The Cover of the Cryptozoologicon Volume 1
Cryptozoologicon is a celebration of the myths, legends, evolution and biology of hidden animals. Always skeptical, but always willing to indulge in speculative fun, Cryptozoologicon aims to provide two new ways to approach cryptozoology: as fictional biology and as modern day folklore.
"For each cryptid, our entries consist of three sections. We consider it important that people understand exactly what we have done. In the first section of text, we briefly review what people have said beforehand about the given cryptid. We refer to the key accounts and describe what the creature is supposed to look like. In the second section, we present an evaluation of the reports, make a conclusion about the identity of the given cryptid, and decide whether the accounts refer to a real creature or not. Given that we have included quite a range of mystery animals in our book – some of which are fairly ridiculous and others of which have essentially been debunked – our conclusions range from the open-ended to the 'case closed' type.
Finally, we include a third section of text in which we deliberately jump onto the bandwagon of speculation, and wax lyrical about the identity, evolution and biology of the cryptid concerned, tongue firmly planted in cheek...We have written these speculative sections as if we ourselves are confident, true-believer cryptozoologist authors, hence the strong, misguided 'anti-science' vibe that emanates from some of the text (and which, sorry to say, echoes comments genuinely made by real cryptozoologists)." - Darren Naish
The first volume was released in 2013 and a second is due for release in 2017.
Cryptids featured/listed in Cryptozoologicon Volume 1[]
- Ahool
- Air Rods
- Beast of Gevaudan - The Beast of Gevaudan is re-imagined as a large, predatory pine marten-like mustelid.
- Bigfoot - The famous hominid is re-imagined as a gorilla-like distant member of the Ponginae family, the family that includes the orangutan.
- Bunyip
- Buru
- Cadborosaurus willsi - Also known as Caddy, is re-imagined as a long-necked seal.
- Canvey Island Monster - The Canvey Island Monster is re-imagined as a saltwater evolved species of frog-like amphibian.
- Chupacabra
- Con Rit - The Con Rit is re-imagined as a whale-sized evolved member of the prawn family.
- De Loys' Ape
- Dingonek - The Dingonek is re-imagined as a walrus-like evolved member of the extinct saber-toothed cat family.
- Hoop Snake
- Gambo
- Goatman
- Kelpie
- Long-necked seal / "Megalotaria"
- Megalodon
- Mbielu-Mbielu-Mbielu
- Minhocão - Instead of being a large worm, it is re-imagined as a super-sized anaconda.
- Mngwa - The Mngwa is presented as an evolved member of the mountain lion family.
- Orang Pendek
- Row - The Row is described as a long-necked tortoise-like creature.
- Tizheruk
- Trinity Alps Giant Salamander
- Waitoreke
- Yeti
- Zuiyo-Maru Creature - The carcass is re-imagined as a zombie-like, coral-like tetrapod of unknown behavior.
Unused cryptids included the Mapinguari, presented as a huge peccary/boar with a circle spot pattern on it's head that can stand up; Trunko, presented as a huge albino male elephant seal; and the Ropen, depicted as a surviving pterosaur with bioluminescent spots.