13
September 2017
Sometimes
the tales travellers tell of strange creatures they have seen in a remote part
of the world are true
By Michael
Marshall
Biologists
in Taiwan are discussing whether or not to re-introduce
the Formosan clouded leopard, a creature so mysterious that
some have claimed it may never have existed.
It’s not
an entirely unusual state of affairs. Explorers have claimed to have seen
bizarre animals over the centuries, only to be exposed as hoaxers. But not
always. Sometimes the most outlandish creatures turn out to be extremely real.
It is
perhaps no surprise that the platypus was once thought to be a hoax. It looks a
bit like a mole but has a duck’s bill. Not only did this strange-looking mix of
mammal and bird not fit with what was then known of biology, it was also
immediately obvious how the hoax might have been achieved, with little more
than scissors, thread and a sewing needle.
The
platypus was scientifically described for
the first time in 1799 by the British naturalist George Shaw, based on a skin
sent by John Hunter, then the governor of Australia. Shaw admitted to being
suspicious: “it naturally excites the idea of some deceptive preparation by artificial
means,” he wrote.
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