A
Speculative Look at the Jersey Devil's Traits and Diet:
The
Jersey Devil is a fascinating cryptoid with a descriptive appearance
that is as varied as the sightings reported. What follows are the
most common traits that are attributed to the Jersey Devil:
Horse
face, Horns, talon like claws, bat like wings, cloven hooves.
The most recognizable
image of the Jersey Devil
A
HORSE LIKE FACE: Based on this varied descriptions, the Jersey
Devil's face could resemble a deer, horse, kangaroo, moose or a bat,
all of which are land mammals that mankind has been familiar with for
many centuries. Minus the Hammerhead Bat, all the mentioned animals
are on the larger sized and also eat fruits or various kinds of
plants.
If you
compare the face/head of a horse, you can see how it is very similar
to the most common portrayal of the Jersey Devil.
Jersey Devil/Horse
profile
HORNS:
Many animals have horns, rams, deer, goats, lizards (and dinosaurs)
and ...of course the Devil Himself. According to Wikipedia:
"A
horn is a pointed projection of skin on the head of various animals
consisting of a covering of keratin and other proteins surrounding a
core of live bone. True horns are found mainly among the ruminant
artiodactyls, in the families Antilocapridae (pronghorn) and Bovidae
(cattle, goats, antelope etc.)" The type of animals that possess
horns crosses out of the mammal breed of animal and into the reptile
kingdom. (Wikipedia, 2017)
TALON
CLAWS: Usually the animals that posses talons are the various
birds of prey (such as a buzzard, eagle, falcon, hawk, or owl), which
are used when hunting for food. There have been limited reports that
the Jersey Devil attacked a canine and also various chicken coops on
farms.
The talons of the
Jersey Devil
BAT
LIKE WINGS: Of course, bats have "bat like wings", but
birds also have wings with feathers. Some birds have wings but are
too heavy and large to fly, such as an ostrich. It would be
interesting to see something as large (4-8 feet tall) as the Jersey
Devil flying.
Jersey Devil wings
compared to those of a bat
CLOVEN
HOOVES: Mammals that posses cloven hooves are cattle, deer,
goats, and sheep. Of course the cloven hoof is more of a reference to
the Devil Himself when regarding the Jersey Devil. Interesting enough
some of the supposed footprints left behind by the Jersey Devil were
actually either 3 toed (trifed or Drake's Feet) or horseshoe shaped.
A cloven hoof
As
pointed out, the Jersey Devil has attributes of a variety of species
of animals. For the most part, it has been depicted as a mixture of
common animals native to modern New Jersey (or at least the US) but
then also has a few attributes not very likely in this realm of
reality or time period.
Now we
will take a look at the diets of a few of the animals that the Jersey
Devil shares traits with.
DEER:
The season and the habitat that a deer lives in dictates a deer's
diet. In the spring and summer it will eat green plants and in the
fall corn, acorns and various nuts. It will eat buds and twigs in the
winter months. Deer do feast on a wide variety of plant based foods
and have a special ruminant (a four chambered) stomach that allows
them to eat mushrooms and poison ivy. When in a farm setting a deer
can eat hay, grass, white clover and corn. Against traditional
acceptance of deer being entirely herbivorous, this is not truth,
from time to time they have been known to feast upon nesting birds,
field mice and trapped birds.
MOOSE:
The Algonkian name (mons/moz) for the moose translates accurately to
"twig eater". They lack teeth in the front upper jaw but
still feast of leafy vegetation, willow, aspen, dogwood, red maple
and in the winter months and balsam fir. In the summer months they
prefer aquatic plants such as the water shield.
CRANE:
Cranes feast on animals to plant matter. When on land they prefer
seeds, leaves, nuts, berries and various insects. When in the water
they feast upon roots, small fish and amphibians.
HAMMERHEAD
BAT: The amazing thing is that the Hammerhead bat is not native
to the United States but to Africa. They are frugivores and figs and
fruits make up the bulk of their diet.
KANGAROO:
As the same with the deer, kangaroos also have chambered stomachs.
There are different species of kangaroos but they are all strict
herbivores. Most breeds are grazers and eat a variety of grasses and
particularly the red kangaroo eats a large amount of shrubs.
HORSE:
Horses are known as "hindgut fermenters", which simply
means they have only one stomach. Horses prefer to eat small amounts
of food steadily throughout the day. Their diet consists mostly of
grass, hay and some fruit such as carrots.
So
based on the animals mentioned above, the ones that possess similar
traits, we can assume that the Jersey Devil is primarily a herbivore.
But quite a few accounts do mention that the Jersey Devil attacked
chickens, cattle and other animals. So we would have to wonder if by
these accounts if the Jersey Devil was attacking the animals for food
or other reasons.
www.facebook.com/TheSearchForTheJerseyDevil
(Chris Chaos is a long time resident of South Jersey who once again resides in and writes from Gloucester City, New Jersey. He is a filmmaker, a business owner, writer, urban explorer and investigator of the odd and weird, a proud parent, happily taken and a connoisseur of hot wings. Chris can be reached at AxisVideo@aol.com)
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