30 replies to this topic

[Karlis]

www.newscientist.com said:

Even in the 21st century, the natural world is still brimming with mystery. Not all of the new discoveries are small or obscure. The Mindoro fruit bat, discovered in the Philippines in 2007, has a 1-metre wingspan.The same year saw the discovery of a venomous snakein Australia and a large electric ray in South Africa. Read more...

[Bildr]

Yep. Serious research on those kind of subjects is often discredited to soon. They are researching the mysterious, not going on tales of the boogey man.

[xXHellkittiesXx]

It just a matter of time until we prove the existence of the boogey man...

[guardian of the edge]

What do you expect from people whose job it is to find Bigfoot? I personally think it would be a fun job but I wouldn't want to do it because of the criticism. I think they should get more respect simply because they basically are like zoologists and have to know about animals we know exist to help them find the ones we haven't found yet.

[evancj]

Why should they be praised or respected?

Have you seen finding bigfoot? What a joke.

Shouldn't they have to prove their worth just like the rest of us? Not one of them has ever found a damn thing, including the animals mentioned in the OP.

[Carnivorous Entity]

evancj, on 23 June 2011 - 10:15 PM, said:

Why should they be praised or respected?

Have you seen finding bigfoot? What a joke.

Shouldn't they have to prove their worth just like the rest of us? Not one of them has ever found a damn thing, including the animals mentioned in the OP.

Did you actually read the article? They mentioned a David Bickford, a cryptozoologist/biologist who has discovered several previously unknown species. No one said anything about giving them baseless praise and respect as far as I can tell, more about not discounting them because they research species that we don't have proof of.

[Doctor_Strangelove]

The issue with attempting to view cryptozoology as a worthy scientific endeavour is it really isn't. While yes, there are plenty of species left undiscovered in rainforests and oceans across the world, they are left so because they have no been seen by humans ever. They are the species that live in uninhabitable parts of the world, not the kind who walk around and shake people's trailers. And these undiscovered species aren't being sought after by cryptozoologists, when they do turn up it is to real zoologists and biologists. Cryptozoology is only interested in looking for implausible creatures who have no niche in the ecosystems they are reported in. Because of that, cryptozoology is a hobby reserved for the odd few who leave meat traps and blast animal noises into woods in hopes of attracting giant man apes.

Until cryptozoology gets real results and doesn't solely go after what the rest of science views as biologically impossible, cryptozoologists will not gain any respect from me.

[evancj]

Carnivorous Entity, on 24 June 2011 - 12:03 AM, said:

Did you actually read the article? They mentioned a David Bickford, a cryptozoologist/biologist who has discovered several previously unknown species. No one said anything about giving them baseless praise and respect as far as I can tell, more about not discounting them because they research species that we don't have proof of.

Yes I did read the article and I must say I did not find it very credible. As soon as they claimed the coelacanth (not the same species that went extinct) as a cryptid it lost all credibility for me.

I did a little search on David Bickford and I cannot find anything where he claims he is a cryptozoologist. In fact it looks like all the usual nut job crypto sites are the one calling him a cryptozoologist.

I did find a paper he wrote, along with his academic profile and research interests, and guess what, cyrptozology was not mentioned.

Quote

http://www.dbs.nus.e...ber2008File.pdf

Academic Profile:
David Bickford received his Ph.D. in Tropical Biology from the University of Miami, in Coral Gables, Florida, USA under Jay Savage in 2001. After his Ph.D., he worked at the University of Texas in Austin, Texas as postdoctoral fellow exploring the evolution and ecology of frogs on a Tree of Life grant. Dr. Bickford has worked in Australasia for more than 10 years, mostly on the large tropical islands of New Guinea, Borneo, Sulawesi, and Sumatra. He was awarded the Bacardi Young Conservationist Award in 2006.

Research Interests:
Evolutionary ecology Herpetology (primarily frogs) Conservation Adaptive radiations Tropical biodiversity Climate change

As far as the lungless frog discovery goes, it turns out that it was previously known. Dr. Bickford along with the original discoverer just found 2 new populations.

Quote

http://scienceblogs....d_in_borneo.php

Bickford found nine specimens on a recent expedition to the island in 2007 and before then, only two specimens had ever been found in almost 30 years of searching.

Quote

http://www.nowpublic...oblate-spheroid

Bickford's Indonesian colleague, Djoko Iskandar, first came across the frog 30 years ago and has been searching for it ever since. He didn't know the frog was lungless until they cut eight of the specimens open in the lab.

There is not one animal in this article that is even close to a cyrptid. They are what they are, previously unknown species to science. Show me bigfoot or nessie and I will look at cryptozoology in a new light.

I think the person who wrote this article took a few to many liberties with the truth. Perhaps you should not take everything you read at face value.

Edited by evancj, 24 June 2011 - 02:10 AM.

[PowerPC]

I don't know about the bigfoot but if someone would research the forums on this site I am sure they will find plenty of evidence for the elusive bigmouth....They leave evidence everywhere but nobody has actually seen one or one that will admit they are of the species.......

Edited by PowerPC, 24 June 2011 - 04:48 AM.

[Erowin]

It's not so much a job as a hobby. You cannot make any money being a cryptozoologist. Who would pay you to look for bigfoot? And it costs money to get traps and cameras. People shouldn't treat is as a job or a valid branch of science. REAL biologists are the ones that find new species.

[ohio state buckeyes]

evancj, on 23 June 2011 - 10:15 PM, said:

Why should they be praised or respected?

Have you seen finding bigfoot? What a joke.

Shouldn't they have to prove their worth just like the rest of us? Not one of them has ever found a damn thing, including the animals mentioned in the OP.

Just because they have not found a Big Foot doesn't mean they shouldn't look. We would still think the Earth was flat and be riding animals as our main transportation if people would never thought for themselves.

[Some-Like-It-Hot]

guardian of the edge, on 23 June 2011 - 06:29 PM, said:

What do you expect from people whose job it is to find Bigfoot? I personally think it would be a fun job but I wouldn't want to do it because of the criticism. I think they should get more respect simply because they basically are like zoologists and have to know about animals we know exist to help them find the ones we haven't found yet.

This is what burns me the most about the fakers & those who pull hoaxes - we'll never know if any video or supposed evidence is real because of them. Yeesh, that grainy footage of a gorilla might actually be Bigfoot, but because of the pranksters, we'll never know because they've ruined all credibility.

[evancj]

PowerPC, on 24 June 2011 - 04:47 AM, said:

I don't know about the bigfoot but if someone would research the forums on this site I am sure they will find plenty of evidence for the elusive bigmouth....They leave evidence everywhere but nobody has actually seen one or one that will admit they are of the species.......

Very interesting. I did some research on this strange animal and did find one that has at least 18 posts. Thanks for the tip.

[evancj]

ohio state buckeyes, on 24 June 2011 - 07:02 PM, said:

Just because they have not found a Big Foot doesn't mean they shouldn't look.

Who's saying they shouldn't look?

ohio state buckeyes, on 24 June 2011 - 07:02 PM, said:

We would still think the Earth was flat and be riding animals as our main transportation if people would never thought for themselves.

So believing anyone's story or the people whom sell books and videos about these mythical beasts is thinking for yourself?

[Erowin]

I support and respect the people that want to go out and look for cryptids, who knows, might they not find something? You don't know until you look. But I don't think they should be calling themselves 'experts' or pretending to be a type of science. It's like comparing treasure hunting and archeology. Yes, treasure hunting does sometimes get results, but it's not valid science.