苏卡拉特（Succarath）或苏（su）是在15世纪从巴塔哥尼亚南部报告过来的一种神秘生物，这种生物通常被认为与地懒有一定的关联，就像一些作者明确报告的巴塔哥尼亚树懒一样。

词源学

安德雷·戴维（André Thevet）是第一个描述这种动物的人，他写道，“苏”在巴塔哥尼亚语中是水的意思。乔治·埃博哈特（George Eberhart）写道，这个名字来自Tehuelche su(“斗篷”)和carrath(“皮肤”)。

描述

耶稣会牧师佩德罗·洛扎诺将这种生物描述为：

...a hideous figure, at first sight it seems to have the face of a lion or even that of a man, because from its ears grows a beard with hair that is not too long; its body narrows towards the rear, its front end is very large; its tail is long and very hairy, and with it, it hides its pups that it places on its back. This does not prevent it from running swiftly away. It is carnivorous and is hunted by the local natives, who are interested in its fur, because, being of a cold climate; they protect themselves from the weather with it. The usual way of hunting them is to dig a deep hole which they cover with branches; the unwary beast falls into it with its brood and seeing no way out, either out of generosity or anger, tears them apart with its claws, so that they do not fall into the hands of men; roaring at the same time, to terrify its hunters, who coming close to the mouth of the pit, pierce the beast with their arrows.
...这是一个很丑陋的形象，乍一看，它的脸看起来很像狮子，甚至像人，因为它的耳朵上长着一撮不太长的胡子；它的身体向后收缩着，它的身体前端非常大；尾巴很长，毛茸茸的，这可以用它来隐藏它的幼崽，把它们放在它的背上，但这并不能阻止它迅速逃走。它是食肉动物，但当地居民对它的皮毛很感兴趣，因为当地的气候寒冷；所以它们用它来保护自己免受天气的影响。捕猎它们通常的方法是：先挖一个深洞，然后再用树枝盖住；粗心大意的怪物和它的孩子们一起掉进了它的笼子里，由于没有出路，要么是出于慷慨，要么是出于愤怒，它们就会用爪子把它们撕成碎片，以免它们落入人类的手中；他们也会吼叫，使猎人惧怕。他们近坑口，用箭射透这兽。

据说这种生物也住在河岸附近。戴维写道，特胡埃尔什人会穿着苏卡拉特的皮。Ambroise Paré“强调了它对幼崽的温柔的爱”。爱德华·托普塞尔曾在《The History of Four-footed Beasts and Serpents》(1697年)中写道，这种食人妖“残忍、难以驯服、暴力、贪婪、血腥”。格瓦拉神父在1764年描述了苏卡拉特可以发出“可怕的咆哮”。另一位作者描述了苏卡拉特带着它的幼崽到花海中玩耍，并给它们洒上香水。

理论

弗洛伦蒂诺·阿米基诺(Florentino Ameghino)和伯纳德·赫维尔曼斯(Bernard Heuvelmans)都将苏卡拉特与大地懒联系在一起，Dale A. Drinnon指出，这种树懒很可能会把它们的孩子背在背上。其他可能是苏卡拉特的动物包括水獭、美洲虎或一种巴塔哥尼亚的巨型食蚁兽。

参考

1. ↑ Jump up to:1.01.1 Heuvelmans, Bernard (1955) On the Track of Unknown Animals, Routledge, ISBN 978-1138977525

2. ↑ Jump up to:2.02.1 Eberhart, George M. (2002) Mysterious Creatures: A Guide to Cryptozoology, ABC-CLIO, Inc., ISBN 1576072835

3. ↑ Jump up to:3.03.13.23.3 Whittall, Austin (2012) Monsters of Patagonia, Zagier & Urruty Pubns, ISBN 978-9871468218

4. ↑ Jump up to:4.04.1 Thevet, André (1557) The New Found World, or Antarctike

5. ↑ Lozano, Pedro (1873) Historia de la conquista del Paraguay, Río de la Plata y Tucumán

6. ↑ Topsell, Edward (1697) The History of Four-footed Beasts and Serpents

7. ↑ Drinnon, Dale A. Frontiers of Zoology: More on Mapinguaris And Ground Sloths frontiersofzoology.blogspot.com [Accessed September 2018]