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Half a century ago, Belgian Zoologist Bernard Heuvelmans first codified cryptozoology in his book On the Track of Unknown Animals.

The Centre for Fortean Zoology (CFZ) are still on the track, and have been since 1992. But as if chasing unknown animals wasn't enough, we are involved in education, conservation, and good old-fashioned natural history! We already have three journals, the largest cryptozoological publishing house in the world, CFZtv, and the largest cryptozoological conference in the English-speaking world, but in January 2009 someone suggested that we started a daily online magazine! The CFZ bloggo is a collaborative effort by a coalition of members, friends, and supporters of the CFZ, and covers all the subjects with which we deal, with a smattering of music, high strangeness and surreal humour to make up the mix.

It is edited by CFZ Director Jon Downes, and subbed by the lovely Lizzy Bitakara'mire (formerly Clancy), scourge of improper syntax. The daily newsblog is edited by Corinna Downes, head administratrix of the CFZ, and the indexing is done by Lee Canty and Kathy Imbriani. There is regular news from the CFZ Mystery Cat study group, and regular fortean bird news from 'The Watcher of the Skies'. Regular bloggers include Dr Karl Shuker, Dale Drinnon, Richard Muirhead and Richard Freeman.The CFZ bloggo is updated daily, and there's nothing quite like it anywhere else. Come and join us...

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Saturday, April 03, 2010

ANOTHER TAXONOMY FAIL

Oh Maxy, you do make I larf...

MUIRHEAD`S MYSTERIES: A FRENCH WILD MAN FROM THE 18TH CENTURY

I have the following cutting from The Times newspaper for November 7th 1786:

An Account of a remarkable Wild Man. Translated from a Work lately published in Paris.
In the year 1774, a savage or wild man, was discovered by the shepherds, who feed their flocks in the neighbourhood of the forest of Yuary This man, who inhabited the rocks that lay near the forest, was very tall, covered with hair like a bear, nimble as the Hisars (1), of a gay humour, and, in all appearance, of a mild character, as he neither did, nor seemed to intend, harm to anybody. #



He often visited the cottages, without ever attempting to carry off any thing. He had no knowledge of bread, milk, or cheese. His greatest amusement was to see the sheep running, and to scatter them; and he testified his pleasure at this sight by loud fits of laughter, but never attempted to hurt those innocent animals. When the shepherds (as was frequently the case) let loose their dogs after him, he fled with the swiftness of an arrow shot from a bow, and never allowed the dogs to come near him.



One morning he came to the cottage of some workmen, and one of them endeavouring to get near him, and catch him by the leg, he laughed heartily, and then made his escape. He seemed to be about thirty years of age. As the forest in question is very extensice, and has a communication with vast woods that belong to the Spanish territory, it is natural to suppose that this solitary, but cheerful creature, had been lost in his infancy, and had subsisted on herbs (2)


1. I have no idea who or what the Hisars were
2. The Times November 7th 1786

The B52s Love Shack

If you see a faded sign on the side of the road
That says 15 miles to the…Love Shack! Love Shack yeah
I`m Headin` down the Atlanta Highway
Headin` for the love getaway
Headin` for the love getaway,love getaway
I`ve got me a car as big as a whale
And we`re headin on down
To the Love Shack
I`ve got me a Chrysler,it seats about 20
So hurry up and bring your juke box money…

JERRY THE JACKDAW MOVES INTO SUMMER ACCOMMODATION

Although the move itself must have been somewhat traumatic for him, Jerry is now in the outdoor aviary where he will stay until the beginning of November.

LINDSAY SELBY: The Creature in Lake Vattern

The Creature in Lake Vattern

Lake Vattern is in Sweden. It is said to be at least three-hundred-and-fifty feet (115 metres) deep and is Sweden’s largest freshwater lake. The lake contains both phytoplankton and zooplankton and several species of fish including the Vättern char (Salvelinus alpinus). There have been stories of a lake creature/ monster living there since the late 1800s. It is reported that when in the water it has an upside-down boat shape. It is not as well known as the other lake monsters in Sweden.


In 1897 an ugly creature walked out of the lake, onto the shore and terrified local swimmers. It had two short legs and later returned into the water.


In 1947 a Captain Egon Johansson of the tugboat Hebe 3 was in the southern end of the lake on August 26. He reported that he saw two humps on the surface of the water. They were about forty to fifty feet (13- 16 metres) long and were about two feet (0.6 metre) high. Then an aeroplane flew past and the humps vanished into the water.


In 1975 fishermen complained that “something large and unknown had ripped holes in their nets.”

On July 25 2001 two people were watching the lake when about one hundred and fifty feet (approx 45 metres) away, three humps appeared.


The two-feet sighting is interesting and sounds more like a large seal of some sort, the feet being front flippers. The other sightings though are more typical lake creature sightings.There was an investigation by GUST, I believe, but I have been unable to find any results. If anyone knows more, please post.

My Mother's Birthday

On this day in 1922 my mother was born, and although she died in 2002 just before her eightieth birthday, today (and every day) I always remember her....

OLL LEWIS: Yesterday's News Today

http://cryptozoologynews.blogspot.com/

On this day in 1581 Sir Francis Drake was knighted for circumnavigating the world. He probably singed the King of Spain’s beard at some point on the journey too as he seemed to get quite some enjoyment from such things.
And now, the news:

Chef finds octopus with extra leg
Ducks In Dresses Drive Easter Crowd Quackers
I was attacked by killer bees

Q: What kind of bee can't be understood?
A: A mumble bee

ANCIENT MADAGASCAN BLIND SNAKES

Max Blake (who has been staying at the CFZ this week) drew my attention to this fascinating article....

"Blindsnakes are not very pretty, are rarely noticed, and are often mistaken for earthworms,” admits Blair Hedges, professor of biology at Penn State University. “Nonetheless, they tell a very interesting evolutionary story.” Hedges and Nicolas Vidal, of the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris, are co-leaders of the team that discovered that blindsnakes are one of the few groups of organisms that inhabited Madagascar when it broke from India about 100 million years ago and are still living today. The results of their study will be published in the 31 March 2010 issue of the Royal Society journal Biology Letters.

Blindsnakes comprise about 260 different species and form the largest group of the world’s worm-like snakes — scolecophidians. These burrowing animals typically are found in southern continents and tropical islands, but occur on all continents except Antarctica. They have reduced vision — which is why they are called “blind” — and they feed on social insects including termites and ants. Because there are almost no known fossil blindsnakes, their evolution has been difficult to piece together. Also, because of their underground lifestyle, scientists have long wondered how they managed to spread from continent to continent.

Read on...



CFZ ARCHIVING PROJECT: General Forteana Part 4


As you know, Oll has been working on the archiving project since early February 2009 and he is now working on a general mish-mash of a section known as `General Forteana`. This fourth trenche is another general mish-mash with animal attacks, bigfoot culture, cults, ghosties and UFOs as well as other bits and bobs. Good stuff.

HERE

DISAPPOINTING NEWS

We always try to share the news with you all as soon as we get it; both the good stuff and the bad stuff. Well, this news isn't bad as such, but it is certainly a tad disappointing.

During the Sumatra expedition last autumn, the boys brought back samples of rattan that had apparently been chewed by the orang pendek, as well as hair that we hoped would turn out to be from the animal. The samples were divided in two, and half sent to Lars Thomas in Copenhagen, and the rest to Dr Todd Disotell in the United States.

Sadly, we can now confirm that the Transatlantic samples did not yield any DNA. We already knew that the rattan had not yielded any, but we had high hopes for the hair. We are still waiting on news from Denmark.