Cryptozoology

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Cryptozoology is the study of rumored animals that are presumed (at least by the researcher) to exist, but for which conclusive proof does not yet exist, or are generally considered extinct, but occasionally reported. Those who study or search for such animals are called cryptozoologists, while the hypothetical creatures involved are referred to by some using the term "cryptids", coined by John Wall in 1983.

Invention of the term (adding the Greek prefix kryptós, or "hidden" to zoology to mean "the study of hidden animals") is often attributed to zoologist Bernard Heuvelmans. However, Heuvelmans attributed coinage of the term to the late Scottish cryptozoologist Ivan T. Sanderson in the 1930's or 1940's in his book In the Wake of the Sea Serpents. Similarly, Heuvelmans' monumental 1955 book, On The Track of Unknown Animals is often seen as the discipline's genesis, even though Heuvelmans traced the scholarly origins of the discipline to Anthonid Cornelis Oudemans and his 1892 study, The Great Sea Serpent.

Heuvelmans argued that cryptozoology should be undertaken with scientific rigor, but also with an open-minded, interdisciplinary approach. Furthermore, according to Heuvelmans, special attention should also be given to folklore regarding creatures. While often layered in unlikely, fantastic elements, folktales may contain grains of truth that could help guide those researching reports of unusual animals.

Some cryptozoologists align themselves with a more scientifically rigorous field like zoology, while others tend toward an anthropological slant or even a Fortean perspective. The fringes of cryptozoology are often considered pseudoscience by mainstream biologists.