R. Granberg's prepared squader

The Skvader (or sqwa- or squader) is a Swedish fantasy creature made up by a taxidermist and displayed at the museum at Norra Berget in Sundsvall; it has the forequarters and hindlegs of a hare and the back, wings and tail of a female capercaillie. It orginates from a hunting story, were a man in 1874 claimed he had shot this animal.

The name is a combination of two words, and this path suggest Svenska Akademins Ordlista. The prefix skva-, sqwa- or squa- from "skva-ttra"; quack or chirp, e.g. chirp like a magpie (Pica Pica) or chirp throush (Turdus), which have an own vocabolary in Swedish. The suffix -der comes from "tjae-der"; capercaille (Tetrao urogallus).

The Skvader was voted for by a lot of people during the election of the animal to be associated with the Swedish province of Medelpadia in 1987.

External link

• The Skvader - Museum site (in Swedish)