Several fantastic birds from Bagobo mythology were documented by American anthropologist Laura Watson Benedict in her 1916 paper, A Study of Bagobo Ceremonial, Magic and Myth. Kulago and Minokawa were of special interest to Mica Cabildo in her research. The kulago was a grotesque screech-owl with the feathers of all birds and junglefowl, the fur of all animals in the forest, and the hair of man. The minokawa was a fearsome, giant bird with sharp knives for feathers and mirrors for eyes, and an appetite for the moon. Other Bagobo stories tell of an old white monkey that lives on the moon, which makes one wonder whether the minokawa was based on the Philippine ‘monkey-eating’ eagle.
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