Cryptozoology

Cryptozoology: "The study of Hidden Animals" - is the study of, and search for, animals which fall outside of contemporary zoological catalogs. It consists of two primary fields of research:

The search for living examples of animals taxonomically identified through fossil records, but which are believed to be extinct, The search for animals that fall outside of taxonomic records due to a lack of empirical evidence, but for which anecdotal evidence exists in the form of myths, legends, or undocumented sightings.

Those involved in cryptozoological study are known as cryptozoologists; the animals that they study are often referred to as "cryptids", a term coined by John Wall in 1983. Cryptozoology has seen very little attention from the mainstream scientific community, and is typically classified as pseudoscience because of erratic application of the scientific method.

Overview of Cryptozoology

Invention of the term "cryptozoology" is often attributed to zoologist Bernard Heuvelmans. But in his book, In the Wake of Sea Serpents, Heuvelmans attributes coinage of the term to the late Scottish explorer and adventurer Ivan T. Sanderson. Heuvelmans' 1955 book, On the Track of Unknown Animals, traces the scholarly origins of the discipline to Anthonid Cornelis Oudemans and his 1892 study, The Great Sea Serpent. Heuvelmans argued that cryptozoology should be undertaken with scientific rigor, but with an open-minded, interdisciplinary approach. He also stressed that attention should be given to local, urban and folkloric sources regarding such creatures, arguing that while often layered in unlikely and fantastic elements, folktales can have small grains of truth and important information regarding these organisms. Loren Coleman, a modern popularizer of cryptozoology, has chronicled the history and personalities of cryptozoology in his books.

Another notable book on the subject is Willy Ley's Exotic Zoology (1959). Ley was best known for his writings on rocketry and related topics, but he was trained in paleontology, and did write a number of books about animals. Ley's collection Exotic Zoology is of some interest to cryptozoology, as he discusses the Yeti and sea serpents, as well as relict dinosaurs. The book's first section ("Myth?") entertains the possibility that some legendary creatures (like the sirrush, the unicorn or the cyclops) might be based on actual animals, through misinterpretation of the animals and/or their remains. Perhaps the most rigorously scientific analyses of cryptids can be found in the works of British zoologist and cryptozoologist Dr. Karl Shuker, who has published 12 books and countless articles on numerous cryptozoological subjects since the mid-1980s.

Science and Cryptozoology

Discoveries of previously unknown animals are often subject to great attention, but cryptozoology per se has seen relatively little interest from mainstream scientists. As historian Mike Dash notes, few scientists doubt there are thousands of unknown animals, particularly invertebrates, awaiting discovery. However, as Dash notes, cryptozoologists are largely uninterested in researching and cataloging newly-discovered species of ants or beetles, instead focusing their efforts towards "more elusive" creatures that have often defied decades of work aimed at confirming their existence.

The majority of mainstream criticism of cryptozoology is directed towards the search for megafauna cryptids such as Bigfoot, the Yeren, and the Loch Ness Monster which appear often in popular culture, but for which there is little or no scientific support. Scientists argue that mega-fauna cryptids are unlikely to exist undetected in great enough numbers to maintain a breeding population, and are unlikely to be able to survive in their reported habitats due to issues of climate and food supply.

As such, cryptozoology has never been embraced by the scientific community. Most experts on the matter consider the Bigfoot legend to be a combination of folklore and hoaxes and cryptozoology is considered to be a pseudoscience by mainstream zoologists and biologists. Noted objections to cryptozoology include unreliable eyewitness accounts, lack of scientific and physical evidence, and over-reliance on confirmation rather than refutation.

Cryptozoologists argue that much of the planet remains unexplored, especially deep oceans, so cryptozoological claims about oceanic cryptids should be given more credence. By plotting the discovery rate of new species, C. G. M. Paxton estimated that as many as 47 large oceanic species remain undiscovered. The discoveries of the Coelacanth and the megamouth shark are examples of how deep-sea animals can remain undetected for years.