http://cache.io9.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/io9.com.png http://io9.com/tag/cryptozoology http://io9.com/tag/cryptozoology

In a manner of speaking, yes, Bigfoot did exist — although, perhaps not in the way many modern day cryptid enthusiasts surmise. In a piece written for Smithsonian's Hominid Hunting, Erin Wayman serves up the facts on Gigantopithecus — the car-sized quadruped that went extinct long before humans ever speculated about the existence of a big, hairy, man-like ape. More »
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An unknown beast prefers the taste of human flesh, killing over 100 villagers in the South of France. Tens of thousands of citizens scoured the forests and country side looking for the beast out of fear that they could be it's next meal, but with no success. More »
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In 1974, Lap Kadoma — the wife of a Nepalese sherpa — had a close encounter with a Yeti. The legendary cryptid, Kadoma would later recount, had managed to sneak up on her from behind, before heaving her into a river. When Kadoma regained consciousness, she found the bodies of several dead yaks strewn nearby. More »
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It's like an unholy alliance between furry culture, cryptozoology, and sex. The craze for Bigfoot porn started with Ape Canyon, and now this year has been joined by two new Bigfoot lover flicks. More »
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Lurking in the wild borderlands between Alberta, Canada ski resort town Banff and neighboring Kootenay, a group of unusually large primates live peacefully among the trees. Or so says Todd Standing, a local who says he's found a "Bigfoot colony" and photographed it extensively. You can see Exhibit A, above. More »
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All summer, io9 has been offering a $2000 bounty to the person who can send us a picture of an animal that's a genuine cryptid, or mystery animal. We hoped to find a new species, or at least a real version of a long-sought animal from myth. And by gum, we found one! Our panel of experts has debated — and even examined one specimen — and we've come to an agreement on which creature is most likely to be a genuine cryptid among our entries. Meet the white cheetah, a legend since the mid-17th century. Now for the first time since the 1920s, the creature has been spotted. And we have photographic evidence! More »
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Paranormal investigator and cryptozoologist Joe Nickell has spent 40 years doing fieldwork and research, digging for the truth behind bizarre phenomena like weeping statues and haunted houses. He invited us to his office to talk about the connections between Bigfoot and alien mythology, life as the token skeptic on TV, and why debunkers are just as bad as mystery mongers. More »
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There are hundreds of mysterious cryptids in the world, a mythical menagerie of barely-glimpsed monsters, lost species, and terrifying legends. But let's face it: most of them are pretty pedestrian lake monsters and Sasquatch variants. There are a few, however, that are so bizarre you kind of hope they're real. Here are our favorites. More »
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A bizarre creature terrorized a town in West Virginia in 1966 and 1967, leering at locals with glowing red eyes, flying over their cars and causing radiation burns and even the collapse of a major bridge over the Ohio River. Half man, half moth? Ultradimensional being? Alien from another planet? What was Mothman? More »
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What is the Loch Ness Monster? No one knows, but that hasn't stopped legions of armchair cryptozoologists from formulating one theory after another on the subject of the world's most famous lake creature. More »
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When we think of cryptozoology, we usually think of Bigfoot, the Yeti, and the Loch Ness Monster, creatures that are - let's face it - probably legendary. But some cryptids are real: just ask the platypus, okapi, and giant squid. More »
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When people think of cryptozoology, they often scoff at the idea of people studying Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster. But the hunt for cryptids, or mystery animals, isn't just about myth chasing. It's also about finding new species. More »
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Last year, people in the small Mexican town of Chiquimitío were startled by the arrival of this bizarre creature. They took a few pictures and a short cell video, but this remains one of the clearest images of its head. More »
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The ivory-billed woodpecker was hunted to the point of extinction back in the 1930s, and ornithologists had long assumed it had died out entirely. But one amateur birdwatcher swears that he's seen them...and now he's out to get some proof. More »
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Academics at Russia's Kemerovo State University are starting an institute to investigate increasing reports of 30 or so yetis around Mount Shoria in Siberia. According to institute head Dr. Igor Burtsev, these yetis are likely undiscovered neanderthals. More »
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It's just like something out of Guillermo Del Toro's Blade II, where the vampires use genetic engineering to create hyper-evolved super vampires with giant jaws. Over the past several weeks in Mexico, sheep have been brutally attacked and drained of blood by a large, unrecognizable animal . . . who leaves huge bite marks behind. More »
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Bigfoot, Nessie, Ogopogo, the atmospheric jellyfish — (most of) these cryptids are household names. But did you know that there's a subfield of cryptozoology that deals with massive hominids, sequestered on our planet's hidden places? Let's take a look at some curious cases of Brobdingnagians amongst us. More »
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In Tennessee, reports recently surfaced of a gigantic crayfish that no one had ever seen before. Much to their surprise, researchers found one hiding under a rock. More »
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In the rainforests of Papua, New Guinea, there have been reports for decades of giant birds resembling the prehistoric Pterosaur - they've been seen by locals and by visiting scientists. More »
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The International Cryptozoology Museum is a must-visit destination for monster hunters. J.W. Ocker, author of The New England Grimpendium, made the pilgrimage recently and has the horrifying photos to prove it. Do you dare to see New England's weirdest creatures? More »
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In many countries, crytpid remains are objects of curiosity, relegated to tourist attractions and cryptozoology museums. But in Japan, the mummified remains of monsters and demons are often kept in Buddhist temples and out of the hands of the public. More »
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Children the world over look forward to their annual visit from Father Christmas, but what if the secret behind Santa Claus was actually something sinister? In the film Rare Exports, we will learn Santa Claus' terrifying cryptozoological origins. More »
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Need an unusual gift for the cryptozoologist in your life? Sculptor Sabrina Brewer's medium is dead animals, which she mixes and matches to create fantastical creatures, from the more traditional griffins and unicorns to El Chupacabra and undead three-headed squirrels. More »
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Coelacanths, once thought extinct since the Cretaceous period, have been sighted a few times over the last few decades. Indian paleontologists believe a group of frightened children have found the largest Coelacanth on record, weighing 320 kilos. [via Xenophilia] More »
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Karl Kerschl's The Abominable Charles Christopher is another entry in the subgenre of humans encroaching upon nature, but don't let that scare you off. After all, it features gorgeous illustrations, breezy humor, and a yeti protagonist. More »
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While some taxidermists are meticulously preserving our animals for future generations, others prefer to color outside the lines of their chosen art form, creating bizarre and monstrous creatures better suited to nightmares than museums. More »
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The legendary Mongolian Death Worm is reportedly five feet long, with the ability to spew sulphuric acid and emit a deadly electrical charge. But it's these very qualities that have cryptid seekers searching high and low for the toxic monster. More »
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In many cultures, creatures like sea serpents, griffins, and dragons were more than legends; their existence seemed a provable fact. An exhibit at Boston’s Museum of Science explains the real scientific discoveries that inspired the myths. More »
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A remote-controlled underwater vehicle exploring the area around an oil platform off the coast of Mexico met this strange giant sea creature about a mile and a half below the surface. With ten legs dangling from what look like elbow joints, it was a pretty shocking sight to the vehicle operators. They captured this footage about a year ago, and passed it around via e-mail until somebody finally explained what it was. Called Magnapinna, these relatives of the squid have only been spotted a handful of times by vehicles like the one that recorded it here. Four of their bodies have been recovered by researchers, but were so badly damaged that it was hard for scientists to figure out their anatomy. What we do know is that they can grow to about 23 feet in length, about half the size of the biggest giant squid, and they have 10 long legs (instead of the normal squid setup of 8 short legs and 2 big tentacles). Nobody is sure why their legs have that elbow-like crook in them, but researchers speculate that it could be to keep the legs from tangling as the creature drifts along catching prey in its long, long tentacles. Apparently these creatures are quite common in the dark depths of the ocean below 4,000 feet, and there are perhaps four subspecies. So maybe this is the long-lost relative of the Cloverfield monster? Alien-Like Squid with Elbows Filmed at Drilling Site [via National Geographic] More »
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