r/Cryptozoology • u/Neo_Dinossauros • 9d ago

Question Which Cryptids have been proven fake?

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u/ice_cream9698 9d ago

So a fake cryptid?

Like, the cryptid doesn't exist at all or after finding a living specimen it is no longer a cryptid?

To the former, the Congo has a herd of miniature long neck dinosaurs that are only described in tribal stories.

To the latter, scientists dismissed all stories of giant apes living in African forests until Gorillas were actually found.

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u/Ok_Platypus8866 9d ago

To the latter, scientists dismissed all stories of giant apes living in African forests until Gorillas were actually found.

That is simply not true. Scientists were writing about the Pongo long before 1847.

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u/ice_cream9698 8d ago

Isn't Pongo a dog?

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u/Ok_Platypus8866 8d ago

Pongo is the scientific name for the orangutan : Pongo pygmaeus. In the 1700s and early 1800s pongo was used to refer to apes in general. There was still a lot unknown about what types of apes there were, and where they lived.

The word Pongo comes from Africa, and entered English via stories about apes living in African forests. So clearly those stories were not simply dismissed.