Cryptozoology

Definition: Literally meaning the “study of hidden animals”, cryptozoology is the study and search for those animals whose present-day existence is not formally recognized by mainstream science.

‘Crypto’ – from the Greek fem. kryptos “hidden”; zoology –from the Greek zoion “animal” + logia “study”.

The word cryptozoology is often attributed to Bernard Heuvelmans (1916-2001), a noted zoologist and past president of the International Society of Cryptozoology. However, in his book “In the Wake of Sea Serpents”, Heuvelmans credits the word to Scottish explorer Ivan T. Sanderson (1911-1973).

“When he [Sanderson] was still a student he invented the word ‘cryptozoology’, or the science of hidden animals, which I was to coin later, quite unaware that he had already done so.”

The animals researched in cryptozoology are often called ‘cryptids’.

Cryptozoology basically consists of two types of research:

1. The search for animals that are believed to be extinct, either those found in fossils or those more recently no longer observed, such as the Australian Dodo Bird.
2. The search for animals whose existence is undocumented by verifiable evidence, but whose existence is catalogued in myth, legend, and human assertion.1

Around the world, reports, stories and sightings of strange creatures continue to circulate. These are just a few of them.