Why the similarity?ĭL: In some cases I think it's because they are the same. All the cryptids that you discuss in the book – Bigfoot, the Yeti, the Loch Ness Monster, Mokele Mbembe – are very similar to things that exist or existed in the past: bears, primates, plesiosaurs, sauropods. The cryptozoologists never asked the question, "Well, how did the monster get in the lake if the lake was completely under ice, the lakes are all landlocked, and there's no way for a marine creature to get there at all?" Those are all things that are not news to geologists, they're not news to biologists, but they're apparently news to cryptozoologists. All the lake monsters, not just Loch Ness but the ones here in North America, in Lake Champlain and Lake George, were all under a mile of ice 20,000 years ago. And then there's other aspects, like geology, something you never hear the cryptozoologists mention. All of that tends to weigh against them being real because they should have had huge ranges, and they should have been spotted a long time ago if they really did exist. You can talk about their population density, the size of range they should have based on their estimated body size. If there's one of them, there's got to be many of them. What can science tell us about cryptids?ĭP: The first thing, of course, is that a cryptid can't be a single animal. It implies a creature that's been recorded through folklore, something that we have reason to suspect exists. First of all, what is a cryptid?ĭP: A cryptid is any animal that has never been described by science, usually something very unusual along the lines of a Loch Ness monster or Bigfoot, something that stretches the limits of what is scientifically plausible.ĭL: It's based on the word cryptozoology, which means hidden life or animals. National Geographic's Rachel Hartigan Shea spoke with the two authors about bringing skepticism and science to the study of cryptids. He has written over 250 scientific papers and 28 books, including five textbooks on geology. (Now, he suspects the print was a prank and the pterodactyl was a great blue heron.) Prothero is a paleontologist, who is also trained in biology and geology. Loxton, a staff writer for Skeptic magazine, was an ardent believer in monsters as a kid, having spotted a Bigfoot print in the woods and a pterodactyl winging over his backyard. Loxton and Prothero come at cryptozoology from different directions. In their new book, Abominable Science! Origins of the Yeti, Nessie, and Other Famous Cryptids, they analyze the history of mythic beasts and the clues to their existence. ![]() What Loxton and Prothero want is scientific evidence. Prothero that Bigfoot or any of the other monsters are real. For many cryptozoologists-the people who search for legendary animals-that evidence is enough to confirm a monster's existence.īut it will take more than shadowy sightings to convince Daniel Loxton and Donald R. There's ample circumstantial evidence for all these creatures: eyewitness accounts, blurry photographs, mysterious footprints. Does Bigfoot exist? What about the Loch Ness monster? Or the Yeti? Or Mokele Mbembe, the Congo dinosaur?
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