In early to mid 20th century, the entity would become a point of focus among adherents of the pseudoscience of cryptozoology, and young Earth creationism, resulting in numerous expeditions led by cryptozoologists and funded by young Earth creationists and other groups with the objective to find evidence that invalidates or contradicts the scientific consensus regarding evolution.
(Wikipedia)
I think this tells you a lot about the likelihood that this thing exists.
I wouldnāt go so far as to say none are real with confidence, but i suppose it depends on what you consider real vs not. Like say, a āghost catā that isnāt a literal ghost, but is an albino or leucistic individual which is still plenty unusual and special. And hey, we still discover new species all the time, and many animals used to be thought to be mythical, such as giant squids.
I donāt think giant squids were ever thought to be a myth? There are myths about implausibly large giant squids, i.e. the Kraken, but thatās not the same thing.
I said probably are not real, not definitely.
Fun fiction:
Seanan Mcguire sci-fi:
A world with lots of encryptids and an extended family of āscientistsā who study them.
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=seanan+mcguire+incryptid+series&crid=2HAWPCB8OT5PK&sprefix=Seanan%2Caps%2C244&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-doa-p_4_6
An amazingly inventive, engaging, and helpfully philosophical podcast series:
https://www.cryptonaturalist.com/
Iād say that is a meme. In popular culture, a meme is a picture with a punch line or two. The idea of that mystical creature existing on earth is an earlier type of memetic information. Now we know it canāt possibly be true. That is not unique to africa. There is Loch Ness monster, Kraken, chinese dragon, Godzilla, Orang Pendek of indonesiaā¦
There are huge fossils in Saharaās sand. may be whale bones or dinosaurs. Some tribal people could have come across some huge partial skeletons and thought it was some terribly big creature. Even elephant bones are big but they know an elephant when they see one. They did not see a live one but from the clues it must be big. and not everyone is an expert. If some neck bones of giraffe were added on to form a whole skeleton, it may look incredible. I believe there is Moonshine in africa and unique varieties of marijuana. Some substances are hallucinogens. People will see things differently. If they can recall their dreams and talk about it in pubs, about some adventures in foreign lands, some details would be exaggerated or distorted. or possibly to scare them kids from going into the bushes. There are indeed very savage creatures like Lions, leopards and bandits
Whether the creature is real or not, it does not disprove evolution. Evolution tells us that lifeforms can be quite plastic and yet linked in some ways.
If those crazy colonialist explorers want a Moonshine Myth that country called Africa will give them one?
Giant squid - another one washed up this week.
About palaeontology in Africa (the hard science not the spun memes)
https://theconversation.com/ancient-plant-eating-cousins-from-brazil-and-south-africa-are-reunited-43926
https://theconversation.com/fossil-tracks-reveal-which-birds-once-roamed-south-africas-cape-south-coast-147199
https://theconversation.com/africas-rich-fossil-finds-should-get-the-air-time-they-deserve-91849
The legend of the kraken (and other sea monsters too) are believed to have originated from sightings of the giant squid. You have to remember that theyāre incredibly rarely seen even today, and until they were properly documented the average person would find the concept of a squid that large ridiculous.
Imagine a fisherman spotting the carcass of an enormous tentacled beast in the water, then going home and telling everyone about what he saw. One long game of telephone and a couple more sightings later, you have the kraken.
The kid with the Giant squid makes it look very big. With adult humans next to it, the giant squid looks like the size of a canoe, excluding the longest tentacles. It is an awesome find for those observers in the pictures and the one taking the picture.
That was actually the premise of a movie back in the 80s. Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend - Wikipedia
It goes to show how little understanding they have of what they so strongly oppose. It is like the alleged plesiosaur dragged up by the Japanese fishing boat ā it was a decomposed basking shark. But if the creationist premise that āliving fossilsā disproved evolution was true, then there would have been no need to invent a plesiosaur carcass ā because sharks, such as the basking shark, have been around since before plesiosaurs!
Speaking of sharks, it seems that in our times, Megalodon is becoming another cryptid. So it goes ā an extinct creature that captures the human imagination always has the potential to be āresurrectedā in this way.
Yes, it was concidered a myth and not taken seriously by science until the mid 19th centuryā¦
Iām not sure that counts. The platypus isnāt a myth, even though the first specimen of it brought to European scientists was (reasonably) thought to be a fake.
Thereās a myth about a giant leopard-creature whose breath can wipe out entire villages. That myth existing doesnāt mean that leopards are mythical. Plenty of mythical creatures are inspired by real animals, but I donāt think that means that the real inspirations are myths, even if someone only knew about the myth for awhile before learning about the inspiration.
You may have misunderstood what I was saying. My point was that a cryptid still has the potential to be a previously undescribed species, just like the platypus and giant squid were. Not that those animals are still considered myth. Unidentified animals are often blown out of proportion after being sighted and depicted as unusual, otherworldly monsters over time.
I wonder if that ties in with this?
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/gas-cloud-kills-cameroon-villagers
Life is more fun with cryptids in it. Mokele-Mbembe would be relatively far down my list of legit ones though.
Well, that now depends a lot on how you would define the term āmythā. ;-)
ā¦ in my understanding it is āā¦traditional poetry, legend, tale from the prehistory of a peopleā
Architheuthis has occured in many forms in tales and stories since acient times and only in the 1850s it started to get obviouse that it is not just all tales and storiesā¦
I remember that tragic event being in the news. The science they reported about how that came about was pretty amazing.
I could imagine such happenings leading to legends like poison~breathing animals.
It is vivid in my memory, as I was reading weekly updates in New Scientist. Working in the Engineering and Science Library at the University of Cape Town.
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