Cryptozoology Creatures

Animals and Creatures of Legend

The word “cryptozoology” brings to mind crazy television shows with re-enactments of creatures of legend coming to life on the screen and generally being described by somewhat less than credible eyewitnesses. However, whether or not there is any truth to the stories and eyewitness encounters with these creatures the bottom line is that these legends exist and must have come from somewhere. So whether you are a believer in these creatures of lore, or not, chances are that you found your way here looking for a little more information about these cryptozoological creatures. Cryptozoological creatures have been a source of contention between believers and nonbelievers for years in a struggle of each party attempting to prove the other wrong and while believers generally have a difficult time providing proof, nonbelievers often have a difficult time disproving these mythological creatures.

The Legendary Creatures of Cryptozoology

By definition Cryptozoology is the study of animals or creatures that are believed to exist through legend but have no concrete proof to confirm their existence outside of legend. The unique thing about cryptozoological creatures that many people are unaware of though, is that cryptozoology also encompasses the study of creatures that are believed to still exist despite being considered extinct as well as living creatures that are believed to be living drastically outside their usual geographic range. Many people mistakenly believe that cryptozoological creatures are only those creatures that are told of in legend and they do not understand that this particular field of study also encompasses creatures that did once, or still do, roam the Earth. So what are some of the creatures that are studied in cryptozoology? Included in cryptozoology creatures that are commonly studied are: the Abominable Snowman, Bigfoot, dragons, the Loch Ness monster, mermaids, Mothman, shape shifters, the giant vampire bat, vampires, and werewolves.

The Abominable Snowman

The Abominable Snowman is often referred to as Yeti and the two terms are generally interchangeable; however, they should not be confused with Bigfoot due to their unique habitat in comparison to Bigfoot. Where Bigfoot is noted as living in warmer climates the Abominable Snowman or Yeti is believed to live in the Himalayan Mountains in Tibet and Nepal as well as some areas of Asia. For those who are well versed in the cryptozoology of the Abominable Snowman or Yeti they are able to identify specific species of the Abominable Snowman or Yeti based on specific features that set each of the species apart from each other. While generally cryptozoologists believe the Abominable Snowman or Yeti to be a hairy humanoid creature the legends that often propagate this creature claim a wide variety of genealogical roots. Some believe that the Yeti is a spiritual creature with supernatural powers and depending on the belief of the legend teller the Yeti is believed to either breed with humans or not. Others believe that the Yeti is a ghost type creature of a human long passed on and others believe that this creature is a demon whose job it is to guard the mountains where it is said to live. There are three varieties of Abominable Snowman or Yeti that are identified by cryptozoologists: the teh-lma – a small human like Yeti, the dzu-the – a bear like Yeti that is believed by some to actually be a bear rather than a Yeti, and the meh-the – the most recognized Yeti among the three that seems to resemble a humanoid figure with gorilla traits.

Bigfoot

Bigfoot is often confused with the Abominable Snowman or Yeti as mentioned above; however, the Bigfoot is more accurately used by cryptozoologists to describe the hairy humanoid creature that can be found in western America and western Canada. From a compilation of sightings, the Bigfoot is believed to have one set of characteristics that seems to be generally uniform among the species including a height between six to nine feet, extremely large feet, a large sloping forehead and a thick shaggy coat of hair that covers the majority of the body. Eyewitness sightings of the Bigfoot claim that the creature tends to live in family groups and are defensively aggressive towards humans. While many people still use the term Bigfoot, more serious cryptozoologists prefer to use the term Sasquatch as it appears more professional but in general the two terms are interchangeable. The most commonly known figure of Bigfoot is that as seen in the 1967 Patterson-Gimlin film of the Bigfoot supposedly walking across a wooded area.

Dragons

Dragons may be a creature of stories for many people there are also records of quite a few dragon sightings including a dragon that was reportedly killed in 1890 in Arizona by ranchers who spotted the 92 foot flying beast over their ranch. In more modern days; however, dragon sightings seem to have dwindled and interest by cryptozoologists seems to have been lost. Many people believe that it is not that cryptozoologists have a lack of interest in these mythological creatures but instead they tend to study these creatures under the guise of other “monsters” of lore such as dinosaurs that were thought to be extinct. According to folklore there are a variety of dragons including the European dragon, the North and South American dragons and the Asian dragons. Each of these types of dragon is characterized by its own physiological appearance with the European dragons generally resemble large reptiles with at least one non-reptilian feature and are believed to possess magical powers, the North and South American dragons generally are similar to the European dragon, the Asian dragons are much more snakelike in appearance and are usually portrayed as having birdlike feet. In more ancient times it is thought that the rate of dragon sightings was higher due to a combination of factors including much more superstition among farmers and townspeople as well as the more modern re-categorization of these mythical beasts.

The Loch Ness Monster

The Loch Ness Monster is perhaps one of the most well recognized and widely studied of all of the cryptozoological creatures. While it is the belief of many that there is just one Loch Ness Monster cryptozoologists believe that if the Loch Ness Monster does exist then it is likely that the multiple eye witness accounts of this creature are of various creatures within the species instead of all being of one single specimen. The Loch Ness Monster is believed to live in the Loch Ness in Scotland, a fresh water loch in the Scottish Highlands which is slightly unusual being that most creatures that were at one time similar to the Loch Ness Monster thrived in salt water. Many people believe that the Loch Ness Monster is a plesiosaur that somehow managed to survive the extinction of the dinosaurs millions of years ago and has since managed to thrive in the fresh water of Loch Ness. Others believe that the Loch Ness Monster is a sea serpent and still others believe that the beloved creature known as “Nessie” is a water dragon or “kelpie” (an aquatic horse with magical powers.) While many believe that they have seen the Loch Ness Monster themselves and even claim to have photographic evidence such photos have been easily debunked by skeptics. Despite many sightings and much of the photographic evidence being debunked the Loch Ness Monster has developed its own following.

Mermaids

Mermen and Mermaids are most often noted in fairytales rather than folklore but tales of these mythical creatures span the globe and have been around since man began sailing the ocean. While many cryptozoologists claim not want anything to do with these fantastical creatures a wide number of individuals claim to have sighted merfolk. Interestingly it seems that eyewitness accounts of merfolk identify the human fish hybrid beings as being far more fishlike than they are portrayed as being in legend. Many skeptics try to dismiss the merfolk as a new variety of fish that simply has humanlike characteristics and others believe that these creatures are a hybrid animal that is midway between a transition from land to sea; however, there is no concrete evidence to support either belief. Legend even goes so far as to claim that merfolk are alien beings; however, these stories are slightly less believable and even unlikely to be repeated by cryptozoologists who would prefer to believe that these creatures were a new species that has yet to be discovered. Commonly cryptozoologists also believe that the merfolk are also related to sea serpents or sea monsters or even shape shifters.

Mothman

While the Mothman has reported sightings from all over, the majority of these sightings seem to focus on an abandoned ammunitions dump of World War II in Point Pleasant, West Virginia. This “TNT” area as it is referred to boasts the most reports of Mothman sightings. Mothman is believed to stand around five feet tall standing and he is described as having wings, large red eyes, a grey body that is humanoid in shape. According to eyewitness stories of encounters with the Mothman individuals report feeling an extreme sense of doom and dread when looking in to his huge red eyes, reports claim that he has even pushed one eyewitness to the verge of a nervous breakdown. According to eyewitnesses the Mothman enjoys chasing cars and has footprints that resemble those of a giant and rather heavy dog. Cryptozoologists believe that Mothman may be a form of giant bat or thunderbird or if he does exist as a moth man then it is believed that he is the only existing specimen of his species.

Shape Shifters

Shape shifters are cited as being creatures that are able to completely and drastically change their physical appearance frequently such as werewolves. Many believers of shape shifters feel that Chupacabra is a shape shifter and they also believe that these creatures are able to take on human form in order to disguise themselves among the human population. The unique thing about shape shifters is that biologists and scientists worldwide cannot deny the fact that creatures may eventually be capable of shape shifting behavior since it does not actually go against any of the laws of science that most scientists live by. Scientists do, however, feel that shape shifters are not yet among us on this planet due to the fact that if they did they would already have been observed. Believers in shape shifters explain that shape shifters could easily escape observation by relying on their talents and point to the color changing ability of the chameleon to illustrate a creatures existing ability to change. No current evidence has been presented to support the existence of shape shifters.

The Giant Vampire Bat

The giant vampire bat is a creature that once existed during the Pleistocene era and unlike the three species of vampire bat that live on today it possessed a wingspan of around seventeen inches rather than the much smaller wingspans of the common vampire bat, white-winged vampire bat and hairy-legged vampire bat. While today’s species of vampire bats need only small amounts of blood to survive this much larger vampire bat of the Pleistocene era would have required much more blood in order to sustain its larger body. The giant vampire bat is believed to be extinct; however, reports from eye witnesses in Venezuela and Brazil in South America claim that this large blood drinking creature is far from extinct. One eye witness account claimed to spot a giant vampire bat with a wingspan of three feet three inches! While a living specimen of the giant vampire bat has yet to be spotted or captured by scientists they are still fairly optimistic that this legendary creature may still be alive. Due to the nocturnal and shy nature of bats it is difficult to locate any of the existing species; however, skeptics claim that if the giant vampire bat is actually as large as eye witnesses’ claim then it should not be difficult to locate a living specimen.

Vampires

Vampires are perhaps the most celebrated of mythological creatures in the modern day with all of the media interpretations of these creatures of folklore. The trouble with common day interpretations of vampires is that they are far from the vampires of folklore that cryptozoologists tend to focus on. The vampires of folklore are believed to have been humans that died and upon death either arose from their graves as ghostly vampire creatures that fed off human blood or as creatures that dug themselves out of their graves in order to search for human blood. These vampires of folklore were forced to return to their coffins before sunlight. Unfortunately for vampires cryptozoologists are far more interested in animals that show vampiric qualities rather than the much more human like vampires that feed on human blood. In addition to interest in vampiric animals and creatures, cryptozoologists are interested in folklore that tells of trees and other mythical creatures that are rumored to feed on human blood.

Werewolves

Werewolves are the most commonly known shape shifting creatures of folklore, known as humans that shape shift in to wolf form. Werewolves are believed to be more supernatural than cryptozoological due to the bizarre nature of shifting from one form to another. Werewolves are generally believed to walk on their hind legs resembling humans in form; however, they have a long wolf like coat of hair that covers their body and the head of a wolf. Skeptical cryptozoologists dismiss werewolf sightings as being an unknown species of wild dog that has learned to walk bipedally or a species of Bigfoot that resembles a wolf or dog in its physical characteristics. The idea of werewolves is hard for most people to comprehend simply because the idea of being able to physically shift from one form to another is both unlikely and nearly impossible from a biological point of view, at least when considering shifting from a human form to that of a wolf.

Whether Or Not These Creatures Are Real They Hold a Fascination

The huge variety of cryptozoological creatures spans from the near ridiculous which many cryptozoologists themselves have a difficult time believing in, to creatures that actually did roam the Earth at one point or another. It is much easier for most people to believe that a creature like the giant bat exists somewhere in the world due to the fact that skeletal remains prove that a much larger version of today’s vampire bat once existed. It is not as easy, however, for people to believe that a creature such as the Mothman or a werewolf actually exist somewhere in the world due to the inability for the human mind to wrap itself around an idea that is so complex. Whether humans are able to, or will ever be able to shape shift is unknown at this point but asking someone who has sighted one of these human form creatures of folklore might just reveal to you the possibility that somewhere out there, there are already a group of humanoid creatures that possess a shape shifting ability. Whether you are a believer or a skeptic you have to admit that the cryptozoological creatures mentioned above hold a certain fascination for us all and perhaps even give us chills thinking about them as we walk down a dark and dimly lit street.