Cryptozoology

[Gwangi]

Woah, I didn't know there were so many cryptid fans here. I remember the last time the topic was brought up, only like two folks would be unabashedly enthused about it. Maybe ya folks realized that changes in climate may force a few cryptids to leave their comfort/geological zones, and y'all don't want to look too pigeonholed into supporting a particular stance, especially if evidence were to suddenly emerge because of geological instability and such 

I'm not sure you're aware of this but Loren Coleman was a member on the original forum.

I also noticed a lack of interest in cryptozoology "back in the day". I'm interested in the topic for sure, but still quite skeptical.

[Lizerd]

@Gwangi well in terms of science for most of it's history if you were a cryptozoologist  you would get laughed at. To be honest its pretty obvious to see why they were not taken seriously, imagine this, your neighbor says "I'm going to find big foot", wanders off into the woods, returns after 5 days with some hair and says "big foot is real!!" . My guess is the recent popularity of cryptozoology has been helped by sites like scp and creepy pasta. It still is fun to talk about and we all like to tell a good story  but some cryptid models, would be cool. My guess, we probably won't get any.

[tanystropheus]

@Gwangi well in terms of science for most of it's history if you were a cryptozoologist  you would get laughed at. To be honest its pretty obvious to see why they were not taken seriously, imagine this, your neighbor says "I'm going to find big foot", wanders off into the woods, returns after 5 days with some hair and says "big foot is real!!" . My guess is the recent popularity of cryptozoology has been helped by sites like scp and creepy pasta. It still is fun to talk about and we all like to tell a good story  but some cryptid models, would be cool. My guess, we probably won't get any.

Yeah, but imagine if a 'cryptozoologist' finds evidence of a living Homo heidelbergensis...she/he would probably receive the nobel prize or something. Perhaps, it might be worth a few rounds of being laughed at, initially...

[Doug Watson]

Unfortunately I have never been asked to do any of the cryptids or mythical creatures but I would love to. I grew up on the mythical creatures in Ray Harryhausen films and was fascinated by bigfoot accounts after the Patterson film. I would have really enjoyed doing that bigfoot. As it is Safari Ltd always has more extant and extinct animals on their wish list than I have time to do in a year.

Well hopefully if they ever decide to do the cryptids based on prehistoric animals you'll be the go-to guy. Would be interesting to see your take on a deliberately outdated looking Mokele-mbembe or a Nessie complete with humps and horns.

After thinking about it I already get enough grief when one of my dinosaurs doesn't look the way someone else thinks it should look so maybe I will steer clear of cryptids unless I am doing them for myself. 

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Unfortunately I have never been asked to do any of the cryptids or mythical creatures but I would love to. I grew up on the mythical creatures in Ray Harryhausen films and was fascinated by bigfoot accounts after the Patterson film. I would have really enjoyed doing that bigfoot. As it is Safari Ltd always has more extant and extinct animals on their wish list than I have time to do in a year.

Well hopefully if they ever decide to do the cryptids based on prehistoric animals you'll be the go-to guy. Would be interesting to see your take on a deliberately outdated looking Mokele-mbembe or a Nessie complete with humps and horns.

After thinking about it I already get enough grief when one of my dinosaurs doesn't look the way someone else thinks it should look so maybe I will steer clear of cryptids unless I am doing them for myself. 

lol might be a good policy.  You would think folks would be more forgiving of mythical creatures..

I'm actually looking to do another special exhibit here at the dino park next Spring,  Monsters, Myths and Legends

[Ravonium]

I want Krampus! Or Amphisbanea! I dreamed about it's toy as a kid. Chupacabra would be cool too.

I want an Amphisbaena model too, but not the same kind of Amphisbaena


On the topic of there being more cryptid fans here than in the past; Me personally, I'm a cryptid fan, but only a very casual one (and definitely not one that believes any of them exist  )

[Gwangi]

Unfortunately I have never been asked to do any of the cryptids or mythical creatures but I would love to. I grew up on the mythical creatures in Ray Harryhausen films and was fascinated by bigfoot accounts after the Patterson film. I would have really enjoyed doing that bigfoot. As it is Safari Ltd always has more extant and extinct animals on their wish list than I have time to do in a year.

Well hopefully if they ever decide to do the cryptids based on prehistoric animals you'll be the go-to guy. Would be interesting to see your take on a deliberately outdated looking Mokele-mbembe or a Nessie complete with humps and horns.

After thinking about it I already get enough grief when one of my dinosaurs doesn't look the way someone else thinks it should look so maybe I will steer clear of cryptids unless I am doing them for myself. 

You might be right. I've seen Nessie in person and it didn't look anything like your sculpt. The head isn't nearly horse-like enough, and it had three humps, not two. I bet you've never even seen a Nessie!

[tanystropheus]

I want Krampus! Or Amphisbanea! I dreamed about it's toy as a kid. Chupacabra would be cool too.

I'm a cryptid fan, but only a very casual one (and definitely not one that believes any of them exist  )

Probability alone dictates that at least some of them may exist. According to National Ocean Service, only 5% of the oceans have been explored.

[Lizerd]

Well, only 5% makes sense. It may be weird saying this but often deep ocean exploration is more difficult than space exploration. Why? Well because of pressure, limiting designs and availability. Also the oceans are vast and we can't see all that well into them.

[Gwangi]

There's undiscovered life, new species are described each year, but they aren't the stuff cryptozoologists look for. 

[Lizerd]

There's undiscovered life, new species are described each year, but they aren't the stuff cryptozoologists look for. 

Cryptozoologitsts are to busy to bother with "actual science"  they are looking for Sasquatch.

[Ravonium]

Probability alone dictates that at least some of them may exist. According to National Ocean Service, only 5% of the oceans have been explored.

I think that the constraints that remote open ocean and deep ocean ecosystems have are simply too much to warrant the existence of most oceanic cryptids, but I do think that there is a remote probability that at least one will be found to be real, although I think it is more likely that the new species we'll discover in the unexplored ocean will consist simply of a few more additions to groups we already know about. At best, we'll get a new group of arthropods or a new invertebrate that warrants the restructuring of taxonomy of animals.

There's undiscovered life, new species are described each year, but they aren't the stuff cryptozoologists look for. 

Nicely said    They also seem to mostly look for the ones that are the least likely to be real (e.g. a giant ape living in cool to subpolar forests or even worse, a modern plesiosaur that lives in a (by global standards) small lake, that is likely too cold for most of the year to support a large reptile, not to mention the fact that Loch Ness is in one of the most human-encroached countries in the world).

[Doug Watson]

Unfortunately I have never been asked to do any of the cryptids or mythical creatures but I would love to. I grew up on the mythical creatures in Ray Harryhausen films and was fascinated by bigfoot accounts after the Patterson film. I would have really enjoyed doing that bigfoot. As it is Safari Ltd always has more extant and extinct animals on their wish list than I have time to do in a year.

Well hopefully if they ever decide to do the cryptids based on prehistoric animals you'll be the go-to guy. Would be interesting to see your take on a deliberately outdated looking Mokele-mbembe or a Nessie complete with humps and horns.

After thinking about it I already get enough grief when one of my dinosaurs doesn't look the way someone else thinks it should look so maybe I will steer clear of cryptids unless I am doing them for myself. 

You might be right. I've seen Nessie in person and it didn't look anything like your sculpt. The head isn't nearly horse-like enough, and it had three humps, not two. I bet you've never even seen a Nessie!

[Appalachiosaurus]

Probability alone dictates that at least some of them may exist. According to National Ocean Service, only 5% of the oceans have been explored.

Haha, that may be true, but that 95% probably looks more like this:



Than this:

[tanystropheus]

Probability alone dictates that at least some of them may exist. According to National Ocean Service, only 5% of the oceans have been explored.

Haha, that may be true, but that 95% probably looks more like this:



Than this:

LOL. But, how do we know for sure?! What if there are Zeuglodons running around down there?

[Reptilia]

Well, if they're running that's even weirder!

[Ravonium]

Well, if they're running that's even weirder!

Did you just say that fully aquatic creatures can't run?

[Reptilia]

No, I don't know if they can technically run, I assume your answer imply they can. But maybe it is also safe to assume that Zeuglodon (Basilosaurus) couldn't run? Was just joking though.

[Lizerd]

Nah, its obviously a troll in the water. Or maybe it is a yuncker. Now a cryptid we need is a yeti.

[Ravonium]

No, I don't know if they can technically run, I assume your answer imply they can.

I was joking, I don't know if anyone seriously believes that frogfish can run, but at least it is weakly arguable - there is no-one that would say that Zeuglodons can run.

Nah, its obviously a troll in the water.

I see what you did there...