Description acceptable. J. W. Buel’s Sea and Land illustrated one of these monsters called the Ya-te-veo, a possible Colombian cousin of a Nicaraguan “vampire.” For 10 points each:
[10h] Identify these monsters that include a creature worshiped with orgiastic sacrifices by Madagascar’s Mkondo people in a lurid 1874 New York World hoax.
ANSWER: man-eating plants [or descriptions of carnivorous trees, vines, flowers, tendrils, pineapples, bromeliads, agaves, or other types of plant; accept Nicaraguan vampire vine, Devil’s snare, “sagenas de diable,” or Devil’s seine; accept man-sucking tree or Crinoida dajeeana; prompt on tentacled monsters by asking “what sort of life form?”]
[10e] A lazy Filipino hero with this name rides his carabao to avoid a tree giant called a kapre. Puerto Rican and Haitian tricksters with this name are actually little, unlike a giant ally of Robin Hood.
ANSWER: John [or Juan or Jean; accept Little John, Ti-Jean, Petit-Jean, Juan Bobo, Juan Tamad, or Juan Pusong] (The kapre is sometimes described as man-eating, but it was later portrayed as a relatively benign trickster.)
[10m] Stories of the vengeful lupuna tree include a myth about grandchildren cutting one down to create a habitat of these animals. They are known as encantados for disguising as dapper men to seduce women in the Amazon.
ANSWER: river dolphins [or botos, bufeos, pink river dolphins, Amazonian river dolphins, or Inia geoffrensis; prompt on cetaceans or whales] (The “tree and the flood” myth of peoples like the Yagua describes the creation of the Amazon River.)
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