AOL has picked the stories in cryptozoology which they find are the tops for 2010. Compiled by contributor Lee Speigel, he introduces his list, thusly:

“Monsters: They lurk in our fears, our imaginations, and sometimes, in our lakes and forests.

Sea serpents; tall, hairy creatures; unicorns; blood-sucking doglike animals — they’ve all been in the news this year. They’re either real, myth or simply new and previously unknown beasts that share the world with humans and come under the category of cryptozoology: the study of hidden or unknown animals.

Here’s a look back at some of the more interesting cryptozoology stories that we covered in 2010.”

The top stories, several of which were first noted at Cryptomundo, included:

1) Loch Ness Monster history discovery that in the 1930s, officials tried to get the Scottish government to protect and defend the “monster” known as Nessie.

Related Stories:
• Ex-Detective Hunts the Loch Ness Monster
• Does the Loch Ness Monster Have English Relatives?
• No Sea Serpents Here, Says UK’s Royal Navy

2) The finding of a mammal known as the saola, dubbed the “Asian unicorn.”

Related Story:
• Chinese ‘Unicorn Cow’ Horns In on Fame

3) The Bigfoot sighting on a North Carolina mountaintop property of the creature reportedly was covered in yellow hair.

Related Story:
• China Hunting for Dollars to Hunt Bigfoot

4) The breaking news that the cuddly looking red panda was found as fossils at the Gray Fossil site in Tennessee.

5) Finally, AOL declared it was “Chupacabra: Year of the Goat Sucker,” for numerous reports in different states included photographs of strange-looking hairless beasts with shriveled skin.

Related Stories:
• Chupacabra Watch: Kentucky Creature Could Be Hairless Coyote
• Chupacabra Alert: 300 Goats Mysteriously Slaughtered in Mexico
• Are These Strange Animals Actually Chupacabras?

For the full article, see here.