Case file · Cryptid
El Hierro giant lizard rediscovered
The El Hierro giant lizard, thought extinct since the early 20th century, was rediscovered on a cliff (the Risco de Tibataje) in the 1970s.
1975 CE · 27.75, -18.05 · status: official
The account
Lizards up to 60 cm long had been described by 19th-century naturalists and then vanished from records; a small surviving population is now bred in captivity.
The researched reading
A lizard thought extinct, found again on a sheer cliff. A clean case of an “extinct” animal surviving where few people could look.
| Explanation | Weight | Why |
|---|---|---|
| An unknown or out-of-place animal | 94% | A giant lizard last recorded in the early 20th century was found surviving on the Risco de Tibataje cliff of El Hierro in the mid-1970s; the small population now lives on in a captive-breeding programme. |
| A cultural story | 2% | Local knowledge of the lizards outlived scientific records. |
| Something known, misidentified | 1% | Live animals were caught and studied. |
| A hoax or fabrication | 1% | Living specimens exist. |
| Perception, memory or mind | 1% | Not relevant. |
| Genuinely anomalous | 1% | Known biology. |
Official position: A scientific rediscovery; the species is protected and bred in captivity on El Hierro.