- The Dahu inhabits French, Swiss, and Italian mountains.
- It has an unusual anatomy with two short and two long legs.
- The Dahu’s existence has become a humorous rural legend.
The Dahu is a cryptid animal said to live in the mountains of France, Switzerland, and Italy. It is particularly and allegedly located in the Aosta Valley area in Italy. Dahu resembles a mountain goat and it is an imaginary mountain-dwelling creature with two shorter side legs due to its adaptation to steep slopes. Venteuil’s coat of arms in France includes a two-headed dahu.
What Is the Dahu?
The dahu is known by different names in various regions and is often mentioned humorously, especially among those unfamiliar with mountain fauna. It is often the folklore and oral traditions in rural areas that describe the dahu and the ritual of hunting it.
Origin of the Dahu Myth
The Dahu is a legendary figure in the mythologies of France and Italy. In the late 19th century, this creature first appeared in fiction. Jesters and pranksters from France and Switzerland have been sharing their experiences with the imaginary Dahu with passing visitors and guests for years. Stories about the Dahu were popular in France at the start of the twentieth century, with parents sharing them with their children.
There are multiple different spellings and pronunciations used in various parts of the world. The Jura area calls it “dahut” or “dairi,” the Vosges region calls it “darou,” Picardy calls it “daru,” Burgundy calls it “darhut,” the Camonica Valley calls it “daù,” the Obrac Mountains and Aveyron call it “tamarou,” and Catalonia and Andorra name it “tamarro.” The animal’s generally recognized name may have come from the Celtic language family, where it means “good magic.”
What Does the Dahu Look Like?
The Dahu is described as having features similar to those of a mountain goat, a llama, and chamois. Its coat is lighter in the winter and comes in shades of gray or brown. The Dahu has a short tail that points upwards. They may reach a height of 63 inches (160 cm) and a weight of 110 pounds (50 kg).
The Dahu always has two small legs and two long legs, setting it apart from all other creatures known to science. The Dahu’s adaptations allow it to move swiftly and gracefully up and down steep slopes, but it is unable to walk on level ground.
The claims place a Dahu’s lifetime at between 16 and 18 years. This rumored creature lives in the mountains. Over many generations, this terrain has shaped the creature’s leg anatomy.
Its mountaingoing orientation is determined by whether or not the Dahu has long left legs and short right legs. Some individuals have four normal-length legs; others have long front legs and small back legs, or vice versa. Some Dahu are said to have small legs and a long left front leg and a long right rear leg. If a Dahu has two short right legs, it will walk downhill on the left side of the mountain and upwards on the right side.
The Dahu is a mammalian cryptid that eats only plants. It leads a social, cave-dwelling lifestyle. A male Dahu with long left legs can be going downhill when he comes across a female Dahu with long right legs going upward. The Dahu use this method to meet potential mates. Furthermore, if two males meet, they could fight for a female.
Dahu Hunting
Tourists are told hilarious tales about the search for these creatures by pranksters. Some visitors and tourists, particularly avid hunters, participate because they are curious to see what it’s like. Nighttime is the normal hunting time for animals like these. The months of November through February see the greatest action.
Here’s the popular plan of how to hunt a Dahu. Two persons, so the accounts go, are behind the operation. One person will go up the mountain while the other waits at the base. The mountain dweller hides between some rocks or trees and waits for the Dahu to arrive. The one at the bottom makes stealthy efforts, too. Once the Dahu is in sight, the hunters will wait until the time when it passes by the first concealed individual. Then, the concealed individual uses any signal—a whistle, a tap on a tree or rock—to draw attention.
The cryptid might potentially be attracted by a fragrance, perhaps of bread. Although it does not always happen, the Dahu will turn around its whole body. But if it does, the cryptid can’t keep its balance on its two small legs and will tumble over the mountain, where the second hunter will catch it in a huge bag. The hunters often go home empty-handed since they never come across the Dahu. However, to this day, no official report has been made of the capture of even a single member of the goat-like Dahu.
Animal rights advocates protest against the Dahu’s cruel treatment. They hold weekly rallies at the base of the mountains where the Dahu are reported to reside in an effort to stop hunting of the elusive creatures. In certain regions, it is against the law to pursue a Dahu. The prefect of Haute-Savoie designated this region as a protected area on April 1, 1967, with the express purpose of protecting the Dahu’s sacred site.
Decline of the Dahu Myth
The Dahu is rapidly declining in population, as per the local people. Belief in the Dahu’s existence all but vanished in the latter part of the twentieth century. Fairy stories and jokes long circulated about a mountain goat with abnormally long or short legs.
The Dahu is shown in detail in the Museum of the Alps, located within the Bar Fortress in Valle d’Aosta. The director of the Museum of Natural Sciences at La Thuile (Italy) at the time, Marcel Jacquat, who also happened to be a Dahu fanatic, unveiled a Dahu display on April 1st, 1995.