Here’s my reasoning- We know it existed, not even the skeptics can dispute that, nor the fact that it once lived on the Australian mainland (Although I grant that the survivors today are likely transplants from Tasmania). It is not easy to mistake another creature for one, and there have been dozens of credible photos, and many more times that of credible sightings. If, through a coordinated effort, the CZ community could uncover definitive evidence for its continued existence, then the whole can of Mongolian Death Worms is opened to the public, so to speak. Once we have the Thylacine under our belt, it will be that much easier to legitimize our field and acquire funding to go after the harder targets, like the lake monsters and the hairy bipeds.

Anyway, just my 2 cents there, free of charge…

Likewise, despite the universe of global names for “Abominable Snowmen,” “Bigfoot,” and “Wild People,” I can not subscribe to “most Abominables” being “only one species.” Nor do I subdivide them by continent, but do see a difference between some types of hairy hominoids (both hominids and anthropoids) that may live in different areas, as per The Field Guide to Bigfoot and Other Mystery Primates.

Collecting and recognizing the differences in focus as reflected in “top ten” lists not only serves to show the most credible to pursue, but also the most popular in the minds of the general public. It says nothing about what cryptids may be “worthy” of searching for, funding, or studying more. That is obviously up to each individual cryptozoologist.

There is a reason I ask for your choices, and I even appreciate the opinion of those who see no worth in this exercise at all.

As to the other cryptids I would put on the list, MOST “Abominables” appear to me to be only one species, and I do not subdivide the reports by continent. Hence Asiatic Bigfoot is the same as American Bigfoot and so on. I would not list dozens of individual names for these.

In water monster categories, unknown fishes outnumber unknown mammals by a wide margin, yet they are poorly-publicized. Loren Coleman mentioned diverse giant catfishes in an article in FATE magazine, and unknown catfishes are reported on most of the continents. Yet few people have heard of them.

Few people recognize reports of cryptid freshwater rays when they see them.

Cryptid giant Salamanders have a wide distribution in the northern hemisphere, yet only a few (such as in California) ever get any attention.

I would not focus on the top ten or whatever number. ALL of them are worthy of investigation. We need to look beyond the media hype in ALL cases.

There’s my top seven. I find it difficult to research Nessie/Bigfoot; almost every picture I’ve seen is obviously a hoax (almost all of the books in my school library are pre-1980, so they aren’t very useful.)