versus one big definitive find is anybody's guess.
I think what it will take is the ability to predict when and where these animals will be consistently enough to take scientists into the field and let them see for themselves.
How long was there physical evidence before the Mountain Gorilla was officially recognized? Scientists want to make sure that a skull isn't a hoax, misidentified, an aberration or anything else but the real deal. Show them a living animal in the wild doing its thing and that will rule out most of the questions. I believe it took three documented sightings to get the Megamouth shark recognized. There was no fossil evidence (teeth only in this case, but there could have been body impressions turned to fossils as well) that such and animal even existed.
The real problem is, if you had the definitive proof, who do you take it to? There is no designated group of people/scientists tasked with naming new species.
Personally, I don't worry about this anymore. I want to see one and study it's behavior and ecological niche because it's in my back yard, so to speak, but I don't feel compelled to try and convince anybody.
Posted on Jan 8, 2004, 5:28 PM from IP address 12.230.53.185