Saturday, 3 October 2026

The Wolpertinger and Other Fabled European Chimeras Known from Stuffed Specimens in Germany

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The Wolpertinger and Other Fabled European Chimeras Known from Stuffed Specimens in Germany

The little wolpertinger is a folkloric creature of the Alpine forests of Bavaria. This tiny mammal, furnished with horns, wings, claws and webbed feet, belongs to a whole family of European fairy-tale chimeras, which includes the dilldapp, the rauracle, the raselbock, the squonk and the elwedritsch, each assembled from body parts that never meet in ordinary nature. Stuffed specimens of these animals are often to be found in Germany.

A drawing by Dürer after treatment in Photoshop

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