Crazy for cryptids: The International Cryptozoology Museum blurs the line between fact and fiction
Founder Loren Coleman has been searching for Bigfoot and other legendary creatures for almost six decades

Sep 2nd 2019
EXTRAORDINARY PLACES, ROAD CULTURE
By Alexandra Charitan


In March 1960, Loren Coleman watched a film on the Yetis of the Himalayas. When he inquired about the creature (also known as the Abominable Snowman) in school, his teachers were less than helpful. They told him to “get back to work” because “[Yetis] don’t exist.” Coleman decided to conduct his own research, and a lifelong interest in cryptozoology—the study of legendary or unknown creatures—was born.

Over the past six decades, Coleman has written letters, articles, and books about cryptozoology, he has taught at universities around New England, and has conducted investigations in 48 states. As he searched for cryptids (alleged animals such as lake monsters, hairy bipeds, or swamp creatures), Coleman collected more than 10,000 objects.

A Bigfoot photo-op. | Photo: Alexandra Charitan

The museum’s entrance. | Photo: Alexandra Charitan

“People would give me, donate, or sell me cryptozoology items from the beginning and my home became a museum of sorts,” Coleman says. The first item was a flag from Sir Edmund Hillary’s 1960 expedition to collect evidence of the Yeti. In 2009, Coleman’s collection of native art, foot casts, hair samples, models, and other memorabilia opened to the public as the International Cryptozoology Museum (ICM)—the first of its kind in the world.

ICM is located in a strip of shops and restaurants on Thompson’s Point along the banks of the Fore River in Portland, Maine. To reach the entrance of the small museum, I have to walk through a restaurant, Locally Sauced, which serves burritos, nachos, and pulled pork sandwiches.

A revitalized, industrial waterfront featuring craft breweries, an outdoor concert venue, and an ice-skating rink may not seem like the most natural place to find a museum dedicated to a fringe pseudoscience, but that’s the thing with mythical creatures—they pop up where you least expect. 

To get to the museum, visitors walk through a restaurant. | Photo: Alexandra Charitan
Bigfoot and the Dover Demon

Probably the best-known cryptid in North America is Bigfoot (also known as Sasquatch), and he has an appropriately-big presence at the ICM. I encounter at least three versions of the upright, ape-like creature before I even pay my admission. A carved, wooden totem-style statue sits outside of the museum, and wooden cutouts line the otherwise-sterile hallway that connects ICM to Locally Sauced.

The museum includes several “Bigfoot Parking Only” signs, casts of the creature’s namesake big feet, and numerous dolls and other artwork devoted to Bigfoot. The infamous 1967 Patterson-Gimlin film plays on a loop, and visitors are encouraged to take a selfie with an eight-foot-tall replica. Although Bigfoot is traditionally associated with the Pacific Northwest, a sign urging people to “visit Squatchachusetts” proves that all over the country, people want to believe.

Posters in the museum. | Photo: Alexandra Charitan

A cast of Bigfoot’s big foot. | Photo: Alexandra Charitan

It’s hard to pick favorites, but Coleman has a soft spot for a creature closer to home: the Dover Demon. The small, orange, hairless being was reported by four different people over the course of one week, in Dover, Massachusetts in 1977. It was spotted both sitting on a wall and leaning against a tree. Eyewitnesses described it as having large, glowing eyes and tendril-like fingers. Although skeptics have dismissed the Dover Demon as a foal or a moose calf, “the whole idea of cryptozoology is to be open-minded about the possible discovery of new animals or species,” Coleman says.

While some people are quick to dismiss cryptozoology as a silly pseudoscience, Coleman urges people to not only open their minds, but their eyes and ears as well. Most cryptids had been appearing in folklore and local legends for thousands of years before Coleman brought them to Portland. “Listening to Indigenous people is key,” he says. “Ethno-known information is important, and then you can look for physical evidence.”

Loren Coleman, founder of the International Cryptozoology Museum. | Photo courtesy of Loren Coleman.

Fact is fiction

ICM is billed as “the world’s only cryptozoology museum,” but that’s no longer true. In fact, “truth” is a loose concept within the confines of a museum dedicated to cryptids, the very existence of which haven’t yet been verified by traditional science. A lot of the “evidence” presented in the museum may seem suspect, but the roots of cryptozoology are planted firmly within the realm of provable science.

“Hidden animals with which cryptozoology is concerned, are by definition very incompletely known,” Bernard Heuvelmans wrote in the 1988 journal Cryptozoology. ”To gain more credence, they have to be documented as carefully and exhaustively as possible by a search through the most diverse fields of knowledge. Cryptozoological research thus requires not only a thorough grasp of most of the zoological sciences, including, of course, physical anthropology, but also a certain training in such extraneous branches of knowledge as mythology, linguistics, archaeology, and history.”

A handpainted banner. | Photo: Alexandra Charitan

A mythical beast. | Photo: Alexandra Charitan

You can’t break the rules without first learning what they are, and according to ICM’s website, “cryptozoology is a ‘gateway science’ for many young people’s future interest in biology, zoology, wildlife studies, paleoanthropology, paleontology, anthropology, ecology, marine sciences, and conservation.” As such, the museum also features exhibits on creatures that were once thought to be too fantastical to be real or long since extinct—until actual, live specimens were discovered.

In 1938, fishermen off the coast of Africa discovered a coelacanth, a fish that was thought to have become extinct around 66 million years ago. Between 1938 and 1975, 84 more specimens were caught and recorded, and Coleman’s collection includes the only life-size model of the rediscovered fish displayed in North America. The two-floor museum also includes alleged Yeti hair samples and a FeeJee Mermaid—half monkey, half fish—created for a film about P. T. Barnum, who notoriously loved a hoax.
I want to believe

I have a feeling that P.T. Barnum would have loved ICM—the longer I browse the exhibits, the harder it becomes to distinguish fact from fiction. Since actual artifacts are understandably hard to come by, the museum has several full-sized art sculptures including a Tatzelwurm (a mythical, cat-headed serpent) and a lifesize thylacine (a real-life dog-kangaroo hybrid that is now thought to be extinct).

A mermaid creature. | Photo: Alexandra Charitan

One of many Bigfoot depictions. | Photo: Alexandra Charitan

I try to keep an open mind, but after a few hours spent browsing Coleman’s collection, I wouldn’t exactly consider myself a cryptozoology convert. However, everything known was once unknown, which seems to also suggest the opposite: With enough time and evidence, anything unknown can presumably become known.

“Cryptozoology is all about patience and passion—and so is the museum,” Coleman says. “People enjoy themselves if they come visit to allow new ideas in. The museum teaches critical thinking but also open-mindedness.”Previous

The elusive Fur Bearing Trout. | Photo: Alexandra Charitan

Another depiction of Bigfoot. | Photo: Alexandra Charitan

Bigfoot signs. | Photo: Alexandra Charitan

A collection of skulls. | Photo: Alexandra Charitan

Bigfoot or giant ape? | Photo: Alexandra Charitan

Footprint casts. | Photo: Alexandra Charitan

Various examples of scat. | Photo: Alexandra Charitan

Cryptozoology-inspired labels. | Photo: Alexandra Charitan

A Fiji Mermaid. | Photo: Alexandra Charitan

SUCH CREATURES WERE POPULAR IN FOLKLORE MUSEUMS, 

WHEN I WAS A KID WE WOULD GO ANNUALLY THROUGH BANFF ON VACATION

AND I ALWAYS STOPPED AT THE FOLKLORE MUSEUM THERE WHERE SUCH A 

HALF CHIMP HALF TROUT MERMAN/MERMAID WAS ON DISPLAY

HOWEVER THE REAL THRILL WAS THE 12 FT KODIAK BEAR, LUCKILY STUFFED.
SEE BELOW

Swamp creature memorabilia. | Photo: Alexandra CharitanNext

From Labor Day until Memorial Day, the International Cryptozoology Museum is open Mondays, Wednesdays, and Sundays, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 6 pm. It is closed on Tuesdays.






Where to Find the World's Best Hometown Monsters
Where to Find the World’s Best Hometown Monsters
Here are 25 places to see yetis, sea monsters, Sasquatch, and other cryptids.

BY MOLLY MCBRIDE JACOBSON FEBRUARY 24, 2017

A "sea devil" from Icones animalium (1553). CONRAD GESSNER/PUBLIC DOMAIN
In This Story

PLACE
Mothman Statue

PLACE
Piasa Bird

PLACE
Pope Lick Trestle Bridge


A CRYPTID IS A CREATURE whose existence, diplomatically put, cannot be proved or disproved by science. Cryptid lore tends to be less fantastical than ghost stories or fairytales, but not altogether believable. For some though, an unusual rock, unexplained crop circles, a footprint, or some hair are all the evidence they need that there are creatures unknown to humanity, hiding in the woods.

In these places, tales of mysterious creatures have become so embroiled within local narrative that whether the beast actually exists or not doesn’t matter anymore. Can you imagine Loch Ness without its monster?

HAIRY HUMANOIDS

The Sasquatch, or as it’s colloquially known, Bigfoot, is America’s best known cryptid. It is typically depicted as a giant ape, standing around seven feet tall. Sasquatch lore extends back to American Indian mythology, which describes hairy wild men living in the woods. Anomalous sightings continued into the 20th century, but Sasquatch mania reached its peak following the famed Patterson-Gimlin tape.

Bigfoot is generally associated with the Pacific Northwest, with most sightings reported in Washington. Ape Canyon was the site in which a group of miners came under attack by a gang of wild “apemen” in 1924. According to the five miners, all of whom survived the incident and seemed convinced of its facts, they were asleep in their cabin when the assault started, and the beasts seemed out for blood. The event was widely publicized and no logical explanation was ever found.
Ape Canyon: Sasquatch Country
COUGAR, WASHINGTON  

 

Ape Canyon, where the miners were attacked by “apemen.” JORDAN/CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

The Sasquatch mythos has caught many in its spell. Refusing to accept claims that Bigfoot sightings are actually black bears or intentional hoaxes, believers continue their search for the hidden primate. California, Oregon, Washington and Canada are dotted with Sasquatch museums and research institutions for those who want to see footprints, photos, and other evidence.
Bigfoot Discovery Museum
FELTON, CALIFORNIA  

Bigfoot Discovery Museum in Felton. INFIDELIC/CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
China Flat Museum Bigfoot Collection
WILLOW CREEK, CALIFORNIA 

Bigfoot Museum artifacts. ATLAS OBSCURA USER LADYLAURADEMAREST

Bipedal hairy beasts aren’t confined to the West Coast though. Illinois and Ohio have remarkably high rates of Bigfoot sightings, and Arkansas has its own permutation: the Boggy Creek monster.
The Boggy Creek Monster
FOUKE, ARKANSAS

  

A Boggy Creek monster mural. ATLAS OBSCURA USER NICHOLAS JACKSON

Florida has its own version of Bigfoot too. Its presence is announced by the foul odor that earned it its nickname: the Skunk Ape.
Skunk Ape Research Headquarters
OCHOPEE, FLORIDA 

A sign directs visitors to “SKUNK APE TERRITORY.” JOHN MOSBAUGH/CC BY 2.0
SEA MONSTERS

Ever since sailors first traversed the ocean they have returned with stories of unbelievable creatures emerging from the murky depths. Perhaps it’s because we didn’t (and still don’t) really know what lies beneath the ocean’s surface, a whale or squid could be mistaken for the Leviathan or a Kraken.

That lore is celebrated in places like Skrímslasetrið, Iceland’s sea monster museum. Maritime history is inextricable from Icelandic identity, which includes many tales of ocean beasts lurking just off the edge of the map.
Skrímslasetrið
ICELAND

1590 map of Iceland with sea monsters, all of which are detailed at Iceland’s sea monster museum. AUSTRIAN NATIONAL LIBRARY/PUBLIC DOMAIN

Creature stories also provided a useful explanation for misunderstood natural phenomena. The geyser of Kauai’s Spouting Horn blowhole was originally attributed to a giant lizard monster trapped beneath the rock.
Spouting Horn Blowhole
KOLOA, HAWAII  

 

Spouting Horn Park. GARDEN STATE HIKER/CC BY 2.0

Lakes have their fair share of mystery too. The Loch Ness Monster is the most widely known, but prehistoric serpentine beasts have been reported on almost every continent.
Lake Tele: Home of the Legendary Mokèlé-mbèmbé Monster
EPENA, REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO

A sketch of the Mokèlé-mbèmbé. JEAN-NO/FAL 1.3 

Lake Labynkyr: Home to a Siberian Sea Monster
RUSSIA 

Lake Labynkyr, purported home of ferocious lake monster. PAUKRUS/CC BY-SA 2.0

Monument to Lake Champlain’s Monster, “Champ”
BURLINGTON, VERMONT

A statue of “Champ.” COURTESY OF J.W. OCKER

That said, not all sea monsters take the form of slithering water snakes. The Kelpies of Scottish lore are massive demonic horses found in rivers and streams.
The Kelpies
GRANGEMOUTH, SCOTLAND

The Kelpies MICHEL CURI/CC BY 2.0

MERMAIDS

Mermaids are another sea beast, albeit a significantly more alluring version. Much of our modern mythos surrounding mermaids comes from Hans Christian Anderson’s The Little Mermaid, but before the 19th century, mermaids were thought of as the deceptive, even evil sprites, no doubt based on the sirens in Homer’s Odyssey.

Doxey Pool: Home to a Malicious Mermaid
STAFFORDSHIRE, ENGLAND 

 

Doxey Pool, where a mermaid named Jenny Greenteeth is said to seduce and drown young men. MICHAEL ELY/CC BY-SA 2.0

The myth of Feejee mermaids was transported to the West from Japan. Travelers saw mummified “mermaids” in shrines like the 1,400-year-old one at the Tenshou-Kyousha Shrine. Allegedly, this mermaid was once a fisherman who trespassed in protected waters and was transformed into a hideous creature as punishment. 

Tenshou-Kyousha Shrine Mermaid Mummy
FUJINOMIYA, JAPAN

The ancient mermaid mummy. ATLAS OBSCURA USER JUSTIN ARNOLD

These weird hybrids, crafted from the upper half of a monkey and the bottom half of a fish, may have been inspired by the Japanese kappa, a mischievous water spirit.

Despite the fact that they were nothing like the lovely fishtailed maidens of fairytales, Feejee mermaids (as they came to be called—allegedly brought back from Fiji, not Japan) captured the Western imagination. They were quickly disproved as fakes, yet after P.T. Barnum had one in his famous sideshow, no cabinet of curiosity was complete without one. 

WHEN I WAS A KID WE WOULD GO ANNUALLY THROUGH BANFF ON VACATION

AND I ALWAYS STOPPED AT THE FOLKLORE MUSEUM THERE WHERE SUCH A 

HALF CHIMP HALF TROUT MERMAN/MERMAID WAS ON DISPLAY

HOWEVER THE REAL THRILL WAS THE 12 FT KODIAK BEAR, LUCKILY STUFFED.

The Banff Mermaid
BANFF, ALBERTAThe Banff mermaid, one of the most famous Feejee mermaids. BANFF LAKE LOUISE/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

The Hull Mermaid
HULL, ENGLAND

The Hull Mermaid, one of the oldest Western Feejee mermaids. 

ATLAS OBSCURA USER KELVIN1084

Feejee Mermaid at the Nature Museum
GRAFTON, VERMONT 

Closeup of the face of the Feejee Mermaid. COURTESY OF J.W. OCKER

CHIMERAS
The chimera, another creature of Greek mythology, was said to have the body of a lion, the head of a goat, and a snake for a tail, though today the term is applied to any creature with the body parts of various animals. Nobody does body horror like the Ancient Greeks, whose Minotaur myth (the half-man, half-bull trapped as the protector of the labyrinth) persists to this day.
Labyrinthos Caves: the Minotaur’s Home
GREECE 

A map drawn in 1812 depicts the network of tunnels and caves forming the labyrinth. FRANZ WILHELM SIEBER/PUBLIC DOMAIN

Chimera made their way into American folklore. The Texas Woofus in Dallas is a longhorned pig-legged sheep-bird. Its critics call it pagan, and they may not be so far off the mark.
The Texas Woofus
DALLAS, TEXAS

Re-creation of the Texas Woofus in Fair Park in Dallas. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS/LC-DIG-HIGHSM- 29146 (ONLINE) [P&P]

Another American chimera is the Piasa bird, a mysterious feathered beast painted on a rock in Alton, Illinois. The painting has been there since at least the 1670s, though no one knows its origin.

Piasa Bird: Alton’s Mythical Monster
ALTON, ILLINOIS 

 

The elusive Piasa Bird. ATLAS OBSCURA USER MATTB

The chimera best known to Americans is the jackalope, a jackrabbit with the antlers of a buck. Mismatched animals like this abound around the world though, likely because hucksters could prove their existence through falsified taxidermy, or “gaffs.” Still, reports of bunnies with massive horns proliferate in the Southwest and elsewhere.

A “Wolpertinger” at the German Museum of Hunting and Fishing
MUNICH, GERMANY

 

A “wolpertinger.” ATLAS OBSCURA USER DINOBOY89
A “Skvader” at Biologiska Museet

STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN

  

The skvader, a rabbit with the wings of a grouse. ATLAS OBSCURA USER JIBLITE

Not all cryptids and chimera are leporine and sweet though. Some are more sinister, like the Pope Lick Monster, named after the Pope Lick Trestle Bridge it has been sighted beneath. It is said to be a monstrous man-goat hybrid that lures its victims onto the railway trestle.

Pope Lick Trestle Bridge
LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY 

 

The Pope Lick Trestle Bridge, which the monster is said to live beneath. DAVID KIDD/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

The Jersey Devil was another cryptid seen throughout New Jersey in the 19th and early 20th century. In 1909 alone, hundreds of people reported seeing an unknown creature flying over the Pine Barrens, a forested area on the Jersey coast. They described it as something like a kangaroo with hooves and leathery bat wings that would let out a terrifying shriek before disappearing from the sky. The Jersey Devil hasn’t been reported in recent years, though its memory is now thoroughly embedded in New Jersey folklore.

Jersey Devil Display at the Paranormal Museum
ASBURY PARK, NEW JERSEY

Jersey Devil artifacts at the Paranormal Museum. ATLAS OBSCURA USER JANE WEINHARDT

One of America’s more recent cryptids is the Mothman. In November of 1966, numerous people reported seeing a man-like figure with wings spanning upwards of ten feet. Those who saw the creature from their cars reported that its eyes shone red like bicycle reflectors when their headlights hit it. After a local bridge collapsed, killing dozens, Mothman sightings ceased. Conspiracies began to arise. The sightings had all been near the TNT area, a WWII munitions factory, leading some to surmise that the Mothman was a military experiment or an alien visitor.

The mystery was never solved, though skeptics claim it may have simply been an owl. Nevertheless, the story inspired a book and several films, and Point Pleasant commemorates its cryptid with a storefront museum as well as a downtown statue.
Mothman Statue

POINT PLEASANT, WEST VIRGINIAT

he Mothman Statue in Point Pleasant. OZINOH/CC BY-NC 2.0

Cryptids come from all kinds of sources—misunderstandings of natural phenomena, tall tales, and sometimes, sheer human ingenuity, as with Karachi’s very strange fortune-telling fox woman, Mumtaz Begum. They can become a mascot for the place that claims them, a weird source of pride for the people that live there.

Is there a cryptid lurking in your hometown we should know about? Have your own Feejee mermaid or creepy chimera? Add it to the Atlas!

ATLAS OBSCURA TRIPS

Tetrapod Zoology
My New Book Hunting Monsters: Cryptozoology and the Reality Behind the Myths

Much of my 2015 was taken up by the writing of several books, some of which are, I’m pleased to say, due to see print in 2016. Today I’m happy to announce that the first of these is out: it’s my Arcturus book Hunting Monsters: Cryptozoology and the Reality Behind the Myths (Naish 2016)...

By Darren Naish on February 16, 2016


Right now, Hunting Monsters only exists as an ebook. If you’re at all like me, this might be something of a disappointment, since I don’t get much satisfaction from ebooks and think of them more as badly formatted word documents, not as books at all.

Front cover of Naish (2016). I like it.

Anyway, if it sells well enough in digital format, we’ll then be releasing a hardcopy version. The good news is that the ebook version is criminally cheap (£2.39, US$3.45). Also, remember that you don’t need a kindle to read it – you can download a kindle app, for free, for any device, and thereby read it on your smartphone or PC or whatever.

There are a large number of books out there on cryptozoology already, so what’s special about this one? Hunting Monsters is a sceptical, pro-science take on cryptozoology; something along the lines of Binns (1984), Campbell (1986), Radford & Nicklin (2006) and Loxton & Prothero (2013). But that doesn’t mean that it’s a vicious debunking that leaves us all sad and disheartened – we can get something positive out of this; read on.
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Hugh Gray's Loch Ness monster photo is not a swimming dog or a giant salamander or worm-like animal, but a swan with a submerged head. This explains why it's so white. Look carefully and you can see the wings, tail and ankle joint. Swan image by Peter Gray (no relation... I presume!), from Naish (2016).

A reasonable amount of novel investigation of cryptid sightings and images is recounted. Classic water monster episodes like the Daedalus and Valhalla accounts and the Sandra Mansi photo are discussed in view of recent evaluations, and I’ve also included much of the new work on lake monster images released by Dick Raynor. Without giving too much away, I want to say that the famous Hugh Gray Loch Ness monster photo of 1933 is not a swimming dog, or a salamander-like beast, or giant anachronistic Tullimonstrum… but a swan. Yes, a swan. And the infamous Peter O’Connor photo of 1960 – the one that depicts what looks like an inflated plastic bag with a stick for a head – has proved to be the inverted hull of a kayak called a Tyne Prefect. You can even see the base of the rudder support!
Cropped version of the O'Connor Loch Ness monster photo - note how the far left part of the image (normally cropped out!) looks weird for what's meant to be part of an animal's body. It's a good match for the corresponding part of an inverted kayak (see Dick Raynor's study here).

And then there are my evaluations of Rilla Martin’s Ozenkadnook tiger photo, various of the key yeti and bigfoot accounts, a critical appraisal of the kraken (no, it is not the same thing as Architeuthis), the St Augustine blob and other sea monster carcasses, and more. I even obtained and read Jonathan Whitcomb’s ropen book…

Rilla Martin’s 1964 Ozenkadnook tiger photo - shown at left - has always been enigmatic and difficult to interpret. What's with the tall shoulders and pale stripes? (as per the interpretation at right, by Darren Naish). See Naish (2016) for current thoughts.

While previous authors have focused on the ecological and morphological problems attached to the superstar cryptids (for example: could a beast the size of Nessie really make a living in Loch Ness?; how could a creature like bigfoot evade detection in modern North America?), few have discussed the fact that cryptozoological hypotheses invoke very specific models pertaining to evolutionary history.

In recent years, some apparently good evidence for bigfoot has dissolved under scrutiny. Alleged dermal ridges have proved to be artifacts of the plaster-pouring process, as demonstrated by Matt Crowley (image of plaster ridges by Matt Crowley, used with permission). And claims that the lustrous pelt and realistic muscle tone of 'Patty' can't be replicated by a suit are highly questionable - look at the realistic tone and texture of the obviously fake suit on the right (photo by Darren Naish).

What’s notable is that, while cryptids themselves are posited as novel, exciting elements of the fauna, the evolutionary scenarios required to allow their existence virtually always involve novel, unprecedented events for which there is, alas, no evidence. The giant long-necked seals of the cryptozoological literature require that certain (unknown) pinnipeds evolved radical ecological, morphological and behavioural novelty; a view of bigfoot or the yeti as a giant, bipedal pongine requires that our views on the evolution of hominid bipedality and anatomy be substantially revised; arguments that the almas (or almasty or almasti) is a remnant Neanderthal are contingent on the idea that Neanderthals underwent radical change for which we have no evidence; and so on and on and on. Cryptozoologists have thought about this stuff a lot and written about it as well, but it has mostly evaded sceptical evaluation (for previous coverage see Conway et al. 2013).

Sea monsters and other mystery beasts - the creature shown here is Heuvelmans' 'Yellow-belly' - have taken on a life of their own ever since cryptozoologists have devised morphological configurations and evolutionary histories for them. But isn't this all a house of cards? Compare 'Yellow-belly' with the eyewitness accounts Heuvelmans based it on.

And what of the interplay between cryptozoology and creationism? I say stuff about that in my chapter on the mokele-mbembe and ropen (Naish 2016).
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A new frontier: cryptozoology as culture

However, I hope that Hunting Monsters is seen as more than a mere curmudgeonly debunking, or as yet another heavy-handed sceptical smackdown. One of my arguments, made repeatedly throughout the book, is that cryptozoology is culture. Even if cryptids don’t exist – in the corporeal, biological sense of the term – they still exist in the nebulous sense of their having a place in the psychological landscape, and this remains a fascinating issue worthy of further study. 

Blu Buhs (2009), required reading as goes the cultural context of bigfoot.

People ‘see’, describe and report the creatures they do because they interpret their recollections, sightings and encounters within the cultural framework in which they were raised. It is, so it seems, an inevitable consequence of being human that we imagine large, frightening creatures to lurk beneath the surface of the water, or human-shaped beasts in forests and other wild places.

There’s also a case to be made that people of a given subset will be more inclined to investigate or believe in mystery animals than others: this topic is explored at length in Blu Buhs (2009).

Indeed, the fact that belief in these creatures will not die – despite a compelling and impressive lack of evidence – makes it seem that they’re an almost immutable part of our psyche. Is there, then, really some ingrained need in humans to imagine, believe in, or see monsters? I don’t know the answer, but I think it’s a question worth asking and investigating.
 

Which Loch Ness monster would you like to believe in? We most certainly do not see consistent descriptions of a single biological entity.

Distinct from but linked to this apparent cultural role of cryptozoology is our ability to perform as witnesses and ‘data recallers’. It’s no secret that people generally perform very badly when it comes to describing and recalling observations, especially those made fleetingly or when under stress. And sceptics of cryptozoology often point to the field’s over-emphasis of the value of eyewitness data as one of its primary flaws (Loxton & Prothero 2013). How we perform as witnesses and recallers and why we fail or succeed when we do is another fascinating subject – and I say that it’s linked to the cultural role of cryptozoology because a case can be made that our preconceptions and biases are linked to cultural and societal archetypes, memes and concepts.

  

Standard reading on cryptozoological scepticism: Loxton & Prothero (2013).

We’re at an early stage in understanding this stuff. Or, at least, those of us who aren’t experts in it are at an early stage. What I’m saying – by now it’s probably clear – is that, while bigfoot and Nessie and so on might not be ‘real’, they’re likely ‘real’ enough, culturally and/or psychologically, to be significant to us. I think that that’s important. We’re calling this whole subject ‘post-cryptid cryptozoology’, and I hope that Hunting Monsters is perhaps epiphanic on this front to at least some of its readers.

So there we have it – long-time readers of Tet Zoo will know that this book represents the culmination of an evolving set of thoughts and hypotheses.

The Daedalus encounter of 1848 remains one of the most pivotal and influential of sea monster reports. Was it actually a misidentified rorqual, as argued by Galbreath (2015)? This is more compelling when you look at Lieutenant Edgar A. Drummond's sketch.

And finally...

As always with anything written by humans, there are a few errors that are making me cross. In a discussion of the Daedalus sea monster sighting, I say that the beast had no neck, and then immediately go on to say that its mane was located some way along… its neck. There’s also a contradiction as goes how the Daedalus monster is treated – it’s a skim-feeding Sei whale at one point (as per Gary Galbreath’s 2015 article) and an unresolved enigma at another. Whoops. And there are a few dumb typos and incorrect terms, as there always are. I hope you can forgive these transgressions.

For previous Tet Zoo articles relevant to the issues covered here, see...
Best lake monster image ever: the Mansi photo
A ‘lake monster’ caught on film at Lake Champlain
Rilla Martin’s 1964 photo of the ‘Ozenkadnook tiger’
Cryptozoology at the Zoological Society of London. Cryptozoology: time to come in from the cold? Or, Cryptozoology: avoid at all costs?
The amazing Hook Island sea monster photos, revisited
The Cryptozoologicon (Volume I): here, at last
Is Cryptozoology Good or Bad for Science? (review of Loxton & Prothero 2013)

Refs - -

Binns, R. 1984. The Loch Ness Mystery Solved. W.H. Allen & Co, London.

Blu Buhs, J. 2009. Bigfoot: the Life and Times of a Legend. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

Campbell, S. 1986. The Loch Ness Monster: The Evidence. The Aquarian Press, Wellingborough, UK.
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Conway, J., Kosemen, C. M. & Naish, D. 2013. Cryptozoologicon Volume I. Irregular Books.

Loxton, D. & Prothero, D. R. 2013. Abominable Science! Columbia University Press, New York.

Naish, D. 2016. Hunting Monsters: Cryptozoology and the Reality Behind the Myths. Arcturus, London.

Radford, B. & Nickell, J. 2006. Lake Monster Mysteries. University of Kentucky Press, Lexington.

The views expressed are those of the author(s) and are not necessarily those of Scientific American.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR(S)


Darren Naish


Darren Naish is a science writer, technical editor and palaeozoologist (affiliated with the University of Southampton, UK). He mostly works on Cretaceous dinosaurs and pterosaurs but has an avid interest in all things tetrapod. His publications can be downloaded at darrennaish.wordpress.com. He has been blogging at Tetrapod Zoology since 2006. Check out the Tet Zoo podcast at tetzoo.com!

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The End of Tetrapod Zoology, ver 3
Dinosaurs in the Wild: An Inside View
Speculative Zoology, a Discussion

Perth Pictish find offers glimpse into Scotland's warrior past

by University of Aberdeen

The Tulloch Stone. Credit: University of Aberdeen

Archaeologists have carefully recreated images of a figure on a Pictish stone, discovered during the construction of a road in 2017, with the details uncovered offering new insights into Scotland's warrior past.

During ground clearance work close to Perth's McDiarmid Park, a nearly two meters-high monolith was found, depicting a male figure carrying a spear.

Though the outline of the man could be seen, the carving was faint in places and the surface of the stone had partly delaminated.

Archaeologists from the University of Aberdeen, which is leading the study of Northern Picts, have taken thousands of photographs to create 3-D images. This has clarified the design and allowed them to compare it to those found on other stones.

Professor Gordon Noble, Head of Archaeology at Aberdeen, and Dr. Mark Hall, archaeological curator at Perth Museum, say the stone—known as the Tulloch Stone is a 'significant find' which adds to the corpus of material available for study.

In a paper published in Antiquity, the research team argues that similarities observed between the Tulloch Stone, named after where it was discovered, and those found at Rhynie in Aberdeenshire and Newton of Collessie in Fife are 'filling the gaps' of Scotland's undocumented history.

Professor Noble said: "By looking at the three stones together, we have been able to draw new conclusions about what these figures represent.

"On the Tulloch Stone we can now see that the man is carrying a distinctive door-knob butted spear which we know from previous research was in use from the third to the sixth century.

"He also has a very distinctive hairstyle, is wearing a helmet and necklace and has a faint line around the left ankle which could suggest footwear or tight leggings.

"In line with the other stones, this is clearly a depiction of a warrior. Its find spot overlooks the coming together of the rivers Tay and Almond, a junction marked by a Roman fort and later a possible Pictish royal center, suggesting the monolith might have been located in a cemetery of the elite.

"Because the presentation of the figures is standardized across all of the stones, it is likely that it represents a generic sacred image, rather than it being a depiction of someone buried there."

Dr. Hall says this also points to a war lord or warrior ethos which has been well documented in Anglo Saxon England but for which little evidence has previously been seen in Scotland.

"In Anglo-Saxon England we have lots of examples of burials with weaponry and the poem Beowulf epitomizes the warrior ethos of this period," he added.

"This has not been evidenced in Scotland in the same way but here through the new Tulloch find and a reconsideration of long-known stones we can see that warrior ideology cast in stone—meaning these martial values were conveyed in a very public way to be visible in the landscape and to invoke supernatural protection."

Professor Noble added "This bridges a crucial gap in knowledge as although we know that warrior ideology is important for rulership, we haven't previously been able to demonstrate how that evolves through time in the period before the sixth and seventh centuries when we begin to get historical records for Scotland.

"We believe that the weapon-bearing individuals shown on these stones may represent a war-oriented social organization that was integral to resisting the Roman Empire and to creating the overtly hierarchical societies of the post-Roman period."

The Tulloch Stone was discovered during construction work for the A9/A85 scheme, part of the Perth Transport Futures Project, and is now undergoing further research and conservation prior to going on display in a new museum being developed for Perth, set to open in 2022.

Dr. Mark Hall said increased public awareness of Scotland's Pictish past was opening up new opportunities for important archaeological study.

"Most of the recent Pictish finds have been as a result of people paying greater attention," he added.

"The workmen who scooped up this stone did well to realize that there was something on it and to alert the appropriate authorities.

"It is likely that there are more Pictish stones out there to be found and every new stone is a fantastic addition to the corpus.

"This discovery of the Tulloch stone has revealed fresh details allowing the reconsideration of the existing related sculptures, fostering new insights and conclusions that are not possible when only dealing with a single example."

The full paper detailing their research findings has been made available free of charge.

Kevin Grant, Archaeology Manager at HES, said: "We are delighted to be able to fund Open Access for this paper, allowing everyone to freely access information about this exciting discovery.

Recreation video shows how 'earliest Pictish fort' may have looked
More information: Mark Hall et al. Warrior ideologies in first-millennium AD Europe: new light on monumental warrior stelae from Scotland, Antiquity (2020). DOI: 10.15184/aqy.2019.214 

Ancient engraving of warrior with 'elaborate hairstyle' and 'pronounced butt' discovered in Scotland
By Yasemin Saplakoglu - Staff Writer 2 days ago

"The warrior is an essential part of society, the central part of power."

The Tulloch stone depicts a spear-holding ancient warrior.
(Image: © Mark Hall et. al ; Antiquity 2020)

Archaeologists in Scotland have discovered an ancient monolith that's engraved with a spear-holding warrior sporting an "elaborate hairstyle" and "pronounced" butt.

In September 2017, construction workers uncovered the stone monument in the northwest side of Perth in Scotland while clearing the ground to build a new road. They found the stone facedown and buried a little more than 3 feet (1 meter) in the ground.

The so-called Tulloch stone is about 6.4 feet (1.9 m) high and 2.3 feet (0.7 m) wide; on one side, it depicts a human figure holding a spear with a "kite-shaped blade and a doorknob-style butt," the authors wrote in a paper describing the findings, published Jan. 23 in the journal Antiquity.

Related: In photos: Boneyard of Iron Age warriors

The surface of the stone was partly broken apart into layers, and portions of the carving were faded. But with the help of 3D imaging and a technique called photogrammetry, which involves stitching together hundreds of photographs of an object taken from different angles, archaeologists were able to reconstruct the original design. It's not clear if the figure was depicted naked, as faint lines at the ankles might suggest he wore shoes or tight leggings.

The stone was buried near a ring ditch, possibly indicating that the monolith was part of a burial, according to the paper. The carving belonged to the Picts, an ancient, Celtic-speaking group that lived in what is now eastern and northern Scotland. (The Romans coined the name "Picts," meaning the "painted people," possibly in reference to the Picts' distinctive tattoos or the war paint they wore.)

In the late Roman period, the Picts helped to defend the area that's now known as Scotland from multiple Roman attacks; as such, in the early medieval period that followed, war became an important part of how the Picts' society was organized.

We know from historical records and poetry that "the warrior is an essential part of society, the central part of power," said senior author Gordon Noble, a professor in the school of geosciences at the University of Aberdeen in the United Kingdom. Pictish society adopted a warrior way of life initially as a "form of resistance" against the Roman empire, but it later became an "inspiration" and a key part of their culture, he added.

It's not clear what the warrior on this monolith — and similar ones previously found nearby depicting warrior figures holding "doorknob-butted spears" — represent, but they could be depictions of warrior gods or religious figures within this war-oriented Pictish ideology, Noble told Live Science. War ideology was common across a large part of Europe but was more typically represented through the burial of weapons with the dead.

Such burials, historical sources and poetry that depict the "heroic warrior ethos" were common across Northern Europe but largely absent from northern Britain in the first millennium A.D. Rather, in northeastern Scotland, such values were publicly shown with carvings on monuments and likely associated with cemeteries belonging to the elite, the researchers noted in the paper.

The Tulloch stone is only one of three such Pictish monoliths found in the area with carvings of warriors on them. But there have been numerous other Pictish stones found with carvings of abstract or animal symbols often thought to be a simple way of representing names, Noble said.

"Over the last 10 years, it seems like we've had a new Pictish stone every year or even more than one every year," Noble said. "So I'm sure more will come up, but the stones with images of warriors are still quite rare in the wider Pictish stone corpus." The stone will eventually be put on display in the Perth Museum in Scotland.
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Originally published on Live Science.

Heather Ale

                                                  Robert Louis Stevenson

A GALLOWAY LEGEND

From the bonny bells of heather
  They brewed a drink long-syne,
Was sweeter far then honey,
  Was stronger far than wine.
They brewed it and they drank it,
  And lay in a blessed swound
For days and days together
  In their dwellings underground.

There rose a king in Scotland,
  A fell man to his foes,
He smote the Picts in battle,
  He hunted them like roes.
Over miles of the red mountain
  He hunted as they fled,
And strewed the dwarfish bodies
  Of the dying and the dead.

Summer came in the country,
  Red was the heather bell;
But the manner of the brewing
  Was none alive to tell.
In graves that were like children's
  On many a mountain head,
The Brewsters of the Heather
  Lay numbered with the dead.

The king in the red moorland
  Rode on a summer's day;
And the bees hummed, and the curlews
  Cried beside the way.
The king rode, and was angry,
  Black was his brow and pale,
To rule in a land of heather
  And lack the Heather Ale.

It fortuned that his vassals,
  Riding free on the heath,
Came on a stone that was fallen
  And vermin hid beneath.
Rudely plucked from their hiding,
  Never a word they spoke;
A son and his aged father --
  Last of the dwarfish folk.

The king sat high on his charger,
  He looked on the little men;
And the dwarfish and swarthy couple
  Looked at the king again.
Down by the shore he had them;
  And there on the giddy brink --
"I will give you life, ye vermin,
  For the secret of the drink."

There stood the son and father,
  And they looked high and low;
The heather was red around them,
  The sea rumbled below.
And up and spoke the father,
  Shrill was his voice to hear:
"I have a word in private,
  A word for the royal ear.

"Life is dear to the aged,
  And honour a little thing;
I would gladly sell the secret,"
  Quoth the Pict to the king.
His voice was small as a sparrow's,
  And shrill and wonderful clear:
"I would gladly sell my secret,
  Only my son I fear.

"For life is a little matter,
  And death is nought to the young;
And I dare not sell my honour
  Under the eye of my son.
Take him, O king, and bind him,
  And cast him far in the deep;
And it's I will tell the secret
  That I have sworn to keep."

They took the son and bound him,
  Neck and heels in a thong,
And a lad took him and swung him,
  And flung him far and strong,
And the sea swallowed his body,
  Like that of a child of ten; --
And there on the cliff stood the father,
  Last of the dwarfish men.

"True was the word I told you:
  Only my son I feared;
For I doubt the sapling courage
  That goes without the beard.
But now in vain is the torture,
  Fire shall never avail:
Here dies in my bosom
  The secret of Heather Ale."

---

NOTE TO HEATHER ALE

Among the curiosities of human nature this legend claims a high place. It is needless to remind the reader that the Picts were never exterminated, and form to this day a large proportion of the folk of Scotland, occupying the eastern and the central parts, from the Firth of Forth, or perhaps the Lammermoors, upon the south, to the Ord of Caithness on the north. That the blundering guess of a dull chronicler should have inspired men with imaginary loathing for their own ancestors is already strange; that it should have begotten this wild legend seems incredible. Is it possible the chronicler's error was merely nominal? that what he told, and what the people proved themselves so ready to receive, about the Picts, was true or partly true of some anterior and perhaps Lappish savages, small of stature, black of hue, dwelling underground -- possibly also the distillers of some forgotten spirit? See Mr. Campbell's Tales of the West Highlands.

---

Overwhelming and terrifying’: the rise of climate anxiety

Experts concerned young people’s mental health particularly hit by reality of the climate crisis

Matthew Taylor and Jessica Murray
Mon 10 Feb 2020 
 

Clover Hogan grew up in Australia and said she was heartbroken when she heard about the number of animals killed by recent bushfires. Photograph: Jill Mead/The Guardian

Over the past few weeks Clover Hogan has found herself crying during the day and waking up at night gripped by panic. The 20-year-old, who now lives in London, grew up in Queensland, Australia, cheekbyjowl with the country’s wildlife, fishing frogs out of the toilet and dodging snakes hanging from the ceiling.

The bushfires ravaging her homeland over the past few weeks have taken their toll. “I’ve found myself bursting into tears … just seeing the absolutely harrowing images of what’s happening in Australia – it is overwhelming and terrifying.”

Hogan said her lowest point came when she heard about the death of half a billion animals incinerated as the fires swept through the bush. “That was the moment where I felt my heart cleave into two pieces. I felt absolutely distraught.”

The physical impact of the climate crisis is impossible to ignore, but experts are becoming increasingly concerned about another, less obvious consequence of the escalating emergency – the strain it is putting on people’s mental wellbeing, especially the young.

Psychologists warn that the impact can be debilitating for the growing number of people overwhelmed by the scientific reality of ecological breakdown and for those who have lived through traumatic climate events, often on the climate frontline in the global south..

Until two years ago Dr Patrick Kennedy-Williams, a clinical psychologist from Oxford, had spent his career treating common mental health difficulties including anxiety, depression and trauma. Then something new started to happen. Climate scientists and researchers working in Oxford began to approach him asking for help.

Why we need to value our low-carbon pastimes more
Susanna Rustin

“These were people who were essentially facing a barrage of negative information and downward trends in their work … and the more they engaged with the issue, the more they realised what needed to be done – and the more they felt that was bigger than their capacity to enact meaningful change,” he said. “The consequences of this can be pretty dire – anxiety, burnout and a sort of professional paralysis.”

Kennedy-Williams began to research the topic and realised it was not just scientists and researchers who were suffering. “There is a huge need among parents, for instance, who are asking for support on how to talk to their kids about this.”

When Kennedy-Williams began focusing on young people he assumed most would be older teenagers or at least have started secondary school. But he soon discovered worrying levels of environment-related stress and anxiety in much younger children.

“What I was most surprised by is how young the awareness and anxiety starts. My own daughter was just six when she came to me and said: ‘Daddy, are we winning the war against climate change?’ and I was just flummoxed by that question in the moment. It really showed me the importance as a parent of being prepared for the conversation, so we can respond in a helpful way.”

He says there is no way to completely shield young people from the reality of the climate crisis, and argues that would be counterproductive even if it were possible. Rather, parents should talk to their children about their concerns and help them feel empowered to take action – however small – that can make a difference.


A key moment for Kennedy-Williams came with the realisation that tackling “climate anxiety” and tackling the climate crisis were intrinsically linked.

“The positive thing from our perspective as psychologists is that we soon realised the cure to climate anxiety is the same as the cure for climate change – action. It is about getting out and doing something that helps.

“Record and celebrate the changes you make. Nobody is too small. Make connections with other people and at the same time realise that you are not going to cure this problem on your own. This isn’t all on you and it’s not sustainable to be working on solving climate change 24/7.”

This certainly resonates with Hogan, who has set up Force of Nature, an initiative aimed at helping young people realise their potential to create change.

Hogan’s group aims to target people aged 11-24 with a crash course in the climate crisis that helps them navigate their anxiety and realise their potential to get involved, take action and make a stand.

“This is only the beginning,” said Hogan. “We’re going to see massive, massive widespread climate crisis in every country around the world, so it’s about developing the emotional resilience to carry on, but in a way that ignites really dramatic individual initiative.”

Beyond climate anxiety – the fear that the current system is pushing the Earth beyond its ecological limits – experts are also warning of a sharp rise in trauma caused by the experience of climate-related disasters.

In the global south, increasingly intense storms, wildfires, droughts and heatwaves have left their mark not just physically but also on the mental wellbeing of millions of people.

For Elizabeth Wathuti, a climate activist from Kenya, her experience of climate anxiety is not so much about the future but what is happening now. “People in African countries experience eco-anxiety differently because climate change for us is about the impacts that we are already experiencing now and the possibilities of the situation getting worse,” she said.

Elizabeth Wathuti, a climate activist from Kenya, says a common worry she hears among students is, ‘We won’t die of old age, we’ll die from climate change’. Photograph: Aitor Baez

She works with young people through the Green Generation Initiative she founded and sees the effects of eco-anxiety first-hand. A common worry she hears among students is: “We won’t die of old age, we’ll die from climate change.”

Extreme climate events can create poverty, which exacerbates mental health problems, and Wathuti says she has seen stress, depression and alcohol and drug abuse as some of the side-effects of climate anxiety and trauma in her country.

Even in the UK, a recent study by the Environment Agency found that people who experience extreme weather such as storms or flooding are 50% more likely to suffer from mental health problems, including stress and depression, for years afterwards.

More than 1,000 clinical psychologists have signed an open letter highlighting the impact of the crisis on people’s wellbeing and predicting “acute trauma on a global scale in response to extreme weather events, forced migration and conflict”.

Kaaren Knight, a clinical psychologist who coordinated the letter, said: “The physical impacts related to extreme weather, food shortages and conflict are intertwined with the additional burden of mental health impacts and it is these psychologists are particularly concerned about.”

She added that fear and trauma “significantly reduced psychological wellbeing”, particularly in children. “This is of huge concern to us and needs to be part of the conversation when we talk about climate breakdown.”

One of the high-profile signatories of the letter, Prof Mike Wang, the chair of the Association of Clinical Psychologists UK, said: “Inaction and complacency are the privileges of yesterday … Psychologists are ready and willing to help countries protect the health and wellbeing of their citizens given the inevitable social and psychological consequences of climate change.”

This rallying of the psychological profession around the climate crisis has led to experts around the world forming groups to research and treat the growing number of people caught up in the unfolding crisis, attempting to help them move from fear and paralysis towards action.

But even for those who are following this advice, the scale of the emergency is taking its toll. Kennedy Williams – who has set up his own group, Climate Psychologists, specialising in climate anxiety – said he and his colleagues were not immune from the psychological impacts of the crisis.

“This is such a universal thing that [we] have all been through our own set of climate-related grief and despair, and we talk about riding the wave between hope and despair … it is absolutely as real for us as it is for anyone else.”
Advice for parents

Remember that you do not need to be a climate expert It’s OK to explore learning together. If your child asks a question you can’t answer immediately, respond by saying: “What a great question. Let me look into that so I can answer it properly.”

Try to validate, rather than minimise, children’s emotions If children express anxiety, it’s much better to say: “It’s OK to feel worried. Here is what we can do about it,” than to say: “Don’t worry. It’s all fine.” But always try to support this emotion with suggestions for positive action.

Negative information hits harder Bad or threatening facts tend to resonate more strongly – and therefore stick in the mind. So try to balance one piece of negative news with three pieces of positive news. Have some examples of good climate-related news ready – for example, successful conservation projects.\

For younger children, keep it local and tangible Suggest litter picks and school events. For teenagers, encourage them to stay connected at a wider level – help them write to their MP, take part in protests and join local communities and campaigns.

Set practical goals as a family and follow through Record and celebrate your climate successes together (even a piece of paper on the fridge door). Reinforce the message that small actions can make a big

Evangelical gangs target Afro-Brazilian religions in hate crimes

Religious leaders say a federal government which relies on evangelical support is not doing enough to protect them.

Followers of Afro-Brazilian religions say that they are facing prejudice and even attacks as evangelical Christianity grows across the country.

In Rio de Janeiro, the situation has become serious enough to prompt the creation of a department to deal with religious hate crimes.

Al Jazeera's John Holman reports.

Dogs' ability to love sets them apart, argues Clive Wynne in new book


Listen
 

Clive Wynne makes the case that dogs are special in 

'Dog is Love: Why and How Your Dog Loves You'

The idea that animals can experience love was once anathema to the psychologists who studied them, seen as a case of putting sentimentality before scientific rigor.

But a new book argues that, when it comes to dogs, the word is necessary to understanding what has made the relationship between humans and our best friends one of the most significant interspecies partnerships in history.


Clive Wynne, founder the Canine Science Collaboratory at Arizona State University, makes the case in Dog is Love: Why and How Your Dog Loves You.

The animal psychologist, 59, began studying dogs in the early 2000s, and, like his peers, believed that to ascribe complex emotions to them was to commit the sin of anthropomorphism — until he was swayed by a body evidence that was growing too big to ignore.

"I think there comes a point when it's worth being skeptical of your skepticism," the Englishman said in an interview with AFP.

Canine science has enjoyed a resurgence in the past two decades, much of it extolling dogs' smarts.

Titles like The Genius of Dogs by Brian Hare have advanced the idea that dogs have an innate and exceptional intelligence.

Wynne, however plays spoilsport, arguing that Fido is just not that brilliant.

Pigeons can identify different kinds of objects in 2D images; dolphins have shown they understand grammar; honeybees signal the location of food sources to each other through dance; all feats that no dogs have ever been known to accomplish.

Even wolves, dogs' ancestor species known for their ferocity and lack of interest in people, have shown the ability to follow human cues — including, in a recent Swedish study, by playing fetch.

Wynne proposes a paradigm shift, synthesizing cross-disciplinary research to posit that it is dogs' "hypersociability" or "extreme gregariousness" that sets them apart.
Williams syndrome gene

One of the most striking advances comes from studies regarding oxytocin, a brain chemical that cements emotional bonds between people, but which is, according to new evidence, also responsible for interspecies relationships between dogs and humans.

Recent research led by Takefumi Kikusui at Japan's Azabu University has shown that levels of the chemical spike when humans and their dogs gaze into each others' eyes, mirroring an effect observed between mothers and babies.

In genetics, UCLA geneticist Bridgett vonHoldt made a surprising discovery in 2009: Dogs have a mutation in the gene responsible for Williams syndrome in humans — a condition characterized by intellectual limitations and exceptional gregariousness.

"The essential thing about dogs, as for people with Williams syndrome, is a desire to form close connections, to have warm personal relationships — to love and be loved," writes Wynne.

Numerous insights have also been gleaned through new behavior tests — many devised by Wynne himself and easy to replicate at home with the help of treats and cups.


One involved researchers using a rope to pull open the front door of a dog's home and placing a bowl of food at an equal distance to its owner, finding that the animals overwhelmingly went to their human first.

Magnetic resonance imaging has drilled down on the neuroscience, showing that dogs' brains respond to praise as much or even more than food.

But although dogs have an innate predisposition for affection, it requires early life nurturing to take effect.

Nor is the love affair exclusive to humans: A farmer who raised pups among a penguin colony on a tiny Australian island was able to save the birds from maurading foxes, in an experiment that was the basis for a 2015 film.
All you need is love

For Wynne, the next frontiers of dog science may come through genetics, which will help unravel the mysterious process by which domestication took place at least 14,000 years ago.

Wynne is an advocate for the trash heap theory, which holds that the precursors to ancient dogs congregated around human dumping grounds, slowly ingratiating themselves with people before the enduring partnership we know today was established through joint hunting expeditions.

It's far less romantic than the popular notion of hunters who captured wolf pups and then trained them, which Wynne derides as a "completely unsupportable point of view" given the ferocity of adult wolves who would turn on their human counterparts.

New advances in the sequencing of ancient DNA will allow scientists to discover when the crucial mutation to the gene that controls Williams syndrome occurred.

Wynne guesses this happened 8,000 - 10,000 years ago, at the end of the last Ice Age, when humans began regularly hunting with dogs.

What makes these findings important, beyond advancing science, is their implications for dogs' welfare, he argues.

That means rejecting brutal, pain-based training methods like choke collars based on debunked understandings of "dominance" popularized by celebrity trainers who demand dog owners become "pack leaders."

"All your dog wants is for you to show them the way," says Wynne, through compassionate leadership and positive reinforcement.

It also means carving out time to meet their social needs instead of leaving them isolated for most of the day.

"Our dogs give us so much, and in return they don't ask for much," he says.

"You don't need to be buying all these fancy expensive toys and treats and goodness knows what that are available.

"They just need our company, they need to be with people."