There are many who believe that this notorious “Killer of Elephants” is a modern day version of the famed horned saurian known as the triceratops.
Reputed to live near the lakes and riverbeds, which saturate the dense rain-forests of the Congo’s Likouala swamp region, the Emela-Ntouka is a semi-aquatic herbivore, which has often been confused with its supposedly saurian Lake Tele neighbor the MOKELE-MBEMBE and has also been compared to the CHIPEKWE, which may actually be an alternate name for the creature.
Described as being a squat, short necked, thick tailed, floppy eared, smooth skinned animal of elephantine proportions, perhaps the Emela-Ntouka’s most intriguing characteristic is the single, ivory white horn, which was said to adorn its snout. Natives also claim that these beasts are known to utter a unique vocalization, which has been described as a snort or rumbling growl.
According to native reports, this creature has been known to utilize this razor-sharp appendage to disembowel its natural enemies. In fact, this animal was said to have gained its appellation due to its notoriously violent disposition, as the words “Emela-Ntouka” allegedly translate from the native language Lingala into: “Killer of Elephants.”
In fact, while on an expedition through the Congo to find the Mokele-Mbembe in 1981, Dr. ROY P. MACKAL collected eyewitness accounts of the Emela-ntouka. Natives hailing from the northwest region of the Likoula swamp told tales of this beast goring elephants with its single horn.
It was the aforementioned accounts of this beast which has encouraged such preeminent cryptozoological figures as Dr. Mackal and the legendary BERNARD HEUVELMANS to suggest that these creatures may in fact be a relic species of the horned saurian known as Ceratopians, specifically the single horned Centrosaurus.
These animals evolved late in the Cretaceous Period were the last group of ornithischian (bird-hipped) dinosaurs to evolve before succumbing to a mass extinction after a mere 20 million years of existence. During their short reign, these great horned dinosaurs developed into a variety of fascinating species, some of which may have survived in the jungles of west-central Africa to this day.
Another theory, which is supported by none other than esteemed cryptozoologist LOREN COLEMAN, suggested that the Emela-Ntouka is not saurian at all, but a new sub-species of semi-aquatic rhinoceros.
Although this theory has found much favor among modern investigators, there is some discrepancy between the allegedly bone-like description of the Emela-Ntouka’s horn and that of a rhino, which is made up a fused, hair-like substance known as keratin. This fact, as well as descriptions concerning the bulky size of the animal’s tail, would seem to indicate that this is not a species of rhinocerus, although this creature may well be neither rhino or dino, but heretofore unheard of horned mammal.
First brought to public attention in the book “Eighteen Years on Lake Bangweulu” by J.E. Hughes, which was published in1933 (the same year that the first modern report of the LOCH NESS MONSTER hit the news stands) Hughes reported that a specimen of this animal, which he did not mentioned by name, was allegedly slaughtered by Wa-Ushi tribesmen along the shores of the Luapula River, which connects Lake Bangweulu to Lake Mweru.
This creature was mentioned again in a 1954 article in the journal “Mammalia,” authored by former Likouala game inspector, Lucien Blancou. It was Blancou who first mentioned the Emela-Ntouka’s penchant for goring elephants, and he reported that accounts of this animal – which he claimed was larger than a buffalo – hailed from numerous regions, including Impfondo, Epena and Dongou.
Sometime in 2004, French cryptozoologist Michel Ballot, founder of the Cryptos Center, captured images of a wooden sculpture of Emela-ntouka, which he discovered in northern Cameroon.
It is worth noting that the Emela-Ntouka, while unlike the Mokele-Mbembe in many physical respects, shares with it a penchant for killing other animals who share its habitat. Much like the Mokele-Mbembe’s renowned hatred for hippopotami, the Emela-Ntouka’s loathing of elephants would seem to indicate that, while these cryptids are both supposedly herbivorous – Emela-Ntouka’s are said to feed on Malombo and other leafy plants – they share a fierce sense of territoriality… as the natives who have had the misfortune of encountering these creatures would surely attest.
