Morten St George Theory

[Morten St. George]

It could also be a pangolin or a badly drawn something else.

It looks like a well-drawn armadillo to me and, now looking at other VMS websites, I find that I am not alone in that opinion.

On the deer, it seems the copyist went too far out and down on the rear end, bringing it below the top of the hind legs, forcing a line back up, which then made it look awkward, so he or she colored it in to make it look like a fluffy tail. Recall that the VMS is a missionary's handbook. If you are going to show it to people to help convert them to your religion, the last thing you would want to display are imperfections.

Regarding the pangolin:

1. Did a European community reside in their vicinity in the 15th century? Unlike many places in the New World, people in the Old World knew how to write so such a thing should have been recorded.

2. Are you able to find green-water swamps with white-flower water lilies in their vicinity?

To resolve the true identity of this animal, it's helpful to look at the broader context.