The Cryptid Zoo: Neanderthals and Neanderthaloids

The Neanderthals are a separate species of human than homo sapiens, the kind we are. They were robust, short people with strong muscles, with far heavier bones than modern humans, and with larger brains than us, despite their reputation for stupidity in popular culture. They were a very successful species in their time. Their ancestors left Africa far earlier than our ancestors did, and the Neanderthals lived in cold climates during the ice ages for so long that they became evolutionarily adapted to cold weather, something that modern humans haven't had time to do. As far as our adaptations go, we are still tropical animals. The Neanderthals had fire, made tools (including flutes), buried their dead and had some sort of religion. The last of them went extinct about thirty thousand years ago in Europe, according to today's science.

This has not stopped people from reporting Neanderthals (or things that sound much like them, the Neanderthaloids) in modern times. Footprints of Neanderthals in these modern sightings are said to look just like real Neanderthal footprints that have been found in caves. These modern Neanderthals are described as very hairy, short humans. Many of them are nearly as hairy as Bigfoot. They have heavy brow ridges, use some tools and may or may not wear clothing, depending on how hairy they are and how cold it is at the moment. Both sexes tend to have red hair, and the males have a distinct beard of longer hair running along the edges of their chins.

These reports come from two areas: the Pacific Northwest of North America (including parts of America and Canada) and Central Asia (an area between Europe and China that is roughly bordered by the countries of China, India, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey and the Balkan states). Some researchers say that Bigfoot sightings are really of Neanderthals. Some researchers say that reports of Neanderthals are really of Neanderthaloids, a separate class of beings that look similar to Neanderthals but are something else. Neanderthaloids may be a race that resulted from hybridization between Neanderthals and homo sapiens, they might be a separate species, so far undiscovered, that is related to Neanderthals or is simply like them in outward appearance, or they might be very primitive members of our own species that happen to look like Neanderthals.

You can find out more about Neanderthals and Neanderthaloids from the following sources:

Clark, Jerome and Coleman, Loren. Cryptozoology A-Z. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1999. Pages 178-179

Coleman, Loren. Mysterious America: The Revised Edition. New York: Paraview Press, 2001. Pages 227, 229, 230

Gooch, Stan. The Dream Culture of the Neanderthals: Guardians of the Ancient Wisdom.

Innes, Brian. Giant Humanlike Beasts

Keel, John A. The Complete Guide to Mysterious Beings. New York: Doubleday, 1994. Page 70

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Newton, Michael. Encyclopedia of Cryptozoology: A Global Guide to Hidden Animals and Their Pursuers. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2005. Pages 11, 19, 102, 126, 195, 198, 226, 270, 298, 325-326, 345, 364, 378, 466, 490, 496, 506

Shackley, Myra. Still Living?: Yeti, Sasquatch and the Neanderthal Enigma. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1983.

Tynan, Liz. Neanderthals May Live On

Weidensaul, Scott. The Ghost with Trembling Wings: Science, Wishful Thinking and the Search for Lost Species. New York: North Point Press, 2002. Page 173

Wikipedia, The. Neandertal