---
title: Chupacabras
description: A folkloric belief of recent origin. A type of Vampire that attacks
  livestock and farm animals.
author:
  name: Graciela Paula Caldeiro
  url: http://graciela-caldeiro.idoneos.com
canonical: https://mitosyleyendas.idoneos.com/en/bestiario_mitologico/chupacabras/
source: en/bestiario_mitologico/chupacabras/index.md
---

<h2 id="chupacabras">Chupacabras</h2>

The chupacabras is a kind of **vampire** from a Latin American popular legend that remains alive in folk belief to this day.

The myth is said to have its origins in the nineteenth century. The chupacabras leaves its traces on farm animals that turn up dead, and even mutilated (with their tongues or tails cut off), drained of blood and bearing a hole in the neck.

The chupacabras is, according to popular accounts, a creature slightly over a meter tall, resembling a dog, a kangaroo, or a monkey. It has fangs and wings. For some, it is an abnormal creature, a mutant produced by pollution; for others, an extraterrestrial being; and there are even those who claim it is the result of secret scientific experiments.