Memo from SIRU Director Krohn to all field agents:
While the lack of fossil evidence is often the best method we have of quieting proponents of the existence of cryptids, it is important as an agent of SIRU that you know better. Firstly, fossils are rare. Fossilization is a unique event that requires the animal to be buried in a mud slide (or similar event) either prior to death or soon afterward. Most animals will never be fossilized meaning that the odds are great of entire species leaving little to no record of their existence. Beyond that, fossils are discovered by accident─ meaning that even if there is evidence of an animal’s existence, we should assume that many fossils go undiscovered.
Secondly, most fossils appear to have been formed during an Extinction Level Event. Since E.L.E.s re-shape our earth, it must be assumed that any surviving populations would have migrated away from the site of fossilization, as the environment would be temporarily uninhabitable. It is also safe to assume that small populations would survive in areas where a herd (or even a breeding pair) had gone off-course and become separated during a migration. In truth, we should expect any relic populations of species popularly thought to have died out during an E.L.E. to be found in an area devoid of their fossils. Fossils are very useful both in identifying possible candidates for a cryptid’s identity and re-directing the public; however, as a SIRU investigator you must avoid the desire to rely on the fossil record too heavily.
