Beast

Sources : Mammonetus

Thomas of Cantimpré [circa 1200-1272 CE] (Liber de natura rerum, Quadrupeds 4.74): The mammonetus is an animal, he says, [i.e. Liber rerum], with a smaller body than an ape. It has a brown color on the back, white on the belly. It has a long and hairy tail, and a neck as large as its head, so that when it is tied, it is not tied in the same way as other beasts, because a snare cannot hold it in the neck; but it is tied around the belly so that it cannot escape. In this animal this is almost unique: that it has a face very similar to a human face, black, except that it is hairless from the neck to the forehead; nor is the nose continuous with the mouth, as in the ape, but there is a definite space between the mouth and the nose, as in man. They say that the hatred between these beasts and the apes is implacable, and that they often prevail over each other, but although they do not prevail in strength, yet they [mammonetus] are preferred to the apes in their cunning and spirit of war. This beast is born in East, but also lives in the West as if in its own land. This beast is tenacious and strong. - [Badke translation/paraphrase]