Calyptra / Vampire Moth (Real Monster)

Today is Tuesday and it’s time for a real monster a true monster. Meet the Calyptra or vampire moth!

The Calyptra is a genus of moths that differentiates in a way from common moths. The thing that is special about these insects is their diet. These nocturnal bugs are known so suck blood, which is why they’re also known as vampire moths! And if you think that these critters might only suck the blood of small critters you are wrong. Some species of vampire moth can penetrate human skin in order to feast.

To be honest I felt safe from these guys because I live in Denmark and I thought that these moths only lived far south. I found out though that recently these moths have been changing their habitat. Originally the vampire moth Calyptra Thalictri was native to Malaysia but they’ve been spotted as close to me as Sweden which is my neighbor country. I wonder when one of these guys will turn up in my country!

But I’m not trying to scare you guys… OK I am, but you should know that a bite from one of these guys is only slightly worse than a mosquito bite and that scientists believe that there is no health risk if you should become a meal for one of these guys! :)

Predator / Yautja (Movie Monster)

It’s time for a Monday movie monster and this one is one of my many favourites! It is the Yautja or known better simply as Predator!

The predator or yautja is a fictional extraterrestrial species that first appeared in the 1987 movie Predator. It is portrayed as a hunter that almost only kills if it will gain honor from it. For instance if a human doesn’t have a weapon it usually won’t waste its time trying to kill it. In the AvP movies it was revealed that the predators visited Earth thousands of years ago where they were worshipped as gods and used humans to breed aliens!

 

The predator has a appeared in a lot of videogames and movies since the 1987 movie. Lately people have begun associating this extraterrestrial with another, the Alien! This is because the popularity of the Alien vs. Predator games spawned 2 movies with this theme. I kind of liked the first AvP but I don’t really care about the second, maybe it just needs to grow on me, I don’t know! None of the AvP movies come close to Predator (1987) or Alien (1979) just to be clear.

I haven’t seen the new Predators movie yet, so I can’t really give my opinion of that yet guys!
- That’s it for today. If you have any suggestions for new monster posts feel free to post in the comments :)

Sunday Update - Thank you!

Hello guys! It's sunday again so it's time for a small update :D

Everything's going pretty well here on the Monster Madnezz Blog! I've got over 3000 views and almost 190 followers! So basically I just want to thank you all for your support guys! Every comment and every follower means a lot to me. I wouldn't be doing this if you weren't supporting me, so THANK YOU!

Take Care
Monster Madnezz

Utahraptor (Dinosaur)

This Saturday I have an amazing creature for you all. It’s another dinosaur, but this one is a theropod. Dear reader, this is a post about the Utahraptor!

The Utahraptor is as mentioned a theropod dinosaur, it belongs to the group dromaeosauridae which counts more known dinosaurs such as the velociraptor. It lived during the Cretaceous the last of the 3 periods that represents Mesozoicum, the age of the dinosaurs. The Utahraptor got its name after it was discovered in the state of Utah in the USA in 1991. Its full name roughly means Utah’s predator.

The Utahraptor is basically a Velociraptor on steroids. Imagine a velociraptor atleast 7 meters long covered in feathers. That’s the Utahraptor. Imagine seeing one of these guys in the Cretacious period, it must have been surreal. I mean it must’ve looked like a giant mutated predatory chicken! And to think about some Paleontologist think that the Tyrannosaurus might also have had feathers, oh wow…

The Utahraptor isn’t a very well known dinosaur. It has had some appearances in TV though. Perhaps it is most known for being in the British documentary Walking With Dinosaurs where it is depicted as a big scaly creature hunting Iguanodons. The Utahraptor is depicted a bit inaccurate though, because like I stated previously it had feathers, but the show is from 1999 and the fact that some dinosaurs had feathers is something that is still pretty new to science!

Kappa (Folklore)

It is Friday and this means it’s time for a mythological or folkloric creature! Some of you may remember that I promised not to talk about a Greek creature this time and I will keep my word ;) So here is a creature from Japanese folklore, the Kappa!

The kappa is a cool little creature from Japanese folklore. It is kind of small, usually a little smaller than a human. It is also said to look like a mix between a monkey and a frog or a turtle! Kappas are said to have a small pool of water at the top of their heads, and if you ever encounter one you should bow before him, because then he will do the same to you. When he bows he will spill the water from his head and won’t be able to harm you!

The kappa we see today has gotten kind of soft. He is more often portrayed like a cute cartoonish character instead of what he was originally. This idea of making scary creatures from folklore soft seems to happen all over the world, and that is pretty sad if you ask me.

Mokele-Mbembe (Cryptozoology)

It is Thursday and that means it is time for another cryptid! This time we’ll look at a creature said to lurk deep in the swamps of Congo. Today’s monster is Mokele Mbembe!

Mokele Mbembe means “The one who stops the flow of rivers” in the Lingala language. The name refers to the size of the beast and its aquatic tendencies. The first accounts of the creature seem to have reached the West in 1776. Since then numerous expeditions have been to the near inaccessible jungle swamps. None of the expeditions have revealed any solid proof for the creature’s existence though a lot of eyewitness reports exist. But some footprints have actually been found and some sightings have been seen during some of these expeditions!

The Mokele Mbembe is said to resemble a “small” sauropod dinosaur, the kind of dinosaur with a long neck. The problem with this claim is of course that dinosaurs have been extinct for 65 million years. So if the Mokele Mbembe is a descendant of the sauropods of the Mesozoic then why haven’t there been fossils found of dinosaurs younger than approximately 65 million years?

If you guys have any monster requests just write it in the comments! See ya later :D