Snowflake Challenge 10: Five Things

[ysabetwordsmith]

Snowflake Challenge #10: Five Things

Five Things! The five things are totally up to you. Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.




My Five Most Favorite Cryptids

Cryptobiology is the study of lifeforms that may or may not exist in the modern world. It includes attempts to pin down creatures considered mythical and species considered extinct that still have unverified sightings. Also, cryptobiology is a real science that uses scientific methods in these search attempts. Calling it pseudoscience is data-cropping -- especially when you consider the significant list of cryptids that have been verified. For an example of seeking possibly-not-extinct species, see Extinct or Alive.

1) Thylacine (aka Tasmanian wolf). Marsupial predator about the size of a wolf. Known to exist, widely believed extinct, but sightings persist. Claimed sightings have not been confirmed.

2) Ivory-billed woodpecker. Large woodpecker with a pale beak. Known to exist, widely believed exinct, but sightings persist. Last confirmed sighting in 2004. Most claimed sightings are indistinct and difficult to verify. As they live in old-growth forests, often swamps, and have far-flung territories they have always been very hard to spot.

3) Loch Ness Monster. The archetypal freshwater lake monster. Unusual for cryptids, the many sightings do not agree on general parameters but instead form several clusters (e.g. sea serpent-like, plesiosaur-like). While it is implausible for there to be a viable population of truly giant creatures going unnoticed, the frequency of sightings suggests that there may be "something" out there unverified by science. That is a big, old, deep lake that likes to keep its secrets.

4) Silphium. One of the few cryptids that is a plant rather than an animal, this was a relative of giant fennel. Known to exist, widely believed extinct, exact nature lost to history. Possibly rediscovered; debate continues.

5) Mokele-Mbembe. A dinosaur-like animal from the Republic of Congo. Unverified, but occasional reports persist. While it's hard to hide a truly giant creature, a jungle is a good place to hide things, even fairly large things.

EDIT 1/19/24 -- I forgot to include the Pictish Beast! It has a long snout and legs or flippers that coil at the ends. "The Happiness of the Bee" includes a brief appearance, and its notes have a description with an excellent photograph.

+ 1) My favorite book about cryptids is Mirabile by Janet Kagan.


Read about more cryptids. What are some of your favorite cryptids?

Comments

[brumeier]

What a fun list! On the one hand, with how small the world feels these days, and all the drone mapping and whatnot, it seems unlikely that some of the larger cryptids like Nessie are really out there. On the other hand, there are still so many discoveries being made - animals, insects, plant life, caves - so who really knows? It's nice to think there are still some unknowable things out there.

Bigfoot has to be my top cryptid, just based on the number of sightings around the world and footprint and whatnot. I used to love watching Destination Truth, which featured cryptid searches of all variety. They never did find what they were looking for, but I think one time they did find evidence of a bear previously thought to be extinct.

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> What a fun list! <<

Yay!

>> On the one hand, with how small the world feels these days, and all the drone mapping and whatnot,<<

Watch "Extinct or Alive" and then consider how accessible some of those places are, or not. Canada has completely lost control of the interior regarding wildfires.

>> it seems unlikely that some of the larger cryptids like Nessie are really out there.<<

An important thing to consider is "How big was that fish?" When you can't lay a measuring tape on something, then estimating its size is difficult if not impossible. In an area with other visual landmarks, you might manage to ballpark it. In the water, you are flat-out guessing. So while a house-sized Nessie is increasingly implausible, something the size of a giant otter or a ribbonfish is a lot more plausible.

>> On the other hand, there are still so many discoveries being made - animals, insects, plant life, caves - so who really knows? <<

Yep.

>> It's nice to think there are still some unknowable things out there.<<

There are definitely unknowable things out there. Listen to any marine biologist complaining about things that appeared on a submersible camera for 3 seconds, or something big that they only caught a flipper of that didn't match any known species at all, or worse -- all the unidentifiable animal sounds picked up by the watermike but not the camera. I suspect that the benthic zone is mostly cryptids.

Re: Thoughts

[brumeier]

Accessibility is a good point. I hadn't considered that.

Oh, man. The ocean is still a huge mystery. Anything could be down there!

Re: Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> Accessibility is a good point. I hadn't considered that.<<

Here's a place where the ground is made of knives.

Antarctica is slowly shrugging off its coat of ice. My money's on "life finds a way" and some undiscovered things are going to emerge. We already know there's life under the ice in some places.

Here are some other places where humans rarely if ever go.

I'm fascinated by things like this. I like extremophiles too.

Now with cryptids, someone saw them or claimed as much. So then you're looking at how good a hiding place they might have within reach, how much of that humans actually access regularly, and how smart the critter is about hiding. Plus habits, because some species went undiscovered because they picked a niche different enough that nobody looked in it.

>>Oh, man. The ocean is still a huge mystery. Anything could be down there!<<

Most people who believe in undiscovered macrofauna prefer the ocean as its habitat.

[mxcatmoon]

Yay, another Destination Truth fan! I still watch DT pretty regularly; it was such a fun show! And you know they weren't faking anything (as Mike put it, "no one is better at almost catching monsters than us"). I think it's a shame more people haven't discovered that show. The humor, banter among the crew, and travel adventures put it far above most cryptid hunter shows. IMHO there has never been another crypid or paranormal show like it.

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

I haven't seen it but it sounds cool. I like "Extinct or Alive" for the excellent science and scenery, whether or not they find anything. They've gotten definitive proof of multiple species. They actually picked up a tortoise for a salvation effort.

Re: Thoughts

[mxcatmoon]

"Extinct or Alive" sounds like it's right up my alley; I'll definitely be checking it out!

Re: Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

You can read about it here, including species found during the show:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extinct_or_Alive

Re: Thoughts

[mxcatmoon]

Thanks. Erm... I'm already watching it on the Animal Planet website as we speak. 😉

Re: Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

I'm glad I could tip you to something fun!

[brumeier]

I own every season AND the book Josh wrote. I'll literally watch him in anything, but that will always be my favorite. It was so fun to see the whole team being goofy together, but also having some really cool experiences, too. Best of the best!

Hmm ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

What's the book?

Re: Hmm ...

[brumeier]

Destination Truth: Memoirs of a Monster Hunter

[mxcatmoon]

I bought all the seasons and I have the DVD of season one as well, and the book on Kindle. Heck, I have a lot of the dialogue memorized at this point. LOL. I love him in anything, too, but while I do enjoy Expedition Unknown, I'm not much interested in treasure hunting, which so many of them are about. It's cool though that he's been involved in so many discoveries and gotten exclusive access to a lot of places as well. I totally understand him wanting to do serious exploration rather than the sillier, less professional stuff DT used to get up to, but I still miss the 'bunch of bozos running around in the woods' vibes.

I learned a lot, too. ;) I surprised a co-worker by knowing what balut is (and got her to admit it was an acquired taste), and knew right away that the terrible-tasting hard candy another coworker gave me was durian.

[brumeier]

I'm also glad he gets to be in on some cool discoveries now. He gets so excited over the littlest thing, which is what I love most about him. I bet he's inspired a lot of people to go exploring.

The thing I like about DT over EU is the group aspect. He wasn't a guy out there on his own. He had his team. The bunch of bozos in the woods. ::grins:: Riding camels and challenging each other to eat spiders. I liked getting to see the camera man and the sound person and the medic, all doing their bit.

I'd love to go to one of his live shows. I bet he's a hoot in person.

LOLing about balut. I was regaling people in my office about it, because none of them had heard of it. They didn't think it was real till I showed them pics online.

Yes ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> He gets so excited over the littlest thing, which is what I love most about him. I bet he's inspired a lot of people to go exploring.<<

That's what I love about nerds: we notice things and we get excited about them. We find the world fascinating.

[mxcatmoon]

Exactly, I think he's the funniest when he's playing off of others, and with the team such a huge part of DT we got to see that interaction every episode. I enjoy the moments when I get to see Evan on EU, though; reminds me of the old days. I loved the UFO and Yeti specials the most, and it was so cool seeing him meet his former Sherpa guide Tool (sp?) again.

DT had a lot of firsts too though: first underwater ghost investigation, first Chernobyl, permission to go to Bhutan to search for their Yeti, Antarctica, etc. (really, I'm just listing off the interesting things they did to entice new people to watch 😉)

Wow!

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> first underwater ghost investigation, first Chernobyl <<

That guy has cannonballs.

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> I surprised a co-worker by knowing what balut is (and got her to admit it was an acquired taste), <<

Does not appeal to me.

>> and knew right away that the terrible-tasting hard candy another coworker gave me was durian.<<

I can taste things by smell, and I've heard that durian smells like garbage but tastes different, so I'm inclined to think it would taste like garbage for me.

But I love haggis. I have no idea why people find it so objectionable. To me it tasted like excellent sausage, and I love sausage. Last year my partner got me a haggis spice chocolate bar. I loved the flavor so much that I monkeyed around until I made a good haggis spice brownie recipe. \o/

In fact our family phrase for accepting differences of opinion is, "Another haggis shortage averted!"

Re: Thoughts

[mxcatmoon]

From what I've read, some people find durian horrible tasting while others find it pleasant. To me, it does indeed taste like onions, and I do not like those. I'm not in any particular hurry to try haggis, either, I'm afraid. More for you! ;) The brownie recipe looks good, though!