Strange koftgari beast on kukri

[Andy Stevens]

Hello again to all of you! It must seem that my name is like some awful chicken pox type rash across the forum at the moment, but as we haven't posted for a while, we've amassed a fair few interesting things and heres another one - and this time its for the Kukri frat to explain. We've had this piece awhile and have often sat over a coffee and ginger nut discussing the meaning of the koftgari creature so crudely worked into the blade. We've speculated that the beast is Dino, the pet dinosaur of the Flinstones, we could of course be right but somehow maybe not!! So its over to those who hopefully know..... The court calls Spiral!!! The pin working to hilt is rather attractive-is this common to kukris? Its something we've never before seen. Could this be a sacrificial weapon and the strange clawed creature a indicator of such usage??
Kuk measures:
A hefty 51cm.
The belly at its widest point is 6.5cm.
Spine width: 10mm
Weigth: 620g
Many thanks in advance. Andy and karina