05/04/2019 The Zanzibar Leopard: THE ZANZIBAR LEOPARD AND CRYPTOZOOLOGY zanzibarleopard.blogspot.com/2018/06/the-zanzibar-leopard-and-cryptozoology.html 1/6 FRIDAY, 8 JUNE 2018 THE ZANZIBAR LEOPARD AND CRYPTOZOOLOGY In November 2016 our long-awaited chapter on 'Cryptids and credulity' appeared in Samantha Hurn's edited volume Anthropology and Cryptozoology: Exploring Encounters with Mysterious Creatures. As publishers often do these days, the book was forward dated to 2017, confusing us all. Here's an extract from the introduction to our chapter: Cryptids and credulity: the Zanzibar leopard and other imaginary beings Martin T. Walsh and Helle V. Goldman There is nothing intrinsically unscientific about searching for new (undescribed) and old (extinct) species, and one cryptozoologist has defined the discipline concisely as ‘a targeted-search methodology for zoological discovery’, noting that it is only one of a number of possible means to achieving this end (Arment 2004: 9). But all too often cryptozoologists’ desire to find hidden species and identify the imaginary as real leads them to downplay the negative evidence that carries more weight with conventional zoologists and ethnozoologists (Simpson 1984: 12–14; Meurger 1988: 11–24). Although there is also a strong tradition of debunking fakes and false claims within cryptozoology, it has failed to establish itself as an academic discipline (Coleman 2002: xxxiii), while the professional association founded by Heuvelmans and colleagues – the International Society of Cryptozoology – has long since been defunct and its journal (Cryptozoology) extinct (Eberhart 2002: xxvii). Our epigraph highlights a boundary problem that cryptozoologists have also struggled with: what kinds of phenomena or imaginary being fall within their remit? The subjects of cryptozoology are generally now referred to as cryptids, on one definition ‘the alleged animals that cryptozoologists study’ (Eberhart 2002: THE ZANZIBAR LEOPARD mounted specimen in the Zanzibar Museum (photo: Jon Winther-Hansen) SEARCH THIS BLOG Search THE ZANZIBAR LEOPARD is an occasional blog by Helle Goldman and Martin Walsh in which we post news, views and information about the Zanzibar Leopard (Panthera pardus adersi) and sometimes other wildlife in the Zanzibar archipelago. Unless otherwise stated, all of the images in this blog are taken from our own videos, photos and scans. Please acknowledge their source if you use any of them. Images used often differ from those in the published THE ZANZIBAR LEOPARD ANTHROPOLOGY AND CONSERVATION IN ZANZIBAR Nimeona kisutu, mwenye kisutu sijamwona More Create Blog Sign In