Orabou

 


The orabou was a creature reported by André Thevet during his journeys, sometime in the 1600th century. The creature was seen in the waters near Mount Marzouan. No mountain is named Mount Marzouan today, so it’s unknown which mountain this was supposed to be, but it was believed to be near the Red Sea.


The orabou was a fish cat hybrid with an unusually humped back. The creature was covered in armour like scales that Thevet compared to brigantine armour. The orabou was nine to ten feet long. It made sounds similar to a cat.


According to Thevet, the locals would occasionally fish and eat the orabou, even though the meat was said to cause kidney stones. The locals would treat the kidney stones with a folk remedies made from herbs and the orabou’s own fat. Thevet tried some of the orabou’s meat while he was there. He said it was foul tasting and compared it to preserved camel meat. The orabou was said to be extremely ferocious towards other sea life.


Much thought has been put into what sort of misidentified creature the orabou was supposed to be. Thevet described other creatures on his journeys accurately and wasn’t known to make up fanciful stories, so it’s believed the orabou was supposed to be a real animal. Some have suggested the orabou was a crocodile, although Thevet describes crocodiles accurately elsewhere. Other possibilities are monitor lizards, or the dried and preserved remains of a shark.


Sources


https://abookofcreatures.com/2015/11/30/orabou/

https://cryptidz.fandom.com/wiki/Orabou

https://mythus.fandom.com/wiki/Orobon


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