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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Unlike some of our competitors we are not going to try and blackmail you into donating by saying that we won't continue if you don't. That would just be vulgar, but our lives, and those of the animals which we look after, would be a damn sight easier if we receive more donations to our fighting fund. Donate via Paypal today...




Friday, January 31, 2014

FORTEAN: Tall White Nazi Space Aliens Are Not -- We Repeat NOT -- Invading

The craziest story to emerge from the Edward Snowden leaked documents affair probably has nothing to do with Edward Snowden ... or reality.
According to a story posted by Iran's Fars News Agency, the U.S. government has been under the control of a shadow government overseen by extraterrestrials who helped Nazi Germany's rise in the 1930s.
The news agency story suggests that documents revealed by Snowden are part of a Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) report which states the information provides "incontrovertible proof that an alien/extraterrestrial intelligence agenda is driving U.S. domestic and international policy, and has been doing so since 1945."

FORTEAN BIRD NEWS FROM THE WATCHER OF THE SKIES

What has Corinna's column of fortean bird news got to do with Cryptozoology?

Well, everything actually!

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. 



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 that appear 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. 

  • VIDEO LINK: Lost Land of the Tiger
  • VIDEO LINK: Lost Land of the Jaguar



  • CRYPTOLINK: On the trail of something big?

    A word about cryptolinks: we are not responsible for the content of cryptolinks, which are merely links to outside articles that we think are interesting (sometimes for the wrong reasons), usually posted up without any comment whatsoever from me. 










    By Annette Jordan
    ajordan@courier-tribune.com



    The Uwharrie National Forest covers over 50,645 acres in Randolph, Montgomery and Davidson counties.

    A haven for campers and hikers, it has a reputation for winding trails, teeming wildlife, trickling streams and hauntingly beautiful vistas.

    Over the years, I’ve had folks tell me it has a reputation for being hauntingly different in other ways. Folklorists spin yarns of a headless horseman legend. UFO enthusiasts spy mysterious orbs of light hovering above the forest or bouncing through the woods. And then there’s folks like Lee Woods, of Asheboro, who prowl the forest in search of another kind of creature, the legendary Bigfoot.

    Does Bigfoot exist? And does he indeed roam our national forest?

    Those who claim to have evidence of his existence have been featured on Animal Planet’s “Finding Bigfoot.” Another episode is planned for later this year featuring Woods.

    For more than seven years, Woods and his buddies have camped out, equipped with audio equipment and cameras, hoping to snare evidence even doubting Thomases can’t ignore. Among the items they’ve accumulated: An audio of inhuman screams taped about 4 in the morning, a thick pelt of coarse brown and black fur stuck in tree bark six feet off the ground (that hunters swear couldn’t belong to a bear or deer); huge human-like footprints photographed in the dirt; and once a blurred photo of a tall creature peeking from behind a tree trunk.

    But they have never spotted Bigfoot up close.

    Read on...

    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:

    THE GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN

    The Gonzo Daily - Friday
    And so we are back home after a tumultuous few days. Jefferson Starship were completely awesome in Wolverhampton on tuesday night; I have seldom seen a better gig. But Auburn. What can I say? I saw them live supporting Jefferson Starship about 18 months ago, and they were great, but on tuesday they took it to an entirely different level. I am very much looking forward to editing the video I took. I only hope that I did them justice...
    Gary Windo album reissue featuring Robert Wyatt and Nick Mason...
    http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2014/01/gary-windo-album-reissue-featuring.html
    Issue 63 of the Gonzo Weekly is in the pipeline. It features an exclusive interview with Mark Murdock of 'Cymbalic Encounters' fame, another interview with the mighty Galahad, and an account of our adventures with Jefferson Starship, and more news, reviews, views, interviews and kangaroos (OK, no Macropoda but I got carried away with things that rhymed with OOOOS) than you can shake a stick at. And the best part is IT's COMPLETELY FREE!!!
    To make sure that you don't miss your copy of future issues make an old hippy a happy chappy and subscribe
    http://eepurl.com/r-VTD

    PS. If you are already a subscriber but think that you haven't been receiving your copies please check your spam filters. For some reason known only to the Gods of the internet, some e-mail programmes automatically count the magazine as 'spam' probably because it comes from a mass mailer. Either that or they are just jealous of our peerless content

    *  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

    Yesterday’s News Today
    http://cryptozoologynews.blogspot.com/

    On this day in 2010 Avatar became the first movie to gross over $2 billion worldwide. Although a good movie it's massive success means that Cameron will be tied up making sequels to it for the next 7 years or so and therefore is unlikely to be able to make the live action film of Battle Angel Alita/Gunnm that he'd been planning. A great loss because he is one of the few directors that would have properly understood the source material and created something awesome.

    And now the news:

  • Endangered Species Act Protection Sought for Seven...
  • Lizards breathe more efficiently than humans do - ...
  • Villagers adopt lonely Porrick the pig
  • Zoo relying on new arrivals for future breeding - ...
  • Darwin’s garden purchased

  • The unacceptable cost of 'gassing' rattlers----Op-...

  • Here's the trailer for the anime adaptation of Gunnm, just in case you were wondering what I was whittering on about:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZImWfSmESs0

    Thursday, January 30, 2014

    MUIRHEAD'S MYSTERIES - round-up of strange animal stories from Hong Kong

    Hi good people,

    It`s been a while since I presented a round-up of progress on  the CFZ`s research into mystery animals in  Hong Kong. These are stories for the  Mystery Animals of Hong Kong book Jon and I are preparing. Here is a short selection of old newspaper stories and other gleanings from the Net that I hope will whet your appetite. I could launch into dozens of stories and I believe I have hardly scratched the surface of websites in languages other than English. Especially Chinese of course. [I use Google Translate-R]

    I stumbled across a web site consisting of an e-mail from the national library of Japan to myself in 2011. I think it was listing all the bibliographical research they had done  (and there were very many titles)  to find Japanese references to the Hong Kong Stanley Prison Camp tiger of 1942 and I was pretty incredulous to find none at all. But that`s life, as someone once said. I had only previously had a Japanese-language version of this e-mail. More on Japan below.

    But in chronological order, here we go:

    1. TWO STRANGE FISH STORIES

    The first of these stories comes from The Roanore Times, an American paper of June 6th 1893, as follows:

    THE WORLD'S WONDERS.

    Something strange lately affected the fish in Hong Kong waters. For many days they were in a state of stupor, and allowed themselves to be caught by hand, making no effort to escape.

     The second is almost the exact opposite; hyper-active fish,as reported on the Hong Kong Horror Network website [ http://horrorhk.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/blog-post.html ] on July 9th 2013:

    'Wan fish accounted appear tomorrow in Hong Kong after a good strange visions lead to panic.' This told the story of fish jumping frantically out of the water in various parts of Hong Kong, including Aberdeen and Lamma Island. Apparently fire fighters had to shovel the fish into bins there were so many of them. This lead to rumours of  an impending disaster such as an earthquake or tsunami. On May 17th 1999 at Sok Kwu Wan something similar happened. One speculation was lack of oxygen in the sea. [Or seismic activity- R]

    2.  PARROTS IN HONG KONG

    Hong Kong Telegraph   March 14th  1902:

    Parrots are not generally supposed to range so far north as Hong Kong, but we learn that a couple have recently been shot in the Colony, one on the Island and the other in the New Territory [sic]. The shooting of a single specimen could of course be put down to an escape, but it is hardly possible that two escaped birds of the same species should be met with in one season and at a considerable distance from the town.

    [Now this is interesting because I thought parrots were supposed to have escaped from somewhere during Japan`s occupation of Hong Kong; 1941-45. So what have we here? – R]

    3.  BLACK PANTHER  1960s or 1970s

    Gwulo.com reported in 2013 that in the 1960s or `70s a black panther was reported in Hong Kong. Confusingly, the militant black American civil rights group the Black Panthers had some connection with Hong Kong at this time! Confusingly, when using Google Images and you`re looking for a cryptid black cat, I mean.

    4. HONG KONG`S UNUSUALLY COLOURED COBRAS .


    This photo is taken from the Romer archives at the Zoological Society of London, showing a specked-coloured cobra in Hong Kong, c.1970s.


    ROBERT SCHNECK: Tortoise cosys

    tortoise cozy
    Nothing makes you feel good quite like a snazzy outfit. Katie Bradley's four tortoises are the best dressed in town, thanks to a wide assortment of crocheted cozies. 

    CRYPTOLINK: Watch: Hiker Encounters Bigfoot Family in South Carolina [Real Bigfoot Encounters]

    A word about cryptolinks: we are not responsible for the content of cryptolinks, which are merely links to outside articles that we think are interesting (sometimes for the wrong reasons), usually posted up without any comment whatsoever from me. 



    Read on...

    FORTEAN BIRD NEWS FROM THE WATCHER OF THE SKIES

    What has Corinna's column of fortean bird news got to do with Cryptozoology?

    Well, everything actually!

    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. 






    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 that appear 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. 

    News from Lindsay....

    A couple of weeks ago, a person known to me who wishes to remain anonymous, sent me this photo of a large paw print .The person was walking a dog on the Lochinch area  when he came across some footprints and took a snap with a phone. It could be a badger or could it be the Galloway puma?

    What do you think?


    NB. Lochinch is a private estate owned by the Earl of Stairs. At present there are shooting parties on the estate so if anyone wishes to investigate please contact the estate office so you don’t risk getting shot in mistake for game.



    Has the Galloway Puma Left a Paw print?

    There  have been big cat  sightings reported since 1950s in the Dumfries and Galloway area of Scotland. The cat was dubbed the Galloway Puma by the press after Canadian tourists claimed to have seen an animal which resembled a cougar near Kirroughtree, south-east of Newton Stewart in the late 1990s. They  saw the animal whilst returning from a  walk in the Galloway Forest. It was also  seen  by locals in Newton Stewart .It was  described by most as black, about the  size of a Labrador dog, with a long tail and yellow eyes. Some have described it as sandy coloured, so is there more than one big cat roaming the countryside in this area?

    Many people, such as local farmers and Forestry workers, reported seeing  a big black cat throughout the region. In June 2001, a young woman who was walking her dog near Newton Stewart golf course, was shaken by what she described as a "large black cat, bigger than an Alsatian", springing  out at her on the path .The animal ran away after her dog began barking and growling at it.

    There were reports of attacks on livestock:

    In one of the 21 attacks in Dumfries and Galloway, a report of injured livestock read: “One sheep was examined by an inspector from the SSPCA who found the injuries to be unusual and not consistent with an attack from a dog. An attack from wild boar or a large cat could be possibilities.”

    Source: http://www.deadlinenews.co.uk/2012/04/11/scots-police-deal-with-dozens-of-big-cat-sightings/

    Warnings were issued:

    BEWARE BIG CATS SAY SCOTS POLICE

    By Frank Ryan

    POLICE have issued a "steer clear" warning after a series of big cat sightings in south Scotland. There have been four recent reports of an animal described as a lynx, puma or panther in Dumfriesshire. It was seen by two women in Auldgirth, golfers at nearby Thornhill, a man walking his dogs beside the River Nith in the village, and by another man in Sanquhar.
    Bob McGoran, deputy head at St Joseph's College, Dumfries, earlier reported seeing an animal like a North American lynx at John-stonebridge, near the M74.

    Source: http://www.thefreelibrary.com/BEWARE+BIG+CATS+SAY+SCOTS+POLICE.-a0106200549



    The police took the threat seriously.

    More recently  in  2013:
    Another big cat sighting Published on the 14 August 2013
    Holidaymakers staying at Kirroughtee Hotel outside Newton Stewart had a close encounter with one of Galloway’s best kept secrets last Saturday morning - an elusive big cat.

    Les Gill and his partner Linda were looking out of their bedroom window when they both clearly saw the animal in the hotel grounds. Les said: ”We were standing at the window looking out when we saw it. I lived in Africa so I know what a big cat looks like. It was about four foot long from nose to tail and the tail was long and curled upwards. It was about three foot high and was sandy coloured. It was 60 yards away from us and it was visible for about 25 to 30 seconds.“This was about eight o’ clock in the morning as we were both stunned. My i-phone was in the car or a could have taken a photograph. I just felt I should contact the paper to tell you what we saw as there could be children playing nearby.”In the past four years 20 big cat sightings have been reported to The Galloway Gazette.

    Source: http://www.gallowaygazette.co.uk/news/local-headlines/another-big-cat-sighting-1-3045376

    In November 2013:

    A couple walking in woods near Carronbridge say they came face to face with a mysterious big cat.Craig Johnstone, 27, and his girlfriend Gillian Kennedy, 26, were staying at Trigony House Hotel near Thornhill last weekend.They took their dog for a walk on Sunday morning when they came across a “large, black cat” lying down staring at them.Stunned Craig said: “It was around 50 metres away from us and its head measured approximately one and a half feet from the ground.“It just stared at us for 30 seconds.“Gillian panicked and moved away. I went with her but went back after a few seconds to see if I could get a better picture but it was away.”Craig described the strange creature as being “very stalky, jet black with small rounded ears”.

    It continues :Craig and Gillian aren’t the only people to have spotted big cats in the region.Last July, 22-year-old Samantha Garden was on her way to work in Lockerbie when she noticed a strange looking creature standing in the middle of the road near Hoddom Bridge.In January, 2012 Aaron Halliday and Nathan Crosbie spotted a big cat similar to a panther in a field near Dalbeattie.

    And in 2011, three mysterious cat sightings were reported in the space of a month. Dan Alexander, of Dumfries, claimed to have seen a creature on the A75 near Newton Stewart.Before that, Dumbarton lorry driver John Spence said he saw two big cats dart in front of his vehicle on the same road near Creetown.And on the same day, Janet Davies spotted an animal near the quarry at Tynron which she called a panther.

    According to police, big cat sightings are not uncommon in the area but no creature has ever been traced to verify the claims.

    Source: http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/local-news/couple-spot-mysterious-big-cat-2864426


    THE GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN IS STILL ON THE LOOSE

    The Gonzo Daily - Thursday
    www.gonzomultimedia.co.uk/about.html
    Graham's still covering the blog work while Jon's on his travels.
    I see that the UK news is reporting that we've had the wettest January for 100 years. That's probably the least-surprising news story that I've read in a very long time, as our lawn currently is a quagmire with pools of standing water and the Army has been called in to help in parts of our neighbouring county, Somerset. From what I've seen of the photos, it should have been the Navy instead!
    Today's blogs haven't been washed away, though:
    Joey Molland / Return To Memphis review (German, translated)
    http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/joey-molland-return-to-memphis-review.html
    Sax Legend Gary Windo (w/Soft Machine, Pink Floyd Members) Gets Reissued
    http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/sax-legend-gary-windo-wsoft-machine.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

    Yesterday’s News Today

    http://cryptozoologynews.blogspot.com

    On this day in 1995 the author and conservation and zoo pioneer Gerald Durrell died.

    And now the news:



  • For Second Year in Row, Tens of Thousands Ask Last...
  • Ivory Coast pilots novel elephant rescue
  • On 40th Anniversary of US ESA, as Conservationists...
  • Plate 3: The peculiar greenness of the three-toed ...



  • Jackass style shark stunt nearly turns deadly for ...
  • Permits required for Ohio exotic animal owners in ...
  • Western Australia shark cull protesters remove bai...




  • Durrell, kias and a frog mishap:



    Wednesday, January 29, 2014

    CRYPTOLINK: Craven-area video catches attention of bigfoot believers (with video)

    A word about cryptolinks: we are not responsible for the content of cryptolinks, which are merely links to outside articles that we think are interesting (sometimes for the wrong reasons), usually posted up without any comment whatsoever from me. 


    Craven-area video catches attention of bigfoot believers (with video)

    Could a Sasquatch be lurking in the area around Craven?

    Photograph by: Bryan Schlosser , Regina Leader-Post



    REGINA — Kim Blevins has never seen a Sasquatch while readying the Craven Country Jamboree site — just a couple of cougars.

    “But if there’s one place he’ll be, it’s probably Craven,” she says with a chuckle.

    A video purportedly showing the mythical beast on a hillside near Craven has surfaced on YouTube, and is making the rounds on cryptozoology websites.

    Filmed during summer but posted a few days ago, it shows a dark brown shape with gangly arms, hulking off into bush beside the road.


    Read on...

    FORTEAN BIRD NEWS FROM THE WATCHER OF THE SKIES

    What has Corinna's column of fortean bird news got to do with Cryptozoology?

    Well, everything actually!

    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. 






    CRYPTOLINK: Bigfoot Hoax – How Far Will It Go?

    A word about cryptolinks: we are not responsible for the content of cryptolinks, which are merely links to outside articles that we think are interesting (sometimes for the wrong reasons), usually posted up without any comment whatsoever from me. 


    I admit I am curious to see how this will ultimately play out. Rick Dyer is at it again. In 2008 Dyer claimed to have found a dead bigfoot. He claimed that scientific analysis was coming, he had the body for investigation, he held a press conference promising evidence.
    It was soon discovered that the bigfoot body was simply a rubber suit – the whole thing was a crude hoax, surprising only the most gullible bigfoot believers.
    Amazingly, Dyer is now at it again. He claims to have shot and killed a bigfoot, that he has the body, that the BBC has footage of the whole thing, and that a team of scientists have thoroughly examined the body.
    If his claims are true, then Dyer has the smoking gun evidence that bigfoot is real. Of course, at this point no nerd can resist quoting that Klingon saying, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.”
    Does Dyer honestly expect anyone to believe that a proven bigfoot hoaxer really caught bigfoot this time? Where so many have failed before, a hoaxer alone has struck gold.

    This Deer Thought No One Was Watching It Fart, Now The Whole World Knows (VIDEO)

    CRYPTOLINK: Rick Dyer now claims to have two Bigfoot bodies! Video

    A word about cryptolinks: we are not responsible for the content of cryptolinks, which are merely links to outside articles that we think are interesting (sometimes for the wrong reasons), usually posted up without any comment whatsoever from me. 


    Rick Dyer now claims to have two Bigfoot bodies! Video


    Wow this guy is unbelievable! First he "postpones" Press Conference and now this... Look on his Fbook page, people still believe him!

    Read on...

    THE GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN IS OUT EAST




    The Gonzo Daily - Wednesday

    Graham at the helm again, today, while Jon's away and travelling around East England.

    While trawling the Seeger obituaries on the web today, I noted that he didn't relish having his output categorised as 'folk music' - "There are as many kinds of folk songs as there are folks," he's quoted as saying. I suppose it's not only journalists who tend to like cosy categories and convenient pidgeon-holes, is it...

    Meanwhile, there's been no problems 'around the ranch' today, although the dogs have been very trigger-happy in doing regular choruses of barking at the slightest excuse. Anyway, the blog updates seem to have taken rather a long time but I've got there in the end:

    OBITUARY: 'Simple, complicated Seeger changed American music' - folksinger Pete Seeger dies
    http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/obituary-simple-complicated-seeger.html

    Percy Jones US review
    http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/percy-jones-us-review.html

    THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: Hawkwind perform 'Master of the Universe' (2013)
    http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/the-gonzo-track-of-day-hawkwind-perform.html

    Frank Zappa a difficult act to follow for son Dweezil
    http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/frank-zappa-difficult-act-to-follow-for.html

    THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem
    http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2014/01/thom-world-poet-daily-poem_29.html

    Belgian reviews of Gary Windo
    http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/belgian-reviews-of-gary-windo.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

    Tuesday, January 28, 2014

    CRYPTOLINK: Momo The Documentary (Missouri Monster)

    A word about cryptolinks: we are not responsible for the content of cryptolinks, which are merely links to outside articles that we think are interesting (sometimes for the wrong reasons), usually posted up without any comment whatsoever from me. 

    CRYPTOLINK: Bigfoot: Master of Camouflage

    A word about cryptolinks: we are not responsible for the content of cryptolinks, which are merely links to outside articles that we think are interesting (sometimes for the wrong reasons), usually posted up without any comment whatsoever from me. 




    Our friends over at bigfootresearch.blogspot.com posted this great article about bigfoot and their ability to blend in with their surroundings. You got to check it out, and be sure to watch the video on their page!

    "If most people walked right by a squatch in the woods, 9

    Read on... 

    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 that appear 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. 

    BIG CAT WEEK on National Geographic
    http://natgeotv.com/asia/big-cat-week-2014

    Abuse of circus animals comes to forefront of Lebanese politics.
    http://bigcatrescue.org/abuse-of-circus-animals-comes-to-forefront-of-lebanese-politics/

    Coalescent Species Delimitation in Milksnakes (genus Lampropeltis) and Impacts on Phylogenetic Comparative Analyses


    Coalescent Species Delimitation in Milksnakes (genus Lampropeltis) and Impacts on Phylogenetic Comparative Analyses

    1. Frank T. Burbrink1,2
    + Author Affiliations
    1. 1. Department of Biology, College of Staten Island, 2800 Victory Blvd., Staten Island, NY 10314
    2. 2. The Graduate Center, City University of New York, 365 5th Avenue, NY, NY 10016
    3. 3. Department of Biology & Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, University of Washington, Box 351800, Seattle, WA 98195-1800
    4. 4. Department of Biological Sciences, The George Washington University, 2023 G St. NW, Washington, DC 20052
    1. *Corresponding author: email:sruane@amnh.org; phone: (212)-769-5734
    • Received August 21, 2012.
    • Revision received June 12, 2013.
    • Revision received November 2, 2013.
    • Revision received November 19, 2013.
    • Accepted November 27, 2013.

    Abstract

    Both gene-tree discordance and unrecognized diversity are sources of error for accurate estimation of species trees, and can affect downstream diversification analyses by obscuring the correct number of nodes, their density, and the lengths of the branches subtending them. While the theoretical impact of gene-tree discordance on evolutionary analyses has been examined previously, the effect of unsampled and cryptic diversity has not. Here, we examine how delimitation of previously unrecognized diversity in the milksnake (Lampropeltis triangulum) and use of a species-tree approach affects both estimation of the Lampropeltis phylogeny and comparative analyses with respect to the timing of diversification. Coalescent species delimitation indicates that L. triangulum is not monophyletic and that there are multiple species of milksnake, which increases the known species diversity in the genus Lampropeltis by 40%. Both genealogical and temporal discordance occurs between gene trees and the species tree, with evidence that mtDNA introgression is a main factor. This discordance is further manifested in the preferred models of diversification, where the concatenated gene tree strongly supports an early burst of speciation during the Miocene, in contrast to species-tree estimates where diversification follows a birth-death model and speciation occurs mostly in the Pliocene and Pleistocene. This study highlights the crucial interaction among coalescent-based phylogeography and species delimitation, systematics, and species diversification analyses. 

    NATURAL WORLD: SAVE THE FROGS

    The most important action any frog lover can take to help SAVE THE FROGS! is to become an Official Member today. Your financial support enables us to grow our movement, educate the masses, and implement on-the-ground actions that provide direct benefit to amphibians and their habitats. Just as important, the larger our supporter base, the easier it is for us to receive assistance from foundations, corporations, politicians and other nonprofits. Plus you get a great membership package when you join! So make your voice heard by joining SAVE THE FROGS! today. The frogs are disappearing fast, but we can save them -- with YOUR help.
    http://savethefrogs.com/members

    Right now we are giving away copies of my new book The Story of SAVE THE FROGS! to all new members. You can't buy this book anywhere, not even on savethefrogs.com, but you can get your copy mailed to you when you sign up as the newest member of SAVE THE FROGS! at: http://savethefrogs.com/members

    Story Save The Frogs

    Thank you so much!
    Kerry Kriger, Ph.D.
    SAVE THE FROGS! Founder, Executive Director, Ecologist, Webmaster & Frog Lover
    Red eye treefrog

    Top 5 Reasons to become an Official Member of SAVE THE FROGS! today#1 -- Frogs are the most rapidly disappearing animals on the planet.
    #2 -- Nobody does more to help frog populations than SAVE THE FROGS!
    #3 -- You understand that our programs cost real money, and you care enough about the future of our planet to chip in.
    #4 -- Your children and grandchildren will thank you for helping SAVE THE FROGS!
    #5 -- You get awesome membership benefits!

    "I love my membership! Please, please, become a member and help save some frogs and toads! Every member counts!"
    -- Red Frog Member Franceska Zweifler; Bethesda, MD
    "As a new member of Save The Frogs, I appreciate the welcoming letter and materials in the packet that I recently received.  The drawing by an 11 year old was especially delightful."
    -- Dr. Vic Eichler; Amphibian Biologist, Three Rivers, MI


    "We need to do something as a species to save these incredible and vital creatures. Thank you for everything that you and your team are doing". 
    -- Green Frog Member Hazel Richards; Bruailles, France


    Marsh Frog at Sunset by Selena Vanapruks, Age 13

    FORTEAN BIRD NEWS FROM THE WATCHER OF THE SKIES

    What has Corinna's column of fortean bird news got to do with Cryptozoology?

    Well, everything actually!

    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.