Join our zoo community

Cryptozoology: A playground in science

Discussion in 'Zoo Cafe' started by LowlandGorilla4, 18 May 2020.

  1. TheMightyOrca

    TheMightyOrca Well-Known Member 10+ year member

    Joined:
    28 Jan 2014
    Posts:
    1,807
    Location:
    Corpus Christi, Texas
    Oh, this is a fun discussion!

    It's probably not real, but I've always considered the maltese tiger to be one of the more plausible cryptids. Tiger populations dropped drastically over the 20th century, meaning, a big loss of genetic diversity. If a color mutation for the maltese tiger ever existed, it could have been wiped out.
     
    felis silvestris likes this.
  2. Ursus

    Ursus Well-Known Member 5+ year member

    Joined:
    25 Mar 2018
    Posts:
    540
    Location:
    Europe
    I think this depends... and probably one of the worst cases you could pick as example. A black bear is quite literally... a black bear compared to the european known brown bears. So I don't think they would make it as much of a cryptid as you set your example to be.
    A better example would be the original descriptions from Europeans entering South-east Asia or the African continent. Where there were indeed more like these descriptions for animals. Take for example the Dürer's rhinoceros. A not super accurate depiction of a rhinoceros that was drawn from a artist based on hear-say in 1515 but where Europe had never seen a rhinoceros till around like 1577. I'd wager this is a much better example.
     
  3. TheMightyOrca

    TheMightyOrca Well-Known Member 10+ year member

    Joined:
    28 Jan 2014
    Posts:
    1,807
    Location:
    Corpus Christi, Texas
    I didn't mention it in my post, but recently I have been reading a book called Abominable Science. It's about cryptozoology and it goes into the history and origins of some famous cryptids, and it explains why the "science" of cryptozoology is so flawed, it's pretty interesting so far.
     
    felis silvestris likes this.
  4. Birdsage

    Birdsage Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    14 Oct 2021
    Posts:
    389
    Location:
    Houston, Texas
    According to the Wikipedia article, “cryptozoology” refers to pseudoscientific attempts to prove the existence of animals known only from anecdotal evidence.

    In most definitions, this does include animals that are confirmed to have existed in the past (the Thylacine, Mesozoic megafauna, etc.), but whose continued survival is not accepted by the general scientific community.

    Several paleontology enthusiasts on the internet claim to have an interest in cryptozoology, but do not endorse pseudoscience or accept the existence or continued existence of cryptids. Rather, this is just a healthy interest in nonexistent creatures for their cultural and speculative value.
     
  5. vogelcommando

    vogelcommando Well-Known Member 10+ year member

    Joined:
    10 Dec 2012
    Posts:
    17,723
    Location:
    fijnaart, the netherlands
    An otter in New Zealand ( South Island ) ? :

    Stuff
     
  6. Strathmorezoo

    Strathmorezoo Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    2 Jul 2023
    Posts:
    470
    Location:
    Redditch
    Only just found this thread, fascinating stuff. If anyone wants to delve a bit deeper into the weird world of cryptozoology ,I would highly recommend that you read material by Dr Karl Shuker,an internationally recognised zoologist who writes articles for the Fortnean Times and author of over 32 books. One book in particular Mystery Cats of the World, is.a book which I.read infact it was difficult to put down ,even if your not really into the subject of cryptozoology ,as I wasn't .Happy reading.