Cryptozoology Season at the Grant Museum:
The Cryptozoology Season explores the world of hidden animals and the people who work with them. From the lives of those who study species unknown to science, like Nessie and Bigfoot, to expeditions in search of animals presumed extinct, our talks, events and film-night will investigate this marginalised subject in exciting ways. Is it mainstream science or paranormal research? Come and make up your own mind.

Given that species become very rare and extremely difficult to find before they die out, can we ever know for sure when things go extinct? The Yangtze River dolphin or baiji, once venerated as the reincarnation of a drowned princess, was long recognized as one of the world’s rarest and most threatened mammals. Dr Sam Turvey, Research Fellow at the Zoological Society of London, describes his efforts to try and save the baiji from extinction. He discusses why almost nothing had been done to conserve them and wonders whether there are any dolphins still left in the Yangtze. If extinct, they would be the first large vertebrate to disappear in fifty years.