Case file · Cryptid
The buru of the Apatani valley
Apatani elders in Arunachal Pradesh told of the buru, a large reptile once living in the swamps of the Ziro valley; the Daily Mail sent an expedition after it in 1948.
1948 CE · 27.55, 93.83 · status: legend
The account
Charles Stonor and Ralph Izzard collected detailed descriptions of a creature some 4–5 m long with a long head and stubby legs, said to have been driven out when the swamp was drained. Izzard's 'The Hunt for the Buru' (1951) told the story.
The sceptical view
No buru was found. The tales may be a folk memory of crocodiles, or a myth that explains the valley's drained marsh.