Talk:Beast of Gévaudan

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Contents 1 Corrections 2 Tasmanian wolf 3 Categorization 4 well? 5 Dire wolf 6 Nessie 7 Conspiracy Theory 8 Did it die? 8.1 Where's the body? 9 Gender of the BEast 10 The article contains wrong facts 11 Creodont 12 Irish wolfhound 13 wrong category?

[edit] Corrections

someone added a "theory" that the beast was a wolf with prionic diseases "like rabies". I took the liberty of removing it because I am somewhat interested in cryptozoology and have never heard of this theory. i doubt it would ever be taken seriously anyway since A: Rabies is not a prion disease B: A rabid animal would not live for the three years neccesary to be responsible for all the killings. C: There's no evidence that canids can get prion diseases and no prion disease that I know of in animals lasts that long. --TaeKwonTimmy 08:06, 13 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Tasmanian wolf

I belive the Beast of Gevaudan was a hybrid offsping of a male Tazmanian wolf [Thylacines Cynocephalus]and a Large female Greywolf wich was Train to kill by men belonging to a cult of that day.The beast was said to have stipes,like a Tazmanian wolf, and it was said to stand on its hine legs able to leap for long distances. it was said to have a bite radius larger then a wolf,and it was said to hunt like a cat with its belly low to the ground. ALL are clasic behavier of a Tazmanian wolf or sometime call a Tazmanian tiger. I belive that it was a Male Tazmanian wolf that sired the offsping {The beast},so as to breed out the fact that the female Tazmanian wolf carried her young in a poch like a kangaroo. IT was comon for the very rich to traval to other countrys to collect exotic animals for their own personal Zoos. Someone must have went to Australia were the Tazmanian Wolf live in abundance at that time in history and breeded the two togather to make the BEAST OF Gevavdan and Train it to kill (Note: this message left by anon user 138.88.176.223 (talk • contribs)).

Well, the article says the time of the beast's attack was 1764 to 1767. Unfortunately for your theory, Australia was not discovered by westerners until 1770, when Captain Cook found it. So much for the Tasmanian wolf theory :). My best guess is that it was just an wolf that gained much fame due to people's fertile imagination at that time. --Ragib 23:18, 26 May 2005 (UTC)

Also there is no way that a Placental mammal and Marsupial could reproduce. --203.214.84.183 13:37, 9 October 2005 (UTC)

I think it might reduce clutter and confusion if the movie information were removed, and links to the films' entries be put into a See Also section. Any agreements? Drago 07:55, August 6, 2005 (UTC)

The two could never interbreed since they're not closely related. It's a genetic impossibility. There are far more reasonable explanations. --TaeKwonTimmy 08:08, 13 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Categorization

I just put this in category:Legendary creatures (and redirected a duplicate page). Couldn't decide, though, if it should go in that category or category:Cryptids. Any thoughts? The Literate Engineer 04:23, 31 August 2005 (UTC)

I say both. If the Beast was genuinely a creature, there is a definite cryptozoological slant to it, as well as it being a legendary creature.Drago 03:38, September 13, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] well?

didn't they prove that at least one of the two beasts was a hyena?

If they did, this is the first I've heard about it. Any links to information on this? Drago 19:18, 2 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Dire wolf

The article states that the Beast may have been a Dire Wolf, because the dire wolves were larger. But the dire wolf article states that dire wolves were no bigger than regular wolves. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 58.105.37.114 (talk • contribs).

This article says "marginally" larger, which agrees with the dire wolf article, which says, "On average it was a little larger at about 1.5 metres (5 feet) in length and about 50 kilograms (110 pounds)." Coyoty 14:46, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Nessie

The loch ness monster didn't kill a lot of people: i'm not sure if the Gevaudan beast/Nessie comparison is or necessary or usefull, especially since the Gevaudan beast has a very traumatic component that nessie (to my knowledge) doesn't have. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 82.237.254.76 (talk • contribs).

Yes, it looks odd. I deleted. Totnesmartin 15:12, 5 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Conspiracy Theory

Would be wolf hunters (Jean Chastel and sons), with or without external interests, using armored attack dogs. 100 human deaths in 3 years in a very narrow zone makes for a very, very angry lupus. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 82.237.254.76 (talk • contribs).

[edit] Did it die?

Did the beast actually die Karzack 20:37, 29 June 2006 (UTC)

er, yes, eventually... Totnesmartin 18:01, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

An animal died and the attacks did stop, if it was the same animal is unknown. 81.152.196.94 14:43, 13 February 2007 (UTC) Elmo

[edit] Where's the body?

If they killed the beast, what happened to its corpse? Why is its identity such a mystery?

Sadly, they failed to preserve any of it - either because they didn't want to, or because they tried to but did it badly and it decayed anyway. A shame, because nowadays a tuft of hair or a single bone would tell us easily...

[edit] Gender of the BEast

It is written in the article that the beast is referred as "her". May be this should be deleted. There is no neutral gender in french. "La bête" is just as feminine as "la voiture" which means "the car". It doesn't say anything about the supposed gender of the beast.

[edit] The article contains wrong facts

"It is to be noted that there is no proof of human involvement, and that all descriptions of the animals killed point to canines". Complete nonsense! Most of the victims were decapitated and naked. Which canine could do that? I suggest someone to complete the article, but a serious work is needed! Moreover, the article has no references and the links are ridiculous! Perhaps it would be better just to delete the article and write a new one? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 217.31.75.80 (talk • contribs) .

If you can do a better job please do so. Entirely or in part. Thanks for your help! -- Stbalbach 14:22, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

what's the source for victims being naked? if so, that would throw out the whole identity of the beast as an animal, suggesting a human element. Totnesmartin 15:14, 5 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Creodont

I have doubts about the B of G being a surviving creodont. If the last fossils are from 8 million years ago, then how did one pop up in 18th century France? A carnivore that large and voracious would not have gone unnoticed in the intervening time. Totnesmartin 12:26, 5 November 2006 (UTC)

I'm going to take the creodont ref out of the infobox - it's only one theory among many. Totnesmartin 12:13, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Irish wolfhound

The picture looks similar to an Irish wolfhound. These are the tallest dogs and this one could have gone feral. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Mutley (talk • contribs) 05:57, 3 December 2006 (UTC).

It's quite possible, the beast was regularly discribed as having red fur(other than the tiny 'mexican wolf' no wolves have this colouring) and a white 'heart-shaped' patch of fur on it's chest(yet again, this isn't found on wolves but is sometimes found on domestic dogs like wolfhounds). Also behaviour such as wagging it's tail while it attacked (wolves attack with a straight tail) suggests a large domestic breed of dog like an Irish wolfhound. Even it's lack of fear towards humans suggests a domesticated animal(feral or otherwise). 81.152.196.94 14:57, 13 February 2007 (UTC) Elmo

i asked above but i'll ask again here, in case anyone knows. if the beast was killed, why is its breed such a mystery? did chastel kill it but forget to bring the corpse back, or has everyone just taken his word that he killed it? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 69.143.4.232 (talk) 02:44, 21 March 2007 (UTC).

[edit] wrong category?

I am unaware of any instance in which the beast ate it's victims flesh rather than merely killing them, does anyone have any source which states that the beast was a maneater? If not it doesn't belong in 'Category:Famous Maneating Animals'. 217.43.27.180 22:01, 15 February 2007 (UTC) Elmo

You're right, I've removed it from this category. Masaruemoto 16:37, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

I'm guessing the two of you have never read Richard H. Thompson's Wolf-Hunting in France in the Reign of Louis XV or other works on the subject. Many of the victims were discovered partially devoured (and in some cases the evidence suggests that they had been eaten to the last bone). One thing I've never done on Wikipedia is fool around with categories, though.

I can insert the necessary information if no one has any objections.

Cupbearer 05:37, 2 April 2007 (UTC)