 PM on November 2, 2002


I vote a mon calamari's mini-me.
posted by hama7 at 3:08 PM on November 2, 2002


It's utterly weird. It doesn't look like any marsupial I've ever seen, and it looks so much like the stereotypical grey, that my vote has to go to "hoax".
posted by salmacis at 3:14 PM on November 2, 2002


If it isn't a hoax why didn't they contact the vet or the press when it was still alive "moving one of its eyes"?
posted by golo at 3:26 PM on November 2, 2002


A MetaFilter Exclusive!

German Researchers Solve Mystery!

(BERLIN) Researchers at the University of Berlin have solved a scientific puzzle identifying the origin of a species recently discovered in Chile, South America.

In a study also having implications for better understanding cloning, the researchers extracted DNA from the species (a mysterious and small humanoid-like figure) and replicated the species in a controlled environment. Researchers report that a gene which is activated during desiccation in a nematode is similar to one that is switched on during the normal maturation of humans at the stage where the species is born. The newly identified species and humans differ with the new species including four digits.

A photograph of the species cloned in the controlled environment, and matured (with designer clothing, boots, and a 'bubble-helmet' breathing apparatus equipped with advanced communication technologies), may be found on this page.

The University of Berlin will continue to study the interactions and habits of the two duplicated species.
Please don't sue me. This is a parody.
posted by quam at 3:31 PM on November 2, 2002


It looks remarkably like a chewed-on bird corpse to me, missing some bits. The painfully unbelievable story about how it was alive and then it died and it was mysteriously warm and all that make me even less likely to believe it's anything truly mysterious.
posted by biscotti at 3:49 PM on November 2, 2002


Looks to me like Giger has designed a PEZ dispenser.

ROTFL
posted by rushmc at 4:09 PM on November 2, 2002


There were no signs of assembly. This is not a hoax.
posted by xammerboy at 4:57 PM on November 2, 2002


Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na...Flukeman!
posted by Smart Dalek at 6:22 PM on November 2, 2002


Looks to me like Giger has designed a PEZ dispenser.

Ok, now that was funny.
posted by Beholder at 6:43 PM on November 2, 2002


It would take about 5 seconds to prove it was a hoax....so why is there still some doubt?
posted by SpaceCadet at 7:05 PM on November 2, 2002


It looks like the kids been chewing on one end.
posted by Eyegore at 7:37 PM on November 2, 2002


Tonight on Coast to Coast with Art Bell...
posted by y2karl at 7:43 PM on November 2, 2002


Who needs this alien homunculous stuff -- when you can have, instead, a 42" flat panel plasma TV?
posted by troutfishing at 9:13 PM on November 2, 2002


Sweet Jeebus...one wizened corpse does not a species make.
posted by adamgreenfield at 9:18 PM on November 2, 2002


Sweet Jeebus...one wizened corpse does not a species make.

There might be more. You just can't see them because they are probably still living inside their human host family until they mature to the stage where they are able to burrow their way out.
posted by lucien at 9:55 PM on November 2, 2002


it is more exciting to believe that it is an alien fetus. i hope and pray that it is.

when they figure out that its just a bird i'm going to pretend that the proof that it is just a bird is a hoax.
posted by copper at 9:59 PM on November 2, 2002


shitweasel.
posted by quonsar at 10:10 PM on November 2, 2002


quam,

Fascinating!
posted by wsg at 12:22 AM on November 3, 2002


looks like a stick of sculptured beef jerk to me.
posted by JonnyX at 7:39 AM on November 3, 2002


lmao!
posted by firestorm at 11:11 AM on November 3, 2002


giger pez dispenser! too funny! and now I want one...
posted by nyomi at 11:56 AM on November 3, 2002


One interesting point. In all mammals, the spine enters the skull through a hole called the foramen magnum. Anthropologists who study early hominids use the positon of this hole to help determine how upright and bipedal the hominid was. If the foramen magnum is on the bottom side of the skull then the presumption is that the animal was fairly upright in posture. Since we are entirely upright our spine enters the skull at its base. A gorilla's spine enters its skull low down but at the back.

On the "pez dispensor" (love that!) the spine appears to meet the skull in a way that suggests a fully upright (presumably bipedal) posture.

Carved beef jerky seems alot more likely than a new species of little people. Also, unless the example shown is fetal, the species doesn't have nearly the brain capacity to star in a B-Movie.
posted by MemeTransport at 12:51 PM on November 3, 2002


it is more exciting to believe that it is an alien fetus. i hope and pray that it is.

Not that aliens/ufos/etc. is a religion or anything.... :-)
posted by oissubke at 3:46 PM on November 3, 2002


Kinda reminds me of a tiny Fiji Mermaid ... without the fish bits, that is. Actually, this thing seems a bit fishy in many other ways similar to Barnum's sideshow wonder.
posted by ScottUltra at 7:11 AM on November 4, 2002


Most pictures I'm finding resemble a small red 'X' :-{

I would put my money on Quaoar. A planet only 800 miles across would have to have smaller aliens to avoid overcrowding.

As a fan of odd life forms, I hope this is not another Cardiff Giant.
posted by kurumi at 9:34 AM on November 4, 2002


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