Dingonek
Ringkasan
Dingonek adalah kriptid, makhluk air bertaring dan bersisik bercorak macan tutul, yang konon terlihat di sekitar Danau Victoria pada 1907 menurut kisah para pemburu.
The dingonek is a cryptid, a fanged, scaly water beast with leopard-like markings, reportedly seen around Lake Victoria in 1907 according to hunters' accounts.
Kisah dan tradisi
Dingonek dikenal dari kisah pemburu John Alfred Jordan, yang konon melihatnya bersama rombongannya dekat Danau Victoria pada 1907. Kisah itu dicatat Edgar Beecher Bronson dalam memoar In Closed Territory (1910). Dalam memoar itu, nama Dingonek disebut sebagai nama yang diberikan orang Lumbwa. Jordan melukiskan makhluk sepanjang empat belas atau lima belas kaki dengan kepala sebesar singa betina bercorak macan tutul, sepasang taring putih panjang yang mencuat dari rahang atas, punggung selebar kuda nil yang bersisik seperti armadillo, dan ekor bersirip lebar. Orang Lumbwa yang pertama melihatnya menyebutnya semacam campuran ular laut, macan tutul, dan paus. Jordan menembaknya dari jarak dekat, tetapi makhluk itu melompat dari air dan tak pernah ditemukan lagi meski dicari dua hari. Bronson sendiri meragukan pengakuan salah satu anggota rombongan yang mengaku melihatnya dua kali. Pada 1913, Charles William Hobley menulis bahwa ia mendapat laporan lain tentang makhluk serupa: seorang saksi melihat binatang bertotol, bersisik, berkepala seperti berang-berang, hanyut di atas batang kayu, tanpa taring panjang. Pada 1918, MacLean's bahkan menyatakannya spesies hewan baru, dan Jordan menulis bahwa makhluk itu hanya hidup di Danau Victoria Nyanza dan anak-anak sungainya. Bronson juga mencatat kepercayaan setempat tentang reptil danau raksasa. Penduduk di pantai utara danau disebut menyembah ular atau reptil air besar yang kedatangannya menandakan panen melimpah, dan mempersembahkan korban sapi dan domba kepada reptil danau mengerikan bernama Luquata.
The dingonek is known from the story of hunter John Alfred Jordan, who reportedly saw it with his party near Lake Victoria in 1907. Edgar Beecher Bronson set the story down in his memoir In Closed Territory (1910). In that memoir the name Dingonek is said to have been given by the Lumbwa. Jordan pictured a beast fourteen or fifteen feet long, its head the size of a lioness's with leopard markings, two long white fangs jutting down from the upper jaw, a hippo-wide back with armadillo-like scales, and a wide finned tail. The Lumbwa who first spotted it likened it to a blend of sea serpent, leopard and whale. Jordan fired at it from close range, yet it leapt from the water and was never found again despite two days of searching. Bronson himself doubted a party member who claimed two sightings. In 1913 Charles William Hobley wrote that he had found further reports of a similar creature: one witness saw a spotted, scaly animal with an otter-like head drifting on a log, without long fangs. In 1918 MacLean's even announced it as a new animal species, and Jordan wrote that it lived only in Lake Victoria Nyanza and its tributaries. Bronson also recorded local beliefs about a giant lake reptile. People on the lake's north shore were said to worship a great water serpent or reptile whose arrival foretold rich harvests, and to offer cattle and sheep to a fearsome lake reptile named Luquata.
Fakta utama
- Budaya / Culture
- Tradisi Afrika Timur (kelompok regional)
- Kawasan / Region
- Afrika
- Era
- Reported in 1907, recorded in 1910, discussed again in 1913 and 1918
- Klasifikasi / Classification
- Cryptid
- Habitat
- Water
Tahukah kamu? / Did you know?
Jordan memperkirakan seekor Dingonek bisa dihargai lima sampai sepuluh ribu pound.
Jordan reckoned a dingonek would fetch five to ten thousand pounds.