Cerro Azul Monster

The Cerro Azul Monster also variously referred as to as the Panama Creature, Panama Monster, Panama ET, Blue Stream Monster or Blue Hill Horror is a creature photographed near the town of Cerro Azul, Panama, in September 2009.
Event
thumb|348px|The original photograph that given to Telemetro">thumb|348px|The original photograph that given to Telemetro
A group of four or five teenagers aged between 14 and 16 claim to have been playing near a cave in Cerro Azul, Panama when the creature emerged. They say that it approached them, and, fearing for their safety, they attacked the creature with sticks, killing it. They claim that they then threw its corpse into a pool of water before leaving the area. They later returned and took photographs of the creature's corpse, before sending the pictures to Telemetro, a Panamanian television station. Virginia Wheeler, writing for The Sun, claimed that the discovery "sparked fear and confusion" in the town.<sup> </sup>According to some sources, subsequent photographs were taken of the creature after it had further decomposed, however, doubts have been expressed about whether the later photos were of the same specimen. A few days after the photographs were taken, one of the teenagers gave a different account in an interview with Telemetro Reporta, saying "I was in the river and I felt something grabbin'g my legs ... We took it out of the water and started throwing rocks and sticks at it. We had never seen anything like that." The photographs show a pale creature that is mostly hairless, with a rubbery body. It has "revolting features"; a snub-nose and long arms.<sup> </sup>Writers for the Huffington Post said that while the head is clearly animal, the torso is "strange", while the limbs are reminiscent of thin human arms.<sup> </sup>Writers for WBALTV.com compared it to both a "small, portly" version of the alien in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E.T._the_Extra-Terrestrial E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lord_of_the_Rings_film_trilogy The Lord of the Rings]'s Gollum's "long-lost cousin".
Speculation
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The story and the photographs circulated the Internet, including various Cryptids|cryptozoology blogs, with a great amount of speculation about possible explanations. A video showing the original photographs, as well as some footage of the further decomposed corpse, became very popular on the web, being one of the most viewed videos over the course of a day. In addition to its prevalence on the Internet, the story was covered on television and radio.<sup> </sup>Comparisons were drawn to the Montauk Monster in June 2008.

thumb|250px|Few days later the corpse has dried up">thumb|250px|Few days later the corpse has dried up
A popular theory was that the Panama Creature was a sloth (perhaps an albino) that had somehow become hairless; proponents of the hypothesis cited the hooked claw visible in one of the photographs. Science author Darren Naish, writing for ScienceBlogs, supported the sloth hypothesis, but had a "difficult time" explaining the creature's hairlessness. The sloth theory was generally considered most credible; in 1996, similar photographs were taken of a creature found on the coast between Panama and Costa Rica that was later confirmed to be a sloth that had started to decay. Further Internet speculation led to some proposing that it was in fact a dolphin or a pit bull terrier, an example of a species previously known to science, or "some sort" of genetic mutation. Some Panamanian zoologists said that it appeared to be a fetus of some kind.<sup> </sup>In addition to naturalistic explanations, Billy Booth of About.com reported that "there has been speculation that it is alien, and thereby the connection to UFOs, undersea bases, the whole ball of wax."
Explanation
thumb|254px|The creature actually is decomposed brown-throated sloth">thumb|254px|The creature actually is decomposed brown-throated sloth
The creature's corpse was recovered four days after the encounter, and a biopsy was performed by the National Environmental Authority of Panama (ANAM). The biopsy concluded that the corpse was in fact a male [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown-throated_sloth brown-throated sloth], a species common in the area. André Sena Maia, a veterinarian who works at Niteroi Zoo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, explained that "most people know how a dead animal looks like in a dry environment", and claimed that "the body must have got stuck under the water, and the movement of the currents gave false impression that it was alive. 

"A necropsy revealed that severe trauma had been inflicted on the body of the sloth, and Melquiades Ramos, a specialist from the ANAM Department of Protected Areas, estimated that the body had been in the water for "about two days" prior to discovery. The hairlessness was probably caused by the fact it was submerged in water, which can lead to acceleration of fur loss, resulting in smooth skin. A post-mortal bloating further contributed to the unusual appearance of the corpse. After the sloth was identified, its body was buried by ANAM staff.
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