Leucrotta

Leucrotta
Species information
Hair colour	Brown
Height of average adult	Large
Mortality	Mortal
Distinction	Strongly resembles a moose in appearance Capable of repeating/mimicing voices and sounds Dislikes their teeth being brushed
Ministry of Magic Classification	Beast
Status	Extant

The Leucrotta was a large, cloven hooved magical beast that resembled a moose in appearance.

Description

The Leucrotta resembled a large moose with very long, jagged antlers and an impossibly huge mouth in respect to its head and face. Some believed that it was "half-hyena and half-lion," while others believed it was "part-moose." It was capable of stretching is jaws wide enough that a full-grown human could fit inside.

It was capable of mimicing and repeating sounds and voices around it. It also strongly disliked its teeth being touched, which could pose a problem when brushing its teeth; its teeth could be cleaned with the Scouring Charm.

The Leucrotta was omnivorous, eating both small animals, such as Nifflers and Pixies, and fruits and vegetables. It was known to have a distinct preference for pumpkins.

History

In 1927, Newton Scamander owned a Leucrotta which he kept in his basement in 9 Sherringford Square, along with various other magical beasts. One day, when Newt entered, Bunty was giving the Leucrotta dental care.

At some point between 1984 and 1991, Silvanus Kettleburn brought a Leucrotta to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry from London, that he had trouble with cleaning its teeth. He tasked one of his Care of Magical Creatures students Jacob's sibling with cleaning its teeth. Jacob's sibling failed to find anything in the Hogwarts Library that helped them with their problem, but they realised that the Scouring Charm would work, since it did not like its teeth being touched.

After graduating from Hogwarts, Liz Tuttle spent time living with a pack of Leucrottas as part of a conservation assignment for her job as a Magizoologist.

Newt's Leucrotta became a Foundable during the Calamity which affected the wizarding world in the late 2010s/early 2020s. It had to be returned by members of the Statute of Secrecy Task Force to its original place, Newt's menagerie, and was recorded in a Foundable registry called "Exploration".

Behind the scenes

• Leucrotta (also spelled Crocotta, Leucrocotta, and Crocuta) are creatures mentioned in medieval Bestiaries, such as the Aberdeen Bestiary, as the offspring of a hyena and a lion. They are said to be able to mimic the voices and sounds of those around them. They have no teeth, but a long sharp bone, and are sometimes combined with the bestiary mention of hyenas which were said to change sex on alternating years.
• Pliny the Elder wrote that the offspring of a crocotta (hyena) and a lion was the leucrota, which could imitate the sound of a human voice. The leucrota was said to be a cloven-hooved animal the size of a male donkey, yet swift and fierce. Described as having the haunches of a stag; the tail, chest, and neck of a lion; and the head of a badger, its mouth was said to open back as far as its ears. Instead of teeth, it had ridges of bone that could crush anything. It was said to never close its eyes, and its backbone was said to be so rigid that it had to turn around to see what was behind it. Many classicists believe that the source of Pliny's description was Ctesias' description of the cynolycus. Others believe that he may have been repeating a mangled description of the hyena.
• The Byzantine scholar Photius summarising the book Indica, by the Greek author Ctesias, writes: "In Ethiopia, there is an animal called crocottas, vulgarly kynolykos [dog-wolf], of amazing strength. It is said to imitate the human voice, to call men by name at night, and to devour those who approach it. It is as brave as a lion, as swift as a horse, and as strong as a bull. It cannot be overcome by any weapon of steel."
• Later bestiaries of the Middle Ages confounded these various accounts, so that one finds the largely mythical creature given differing names and various characteristics, real and imaginary. Among the characteristics not found in the ancient sources was the idea that the eyes of a crocotta or leucrota were "striped gems that could give the possessor oracular powers when placed under the tongue".
• Local folklore about hyenas often gives them powers such as gender switching (males and females are difficult to distinguish), shape shifting, and human speech—all of which encourages the belief that the hyena may have contributed to the original myth of the crocotta, and in turn, the leucrota.

Appearances

• Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald - The Original Screenplay (First appearance)
• Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald
• Pottermore
• Wizarding World
• Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery
• Harry Potter: Wizards Unite

Notes and references

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