They asked Sanderson where they had seen this creature. Sanderson pointed back at the river. The natives fled in terror in the opposite direction, taking only their guns and leaving their valuables behind. While it may be suggested that the creature that attacked Sanderson and George was merely the mate of the bat they had shot, it is somewhat dubious. Fruit bats are not known for attacking humans, and Sanderson, a highly knowledgeable and internationally respected zoologist, clearly indicated that he did not recognize the creature.
Fruit bats are a brownish or yellowish color.
Sanderson described the creature as all black. In 1956 in Zambia along the Luapula river, engineer J.P.F. Brown was driving back to Salisbury from a visit to Kasenga in Zaire. He stopped at a location called Fort Rosebery, just to the west of Lake Bangweulu, for a break. He, bewildered, observed that they looked prehistoric. One of them opened its mouth in which he saw a large number of pointed teeth.