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The fact is, of course, that the new cryptic species being described all the time are either not that interesting (to cryptozoologists), or the process of their discovery isn't all that exciting. Cryptozoologists are not too different from people looking for
confirmation of spectacular Bible stories (e.g. the Exodus, the Flood...); often they are one & the same! I get the feeling that a lot of the cryptid-hunters are people who want the supposed fame & fortune of scientific discovery, but aren't quite so willing
to apply the rigor of the scientific method to their quests, or are blinded by ideology that erodes their objectivity.
It always bugs me when I hear how people like the Bigfoot cameraman Patterson wasn't 'in it for the money' - of course they are! Have you seen the cottage industry of Bigfoot films, merchandise, and tourism? A lake monster is a great lure to draw tourists to
your Scottish highland loch, and paranormal activity of all sorts is a proven trick to get the foolish to part with their cash. I also believe in the case of mokele-mbembe & other cryptids that it's possible the natives cleverly instigated explorers to go
on wild goose chases, to their own amusement.
Thomas Yazbeck
From: Ronald Orenstein <ron.orenstein@rogers.com>
Sent: Tuesday, May 25, 2021 3:30 PM To: Mike Taylor <sauropoda@gmail.com>; Bruce Shillinglaw <shillinglawbruce@gmail.com>; Yazbeck, Thomas <yazbeckt@msu.edu> Cc: DML <dinosaur-l@usc.edu> Subject: Re: [dinosaur] Non-avian dinosaurs all extinct In this context I find it interesting that although large numbers of new species have been described in recent decades, including everything from insects to whales, of the fifty-plus cryptids (including mkole-mbembe) described in the bible of
cryptozoology (which I devoured avidly as a teenager), On the Track of Unknown Animals by Bernard Hevelmans, first published (in French) in 1955, not one has actually been proven to exist. I find this remarkable. By the law of averages at least a
few of Heuvelmans' cryptids should have shown up.
I conclude from this that cryptozoology is a remarkably accurate predictor of what will
not turn out to be an actual undiscovered animal. Instead, it demonstrates two things: the ability of the human imagination to see what it wants to see, and the ignorance of cryptozoologists as to the process by which real undescribed species (the odd
bird or two, seen or heard by birders well before a specimen could be collected, as an exception) are 'discovered' by western scientists. The prize example is the saola, actual specimens of which (trophies on the walls of hunters' homes) were found by John
Mackinnon's expedition on the first day of their exploration of its range.
Ronald Orenstein
1825 Shady Creek Court Mississauga, ON L5L 3W2 Canada ronorenstein.blogspot.com ronorensteinwriter.blogspot.com On Tuesday, May 25, 2021, 03:03:24 p.m. EDT, Yazbeck, Thomas <yazbeckt@msu.edu> wrote:
Just wanted to jump in and add to the thread a bit. The whole mokele-mbembe myth stems from a misunderstanding and outdated science. The animal is said to be semi-aquatic, like typical early/mid-20th century depictions of sauropods, and totally unlike any sauropod
that we know from the fossil record. They're all terrestrial and show no trend towards amphibious adaptations. If a sauropod did live today, we would expect it to be terrestrial like every known real sauropod.
A lot of the 'expeditions' in search of the animal are by creationists trying to prove dinosaurs are extant. There's evidence that the animal is just a myth/misinterpretation by native peoples, perhaps exacerbated by the credulity of European explorers. It's
plausible that the mokele-mbembe is a fuzzy folk memory of locally extinct rhinoceros. Different traits of the animal in different accounts also point towards myth or hoax.
Arguably, most cryptozoology is just creationism or some kind of chauvinism in disguise, more interesting for what it reveals about human society and psychology than anything about animal life.
Thomas Yazbeck
From: dinosaur-l-request@mymaillists.usc.edu <dinosaur-l-request@mymaillists.usc.edu> on behalf of Mike Taylor <sauropoda@gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, May 25, 2021 9:58 AM To: Bruce Shillinglaw <shillinglawbruce@gmail.com> Cc: DML <dinosaur-l@usc.edu> Subject: Re: [dinosaur] Non-avian dinosaurs all extinct
"Absence of evidence doesn't indicate evidence of absence"
Bit of a pet hate here, but absence of evidence absolutely DOES indicate evidence of absence. It doesn't PROVE absence, but it shifts the probability. Suppose I have a bag containing 100 billiard balls and I ask you whether any of them are yellow. Each time
you draw out one of the balls and it's not yellow, your confidence that there are no yellow balls increases.
And in the same way, each African expedition that doesn't turn up a Mokele-Mbembe increases confidence that there is no Mokele-Mbembe in Africa.
-- Mike.
On Tue, 25 May 2021 at 14:55, Bruce Shillinglaw <shillinglawbruce@gmail.com> wrote:
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