Skunkadillo - [Fearsome Critter]

Skun-a-Dillo - [Fearsome Critter | Cryptid?] - aka: "Texas Skun-a-dillo"  Skunkadillo.

• About this critter: A jet black Armadillo with white markings & an odour like that of a skunks: a white stripe  runs down its back ending at a somewhat 'fluffy tail' its diet consists of crickets, grasshoppers and other small insects. - Skunkadillos have also been rumoured to bite terrorists, politicians as well as attack Yard Flamingos! - Otherwise they behave as a regular armadillo would, except that when startled, they emit an awful stench; akin to the faint smell of a skunks (or worse, road kill), then, it quickly rolls up & bounces away! 

•History: Encountered twice by Jim Henson, (No! of course Not of "The Muppets") Jim was A retried Dallas lawman turned folklorist, who witnessed a pack of peculiar armadillos in the back yard of his Motor-home, somewhere in the 'Triangle Rocking H spread' near, Hico, Texas one evening in July. He recorded what I'd describe as a 'spectacularly mundane' encounter in his book "Legends, History and Yarns Along the Texas Trails, Volume 1 1998." - in which, along side a yarn about texan Jackalope (with 'barbed wire horns'!) it is the only critter mentioned: in the story, Jim hears what is usually the sound of armadillos hunting crickets under his trailer. so, pellet gun in hand, he decides to 'spook them into leaving', he goes out to inspect whats there, but instead, Jim is shocked to see an 'odd' armadillo chasing a cricket, the cricket bounces in his direction and then what he can only describe as a "skun-a-dillo" also charges him, he catches a wiff of it & cant believe his eyes (or nostrils) and the thing runs off into the horizon. Poor Jim then goes back to bed, certain that hes gone crazy. Jim describes staying up for a few weeks to try and capture one on camera, but was ultimately unsuccessful. During his second, later encounter about a month later Jim also claims to have seen "a large one being followed by two smaller ones" which "ran past him & hid under his car for protection."

[Jims Witness sketch - from Legends, History and Yarns of Texas, 1998]

[a picture of Jim, from Volume #2 – via amazon. ]

I'd suppose that one way to rationalize his encounter; is that it really isn't a very well known fact that 'dillos do in-fact emit a 'musky odour' similar to that of a skunks, especially when startled, however unlike a skunk, armadillos don't 'spray at you' and only emit the smell when around "strangers", in other words they aren't as 'offensively stinky' as a skunk might be, like Jim described.) in other words, if he smelled 'something' then, well, it's most likely that it was a regular ol' 'dillo was passing through his area and wasn't one of his usual neighbourhood 'dillos. - Another rationalization is that perhaps an armadillo got sprayed by a skunk, but that much, feels pretty obvious after reading his yarn.

[an armadillo matching the "black and white" description it seems to have a bug problem – image source]

Now, just to set the record straight: such 'biologically improbable Trashbin-Chimeras™' [a term which I've come to affectionately call such critters.] are usually an attempt at being hilarious, or are otherwise, a simple case of 'mistaken identities.' - [A couple other Cryptids/Critters which fall into this ''trope'' include the Montpelier "'Coonigator" and the Kentucky "Girraffe-Possom" (there are many others of course!)] - To the point: these "Trashbin-Chimeras™" are what i consider to be folkloric subset of 'Fearsome Critters', which unlike most of their 'older' fashioned contemporaries (which usually aim to be a bit more 'mythological' or 'fantastical') are usually under the guise of being 'cryptozoological' rather than 'fantastic-folklore' proper (Though of course, neither is mutually exclusive!) such "TB-Chi™" are usually in actuality just a run of the mill 'varmints' which are usually encountered rooting through the trash or in the backyard at night, they are typically mistaken for, or otherwise purposefully 'crossbred' or 'mashed up' with a different dangerous or ridiculous creature. - The storyteller elaborates, embellishes or exaggerates their encounter just enough, and then publishes the story in a Book, to a Website, Wiki or some other 'Cryptids of [area] list' along side the more "legit" or "interesting" older/historic Cryptids. (the two previous links are prime examples of this, both taking place in the 2000s-2020's) Usually its an attempt to spread folklore of the strange beasties. - [Which in my opinion is Good fun &a great way of teaching kids to spot the 'fake news' One other such critter which has been used consistently for this in academic setting is the 'tree octopus'] - though, from a 'Cryptozoological enthusiasts', lens these may also be slung through the mud as 'Hoax creatures' just like "Ol' Paul" & his ilk once where, But as with 'Fearsome Critters' and the like, i wouldn't go quite as far call them "hoaxes" no, these are in fact, either 'folklore' or perhaps 'mistakes'. (The buzz-word that is 'hoax' has come to be thrown around so often, as if these creatures have anything to do with selling 'snake oil.') 

--in the case of the Skunkadillo: Jim even admits to telling the story for the 'sake of Texan folklore', before beginning his yarn, he laments, 'perhaps someday it will be something as legendary as the jackalope.' - As of writing this, that has yet to happen, but perhaps someday? - (if only they sang...) - in the 3rd Volume of his book, Jim also proudly shows off some of the local student stories and drawings of the Skun-a-dillo. – A good friend of mine & authority on local Texan critters, says that these student sketches are also mentioned in a footnote where the skunkadillo is mentioned (along side various 'big name' cryptids such as the Jackalope, Chupacabra, Goatman & others) archived at the Mayborne Museum! 

I'm sure that i could illustrate this type of "Trashbin-Chimeras™" continuously and it would keep me busy for a very long time. -- [worth note is that this probably WON'T be my last one ever, but my passion lies in the truly bizarre and strange, so, I'll try to keep such critters to a minimum going forward.] -- Fortunately, I do have bigger Fish to fry, and more interesting 'Cryptids' & many, far older 'Critters' to cover. - I mostly drew & wrote of this one because recently another cryptozoologist friend of mine had recently been asked: "Why are there no Armadillo Cryptids!?!" - Well; here's one of 'em! and it's an extremely obscure one at that... Hope you enjoyed this, Stank and all!!

-- Anyway; I'll end this with a few more modern 'adjacent' reports about 'Skunkadillos' be they fiction or not, - [Smightfiction, youtube, 2012] claims that the Skunkadillos in texas have "become quite dangerous in recent years!!" and proceeds to describe a war agiainst them. - at one point there was apparently a 'Skunkadillo Breeding Centre association' in llano texas, which used the critter as a mascot on shirts, home brewed beer and such (though, sadly i haven't been able to find much more information about this.) - a few other older forum posts say that "The only good thing about Skunkadillos is they love to eat terrorists and politicians." - I'd suppose both candidates had better watch out!! - 'Giant Armadillos' as well as stories of "Clubtailed-Glyphodonts" are a few older 'cryptids'/'critters' that might fall into the 'Armadillo cryptid' category as well.

Art sticker by @Samkalensky (yo! that's me!) part of my 'cryptids and fearsome critters' collection of stickers, follow and support me for many more!! - [I'd like to note and give a friendly reminder, that while i've also linked to each listing where you can purchase Jim's books above too, but once more, just for your personal convenience volumes [1], [2] & [3] are all available on amazon, apparently being sold by their kid, the publisher sadly seems to lack any type of social media.]