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Hidden in the shadows outside of civilization, monsters are believed by some to exist. According to folklore, a large primate stalks the Pacific Northwest and a giant reptile lurks in the depths of a Scottish lake. And in South Texas, people carefully watch the skies for Big Bird, a flying creature that terrorized the area in 1976. “This bird’s got a habit of going after people,” said Guadalupe Cantu III, an eye witness. “This is strictly a nighttime bird, though. ... From 11 o’clock on, everybody’s bait.” While most scientists would write off a man-hunting bird as pure myth, a group of researchers takes such accounts seriously. The researchers are called cryptozoologists.“It’s considered a pseudo science,” said Ken Gerhard, 38. “I like to call it a frontier science.”A Houston-based cryptozoologist,Gerhard is researching a book that will focus on the Big Bird.
He will speak about his research before the Brownsville Enlightenment Society at 7 p.m., Tuesday at Shoney’s Restaurant. The meeting is free to the public.While other zoologists might consider the existence of such a large unknown species impossible, Gerhard and others keep an open mind.“Cryptozoology is the search for animals that have not yet been verified by science,” Gerhard said. “Most people are familiar with the marquee animals – Bigfoot, the Loch Ness monster and Big Bird. ... The less glamorous side would include a new species of beetle.”In 2005 several new birds, plants and other species were discovered in the Foja Mountains of Papua, New Guinea. Scientists announced 27 new species earlier this year, discovered in California national park caves. Large creatures have also been revealed recently, with the first photographs of a live giantsquid taken in 2004.“New species are discovered all the time, a lot of people don’t understand that,” Gerhard said. “Cryptozoologists feel that those ‘real scientists’ aren’t doing a good enough job.”Don Farst, executive director of the Gladys Porter Zoo, remembers the excitement in January 1976 when people would ask about giant birds and livestock-attacking beasts. He said nothing was ever proved, but he can understand why some believe in unknown animals.“Nothing is impossible,” he said. “But I usually believe that either I or somebody that I trust has seen, and preferably photographed next to something of a known size.”
View: Full Article | Source: Brownsville Herald
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