The Adjule, also known as Kelb-el-khela, is a cryptidcanine, often seen in the North African region, especially the areas in and around Sahara Desert. Reported primarily by the nomadic Tuaregs, and Théodore Monod in 1928, the adjule is said to be a phantom which takes the form of a dog or wolf. Variant names to it creature are kelb el khela ( "bush dog") for the male and tarhsît for the female. However, despite still firm belief in its existance through modern urban myths, this cryptid has since been debunked and its sightings attributed to wild canines mistaken for the adjule, such as the African Wild Dog which is now extinct in certain areas of the Sahara. There is one unconfirmed canid-like animal sighting from the coastal area of Mauritania in 1992; Hunters living in the coastal areas of the Western Sahara, to the north of Mauritania, described an animal resembling the wild dog, which hunted in packs. However, this was not confirmed for Lycaon pictus species (IUCN/CSG, 1997).
References
Théodore Monod, “Sur la présence du Sahara du Lycaon pictus (Temm.) (Résultats scientifiques de la Mission Saharienne Augiéras-Draper),” Bulletin de la Société Zoologique de France 53 (1928): 262–264.
Woodroffe, R., Ginsberg, J.R. and Macdonald, D.W. (1997) The African wild dog: status survey and conservation action plan - IUCN Canid Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland.
Eberhart, George M., Mysterious Creatures: A Guide to Cryptozoology, 2 vols (ABC-Clio: Santa Barbara, 2002).
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