Daniel Loxton is a writer at
Skeptic magazine. Donald R. Prothero is a paleontologist. They got together and wrote the new book
Abominable Science! Origins of the Yeti, Nessie, and Other Famous Cryptids,
which may be a disappointment for people who buy it for the title
alone. National Geographic News has an interview with both authors. A
sample:
All the cryptids that you discuss in the book –
Bigfoot, the Yeti, the Loch Ness Monster, Mokele Mbembe – are very
similar to things that exist or existed in the past: bears, primates,
plesiosaurs, sauropods. Why the similarity?
DL: In some cases I
think it's because they are the same. Bears are often associated with
ogres or wildmen in folklore because they're pretty humanlike. Once that
folklore is underway, you have the opportunity for people to make these
misidentification errors where they see a bear and think it might be a
bigfoot.
DP: These animals look like something familiar to us
because the myths grow around whatever we've already just seen. Daniel
pointed out in the book that the Mokele Mbembe myth emerged right about
the time that large sauropod skeletons were first mounted in New York
City and illustrated by people like Charles R. Knight. Then lo and
behold, someone starts reporting one in the Congo, where it doesn't have
any history prior to that.
The authors also discuss the phrase "absence of evidence is not evidence of absence" at
NatGeo News .
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