#pamá-yawá

[labete-du-gevaudan]

This drawing of the pamá-yawá (or tapir tiger) was drawn by Philippe Coudray for his 2009 book Guide des Animaux Cachés. Stories of the pamá-yawá hail from Ecuador where they are described as "a uniformly dark grey colored animal the size of an Amazonian tapir". It is said that this animal is the only predator capable of killing a tapir due to its enormous paws. A hunter by the name of Pedro Anan Churuwia said that a single paw of the pamá-yawá was the size of both of his hands.

In 1969, a settler named Juan Bautista Rivadeneira claimed to have seen this beast from around 50 meters away. He said that the animal had strolled onto the sandy beach by the river before vanishing from view. While Rivadeneira had no idea what the animal was, the Shuar guide he was with had exclaimed "pamá-yawá!"