Trunko

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title: "Trunko" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["globsters", "1924-in-south-africa", "individual-vertebrates"] description: "Unidentified globster" topic_path: "geography/south-africa" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trunko" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Unidentified globster ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1c/Trunko_carcass.jpg" caption="One of four known photographs of the Trunko carcass, taken by A. C. Jones"] ::

Trunko is the nickname for a large unidentified lump of flesh or a decomposed sea creature, a so-called "globster", reportedly sighted in Margate, South Africa on 25 October 1924. The initial source for Trunko was an article entitled "Fish Like A Polar Bear" published on 27 December 1924, edition of London's Daily Mail. The animal was reportedly 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 ft. One of the witnesses, South African farmer Hugh Ballance, described the animal as looking like a "giant polar bear" due to what was thought to be dense-white fur.

The creature reputedly washed up on Margate Beach but despite being there for 10 days, no scientist investigated the carcass while it was beached, so no reliable description has been published, and until September 2010 it was assumed that no photographs of it had ever been published. Some people who have never been identified were reported to have described the animal as possessing snowy-white fur, and an elephantine trunk.

Commenting on the photos, paleontologist Darren Naish wrote:

References

Bibliography

References

1. {{[[Karl Shuker]], From Flying Toads To Snakes With Wings: From the Pages of FATE Magazine (Llewellyn: St Paul, Minnesota, 1997; ISBN 1-56718-673-4)
2. Staff writer. (25 March 1925). "Whales are Slain by Hairy Monster". The Elwood Cale Leader.
3. (2017). "Hunting Monsters: Cryptozoology and the Reality Behind the Myths". Arcturus Publishing.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::