Insite Into The most Unknown

Cryptozoology is the study of animals and other creatures that have not yet been accepted by science as real. In other words, it is monster-hunting.

The pgymy elephant is just what it sounds like: a very small elephant. Known to natives of the Congo as the red elephant, adults stand no more than six and a half feet tall at the shoulder, and many are smaller. There have been adult males less than five feet high. Newborns are the size of dogs. They have a reddish skin that is hairier than normal elephants.

Since they have been held in captivity, there is no doubt that these animals exist. The only question is whether they qualify as a new species, a new subspecies, or only as mutants within a known species (the African Forest Elephant). Most zoologists argue for the latter, but cryptozoologists hold out for formal recognition as a new species or subspecies.

There are a number of pieces of evidence to uphold the idea of a new subspecies or species. In the few observations of these animals in the wild, they are seen in family groups of just pygmy elephants, not mixed with larger elephants like they should be if they were something like midgets are among humans. In addition, they seem to have adaptations to a more aquatic lifestyle and they are found in a unique habitat, dense swamps, that are shunned by other types of elephant. These characteristics, if they prove true in later studies, should allow pygmy elephants to qualify as a new subspecies at the very least. Unfortunately, there does not seem to be interest and funding for further studies.

In addition to the pgymy African elephant, there are also reports of pygmy Asian elephants from the dense jungles of India and from certain islands in or near Indonesia. These claims of other possible types of pygmy elephant have been even less investigated by mainstream scientists than the claims of African pygmy elephants.

The possibility of a new species of elephant is not as outlandish as it sounds at first. After many years of familiarity with the African elephant, scientists decided that the African Forest Elephant was not a subspecies, as had been supposed for years, but was a separate species, with nearly as wide a gap between it and other African elephants (the African Bush Elephant) as the gap between African elephants and Asian elephants.

Also, this has happened before in zoology. Bonobos (pygmy chimps) used to be considered as just a subspecies of chimps, but now they are considered a unique species of their own. These lessons teach us that a new species can be declared many years after mainstream science has accepted that the animals in question truly exist, if what was considered to be just one species is found to be two or more.

by google maps!) stretching out in square scars on either side. The Transamazonica Highway was one of the first built through the dense jungle to connect both sides of Brazil in the early 1970’s. The project was abandoned due to funding issues before its completion but it has served as a gateway to illegal logging and further road development in one of the world’s most precious jungles.Indigenous peoples have inhabited this part of the country (considered “empty”) for thousands of years living in harmony with the ecosystem until logging activity has pushed them to the fringes. Although it is exciting to see that such people still exist, these are sad circumstances we are finding them under. Although it is easy to think that the sides are clearly divided such that there are those in the wrong and they know it and are greedy, the results of deforestation are also built on miscommunication, misunderstanding, and poverty. Greed and money by certain individuals does contribute of course to huge amounts of jungle loss, however the misplacement of subsistence farmers and mismanagement of farm lands by uneducated owners also leads to the sprawling decay of the Amazon as we are watching today. So although I was very intrigued to read about this tribe, the sad truth is that a part of the world that we could learn and benefit so much from is being lost.

Recently an un-contacted (by “civilized man”) tribe was found in the far west reaches of Brazil’s Amazon Basin on the Peruvian border. They were photographed by aircraft and are seen painted bright red pointing their bow and arrow weapons at the craft in defense!The integrity of the Amazon Basin has been under increased pressure from logging companies and new infrastructure allowing deeper penetration from said companies to pillage the jungle for precious woods. With each new road acres upon acres of deforestation can be seen (

The okapi is a relatively unknown animal which is closely related to the giraffe. Its size is about a horse and is found in the Ituri Rainforest in central Africa. There are a few okapis in zoos around the world but they have proven to be difficult to breed in captivity. The tongue of an okapi is long enough for the animal to wash its eyelids and clean its ears. They are also unusual in their ability to sleep for only 5 mins in a 24 hour period and yet remain at peak alertness.