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This week we ask what if these creatures are alive.
Cryptids are animals that have yet to be proven by science.
These include animals such as the loch ness monster the chupacabra and jersey devil.
These fantastical beast live in the realms of human imagination waiting to be proved
real by science but some cryptids are not so fantastical.
They have a more grounded origin.
They may have once existed or may have relatives that exist in today!!
People report seeing them and find evidence of them to this day.
Could they be real?
What are they?
We are going to take a look at these beasts and see what evidence is out there?
First let’s take a step back and look at the planet we live on
Earth We think of our special blue orb as an oasis
of life in a baron universe but maybe we should change our minds.
Over the billions of years the earth has hosted life, it has easily seen more of death.
Over 99% of all species that have lived, have gone extinct.
From the first creature to climb from the primordial ooze to the dinosaurs and all the
way in to modern times with animals such as the dodo.
Most creatures have had their time in the sun and have now disappeared!
There have been examples of animals that we once believed extinct being rediscovered.
The most famous example of this is the coelacanth Coelacanths are an ancient fish thought to
have gone extinct some 66 million years ago.
This was until in 1938 when they were rediscovered in South Africa.
Marjorie Courtenay Latimer was a museum curator in the port town of East London, northeast
of Cape Town.
She was friends with a Captain Hendrick Goosen a trawler man, who fished the nearby coastal
waters.
On December 23rd, 1938 she traveled to the docks to wish the captain a merry Christmas.
Here she noticed a blue fin protruding beneath a pile of rays and sharks on his ships deck.
She Pushed the fish aside and revealed, as she would later write,
"the most beautiful fish I had ever seen, five feet long, and a pale mauve blue with
iridescent silver markings."
Marjorie did not know what the fish was, but knew she must take it back to the museum at
once.
Much research was done into the fish and many arguments ensued
But on January 3, 1939, Miss Latimer heard in a now famous cable: "MOST IMPORTANT PRESERVE
SKELETON AND GILLS = FISH DESCRIBED."
The message confirming that it was a member of what must be a still living coelacanth
species.
So if a discovery as amazing as this fish is possible.
What if some other creatures could be proven to still live being living, relics or cousins
to animals we thought long gone.
Let’s take a look at the most famous cryptic of them all Bigfoot.
Bigfoot is the name given to a supposed large ape like animal living in North America but
there have been stories and sightings of other animals which also match this description
from all around the globe.
The Himalayan region of Nepal has the yeti The southern United States has Tsul kalu
North east India and parts of Bangladesh it’s the Mande Barung
Japan's answer to Bigfoot, Hibagon is said to live in the forested, mountainous areas
near Mt.
Hiba, in the Hiroshima region.
And there’s the Chinese yeren.
Maybe with so many stories there is some truth, so what could that be?
How about Gigantopithecus.
Gigantopithecus was big.
Fossils indicate it stood as high as 10 feet (3 meters) and weighed up to 1,100 pounds
(500 kilograms) Gigantopithecus thrived in the tropical forests
of what is now southern China for six to nine million years.
But around 100,000 years ago, at the beginning of the last of the Pleistocene ice age, it
went extinct or so they say?
Gigantopithecus, was a fruit-eater, who failed to adapt to the grass, roots, and leaves that
became the dominant food sources in its new environment.
But what if they are wrong what if it did adapt or had a cousin which survives to this
day?
Is there evidence?
Tracks have been found in all of the areas these crypto-hominids are supposed to roam.
Hair and even bone have been reported, found and recovered but as of yet we have no concrete
proof.
Eye witness sighting are quiet common and range from the out and out crazy to the fairly
convincing.
One of the most debated pieces of evidence to date is the “Patterson tape”
The footage was shot in 1967 in Northern California, and has since been subjected to many attempts
to authenticate or debunk it.
Many take the search for these mysterious great apes seriously and this could lead to
their discovery at any time.
If Bigfoot is too much of a leap, how about a living dragon?
Megalania.
Megalania was a giant lizard found in Australia some 50,000 years ago.
This reptile grew to a size of 11 ft and weighed in at 6 to 700 kg
It was a savage predator which is related to modern day Komodo dragons.
Perhaps the most terrifying thought is that it lived side by side with the first human
beings on the continent.
Memories of this monster have been passed down through aboriginal oral traditions but
the giant lizard may be alive in more than memory.
People have reported seeing this monster to this very day.
Sightings of massive lizards in Australia were recorded in both the latter part of the
19th century and the early decades of the 20th century.
Aaron Justice wrote in an article titled “Megalania : Dragon of the Australian Outback,”
“Megalania might not be constrained only to Australia – some sightings suggest it
may live in New Guinea.
A French priest in the 1960’s was traveling up river with a native guide in order to reach
his mission.
During the trip he spotted a large lizard lying on a fallen tree in the sun.”
Cryptozoologist Rex Gilroy, compiled a dossier of sightings.
One particular sighting is worthy of note.
A soldier named Steve, told Gilroy a fascinating and terrifying story.
It was in late 1968 that Steve, serving in the Australian military at the time, was taking
part in an exercise in Queensland – Specifically on what was termed the Normanby
Range.
One part of the exercise required Steve’s unit to negotiate a particularly treacherous
and dense swampy area.
As the team did so, they came upon something highly disturbing: the viciously ripped to
pieces body of a cow.
Not only that, something had dragged the cow for a considerable time, before savagely eating
huge chunks out of the unfortunate animal.
More significant, lizard-like prints were found in the muddy ground – all of which
were close to two feet in length.
If this creature is still roaming the outback it’s another deadly beast to add to Australia’s
already terrifying list of killer animals.
And while we are considering cryptid reptiles we cannot forget the possibility of a living
dinosaur.
Dinosaurs died out millions of years ago —But what if they still existed?
It’s not out of the realms of possibility many animals alive today survive from that
time.
We have crocodiles, turtles, insects and of course birds.
The Mokele-Mbembe is said to be found in central Africa.
Looking very much like sauropod, a long necked dinosaur, it has been reported for decades
as the last living dinosaur.
The Congo, Where it is said to be found is the only place where many people really believe
they may still exist.
Daniel Loxton and Donald Prothero, authors of "Abominable Science: Origins of the Yeti,
Nessie, and other Famous Cryptids," researched the mokele-mbembe .
They note that though "Rumors of enormous beasts hidden in the Congo region date back
to at least the sixteenth century... the idea of an elusive African dinosaur-like animal
seems to have developed only after the discovery in the nineteenth century of fossil dinosaurs."
In other words, Africa — like all inhabited continents and oceans in centuries past — was
associated with legends and rumors of unknown monsters that lurked within, a threat to unwary
travelers.
But the idea of a dinosaur-like animal named mokele-mbembe is a recent development.
The origin of mokele-mbembe can be traced back to a 1909 book titled "Beasts and Men,"
by a showman and zoologist named Carl Hagenbeck.
In that book, Hagenbeck — musing on recently discovered dinosaur bones — speculated that
sauropods (long-necked dinosaurs such as the Apatosaurus) might still be alive in deepest
Africa.
He offered no evidence aside from legends and rumor, but the sensational claims were
quickly picked up and circulated by the press; for example a Washington Post story from 1910
announced that "Brontosaurus Still Lives."
That publicity, according to Loxton and Prothero, "launched what would become the modern cryptozoological
legend of mokele-mbembe."
But there have been many sightings.
In 1776 tribes reported it to be existing.
Peoples from different parts the river have claimed that they had seen the monster alive.
There have been several Expeditions mostly along the river banks of Congo and several
reports of its existence published.
In the Year 1939 a German gazette published a report that a long necked creature has been
found which is was known for attacking hippos, even coming on to land, these reports have
a strong resemblance to tribal stories of the attack style of the Mokele Mbembe.
Then in 1992 another series of explorers searched the river banks of the Congo looking for Mokele
Mbembe.
This expedition was mostly futile apart from two photographs, these photos showed what
the explorers claimed to be the monster.
If you think that a creature such as a dinosaur could not survive until today, I remind you
of the fish that started this video the coelacanth.
If it could survive, there is a slim possibility a dinosaur could too.
Let’s get a little bit more recent for our final animal and one I feel is the strongest
contender for being alive today.
We are going to jump back to Asia pacific And Tasmania.
The Tasmanian tiger or to use its correct name the Thylacine, was predatory marsupial.
The thylacine held the title of Australia's largest predator until about 3500 years ago.
They resembled a large, short-haired dog with a stiff tail which smoothly extended from
the body in a way similar to that of a kangaroo.
Many European settlers drew direct comparisons with the hyena, because of its unusual stance
and general demeanor.
Its yellow-brown coat featured distinctive dark stripes across its back, rump and the
base of its tail, which earned the animal the nickname "tiger".
Sadly these animals were hunted to extinction with the last of their kind, dying of exposure
in a Hobart Zoo after being left out in the cold in 1936.
However it is highly plausible that out of all the animals in this video this is the
most likely to still be alive.
Sightings are common and video evidence is growing
The shy nature of this animal may have kept it in hiding for many years but it could be
making a reappearance.
Professor Bill Laurance said he had spoken at length to two people about animals they
had seen in Cape York peninsula that could potentially be thylacines, and that they had
given plausible and detailed descriptions.
One was a long-time employee of the Queensland National Parks Service and the other was a
frequent camper in the north of the state.
Laurance said all the potential sightings to date had been at night.
“In one case four animals were observed at close range – about 20 feet away – with
a spotlight.”
Descriptions of their eyes, size, shape and behaviour were inconsistent with known attributes
of other large species in north Queensland such as dingoes, wild dogs or feral pigs.
The sightings were at two separate locations on Cape York peninsula, but the specifics
were being kept confidential, said Laurance.
“Everything is being handled with strict confidence.”
He said people who claimed to have seen a thylacine were “very nervous about relating
their tales for fear of being branded kooks or fringe types”.
It is not impossible that thylacines will be found it’s not a mythical creature and
is a recent addition to the list of extinct animals.
Do you think any of these creatures will be found?
Do you think that the evidence is compelling?
Are there other creatures you believe have dodged the extinction bullet and are waiting
to be rediscovered?
Please let me know in the comments below.
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