Prime Time Replay:
Cryptozoologist Matthew Bille
on Searching for Unknown Animals
MsgId: *high_strangeness(6)
Date: Tue Jan 28 22:25:15 PST 1997
From: Moderator At: 206.80.175.157
Hello, everyone! Welcome to High Strangeness on Prime Time Live. My name is Patrick Huyghe and our guest this evening is Matthew Bille. Matthew is a defense analyst and a writer on space policy. But it's Matthew's avocation that we are interested in here and that is cryptozoology, the zoological subspecialty of finding new or supposedly extinct species.Matthew Bille is the author of "Rumors of Existence," which was published by Hancock House in 1995. This fascinating book describes dozens of discoveries, rediscoveries, and sightings of unclassified creatures made since the 1960s. Bille also publishes a great bimonthly newsletter on the subject called "Exotic Zoology." (You can contact him at MattWriter@aol.com for more information.) But now, let's begin. What's the latest hot news on the cryptozoological front?
MsgId: *high_strangeness(8)
Date: Tue Jan 28 22:27:45 PST 1997
From: Moderator At: 206.80.175.157
Bille: Two intersting brand new species discoveries -- a pigmy marmoset in Brazil -- that is the 7th new primate from Brazil this decade. And also from South America, an armor-plated catfish. It's about a foot and a half long. A really exciting discovery is the news of a new species of beaked whale. We know it's new but it's unclassified. It's distinctively marked and about 18 feet long. Cetologists call it "species A" or confusingly, "species X."The most exciting lead concerning "monsters" is the film of a large aquatic animal in a lake in New Guinea. It's called the "migo." The film is too distant to identify yet but proves the existence of some kind of large animal in a lake which has no native species of that size.
Unfortunately, it looks like it might be a couple of crocodiles mating!
MsgId: *high_strangeness(13)
Date: Tue Jan 28 22:36:52 PST 1997
From: Moderator At: 206.80.175.157
Any news on the expedition searching for the giant sloth in South America?
MsgId: *high_strangeness(14)
Date: Tue Jan 28 22:37:42 PST 1997
From: Moderator At: 206.80.175.157
Bille: As far as I know nothing has been heard from the leader, Dr. Oren. However, Peter Hocking, a zoologist in Peru, has obtained a skull of a grey and black jaguar-sized cat whose name translates as "modeled tiger." The skull is broader than a jaguar's and the incisors are huge.
MsgId: *high_strangeness(16)
Date: Tue Jan 28 22:40:42 PST 1997
From: Moderator At: 206.80.175.157
Is this the legendary onza that you're talking about?
MsgId: *high_strangeness(17)
Date: Tue Jan 28 22:42:53 PST 1997
From: Moderator At: 206.80.175.157
Bille: No. There is no resemblence. Dr. Troy Best of Auburn University, who dissected the onza shot in 1986, thinks it's a distinctive panther subspecies. The tiger skull from Peru remains a mystery.
MsgId: *high_strangeness(19)
Date: Tue Jan 28 22:45:21 PST 1997
From: Moderator At: 206.80.175.157
What is your opinion on the Mokele-mbebe in the Congo?
MsgId: *high_strangeness(20)
Date: Tue Jan 28 22:48:04 PST 1997
From: Moderator At: 206.80.175.157
Bille: If there is a real animal, I bet on a huge monitor lizard rather than an actual dinosaur. The area involved has changed in the past millions of years, it seems more likely that it's a modern species rather than a 60 million year old survivor.
MsgId: *high_strangeness(21)
Date: Tue Jan 28 22:49:21 PST 1997
From: Moderator At: 206.80.175.157
What does it take for science to recognize one of these cryptozoological mysteries?
MsgId: *high_strangeness(22)
Date: Tue Jan 28 22:51:42 PST 1997
From: Moderator At: 206.80.175.157
Bille: Hard evidence, either a type specimen -- a body -- or a substantial piece of one. A new goat from Vietnam, for example, was just described on the basis of 4 sets of horns. Sometimes even a body is not enough. We have one onza but experts want a second to confirm the first is not just a freak!
MsgId: *high_strangeness(23)
Date: Tue Jan 28 22:54:16 PST 1997
From: Moderator At: 206.80.175.157
The discovery of new animals is becoming a popular topic among biologists again because of their new interests in biodiversity. Does this mean a greater acceptance of cryptozoology?
MsgId: *high_strangeness(24)
Date: Tue Jan 28 22:55:30 PST 1997
From: Moderator At: 206.80.175.157
Bille: It certainly could, if cryptozoologists do their science right. Unfounded speculation will still not get much respect.
MsgId: *high_strangeness(25)
Date: Tue Jan 28 22:56:22 PST 1997
From: Moderator At: 206.80.175.157
But aren't cryptozoologists also becoming more interested in new animal discoveries that are not "monsters"?
MsgId: *high_strangeness(26)
Date: Tue Jan 28 22:57:41 PST 1997
From: Moderator At: 206.80.175.157
Bille: Yes, and it's a very healthy development. The more animals we discover, the more open science will be to evidence for the "monsters."
MsgId: *high_strangeness(27)
Date: Tue Jan 28 22:58:34 PST 1997
From: Moderator At: 206.80.175.157
Are the methods of cryptozoologists basically the same as standard zoology for the discovery of new species?
MsgId: *high_strangeness(28)
Date: Tue Jan 28 23:00:29 PST 1997
From: Moderator At: 206.80.175.157
Bille: Yes. The difference is that cryptozoologists are more open to using folklore and anecdotal evidence as starting points to begin a search for hard evidence.
MsgId: *high_strangeness(29)
Date: Tue Jan 28 23:01:13 PST 1997
From: Moderator At: 206.80.175.157
Should biologists and crytozoologists be looking in the same places?
MsgId: *high_strangeness(30)
Date: Tue Jan 28 23:03:47 PST 1997
From: Moderator At: 206.80.175.157
Bille: Yes and usually they are. It's a matter of how broad your search in those places is. All biologists are very interested in the Amazon basin, for example, but only the cryptozoologists are looking for ground sloths. If crytozoologists prove the existence of just one of the "monsters" the field will have respectability.
MsgId: *high_strangeness(31)
Date: Tue Jan 28 23:04:51 PST 1997
From: Moderator At: 206.80.175.157
Where do you think the best places are for finding one of these "monsters"?
MsgId: *high_strangeness(32)
Date: Tue Jan 28 23:07:56 PST 1997
From: Moderator At: 206.80.175.157
Bille: I would start in Peru with Hocking's tiger since we have solid evidence for that animal. No one knows what is still to be found in the Vu Quang region in Vietnam. The oceans unquestionably still hold countless new species. I suspect these include some large and spectacular animals.
MsgId: *high_strangeness(33)
Date: Tue Jan 28 23:08:36 PST 1997
From: Moderator At: 206.80.175.157
Thank you, Matthew for an eye-opening interview. If any viewers are interested in this topic I would highly recommend his book, Rumors of Existence (order from 1-800-938-1114), and his newsletter, Exotic Zoology (get info at MattWriter@aol.com) to keep abreast of the topic. For High Strangeness, this is Patrick Huyghe. Goodnight!
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