Encounter Atlas
The Nandi bear is named after the Nandi people of western Kenya, who call it kerit or chemosit. It is described as a powerful carnivore with high shoulders over 4 feet tall, a sloping back like a hyena, and reddish or dark shaggy fur. It is said to attack at night and to go for the head.
Settlers and officers sent in reports in the early 20th century. Charles Hobley published a drawing of a footprint in 1914, and the paleontologist Louis Leakey once wondered whether it could be a surviving chalicothere, an extinct clawed relative of horses. Most zoologists think the stories mix up spotted hyenas, honey badgers and baboons. Reports dropped off as the forests were cleared.
What witnesses report
- High shoulders and a sloping, hyena-like back
- Shaggy reddish or dark fur
- Stands up on its hind legs
- Night attacks aimed at the head
Famous cases
- 1914Hobley's footprint drawing
Nandi Hills, Kenya - 1923Chalicothere theory proposed
London
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