The Forés Specimen

Forés' photograph of the specimen.
Image credit Virtual Institute of Cryptozoology.

Angel Morant Forés is a Spanish cryptozoologist who is perhaps best known for his work in Amazonian Ecuador, reporting on feline cryptids like water and rainbow jaguars. But his biggest discovery - and from his point of view, biggest mistake - is a photograph of taxidermy specimen of an aquatic animal found in a Macas shop.


During his stay at Macas, Forés and his guide entered a shop filled with animal souvenirs: stuffed specimens and skins. Immediately, one stuffed animal caught Forés' attention. This unidentified animal is 35 to 40 cm long, has a proboscis on its snout, and has webbed feet. Forés, doubting that Spanish authorities would let a taxidermy animal through customs, neglected to purchase the animal, something which he considers his greatest mistake in life.

However, he did take photographs, like the one shown above. He consulted five mammologists for help identifying the animal: four concluded it to be a new species, whilst one believed it to be a yapock, a water opposum.

Although the colouring and patterning of the Forés animal does match vaguely with that of the yapock, few other features do. The yapock is a smaller animal, with a longer tail, and certainly no proboscis. Notably, the Forés animal has both webbed feet on its forepaws - a trait not seen in the yapock - and a lack of a pouch, meaning it cannot be any kind of marsupial. Personally, I would like to note that the head and body of the animal resemble those of a mustelid, like a polecat or tayra. However, all mustelids have average-length, rather bushy tails.

Forés is planning more expeditions to Ecuador, but in the meantime he has attempted to purchase the specimen through another doctor still in the country. However, the shop owner refuses to sell it. Forés admits that it may be a composition of other animals, a chimera created by a very talented taxidermist (no stitch lines or obvious signs of fraud are present on the specimen), but, like four of the mammologists he consulted, he remains positive it is a new species.