Anatomically correct Penanggalan / Manananggal
The Penanggalan / Manananggal is a vampire-like creature found in Southeast Asia (the former in Malaysia, the latter in the Philippines, with some differences in behaviour). It is described as a flying woman's head with a cluster of exposed entrails flowing behind her (which apparently twinkle like fireflies). Each night, this hideous freak attacks and drinks the blood of young children and pregnant women. Could something like this evolve in nature, especially the entrails (or at least gives the illusion of entrails)?
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1 answer
The problem is that a simple head won't fly - it needs some wings. And that is exactly where those "entrails" come into play.
The "entrails" are really a form of wings that allows your creature to fly. Basically you will have some sort of very-large vampire bat, whose wings are strangely arranged and longer than those of present day vampire bats. These little critters then seek out young children and pregnant women to feast on their blood, because those are easy targets.
We are talking about a really big bat here - the body has to be big enough to be mistaken for a humanoid head. These not-so-little beasts are actively hunting for little/helpless humanoids.
As it's dark when they hunt people won't be able to easily see what they look like. Their fur is just coloured in such a way that people think it could be a human head - with enough fantasy and fear. The fact that they are feasting on blood and hunting for victims means that they might also get some blood on them in the process, which further leads people to think that these heads have bloody entrails behind them. The darkness helps to conceal that their wings are not completely loose chunks of flesh hanging behind them, just bigger, slightly deformed and strangely arranged.
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