One of the unsolved mysteries in cryptozoology (besides whether or not the cryptids exist of course) is a strange statement Thomas Jefferson made about ground sloths. According to him, there were "symptoms of its survival", however what these symptoms were is still unknown.

The waitoreke is an otter-like cryptid reported from New Zealand. New Zealand notably doesn't have any mammals that aren't flying (bats) or fully aquatic. Despite an alleged skin of the waitoreke being found and multiple sightings, the species still hasn't been proven to exist

Best known for being president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson also looked into reports of multiple cryptids. From living mammoths to giant lions, these are some of the earliest and strangest cryptozoological investigations.

Although Schomburgk’s Deer has been believed extinct since 1932, there was a fairly recent report in 1991. Someone spotted what appeared to be antlers from Schomburgk's Deer in a medicine shop in Laos. He claimed it had been recently shot in 1990.

The lung or long is a Chinese serpentine cryptid, often called a dragon. Though typically thought to be an ancient myth, there have been modern sightings of lungs. In 1902 Chinese soldiers reported seeing a "dragon" creep out of a cave in modern Heilongjiang province

The batutut is a large hominid cryptid from the island of Borneo. These footprints, allegedly from the cryptid, were found in the Andalau Rainforest back in 2006. Other tracks were found by zoologist John MacKinnon back in 1969.

The Xwoxwá:ya is a cryptid from the Western coastline of Canada described as a large arthropod. They're said to crawl around in tide pools, and according to a Skwah man named Albert Louie's grandfather they're also extremely venomous

In 2017 Iisakki Mieto of Finland claimed to see two "neanderthal" looking people in rural Finland. They were walking in a "hunched posture" according to Mieto and had larger than human footprints. They used Mieto's sauna while he was warming it up before leaving in the snow.

NEW VIDEO: The Ten Cryptids Most Likely to Be Discovered

Tasmanian tiger or thylacine reports aren't just limited to Tasmania, there have also been reports from the the island of New Guinea. Although they were believed to have gone extinct there thousands of years ago, reports continue into the 21st century

In the 1940s multiple motorists in South Africa reported seeing the "Beast of Karoo", a 3.6m (12ft) long reptile with a long tail. The lizard was in a very dry region, as the Karoo desert rarely gets rainwater. It hasn't been seen since

This photograph taken in the Rukwa Valley of Zambia shows a zebra with spots, not the trademark stripes. According to biologist Dr. Jonathan Bard, the existence of white spotted zebras proves that zebras are black animals with white stripes and not white animals with black ones

The ranta is a large tortoise cryptid from the island of Madagascar. The creature was known to live in caves. It was theorized to be a surviving member of Aldabrachelys grandidieri, a giant species that went extinct about 1200 years ago.

Since everyone's seeing Dune 2, why not discuss a big worm cryptid? The guh or Yukon giant worm is a Canadian cryptid said to be a large blackish worm. Several members of the Tutchone tribe reported seeing them, including one man who said they stripped all the leaves from a tree

Fun fact: Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer, the woman who was instrumental in discovering the coelacanth, was a member of the International Society of Cryptozoology! She even wrote an article about it for its eighth issue.

He also thought ground sloths *were* giant lions at first

Thomas Jefferson wrote about what he thought was an unidentified species of lion in America. In one instance a camp was besieged by a glowing eyed roaring monster (cougars are unable to roar). The dogs of the camp spent the night silent, refusing to even bark at the creature.

I created a map of all the various sightings of maned lions across the United States and Canada. Are they one-off escaped exotic pets? Surviving American cave lions? Populations established by hunters? You decide