Former cryptids confirmed real?

[fayanora]

Some cryptids were eventually confirmed as real. Duck-billed platypi and silver-backed mountain gorillas come to mind, but there are others. I just can't remember the names offhand. And one, some kind of hooved creature, was found in a jungle in the last year or so. I wish I could remember its name. Some kind of antelope-like creature. I would

Comments

[vonjunzt]

I think you're thinking of the saola of Vietnam.

[fayanora]

Thanks!

[squeeji]

The okapi...

[fayanora]

Thanks!

[sanguine_sage]

I don't think that the Coelacanth counts as a cryptid, since there was no controversy surrounding it's existence. It was thought to be extinct until a museum curator found a specimen in a fisherman's catch, thus proving it was extant. There was no period of time when people were claiming that the coelacanth existed but were dismissed by scientific consensus.

totally counts

[luckeyisis]

People consider a thylacine a cryptid because there are still sightings and it is thought to be extinct, so it would be no different for a Coelacanth

Re: totally counts

[sanguine_sage]

It is the controversy and differing opinions that made the thylacine a cryptid. The scientific consensus believes that they are extinct, but some people claim they are still extant, hence the controversy. With the coelacanth, it was extinct and nobody claimed otherwise until a specimen was found and then it was not extinct. There wasn't a period of significant controversy where there was dissent from the scientific consensus.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptid#Eberhart.27s_classification

That is a good discussion of potential requirements to be a cryptid. In short, the coelacanth was never a mystery, just a surprise.

[wingedhorse]

Onza; Congo peafowl; possibly ivory-billed woodpecker. Platypus could be considered, as scientists held it for hoax until they saw living animals. Giant squid could be another example (though it is not SO huge as those medieval guys told and therefore can be considered another "species").

[erinmar13]

but recently they also discovered the colossal squid, which is even bigger than the giant squid. and based on beaks retrieved from the stomachs of sperm whales, the smallest squids they eat are bigger than the biggest ones that have washed ashore.

[wingedhorse]

But even the colossal squid is not huge enough to fill a whole fjord, as e.g. Erik Pontoppidan described it. Therefore, it must be another species and the Pontoppidan's squid is still not confirmed:)

[fairest1]

The giant panda was only known through local tales until someone finally shot one and brought the pelt back.