Names: no other names known

Habitat: the Northwoods of Wisconsin

Size: up to 3,500 lbs

Diet: mud turtles, water snakes, oxen, fish, and any food left out near its location; it also consumes white bulldogs on Sundays (if possible)

Reproduction: seasonally monogamous; performs courtship ritual

Society: solitary or in couplings

One of North America's most bizarre chimeras, the Hodag is described in Wisconsin folklore as having two bull's horns, green eyes, and the grinning, tusked face of an elephant on the head of a frog. A bulky animal, the Hodag balances on four thick, short legs that end in sharp, curved claws; on its back are similarly shaped points, protruding from the spine in evenly spaced increments like a Stegosaurus. This 'fearsome critter's' tail ends in a deadly, forked spear. Hairy, foul-smelling, and fierce, it often appeared in Paul Bunyon tales; it was once thought to have been an extinct animal—until it began making appearances once more on the lake shores near Rhinelander, WI.

A fire-breathing carnivore, Hodags are born from the…