Everything about Cryptozoology
Pseudoscience and subculture that studies creatures
Cryptozoology is a pseudoscience and subculture that searches for and studies unknown, legendary, or extinct animals whose present existence is disputed or unsubstantiated, particularly those popular in folklore, such as Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, the Yeti, the chupacabra, the Jersey Devil, or the mokele-mbembe. Cryptozoologists refer to these entities as cryptids, a term coined by the subculture. Because it does not follow the scientific method, cryptozoology is considered a pseudoscience by mainstream science: it is a branch of neither zoology nor folklore studies. It was originally founded in the 1950s by zoologists Bernard Heuvelmans and Ivan T. Sanderson. Wikipedia →
🧭 Start here: a 6-step reading path
- Read the overview: CryptozoologyA 5-minute orientation
- Skim a recent paper: The Economy of Rarity: Animal-Catching, Cryptozoology, and the Mid-Twentieth-Century ZooInfluential work since 2022
- Pick up a classic book: Sur la piste des bêtes ignoréesThe most-reprinted book on the subject
- Read the landmark paper: Does Magic Offer a Cryptozoology Ground for Psychology?Cited 50 times
- Go sideways: List of cryptidsA closely related topic
- Go sideways: Roy MackalA closely related topic
📖 Definitions
Noun Study of cryptids, animals whose existence has not been proven.
🏆 Landmark papers (most cited)
Does Magic Offer a Cryptozoology Ground for Psychology?
Cryptozoology in the Medieval and Modern Worlds
Of wildmen and white men: cryptozoology and inappropriate/d monsters at the cusp of the Anthropocene
Citizen Science and Cryptozoology, data received from listeners during 18 years of wildlife talkback on ABC North Coast New South Wales Local Radio.
Molecular cryptozoology meets the Sasquatch
On tree frog cryptozoology and systematics – response to Y. Werner
Cryptozoology and the Paranormal in Harry Potter: Truth and Belief at the Borders of Consensus
From Cryptozoology to Conservation Biology: An Earlier Baseline for Entanglement of Marine Fauna in the Western Pacific Revealed from Historic “Sea Serpent” Sightings
🆕 Influential since 2022
📚 Books worth reading
Sur la piste des bêtes ignoréesBernard Heuvelmans · 1955
Strange Creatures From Time & SpaceJohn A. Keel · 1970
Monsters of the SeaRichard Ellis · 1996- 📕Anthropology and CryptozoologySamantha Hurn · 2016
The Flying DeathSamuel Hopkins Adams · 1908
Mysterious CreaturesGeorge M. Eberhart · 2002
The Weiser field guide to cryptozoologyDeena West Budd · 2010
Pocket ApocalypseSeanan McGuire · 2015
Ranked by number of editions on Open Library, a rough measure of how lasting a book is.
🔗 Related topics
- List of cryptids Cryptids are animals or other beings whose present existence is disputed or unsubstantiated by science. Cryptozoology, the study of cryptids, is a pseudoscience…
- Roy Mackal Roy P. Mackal (August 1, 1925 – September 13, 2013) was a University of Chicago biologist best known to the general public for his interest in cryptozoology…
- Karl Shuker Karl Shuker (born 9 December 1959) is a British zoologist, cryptozoologist and author. He lives in the Midlands, England, where he works as a zoological…
- List of cryptozoologists This is an alphabetical list of notable cryptozoologists and people associated with the field of cryptozoology, including prominent skeptics and hoaxers…
- Boris Porshnev Boris Fyodorovich Porshnev (Russian: Бори́с Фёдорович По́ршнев; 7 March [O.S. 22 February] 1905, in Saint Petersburg – 26 November 1972, in Moscow) was…
- Loren Coleman Loren Coleman (born July 12, 1947) is an American cryptozoologist, author and television personality who has written over 40 books on a number of topics…
- Mokele-mbembe In several Bantu mythologies, mokele-mbembe (also written as "mokèlé-mbèmbé") is a mythical water-dwelling cryptid that is believed to exist in the Congo…
- Bernard Heuvelmans Bernard Heuvelmans (10 October 1916 – 22 August 2001) was a Belgian-French writer, explorer, and researcher known, along with Scottish-American biologist…