Subjects
"When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."
Sherlock Holmes in "The Sign of Four," ch. 6, 1889.
...But how do you eliminate the impossible?
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote the above over 100 years ago, but the quote remains valid today. To me, this quote summarizes the goal of cryptozoology, emphasizing the detective work involved in reaching that goal.
As you can well imagine, achieving the goal is all but impossible without extremely good evidence. In practice, then, cryptozoology is about coming as close as possible to the goal.
But just what is 'cryptozoology'?
OVERVIEW
Crypto = 'hidden' Zoology = The study of Animals
Cryptozoology = 'The study of hidden animals'
Dr. Bernard Heuvelmans, a Belgian zoologist, first coined the term after completing his landmark work 'On the Track of Unknown Animals' in 1955. He challenged mainstream scientific belief that the great days of zoological discovery were over and that all large animals on this planet had been discovered.
His theory was simple: Where an animal has been described, by eyewitness testimony and/or some form of evidence, that falls outside of all known existing animals, it may still be an animal, one that has yet to be discovered and catalogued by science, but still an animal.
The reverse theory, the one that is used by mainstream science, is thus:
An animal does not exist until it has been discovered and catalogued by science.
The theory that there are no more large animals to discover has been proven wrong several times in the 20th century, and will continue to be proven wrong in the future. An example was the discovery of a large species of shark off Hawaii in 1976. This animal was completely unknown to science, and did not exist in the fossil record, yet there it was. Since the animal was a deep-sea creature that spent it's time offshore in deep water, it did not exist in the legends and folklore (to my knowledge) of the native people. If it had, however, there is few who would argue with me that it would have been dismissed offhand as a mythical creature or a confusion with the more common tiger shark of that area.
Since the discovery, Megachasma pelagios, the 'Megamouth shark' has turned up all around the Pacific, most specimens near Japan. Fossil teeth that were either incorrectly identified or not identified at all have since been linked to Megamouth.
Cryptozoologist: A person who studies hidden animals. A cryptozoologist is usually defined as:
"An intelligent and motivated individual who uses scientific principles and methods to research and investigate reports and evidence of hidden animals, and assist scientific experts in recognizing said animals and placing them within the realm of the identified zoological fauna collectively known as the 'Animal Kingdom'".
There is no current degree or diploma for cryptozoology, but it is generally accepted that the more knowledge a cryptozoologist can acquire, the better. Learning vast amounts of information and incorporating this information into one's knowledge base takes up the vast majority of a cryptozoologist's lifetime. Expeditions are the welcome diversions.
Most cryptozoologists subscribe to a principle that ties the profession together:
It is an Animal
The hidden animal being hunted/researched/studied is a living biological species ('flesh and blood') that is subject to the same set of conditions and rules that apply to all other species. It is not:
- An alien;
- From another dimension;
- A ghost.
Where mainstream science and cryptozoology differ is in the sources of information used. Cryptozoology uses information from eyewitness testimony, amateur photographic evidence, and native folklore, in addition to more traditional scientific areas such as paleontology and zoology.
It is because of this drawing of information from 'all sources' that the cryptozoologist has as much in common with the private investigator as the field zoologist. All cases start out as a puzzle of pieces that may or may not fit together. Most puzzles are still unfinished to this date.
The cryptozoologist concentrates on those strange events that fall, or are assumed to fall, into the category of unknown animals. It is the goal of the cryptozoologist to concentrate on the unknown until it is known, at which time the conventional scientist will 'take over' and begin formal studies and classification of the animal.
Many people are unaware that this process has been going on for hundreds of years, is going on today, and will continue to exist well into the future. Despite the advances in transportation and sensor technology, there still exist 'lost worlds' on our tiny globe, places that have never been properly explored and documented. Certainly the most obvious of these is the ocean. It is a common quote in scientific circles that 'we know more about our solar system than we do of our own ocean', and it is quite true. We have invested far more resources and money in space exploration than we have devoted to undersea exploration. Yet even with the shoestring budget devoted to this area, new animals are discovered, and new ecosystems are uncovered.