the.com/cryptozoology

means The pursuit of hidden or legendary creatures — like Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster — through a mix of folklore, eyewitness accounts, and hopeful fieldwork that mainstream zoology doesn't recognize as science.

from Built from Greek kryptos 'hidden,' zoion 'animal,' and logia 'study of' — so literally 'the study of hidden animals.' The term was popularized in the mid-20th century by Bernard Heuvelmans, a Belgian zoologist whose book on sea monsters helped name the field, and by figures like Ivan T. Sanderson who chased reports of unknown beasts. It borrowed the respectable shape of real sciences like zoology and cryptography, hoping the 'hidden' in its name meant 'undiscovered' rather than 'nonexistent.'