Trunko

Trunko is the nickname for an animal reportedly sighted in Margate, South Africa, on October 25, 1924, according to an article entitled "Fish Like A Polar Bear" published in the December 27, 1924, edition of London's Daily Mail.

Overview
The animal was reputedly first seen off the coast battling two killer whales, which fought the unusual creature for three hours. It used its tail to attack the whales and reportedly lifted itself out of the water by about 20 feet. One of the witnesses, Hugh Ballance, described the animal as looking like a "giant polar bear" during a final fight.

The creature reputedly washed up on Margate Beach but despite being there for 10 days, no scientist ever investigated the carcass while it was beached, so no reliable description has been published, and no photographs of it have ever been published. Some people who have never been identified were reported to have described the animal as possessing snowy-white fur, an elephantine trunk, a lobster-like tail, and a carcass devoid of blood.

While it was beached, the animal was measured by beach-goers and turned out to be 47 ft (14 m) in length, 10 ft (3 m) wide, and 5 ft (1.5 m) high, with the trunk's length being 5 ft (1.5 m), the trunk's diameter 14 in (36 cm), the tail 10 ft (3 m), and the fur being 8 in (20 cm) long. The trunk was said to be attached directly to the animal's torso, as no head was visible on the carcass. For this feature, the animal was dubbed "Trunko" by British cryptozoologist Karl Shuker in his 1996 book ''The Unexplained. In the March 27, 1925, edition of the Charleroi Mail'', in Charleroi, Pennsylvania, an article entitled "Whales Slain By Hairy Monster" reported that whales there were killed by a strange creature which was washed up on a beach exhausted and fell unconscious, but made its way back into the ocean and swam away after 10 days, never to be seen again. Many suggestions have been made to explain this phenomenon, the most common explanation being that Trunko was the carcass of a large whale, basking shark, or whale shark, whose body's decay made it appear furry and that the orcas were feasting on its corpse. It has also been suggested that Trunko was a sighting of a strange-looking new species of huge whale, unknown pinniped or sirenian, one of sceptic explanations is an albinotic southern elephant seal. There has been speculation associating Trunko with the Hindu legend of Makara.