The word ‘Cryptid’ refers to any entity whose existence has yet to be documented outside
of legends and myths — like… the loch ness monster.
But believe it or not, many real animals you might recognize today were once ‘cryptids’
themselves, thought to exist only in folklore.
As humankind has explored more and more remote parts of our planet’s surface, increasingly
fantastical organisms have been discovered.
So, for this entry into the archives, we’re going to catalogue seven real animals once
upon a time thought to be cryptids.
In the darkness of the ocean, a leviathan lurks.
For centuries, sailors made reports of a colossal, tentacled monster which emerged from the depths
to drag ships to their watery demise.
Referred to in Scandinavian folklore as the Kraken, for most of human history, these supposed
sea monsters were thought to be nothing more than a myth.
Today, however, scientists believe these tales emerged from early sightings of giant squids.
Since the first footage of a live adult giant squid wasn’t captured until the 2000s, it’s
no surprise these creatures were considered to be fictitious monsters for so long.
They don’t actually smash boats, but since these cephalopods can grow up to 13 meters
or 43 feet in length, it’s not shocking these behemoths were once considered true
monsters Additionally, the animals have the largest eyes of any living creature, about
the size of a dinner plate.
They also have three hearts and a donut-shaped brain that their esophagus passes through
the middle of on the way to their stomach.
In a way, it would almost make more sense if giant squids were only the stuff of legends.
Besides the Kraken, one of the most recognizable aquatic cryptids is the sea serpent.
Taking on various different forms in numerous cultures, sea serpents are usually long, scaly
monsters, sometimes sporting a finned ridge going down their backs.
Although such a monster seems like it could only exist in myth, there is one real species
which scientists consider to be a probable source of many sea serpent tales.
The Oarfish (or-fish) is a massive deep-sea organism which swims at such a low depth it’s
challenging to capture footage of one.
While a fish, not a serpent, the oarfish can reach lengths of 8 meters, or 26 feet in length.
During storms, these giants sometimes washed up on the shore, which is likely where ancient
humans first encountered them.
In some rare cases, however, the oarfish has been spotted swimming in shallow tropical
waters, a sight which is the closest you’ll ever get to observing a ‘real sea serpent.’
Moving onto land, another large reptilian cryptid that appears in the folklore of many
cultures is the dragon.
Four limbed, fire breathing monsters with a serpentine appearance, true dragons might
only exist in old tomes, but there’s a real-world animal that gets pretty close.
Komodo Dragons aren’t the origin of most dragon myths, but when they were first reported
on, it’s no surprise people were at first skeptical of accounts of massive, scaly beasts
which seemed right out of ancient legend.
Growing up to a length of 3 meters, or 10 feet, the largest lizards on the planet aren’t
that far off from actual dragons.
They might not breathe fire, but they do produce toxic proteins from glands in their lower
jaw.
Not an animal you want to mess with.
Returning to the open waters, krakens and sea serpents weren’t the only fantastic
creatures sailors told tales of.
Many also made references to mermaids, the fish tailed sirens of the deep.
But these sightings were in fact inspired by glimpses of a real animal.
The manatee.
Manatees are herbivorous marine mammals which look decidedly not like people, although they
feature unique paddle-shaped tails which do tangentially resemble mermaids of legends.
The sailors who spotted these creatures likely only saw them from a distance, and had maybe
spent too much time alone on their boats.
Mermaids or not, Manatees are great, play a vital role in their ecosystem, and must
be protected.
Moving inland, I want you to imagine a dense forest.
Now imagine a large, furry, unknown animal which sometimes can be spotted walking on
two legs like a human.
If your mind first went to bigfoot, I’d understand — but these are actually the
details of a completely different primate species that once was unknown to science:
the mountain gorilla.
Crazy, right?
Today, the existence of gorillas seems obvious, but if you try to imagine getting a report
of gigantic, hairy upright-walking animals hiding in heavily forested mountains, you
might start to sympathize more with any initial doubters of these creatures’ existence.
Some early accounts suggested they were violent carnivores, and although they’re no pushovers,
they’re much more likely to munch on a carrot than munch on a passerby.
Like the Manatees, Gorillas are an amazing, yet endangered species which needs to be safeguarded
— or they might pass into myth.
Down in the continent of Australia, we have some of the most unique animals on earth.
But perhaps none is quite so strange as a certain duck-billed egg laying mammal which
was for years thought to be just a mythical cryptid.
I’m of course talking about the platypus.
Unlike other species on this list, nobody mistook the platypus for some existing mythical
monster, because, frankly even things out of myth don’t look as weird as the platypus.
Instead, for years, many simply believed the animal was a hoax.
What an incredible species.
And to close off our list, we have not an animal, but a plant.
Early records of Venus fly-traps were met with skepticism, and considering they’re
a plant which essentially — eat insects within their mouth-like leaves, once can understand
why.
The idea of hordes of snapping plants which catch live prey does sound pretty far-fetched,
and pretty horrifying.
The way Venus fly traps work is they possess tiny hair like triggers which go off when
insects land on them, releasing a signal to trap them inside.
The plants then digest the bugs using a unique set of enzymes.
And honestly, if that isn’t the closest thing to a documented cryptid, I don’t know
what is.
So those are 7 animals—well, 6 animals and one plant—that are no longer the stuff of
myth.
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