The Ennedi tiger

koala · Site Admin Joined: 12 Oct 2006 Posts: 712

The Ennedi tiger is a purportedly living Sabertooth tiger, that inhabits the Ennedi Plateau, located in the east of Chad, in the Sub-Saharan Africa.

There are reports of actually two different species, one that mainly habits the mountains (called Hadjel, Gassingram, or Vossoko), and a Water-inhabiting one (called Mourou N'gou,Mamaimé, or Dilali).

The Mountain type is larger than a lion and lacks a tail. The teeth protrude from the mouth, and the feet are hairy. The coloration is red or reddish-brown with white stripes. It is strong enough to carry off large antelopes. It is nocturnal and cave dwelling in the Ouadai district of the Ennedi mountain range. Natives described it to western explorers, who identified it as a Machairodus sabertooth.

The Water type is of unknown relation to the first, it is also larger than a lion (8-12 feet), very fierce, and has protruding teeth. The animal's colorpattern is red with white markings (compareable to mountain cats), to leopard-like with stripes, to uniform brown. Teeth are always "walrus-like" and the tail is always long in reports. Some have suggested an otter as a candidate. It's habitat extents into the Central African Republic. There are also tales of water lions in folklore in Congo, Angola, Zimbabwe, Kenya and Sudan.
A cave drawing exists in South Africa, and shows a walrus-like creature with a long tail.

A related footnote: the last lions in the Sahara also survived here, till they became extinct by the mid-20th century (the last lion was seen in 1940)