A legendary animal reported to exist in the Swiss, Bavarian, and Austrian Alps that is the subject of cryptozoologic research. The modern record of sightings of the Tatzelwurm (literally “worm with claws”) began in 1779. A man named Hans Fuchs encountered two tatzelwurms and was so scared that he suffered a heart attack. He only had time before he died to tell his family what had occurred. From his dying remarks, a relative painted a picture that showed the two large lizard-like animals that Fuchs had described.
Over the next several decades, other sightings occurred, with witnesses reporting having seen a large creature, varying between 60 and 180 centimeters (2-6 feet) long, with a cylindrical body, four legs each of which had three toes, a large mouth with sharp teeth, a short blunt tail, and a light-colored skin. When spotted, the creature generally fled, but on occasion it turned on individuals and tried to bite them. Sketches and descriptions of the tatzelwurm were published in the 1841 Alpenrosen, a Swiss almanac, and in Das Thierleben der Alpenwelt (1861) by Swiss naturalist Friedrich von Tschudi.