EXPLAINER: eDNA For The Cryptozoologist

Deep in forests and floating in lakes, creatures leave bits of themselves behind. A soup, swirling with fragments of their genetics. And those fragments can form a puzzle to solve. eDNA, or environmental DNA, is the identifier that lets cryptozoologists observe the presence of a legendary monster … without ever seeing it. Get the scoop on eDNA after the jump.

What eDNA Is (And Where It Comes From)

It’s kinda gross to think about: Wherever animals (including humans) go, they slough off skin cells and hair. These little biological snippets contain full genetic identifiers called DNA. Every cell has a full blueprint for how it operates in that DNA.

But out in the woods or in a body of water, you find a soupy mess of genetic material. That soupy mess contains the DNA from all the critters and monsters that walked by, swam in, or took a dookie in the area. This DNA is called environmental DNA (eDNA). And it’s the key to a treasure trove of cryptid clues.

So, where does this eDNA come from? There are no animals present when it comes time to collect samples. Well, in any environment, the animals leave a bunch of sources. These include:

• Skin cells
• Spit or mucus
• Poop and pee
• Hair, feathers and scales

I mean, the dust in your house is mainly dead skin cells you provided. Icky, I know.

So, where do all these bodily bits gather out in the woods or river/lake? Actually, these genetic nuggets can be found:

• Floating in water
• Embedded in soil, mud and silt
• Footsteps in snow
• … and even the air (spiderwebs snare it all the time)

Find A Cryptid Without Seeing The Cryptid

The traditional way to prove a cryptid or monster roams your local forest preserve was to capture one. Luckily, we don’t need to do that anymore. We can use all that eDNA to identify the critters in the area. And you better believe, strange monster DNA will pop when you spin that sample in the centrifuge.

I’ll get into taking sample a little bit later in this post. But eDNA will tell you all the animals in the local ecosystem. Once the DNA metabarcode comes out, the scientists can ID every animal that passed through the area.

With eDNA, you may not get a full barcode, just bits and pieces, but that’s enough to see if an unknown bipedal primate might have taken a shortcut across the creek.

How Testing Works

Scientist typically use eDNA to find invasive species or shy animals that are more active at night. Here the overly simplified process for using eDNA:

1. Collect a sample (often water)
2. Filter it or capture DNA material
3. Preserve it (keep it from breaking down)
4. Lab extracts DNA and copies it (so it’s readable)
5. Compare it to a reference library to identify species

The lab will have this massive collection of animal DNA metabarcodes availabe for comparison. The magic happens when that sample doesn’t return an exact match. It might show a lot of related-to-this and that critter.

For example, Bigfoot might have a related hit to the primates. So, if you’re in the PNW, and your samples return unknown primate, you might have a Sasquatch on your hands. More on that later in this post …

What eDNA Can Tell A Cryptozoologist

eDNA can only tell you which creatures roam around in a pretty small area. It’s great for saying the types of birds, mammals, amphibians and reptiles call the area home. It also gives you an idea of what animals you might misidentify as a monster.

But, you can’t call a single sample as the complete creature catalogue. You’ll have to go and sample the hotspots and adjacent areas consistently. That means going into the field on different days of the week, different seasons, and different weather conditions.

Just because you get a mysterious hit on a mysterious creature one time, you haven’t proven a Bigfoot or Nessie exists.

What eDNA Cannot Tell You

Here’s the rub with eDNA:

1. It can’t tell you the headcount for all the critters
2. It can’t prove the mysterious animal hit is actually a cryptid or monster
3. It can’t tell you an animal’s behavior
4. It can’t tell you what a monster hunts
5. It can’t tell you if an animal is dangerous

You gotta head out to the field and figure that out for yourself.

Reliability: Is eDNA Trustworthy?

Why it can be reliable

Yes, eDNA is a great way to confirm you’re on track to find a cryptid. To make sure you’ve got the best clues and leads, you want to use water samples and keep your samples cool. Heat will destroy eDNA.

Why it can fail

The most common causes are due to contamination from you, your clothes, dirty sample kits or degradation (DNA doesn’t have a long shelf-life outdoors … no matter what Jurassic Park movies have to say).

Other common reasons for failing to extract a sample is simply because your sample just missed some critters or muddy water blocks the lab tests. This is happens often. Don’t get discouraged: Just back in the field with some clean tubes to grab more poo … errrrr … samples.

What makes it trustworthy

• The mysterious DNA replicates across multiple samples
• Controls (blanks and lab negatives) come back clean
• Repeat sampling on different days and in different weather conditions
• Repeat sampling in same location, plus adjacent locations

How To Use eDNA In Cryptozoological Research

This is how I’d use eDNA evidence. First, I’d look at the confirmed normal animals that could be misidentified as a monster. The woods are dark. The movement fast. The picture was blurry. It happens, and there’s nothing wrong with misidentifying a regular ol’ critter. That’s why we research, eh?

Next, that eDNA will be linked to a specific location, and that means you have a hotspot. You know a weird creature is hanging out by that apple tree where the creek bends. And this means you can go on a vigil to capture physical evidence of a cryptid.

And if you keep getting unknown animal hits in your sampling area? Well, you might have a population of cryptids rummaging through the forest. The more cryptids of the same species in an area, the more likely you’ll get that elusive, clear photo.

The Cryptozoologist eDNA Mindset

There are 2 things I think about when it comes to gathering eDNA samples.

1) Start with a testable question like “Is an unknown large vertebrate using this bay?”

A specific question like this helps focus your sample quest. You’ve got an idea for the cryptid (unknown large vertebrate), and you have a location (this bay).

2) Keep your samples clean and free of contamination.

Getting clean samples is probably the most important thing you need to do. If you get your own skin cells, hair or other body fluids anywhere near your samples, the eDNA analysis will come back with a hit for big, dumb homo sapien. And we already have a massive population of those.

Just remember this: If you get a hit for an unknown animal, it means you have a clue to research a location again. You do not actually have proof of a cryptid.

eDNA Collection Series

Ok, I am completely obsessed with eDNA now. At first, I thought it was all bunk. I saw it used on a well-known Bigfoot show, so I thought it was fake science. But what do you know, it was a legit scientific practice.

Over the next few months, I’ll drop a series of posts on eDNA methods, sampling practices, and few more explainers on water, finding land cryptids, and finding lake cryptids. You can find them by filtering for the #edna tag.

Before you go, check out some supplemental info on eDNA below.

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Common Mistakes That Ruin Samples

1. Reusing gloves between sites
2. Touching the inside of bottles, caps, or filters
3. Setting gear down on the ground and then using it again
4. Forgetting a field blank (your “is this contaminated?” proof)
5. Taking only one sample and calling it a result
6. Letting samples sit warm in a car too long (heat destroys DNA)
7. Mixing up labels, times, or locations (it happens if your rush)

eDNA Evidence Ladder

Weak → Strong (for cryptid claims)

1. Story / rumor (these are leads, not evidence)
2. Audio (unverified)
3. Photo / video (uncalibrated, no distance/scale)
4. Tracks / sign (not diagnostic)
5. eDNA hit (single sample)
6. eDNA pattern (replicated, clean blanks, repeated dates, repeated locations)
7. Tissue / hair with roots / scat (with a documented chain-of-custody)
8. Verified captured specimen (the gold standard for any species)

References

U.S. Geological Survey. “Environmental DNA (eDNA).” Water Science School, U.S. Geological Survey. Accessed 20 Jan. 2026. (National Park Service)

Goldberg, Caren S., et al. “Critical Considerations for the Application of Environmental DNA Methods to Detect Aquatic Species.” Methods in Ecology and Evolution, vol. 7, 2016, pp. 1299–1307. **doi:**10.1111/2041-210X.12595. (USGS)

Shu, Lin, et al. “Standards for Methods Utilizing Environmental DNA for Detection of Fish Species.” Genes, 2020. (PMC)

Deiner, Kristy, et al. “Environmental DNA Metabarcoding: Transforming How We Survey Animal and Plant Communities.” Molecular Ecology, vol. 26, no. 21, 2017, pp. 5872–5895. **doi:**10.1111/mec.14350. (PubMed)

Thomsen, Philip Francis, and Eske Willerslev. “Environmental DNA: An Emerging Tool in Conservation for Monitoring Past and Present Biodiversity.” Biological Conservation, vol. 183, 2015, pp. 4–18. **doi:**10.1016/j.biocon.2014.11.019. (ScienceDirect)

Bohmann, Kristine, et al. “Environmental DNA for Wildlife Biology and Biodiversity Monitoring.” Trends in Ecology & Evolution, vol. 29, no. 6, 2014, pp. 358–367. **doi:**10.1016/j.tree.2014.04.003. (PubMed)

Barnes, Matthew A., and C. Todd Turner. “The Ecology of Environmental DNA and Implications for Conservation Genetics.” Conservation Genetics, vol. 17, 2016, pp. 1–17. **doi:**10.1007/s10592-015-0775-4. (Springer)

Barnes, Matthew A., et al. “Environmental Conditions Influence eDNA Persistence in Aquatic Systems.” Environmental Science & Technology, vol. 48, no. 3, 2014, pp. 1819–1827. **doi:**10.1021/es404734p. (PubMed)

Taberlet, Pierre, et al. “Towards Next-Generation Biodiversity Assessment Using DNA Metabarcoding.” Molecular Ecology, vol. 21, no. 8, 2012, pp. 2045–2050. **doi:**10.1111/j.1365-294X.2012.05470.x. (PubMed)

Ficetola, Gentile F., et al. “Replication Levels, False Presences and the Estimation of the Presence/Absence from eDNA Metabarcoding Data.” Molecular Ecology Resources, vol. 15, no. 3, 2015, pp. 543–556. **doi:**10.1111/1755-0998.12338. (PubMed)

Ruppert, Krista M., Richard J. Kline, and Md Saydur Rahman. “Past, Present, and Future Perspectives of Environmental DNA (eDNA) Metabarcoding: A Systematic Review…” Global Ecology and Conservation, vol. 17, 2019, e00547. **doi:**10.1016/j.gecco.2019.e00547. (ScienceDirect)

Lynggaard, Mads F., et al. “Airborne Environmental DNA for Terrestrial Vertebrate Community Monitoring.” Current Biology, vol. 32, no. 3, 2022, pp. 701–707.e5. **doi:**10.1016/j.cub.2021.12.014. (ScienceDirect)

Newton, Joshua P., et al. “Spider Webs Capture Environmental DNA from Terrestrial Vertebrates.” iScience, vol. 27, no. 2, 2024, 108904. **doi:**10.1016/j.isci.2024.108904. (PubMed)

Leempoel, Kevin, et al. “A Comparison of eDNA to Camera Trapping for Assessment of Terrestrial Mammal Diversity.” Proceedings of the Royal Society B, vol. 287, no. 1918, 2020, 20192353. **doi:**10.1098/rspb.2019.2353. (PubMed)

Lyet, Axel, et al. “Increasing Evidence That Terrestrial Animals Follow Water Bodies: Environmental DNA Detects the Terrestrial Signature of Bats and Other Mammals.” Scientific Reports, 2021. **doi:**10.1038/s41598-021-90598-5. (Nature)

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