Crypto means mystery or hidden things and zoology means the study of living things. Cryptozoology was coined by Lucien Blancou to distinguish Bernard Heuvelamns, a French scientist. Heuvelamns thus became known as the “master of crytozoology” in the 1950s’.
Cryptozoology is most an amateur science and has often disregarded for the lack of evidence and lack of skepticism in the ranks. One of the most famous cryptid is the Loch Ness Monster. This “monster” has been seen numerous times and photographed on occasions. It is the subject of books, documentary films, and research efforts spanning years. The monster of is Scotland fame in the Loch Ness.
The other lake monsters are the Ogopogo of the Okanogan Lake in British Columbia, Canada. There is also Champ of Lake Champlain with shore in Quebec, Vermont, and New York State. All those famous lake dwellers have not been studies in labs.
The Coelacanth, sea dwelling living fossil however has been studied as there have been some captures by net. The first was capture in South Africa and the most recent was captured in Indonesia. This living fossil of a fish lives in the deep and always causes a sensation when one is caught.
Two people I know have actually seen cyptids. One was my brother in the 1960s in the mighty Hudson Bay. He was seal hunting by canoe with some guys. They were off shore on a fine sunny day. To the side someone saw a shadow in water, some distance off. The canoe followed along side to determine what the creature was. They being afraid did not dare get too near but my brother described the skin as following; it had large scales like a crocodile. It was light in color, a greenish blue. It never came up for air. The party decided they were best advised to avoid this creature.
Another person I know told me a story about a sculpin he saw. He was on a plane flying over the sea. They past an island and just off the island was a giant sculpin or ugly horned fish. It was large as a tugboat.
The Monster Squid has now been well documented. It used to be the lore of drunken sailors with unbridled imaginations. The Japanese hooked a live one but it died on the way up. Under water camera have shown that these creatures do exist. So do giant squid corpses that wash up on occasion.
Big Foot, Yeti, Sasquatch, or hairy man is also an example of cryptid. It is elusive, although there are many claims of sightings. There have even been unproven images of the creatures caught in video of film.
What is a cryptid? Anything elusive and not properly categories in the accepted taxonomic system falls into cryptid zone. What if the animal become discovered and goes into the realm of the accepted taxonomic classifications. Then cryptozoology has won but lost another one. It sounds like a stupid science. None the less, cryptozoology is cutting edge science and adventure.
