 Sometimes it is described as a hairy humanoid cyclops, while others claim it to be similar to the giant ground sloth, an animal extinct for thousands of years, but which some believe the mapinguari to be a cultural memory of.The creature is often said to have a gaping mouth on its abdomen (a feature of course not shared by ground sloths or other real mammals).According to Felipe Ferreira Vander Velden, its name is a contraction of the Tupi-Guarani words "mbaé", "pi", and "guari", meaning ""a thing that has a bent "[or]" crooked foot "[or]" paw"".