The Top Cryptozoology Stories of 2013

© Loren Coleman, Cryptozoologist and Author, Mysterious America, Cryptozoology A to Z, and other books.

The general public and media were captivated in 2013 by a wide variety of cryptozoological stories. Compared to previous recent years, the news items were generally more positive, if not sometimes only to be found in the strange and offbeat sections of your social media feeds.

This year’s annual picks are cryptozoological events that became newsworthy or were announced during 2013 (even though, as actual discoveries, they may have been in the works from an earlier year or years).

The following are the top cryptid-related tidbits of most interest to the public, cryptozoologists, hominologists, fans, friends, foes, and the media during the last year. The stories may not be the most groundbreaking, but they include some that garnered the largest media reaction and greatest public discussions concerning our favorite field of study in the last 12 months.

(1). New Tapir Discovered

The remarkable confirmation of the largest land mammal since the discovery of the saola in 1992, and the first new tapir to be found since 1865, was certainly big news. Within a day or two of our early comparative overview, mainstream media were reporting the breaking announcement of this find.

The Kobomani Tapir (Tapirus kabomani) discovery was definitely cryptozoological, as this species first came to Western Science attention based on ethnoknown information. The added tidbit that this new species of tapir was actually hunted by Teddy Roosevelt in 1912, with a specimen being placed in the American Museum of Natural History collection in New York City, adds an intriguing historical twist. Roosevelt wrote that the local hunters called the tapir a “distinct kind.”

Other new species news for 2013, included:

(2). Ancient Snow Bear Discovery

As part of the Oxford-Lausanne Collateral Hominid Project study of unknown hominoid hairs, human geneticist Bryan Skyes found an identity for two of his hair specimens pointing to the discovery of a new surviving ancient brown bear. One of the samples Sykes analyzed came from an alleged Yeti mummy in the Indian region of Ladakh, at the Western edge of the Himalayas, taken 40 years ago. The other was a single hair found a decade ago in Bhutan, 800 miles to the east. Sykes said the fact the hair samples were found so far apart, and so recently, suggests the members of the species are still alive.

“I can’t imagine we managed to get samples from the only two ‘snow bears’ in the Himalayas,” he said.

Both were brown hairs that were a 100% match to DNA from an ancient polar bear (when they were closely aligned to the brown bears). Media use of white polar bears and “white” Yetis merely created confusion.

Other DNA findings related to the “ Zana ” skull being descended from Africans, and the gathered Bigfoot hair samples being nonprimate were also part of Sykes’ results.

here, here, For more details on the Skyes’ Yeti, Almasty, and Bigfoot DNA results and stories, see here here , and here

Paul LeBlond, Ph. D. (oceanography), Canada, Cadborosaurus: Survivor from the Deep (1995)

Michel Raynal, Ph. D. (computer sciences), France, Synthesis Series in Computer and Information Science (2011)

Karl Shuker, Ph. D. (zoology), United Kingdom, The Encyclopaedia of New and Rediscovered Animals (2012)

Charles Paxton, Ph. D. (aquatic ecology), United Kingdom

Christine M. Janis, Ph. D. (vertebrate paleontology), United States of America, Evolution of Tertiary Mammals of North America (2005, 2008)

D. Jeffrey Meldrum, Ph. D. (physical anthropology), United States of America, Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science (2006)

Henry Bauer, Ph. D. (chemistry), United States of America, Enigma of Loch Ness (1986), and

Adrienne Mayor, honorary Ph. D., United States of America, Fossil Legends of the First Americans (2005).

© Loren Coleman 2013 ~ Please share this material via a link only. Permission is not granted to republish the entire contents of “Top Cryptozoology Stories of 2013.”