WELCOME TO THE CFZ BLOG NETWORK: COME AND JOIN THE FUN

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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Monday, December 09, 2013

TODAY'S BIG CAT ROUND UP



The hunt for British Big Cats attracts far more newspaper-column inches than any other cryptozoological subject. 

There are so many of them now that we feel that they should be archived by us in some way, so we are publishing a regular round-up of the stories as they come in. 

The worldwide mystery cat phenomenon (or group of phenomena, if we are to be more accurate) is not JUST about cryptozoology. At its most basic level it is about the relationship between our species and various species of larger cat. That is why sometimes you will read stories here thatappear to have nothing to do with cryptozoology, but have everything to do with human/big cat interaction. As committed Forteans, we believe that until we understand the nature of these interactions, we have no hope of understanding the truth that we are seeking. 


  • UK SIGHTINGS: Big cat sightings in the UK. - Page ...
  • US SIGHTINGS: BIG CAT: Hunters Spot Mountain Lion ...
  • NEWSLINK: Handler's bravery highlighted in fatal a...


  • US SIGHTINGS: MYSTERY MONDAY: Panther Sightings Cr...
  • FORTEAN BIRD NEWS FROM THE WATCHER OF THE SKIES

    In an article for the first edition of Cryptozoology Bernard Heuvelmans wrote that cryptozoology is the study of 'unexpected animals' and following on from that perfectly reasonable assertion, it seems to us that whereas the study of out-of-place birds may not have the glamour of the hunt for bigfoot or lake monsters, it is still a perfectly valid area for the Fortean zoologist to be interested in. 

    So after about six months of regular postings on the main bloggo Corinna took the plunge and started a 'Watcher of the Skies' blog of her own as part of the CFZ Bloggo Network.




    DALE DRINNON: More longneck reconstruction, Frontiers of Anthropology, Cedar and Willow, Benny's Blogs

    New at the Frontiers of Anthropology:

    New at the Frontiers of Zoology:

    New at Cedar and Willow:

    New at Benny's Blog for Thelma Todd:
    New at Benny's Other Blog, The Ominous Octopus Omnibus:

    Best Wishes, Dale D.

    ANDREW MAY: Words from the Wild Frontier

    News and stories from the remoter fringes of the CFZ blogosphere...

    From Nick Redfern's World of Whatever:
    From CFZ-USA:

    KARL SHUKER - Cryptozoology and the Birthday Present That Changed My Life


    On his birthday today, Karl Shuker fondly remembers the birthday present that changed his life forever, by introducing him to the wonderful world of cryptozoology.

    Read on...

    THE GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN LOOKS FORWARD TO INTERACTING WITH A LOBSTER

    The Gonzo Daily - Monday
    And so another week begins (yes, I know Sunday is the first day of the week, but you know what I mean). Yesterday was a little peculiar because of a mistake of mine which is impacting the rest of the week. As regular readers will know, for the last six years we have had a small colony of an unidentified species of cichlid, known only as Aequidens sp. Peru. The colony has been ruled with an iron fin by a huge male that I keep on thinking that I should give a name. A few weeks ago there was a big fight in the tank and when I came down one morning all the fish appeared to be dead, and we buried them all in the compost heap with a twinge of sadness. So yesterday, when i was telephoned by a charming lady called Melanie asking of we could give an emergency home to an 8in long cobalt blue freshwater lobster from New Guinea I said yes. They could go in the old cichlid tank, and the two spot gouramis which were the only inhabitants could be moved. I said as much to Graham who looked quizzically at me. "But what about those two?" he said, pointing at the quondam cichlid tank. I was just about to say something scathing about people who returned from a Hawkwind concert too befuddled to tell a light blue gourami from a dark brown cichlid, when I glanced in the direction he was pointing, and there - bold as brass - was the still un-named huge male, and there at the other side of the tank was a small but sexually mature female. How the hell I missed a large fish that is something like six inches long I have no idea, but it says something rather dubious about my powers of observation.
    So today there is a complicated game of "shuffle the tanks" going to go on, as Corinna's cane toads go into a new Viv in the kitchen (under her Vietnamese stick insects) and an empty tank from the conservatory is brought inside for the delectation of the lobster, whose name (apparently) is "Lobby". Life is so much easier for people who limit their animal companions to a well behaved spaniel, or perhaps a goldfish.

    Another visit to our old friend Thom the World Poet
    http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2013/12/thom-world-poet-daily-poem_9.html
    Ten best Frank Zappa albums for people who think they hate Zappa
    http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2013/12/ten-best-frank-zappa-albums-for-people_9.html
    The Byrds' Roger McGuinn and country artist Marty Stuart discuss joint tour ahead of Bethlehem stop
    http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-byrds-roger-mcguinn-and-country.html

    *  The Gonzo Daily is a two way process. If you have any news or want to write for us, please contact me at  jon@eclipse.co.uk. If you are an artist and want to showcase your work, or even just say hello please write to me at gonzo@cfz.org.uk. Please copy, paste and spread the word about this magazine as widely as possible. We need people to read us in order to grow, and as soon as it is viable we shall be invading more traditional magaziney areas. Join in the fun, spread the word, and maybe if we all chant loud enough we CAN stop it raining. See you tomorrow...

    *  The Gonzo Daily is - as the name implies - a daily online magazine (mostly) about artists connected to the Gonzo Multimedia group of companies. But it also has other stuff as and when the editor feels like it. The same team also do a weekly newsletter called - imaginatively - The Gonzo Weekly. Find out about it at this link:
    www.gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2012/11/all-gonzo-news-wots-fit-to-print.html

    * We should probably mention here, that some of our posts are links to things we have found on the internet that we think are of interest. We are not responsible for spelling or factual errors in other people's websites. Honest guv!

    *  Jon Downes, the Editor of all these ventures (and several others) is an old hippy of 54 who - together with his orange cat (who is currently on sick leave in Staffordshire) and two very small kittens (one of whom is also orange) puts it all together from a converted potato shed in a tumbledown cottage deep in rural Devon which he shares with various fish, and sometimes a small Indian frog. He is ably assisted by his lovely wife Corinna, his bulldog/boxer Prudence, his elderly mother-in-law, and a motley collection of social malcontents. Plus.. did we mention the orange cat?

    OLL LEWIS: Yesterday's News Today