Emela-ntouka
The emela-ntouka is a cryptozoological animal believed to live in Central Africa. Its name means "elephant killer" in Lingala. In other languages, the animal is known as Aseka-moke, Njago-gunda, Ngamba-namae, Chipekwe, or Irizima.
Description
The emela-ntouka is said to be the size of a African savanna elephant, brownish-gray in color, and possessing a long, heavy tail. It is also said to have the shape of a rhinoceros and a single long horn on its nose. Its large body likely requires muscular legs. The animal is also said to have ridges along its neck. The emela-ntouka is said to live both on land and in water and feeds on, among other things, the Malombo plant. The creature is said to make a grunting, snoring, and rumbling sound.The structure of its horn is debated among writers on the subject. The debate centers on: if the "horn" is ivory, then it would be a tusk and not a horn. Some rhinoceroses have tusks, especially the Asian type of one-horned rhinoceros; these are not yet known to inhabit Africa. If the horn was bone, then the creature is a reptile, like so many groups of fossil reptiles, such as ceratopsians, which had horns made of bone. Finally, the horn could be keratin, like the horns of African rhinoceroses. However, without a specimen to examine, any attempt to classify emela-ntouka by this method can only be speculative.
Habitat
This cryptid is believed to primarily inhabit the vast shallow waters of the swamps and lakes of the Congo Basin, especially the Likouala Swamps in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and possibly Cameroon. It is also said to inhabit Lake Bangweulu in Zambia. They are said to be solitary, herbivorous animals The inhabitants of the area are said to treat the creature with great fear.History
published his book Eighteen Years on Lake Bangweulu in 1933, reporting that an animal fitting the description of an emela-ntouka was killed by Wa-Ushi natives on the banks of the Luapula River, which connects Lake Bangweulu with Lake Mweru.The emela-ntouka was first mentioned by name in 1954, in an article in the journal Mammalia, written by former Likouala game ranger Lucien Blancou. He stated that the emela-ntouka was "larger than a buffalo" and lived throughout the Likouala wetlands. It was also Blancou who first mentioned that an emela-ntouka would kill elephants, buffalo or hippos when disturbed, similar to the mokele-mbembe's alleged clear aversion to hippos. While both animals are supposedly herbivorous, they also supposedly share a fierce sense of territoriality, and it is for this reason that it is claimed that the pygmies fear it more than any other dangerous animal. Around 1930, an emela-ntouka was allegedly killed near Dongou.
Further evidence was provided by Dr. Roy P. Mackal, who led two expeditions to the Congo in 1980 and 1981. He collected details of several other cryptids. In 1987 he published his book, A Living Dinosaur, summarizing the expeditions.