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Book Reviews 142 MILLER ET AL. Vol. 84 BOOK REVIEW Cryptozoology: Interdisciplinary Jour- education, and for providing reliable in- nal of the International Society of Crypto- formation to appropriate authorities." zoology, edited by J. Richard Greenwell. Do we really need another journal? Membership at $25/year is available from Apparently so, for I cannot imagine estab- Secretary-Treasurer of ISC, Box 43070, lished scientific journals such as Copeia, Tucson, Arizona 85733. Includes Crypto- Journal of Mammalogy or Science publishing zoology annually and The ISC Newsletter articles based on hearsay and negative re- quarterly. sults as does volume one of Cryptozoology. The officers and board of directors of The rear cover of volume one states, the new society contain names familiar "The International Society of Cryptozool- to readers of fringe zoology. Bernard ogy serves as a focal point for the investiga- Heuvelmans, French author of On the Track tion, analysis, publication, and discussion of Unknown Animals, is president, and Roy of all matters related to animals of unex- Mackal of Loch Ness fame is vice presi- pected form or size, or unexpected occur- dent. Of the 12 board members, 6 are rence in time or space. The Society also overseas and many have substantial scien- serves as a forum for public discussion and tific reputations such as Grover Krantz, OhioJ. Sci. BOOK REVIEW 143 anthropologist and Bigfoot expert; George as a food source for this creature of un- Zug, herpetologist at the U.S. National known size, eating habits, and classifi- Museum, and Phillip Tobias, anatomist- cation; a task the authors admit is difficult. anthropologist in South Africa. There is an No conclusions were reached. A couple of 8-member editorial board including gratuitous formulae were added for good 2 prominent ichthyologists, C. Levett measure to make the paper seem scientific. Smith and Eugenie Clark. The whole endeavor reminded me of "What is cryptozoology?" is the title of reading creationist literature. the lead article in volume one. Cryptozool- An article by oceanographer P. H. ogy, as defined by Heuvelmans, is the LeBlond calculated the size of the Lake science of "hidden" animals. By "hidden" Champlain monster, known as Champ, at he means undescribed by science. Heuvel- 4.8-17.2 m based on a snapshot of Champ mans compared cryptozoology to paleon- and the length of wind waves. Volume one tology and said that "cryptozoological (100 pages) ends with reviews of 5 recent reconstructions are no more fantastic or Sasquatch books. illegitimate than those of paleontology." There is a certain seductive appeal to the He seems to think that anecdotal testi- fact that the okapi, a 200 kg relative of the monials of eyewitnesses are the equivalent giraffe, remained unknown to science until of fossils. He also wrote that "... science 1900; or that living coelacanths, thought bases itself essentially on reason" then to be extinct for 65,000,000 years, were added, "This certainly does not mean. described in 1939; or that megamouth, a that nonrational knowledge should be huge (750 kg) unknown oceanic shark, ignored and neglected." How knowledge eluded notice until it became tangled can be arrived at without reason is not in a navy sea anchor in 1976 off Hawaii. explained. So why not Loch Ness monsters, Big- Other articles in the first volume relate foot, or dinosaurs in Africa? One smart "The Status of Wildman Research in aleck answer might be because okapis, China" accompanied by an interesting coelacanths, and megamouth are real. All photograph of hairy primate hands said the searches in the world will produce to be from a large unknown monkey spe- no specimens of nonexistent beasts. cies. Robert Rines reviewed 10 years of The various monster searches have many searching at Loch Ness with claims of sonar parallels with hunts for real, but rare, ani- contact with "large animate objects." mals. Consider the ongoing search for the Anthropologist Roy Wagner recounted Tasmanian tiger, Thylacinus cynocephalus. mermaid legends of Papua New Guinea The last known survivor of this species natives and insisted the creatures are not died in the Hobart Zoo in 1936, however dugongs which the natives can readily many unsuccessful, elaborate expeditions identify. An article by Henry Bauer re- have been mounted since then (Beresford ported that only 13% of adult Americans and Bailey 1981) because eyewitnesses think that the Loch Ness monster actually continue to report sightings or footprints. exists. Bauer said this skeptical view is at Some expeditions involve sophisticated variance with "informed" opinion. electronic and photographic surveillance There are 2 articles on the Mokele- in areas of sightings. To date, no evidence Mbembe, the supposed dinosaur still of the continued existence of thylacines inhabiting Central African swamp has been produced. At what point do we forests. Mackal and others described an consider the absence of evidence to be expedition to find this sauropod, but no the evidence of absence? Perhaps the old evidence resulted. Mackal et al. reported adage about the impossibility of prov- this as "non-probative evidence . was ing a negative should be reconsidered found." The other article attempts to (Pasquarello 1984). analyze the fruit from the liana Landolphia The idea of a journal devoted to crypto- 144 T. M. BERRA Vol. 84 zoology is a good one. However, if it is to were made by a 400 kg, 2.5 m unknown survive and become more than a propa- hominid. ganda organ for the true believers, it must A 10-page field report by a Congolese incorporate scientific rigor and a healthy biologist named Agnagna reported a sight- dose of skepticism similar to the Skeptical ing of Mokele-Mbembe. Mr. Agnagna Inquirer's attitude toward parapsychology. claimed to have filmed the beast, but, alas, Most zoologists would be delighted if the he had forgotten to remove the lens cover. Loch Ness monster, Bigfoot, etc. turned The mermaid people are at it again with out to be real, but the bottom line must be new reports of the "Ri" from Papua New "show us the specimens." Guinea complete with out-of-focus photo- Volume 2 (171 p.) arrived while this graphs of blobs having zero information review was in press. It is much more inter- content. esting and slightly less advocatory than After reviews of 6 books on crypto- volume 1. There is a useful, but incom- zoological subjects, there are some inter- pletely referenced, article by Heuvelmans esting responses to articles that appeared in on the numbers of animals yet to be volume 1. Despite my skepticism, I must described. Anthropologist Frank Poirier confess that this is the only journal, of the and 2 Chinese co-authors suggest that dozen or so that I receive, that I read from the Wildman of China is the endangered cover to cover. If it becomes more critically golden monkey, Rhinopithecus roxellanae. rigorous, I may be able to take it seriously. Linguist John Colarusso discussed the role of folklore as a source of data on relict LITERATURE CITED hominoids and concluded that "... many Beresford, Q. and G. Bailey 1981 Search for the more creatures lurk in the forests of the Tasmanian tiger. Blubber Head Press, Hobart, Tasmania. 54 p. mind than in the forest of the real world." Pasquarello, A.J. 1984 Proving negatives and G. Krantz, an unabashed believer in the paranormal. Skeptical Inquirer 8: 259-270. Bigfoot, presented a detailed analysis of TIM M. BERRA friction ridges and sweat pores from casts Department of Zoology of alleged Bigfoot tracks. He maintained The Ohio State University that they could not have been hoaxed and Mansfield, OH 44906 ERRATUM Figures 2 and 3 were reversed by the printer in Volume 84 (1): 51-54..
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