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Cryptozoology by definition:
(courtesy answers.com)
The study of creatures,
such as the Sasquatch, whose existence has not been substantiated.
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The Top 50
Cryptids From Around The World By Loren Coleman
http://www.lorencoleman.com/top_cryptids.html |
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| Cryptids are the yet-to-be discovered animals
or recovered supposedly extinct zoological species that are being sought by cryptozoologists, zoologists, anthropologists,
and other researchers through fieldwork in the wild, reexaminations of specimens in zoological collections, and searches of
archival materials. For me, it all started with the Abominable Snowman (see Yeti) in 1960, moved quickly to an awareness of
a world filled with cryptids. Here's my list of the top fifty cryptids actively being investigated and pursued today. |
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- Ahool
Giant unknown bats are reported to reside
in a region of western Java, plus similar reports under different names from Vietnam and the Philippines; possibly known as
Orang-bati in Seram, Indonesia.
- Almas
Huge hairy Neanderthaloid or Homo erectus-like
hominids sighted in various parts of Euroasia.
- Agogwe
The Agogwe are little, human-like, hairy,
bipeds reported consistently from the forests of Eastern Africa.
- Andean Wolf
These unrecognized mountain dogs are
seen in South America.
- Arabhar
These unconfirmed flying snakes are located
in the Arabian Sea region.
- Barmanu
Reportedly strong, muscular, and hairy humanoids
reported from the Shishi-kuh valley in Pakistan.
- Beast of Bodmin (or Bodmin Moor)
Locally named mystery
felids found in the United Kingdom.
- Bergman's Bear
Possible unknown species of giant
bear once roamed Eastern Asia, and still may.
- Bili Ape
Giant chimpanzees appear to live in remote
east Africa, where much evidence points to their existence, including photos, footprints and ground nests.
- Birds-of-Paradise
Six species from New Guinea and
surrounding islands, and a distinctive Long-Tailed Black Bird-of-Paradise from Goodenough Island are of interest to cryptozoology.
- Black Panthers and Maned Mystery Cats
Sighting of
large Black Panthers and seemingly "African Lions" with manes in the Midwest USA have law enforcement officials on the alert.
- Blue Mountain panthers
These unknown cats reportedly
live in the Blue Mountains of the east coast of Australia in the state of New South Wales.
- Blue Tiger
These mystery felids are spotted in the
Fujian Province, China, and are also filed under the name Black Tiger.
- Bobo
Sea monsters of the North Pacific Ocean are
frequently reported off Monterey Bay since the 1940s, and have been given this local name.
- Buffalo Lion
East African maneless lions are said
to be man-eaters, and may reflect some new genetic alignments, akin to the King Cheetah discoveries among cheetahs.
- Buru
Fifteen foot long bluish black giant lizards
were seen often in the swamps, lakes and foothills of the Himalayas, up through the 1940s, although they may be extinct now.
- Caddy
These unknown Sea Serpents living off the
coast of British Columbia are a popular figure in Canadian cryptozoology.
- Champ
Giant prehistoric-looking creatures lurk in
Lake Champlain, a 109 mile lake that borders New York, Vermont, and Ontario.
- Chupacabras
Also called "Goatsuckers," these bizarre Caribbean and South
American cryptids are five feet tall biped creatures with short grey hair that have spiked hair and reported drain the blood
through throat punctures of the livestock they kill.
- Ebu Gogo
Three feet tall, hairy little people with
pot bellies and long arms sighted on the island of Flores, Indonesia. Tiny females are said to have long, pendulous breasts.
- Giant Anaconda
Reports have been made of 100 feet
long snakes on the Rio Negro of the Amazon River basin.
- Giant Octopus
The Blue Holes of Bimini, offer many
sightings of these unknown huge, many-tentacled animals.
- Giant Sloth
Weighing up to 3 tons, these supposedly
extinct animals have been reported in South America in contemporary times.
- Globsters
Strange looking giant creatures (also
called blobs) wash up on the beaches of the world, get the media and scientists excited, and sometimes turn out to be "unknowns."
- Honey Island Swamp Monster
Reportedly these "Swamp
Thing" monsters are seen in the Louisiana swamps.
- Jersey Devil
This regionalized name hides these
creatures that have been haunting the New Jersey Pineland forest for over 260 years.
- Kongamato
The natives of the Jiundu region of Northern
Rhodesia (now Zambia) have firsthand encounters with these strange flying bat-like creatures.
- Lake Storsjon Monster
Lake Seljord in the Telemark
region of Norway has its own Lake Monsters swimming the waters here for centuries.
- Lau
Are certain African lakes the home to 40 feet
long unknown catfishes or lungfishes?
- Loch Ness Monster
Nessie is the most famous Lake Monster in the world; they are
said to inhabit this loch, an extremely deep Scottish lake.
- MacFarlane's Bear
The carcass is at the Smithsonian,
believed to be a possible hybrid between a grizzly and polar bear. Or an new unknown species.
- Mngwa
The Mngwa are cats described as being as large
as donkeys, with marks like a tabby and living in Africa - but not a known species.
- Mokele-Mbembe
For over two hundred years there have
been reports of living Sauropods (dinosaur) in the remote Congo area of Africa. They may being confused with accounts of other
local cryptids, aquatic rhinos.
- Mongolian Death Worm
Locals in the Gobi Desert of
Mongolia talk of these giant snakes, worms, or long thin lizards (also called Olgoi-khorkhoi or Allghoi-khorkhoi) as killing
livestock and people with their breath.
- Mothman
A local name for giant owls (also called Bighoot) which has
been sighted for over 100 years in West Virginia-Ohio area, and elsewhere in North America.
- Ogopogo
This is Canada's most famous type of water
monsters, inhabitants of Lake Okanagan in the south central interior of British Columbia.
- Orang-Pendak
These reportedly small biped small
apes (also called Sedapa) live in the jungles of Sumatra and Borneo.
- Peruvian Mystery Jaguar
Unknown large cats with
white background covered in solid irregular spots are seen in the rainforests of Peru.
- Skunk Ape
Also known by the label Myakka "Ape" and other local names (Booger,
Swamp Ape), these chimpanzee- or orangutan-like primates have been sighted throughout central and south Florida.
- Steller's Sea Cow
A once thought extinct species,
these totally marine animals, looking like huge, wrinkled manatees, and are still being seen by Russian fisherman.
- Tasmanian Tiger or Thylacine
Thought extinct, these
wolf-like marsupials are still sighted on a regular basis in Western Australia, and perhaps New Guinea too.
- Tazelwurm
Classic small log-shaped reptilian cryptids
from the European Alps are enigmatic animals, but have they gone extinct in historical times?
- Thunderbird
Large condor-like birds, perhaps Teratorns,
roam the skies of North America, along regular migration routes.
- Tzuchinoko
Unknown species of snake sighted in the
upper elevations of Korea and Japan.
- Ucu
The South American Bigfoot live mainly in the
Andean foothills.
- Waitoreke
These strange unknown otter-like beasts
are seen in New Zealand, and as yet undiscovered.
- Xing-Xing
This is a specific regional name, from
southern China, for small unknown apes.
- Yeren
The Chinese Wildmen are reddish, semi-bipedal,
and often encountered by locals and government officials along rural roads.
- Yeti
Yeti, unknown rock apes, are creatures reported
as crossing the Himalayan plateaus and living in the valley forests. There is not just "one" Abominable Snowman, and they
are no "white."
- Yowie
These tall hairy unknown hominoids are sighted
throughout several remote areas of Australia. |
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Sources (needless to say, many individual
references can be consulted for information on any of the above cryptids, but the following titles reflect directly on the
background research leading to why my choices are these. Also, each book contains an extensive bibliography of further sources):
Bigfoot!: The True Story of Apes in America by Loren
Coleman (NY: Paraview Pocket/Simon and Schuster, 2003)
Cryptozoology A to Z: The Encyclopedia of Loch Monsters,
Sasquatch, Chupacabras, and Other Authentic Mysteries of Nature by Loren Coleman and Jerome Clark (NY: Simon and Schuster,
1999)
The Field Guide to Bigfoot, Yeti and Other Mystery Primates
Worldwide by Loren Coleman and Patrick Huyghe (NY: Harper Collins, 1999)
The Field Guide to Lake Monsters, Sea Serpents and Other
Mystery Denizens of the Deep by Loren Coleman and Patrick Huyghe (NY: Tarcher/Penguin, 2003)
Mothman and Other Curious Encounters by Loren Coleman
(NY: Paraview, 2002)
Mysterious America: The Revised Edition by Loren
Coleman (NY: Paraview, 2001)
Thunderbirds: America's Living Legends of Giant Birds
by Mark A. Hall (NY: Paraview, 2004)
Tom Slick: True Life Encounters in Cryptozoology
by Loren Coleman (Fresno, CA: Craven Street-Linden Press, 2002) |
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