Saturday, September 10, 2011

Word of the Day. 9/10/11


Word of the Day



Famous cryptozoologists.
In the 6th grade I learned this word and instantly wanted it to be my profession. I was still naive and wanted to believe in the possibilities left to be discovered. I thought of traveling to far off places, tracking down the elusive and undiscovered and becoming a zoological hero.

Then as I got older, wiser and more literal, I realized how silly my dream had been. Furthermore, people with this profession are generally viewed by skeptics, such as myself, as buffoons and eccentrics. Basically, only an idiot would call themselves a member of this profession and really mean it. I wanted to be a cryptozoologist.




cryptozoology [krip-toh-zo-ol-uh-jee]
 noun
 
The study of evidence that would seem to point to the existence of, or lead to a search for, creatures whose existence is unproved, such as the Abominable Snowman or the Loch Ness Monster.


The dread macarena monster.

 
cryptid [krip-tid]
noun


Is a creature or plant, whose existence is suggested, but is not recognized by science.





The famous bigfoot picture? I'm 100% positive its a guy in a gorilla suit. The loch ness still? The photgrapher's son admitted on his death bed it was a modified toy submarine. So, cryptozoology is filled with lots of lies and mysteries. But that doesn't mean everyone out there is an evil poacher hoping to get rich off the wishful thinking of others. Sometimes it pays of. For example, the Giant Panda.
  
"What?" You say? Pandas were cryptids? That's right, for years the West heard myths of these creatures and even saw hides. But it wasn't until Mrs. William Harkness, found a cub sleeping in a tree and brought it to Chicago in 1937 that the creature was recognized as existing.

That's right, pandas. Those adorable, fluffy, endangered (rightfully so), evolved into a dead-end, cuddly-wuddly, racoons bears once stood side by side with other crytpids. Other animals believed to be a myth but discovered were the okapi, the megamouth shark, the colecanth, the King Cheetah, the Mountain Gorilla and many more animals that science hadn't recognized. Considered to be the symbol of all cryptids was the coelacanth, a living fossil found alive in 1938 off the coast of South Africa. But the cryptid that finally proved its existance and stands tentacles above the rest is the Giant Squid!


The photo to the right is an amazing picture captured a few years ago. It proves that the giant squid is out there! 


But here is the thing, I am a skeptic. I don't believe in big foot, plesiosaurs, ghosts, vampires, chupacabras or any of that nonsense. But sometimes...sometimes I believe in Gigantopithcus.
 


Gigantopithcus blacki

The largest primate that ever lived, some cryptozoologists believe it is possible that he is still out there. In fact, even most respected zoologists agree it is possible for there to be another large primate undiscovered, and there are few better places to hide that South East Asia. 
The idea of a giant orangutan that is about 8 feet tall when standing on its back legs, with muscles that could tear a car apart and the sharp but gentle mind of a primate is exciting.

Do I think it exists? Not really. But sometimes...I believe.