In east Africanfolklore, theNandi bear is a creature said to live inEast Africa.[1][2] It takes its name from theNandi people who live in westernKenya, in the area the Nandi Bear is reported from. It is also known asChemosit,[1]Kerit,Koddoelo,Ngoloko, orDuba (which derives from the Arabic wordsdubb ord.abʕ /d.abuʕ for 'bear' and 'hyena' respectively[3]).
The Samburu "Nkampit" appears also to be a version of this creature.
Descriptions of the Nandi bear are of a ferocious, powerfully built carnivore with high front shoulders (over four feet tall) and a sloping back. Stories of the Nandi bear state that it is fierce, nocturnal, stands on itshind legs and can kill animals.[4]Charles William Hobley authored a diagram of its supposed foot in 1913.[4][5]
The Nandi people call it "kerit". Local legend holds that the Nandi bear has reddish hair, long feet and is said to scalp people.[1] In 1961,Gardner Soule noted that sightings were reported in Kenya throughout the 19th century and early 20th century, but it "never has been caught or identified".[6] Sightings of the Nandi bear decreased over time. In 1905,Richard Meinertzhagen speculated that it may have been an "anthropoid ape now extinct on account of decreased rainfall."[7]
There is no scientific evidence that the Nandi bear exists.[2][8] Alleged sightings are suggested to be misidentification of known species.[2][8][9]
In 1923,Charles William Andrews suggested that the Nandi bear may be a surviving representative of the extinctChalicothere.[10] In the 1930s,Louis Leakey suggested that Nandi Bear descriptions matched that of the Chalicothere, though chalicotheres were herbivores.[11] The Chalicothere hypothesis was later abandoned. In 2000, paleontologistLouis L. Jacobs commented that "if chalicotheres existed now, they would have been found out just like thegiant forest hog was."[2] He concluded that "if there is anything to the Nandi-bear story besides imagination, I suspect it may be the word-of-mouth description of gorillas passed across the continent from areas where they live to areas where they do not."[2]
ZoologistReginald Innes Pocock claimed that reports of the Nandi bear were misidentified hyenas, specifically thespotted hyena.[9] In 1932, the BritishNatural History Museum stated that many reports of the Nandi Bear have "proved to have been nothing more than a spotted hyena."[12] Similarly, paleontologistGeorge Gaylord Simpson commented that the Nandi bear "turned out to be in most if not all cases aratel [honey-badger], an animal which had been known to scientific zoologists since 1776."[8]
Tarzan #134 (Gold Key Comics), March 1963, featuresTarzan meeting and later battling a Nandi bear which is pictured as a shaggysloth bear-like creature with floppy ears.
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, afantasyrole-playing game published in 2009 byPaizo Publishing, features the Chemosit, described as a "massive, shaggy beast, uses long and muscular forearms to raise itself onto its hind legs and beats its chest like a gorilla. Despite its ape-like stance, its frame is far heavier and its features more primitive". The magical beast’s special ability is the 'Brain Eater' - if the Chemosit kills an opponent with acoup-de-grâce attack, then it breaks open the creature's skull and devours what is inside.[14]
The daily comic panelTrue-Life Adventures for May 22, 1956, featured the Nandi bear.
^abcdeJacobs, Louis L. (2000).Quest for the African Dinosaurs: Ancient Roots of the Modern World. Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 250.ISBN0-8018-6481-X
^Hans Wehr (edited by J. Milton Cowan):A dictionary of modern written Arabic, ed. 3, Ithaca, N.Y., 1971, Spoken Language Services, Inc.
