The most recent sightings of the so-called "swamp ape" are intriguing. But, to quote the late cosmologist Carl Sagan, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.The extraordinary claim is that there is a large mammal unknown to science roaming the wilds of Florida.If you're not skeptical, you should be. Here's why.For one thing, Florida is not some remote area of the Tropics. It has been pretty well explored for centuries.Florida is a fairly developed state, crisscrossed by highways.Even when the Florida panther was down to the last couple of dozen animals, they were still getting hit by vehicles. Animals may evade science for a time, but the chance that they could evade scientists and speeding cars is slim. Road kills are a useful, if grisly, research tool.I have to blame pop culture, especially movies, for fostering the idea that such creatures might exist.My favorite example is "Son of Kong," a 1933 sequel to "King Kong."

Among the logical questions arising from that movie, the most obvious concerns the whereabouts of Queen Kong. King Kong was powerful, but he was incapable of giving birth.Where wildlife survives, it is because there is a breeding population of them, not a single specimen. That's how things work, myths and fancy to the contrary notwithstanding.Does this mean there are no undiscovered creatures somewhere on the planet?Certainly not.

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