Saturday 30 April 2011

Big Cat caught on camera?


Grisly find as ‘big cat’ is caught on camera
By Hector Mackenzie
Published:  29 April, 2011
A GRISLY find in Ross-shire and an intriguing image captured on camera has further fuelled speculation that a big cat is on the prowl.The sighting of a large, cat-like beast stopped Tain sisters Lisa and Alana Sydenham in their tracks as they were out driving near Embo on Wednesday night. Meanwhile on the Black Isle, the stripped-to-the-bone remains of a deer and large paw prints in the mud left another landowner pondering the possibility that a big cat is responsible.The latest revelations follow last week’s exclusive Ross-shire Journal story in which Easter Ross farmer George Ross, of Rheguile Farm, spoke of the savaging of 18 of his sheep since the beginning of the year.Lisa Sydenham (29), an administration and information technology student at Dornoch College, contacted the Journal yesterday after her sighting on Wednesday night. She had been driving with sister Alana (26) near Embo outside Dornoch when she caught sight of a large beast on the prowl.Lisa, who snapped the black creature with the point-and-shoot digital camera she was carrying around 8.30pm on Wednesday night, told the Journal, “It was definitely not just a large domestic cat or dog.“At first I thought it was a very large dog but from the way it was walking and the shape of its body I could tell that it was a big cat. It was quite a distance away over a field. My sister Alana and I were at first very surprised and then excited. I looked into it and found there had been another sighting in the area last September.“It looked and moved like a cat.“It spotted me and crouched down in the grass before walking off. We must have watched it for about five minutes in all.”

Thursday 28 April 2011

Chupacabra skeleton?


Are These The Remains Of A Chupacabra?
Submitted by Javier Ortega on April 27, 2011
Chilean workers believe to have unearthed the bones of a Chupacabras.In the city of Pucón, Chile, workers were stopped dead in their tracks as they accidentally dug up a bizarre skeleton. The remains are said to be out of this world. Described as having a cat-like head and the tail of a rat, the remains were accompanied by other smaller skulls of local rodents.According to the news website, La Cuarta, The family whose house was being remodeled (or demolished) were made aware of the finding and are terrified to death on what was revealed. The family is now looking for an expert opinion to help identify the skeleton. According to La Cuarta, the workers found the remains as they were removing the flooring of the house. The skeletal structure appears to be 30 centimeters long — so around 1 foot–.The remains are being showed around town, and many speculate as to what type of animal it belonged to. Cries of Chupacabras! are naturally heard in such cases were people are presented with ghastly skeletal remains.

Tuesday 26 April 2011

BIg Cat Attack?


Fears for children from ‘big cat’
Mum frightened to leave her baby in garden after dog was attacked
By Mel Fairhurst Published: 16/04/2011
A mother living near the home of the mythical Loch Ness Monster claims a real-life killing beast is on the rampage in the area – and warned it could be a threat to children.Terrified Katrina Wallace says she is too frightened to leave her 12-week-old baby unattended in the garden after her dog was attacked and a lamb was killed by a big cat-like creature which is thought to be prowling woods near her Drumnadrochit home.Mrs Wallace’s husband, James, 38, first spotted the animal in the family garden at Ancarraig House, Bunloit, and thought it was one of the couple’s two black labradors.He said it was black with a long, cat-like tail similar to that of a puma or cougar.Weeks later one of the family dogs, Breargh, was attacked in the garden.Mrs Wallace said: “There was blood all around her eye and her hind leg was ripped to shreds. The vet said she had been dragged by an animal bigger than a dog.”Following snow showers in March, large paw prints which measured 4.5in by 3in were photographed by the couple, and a couple of weeks ago, they were horrified to find a lamb from a neighbouring farm had been killed. It had a puncture wound in the back of its neck.Mrs Wallace said: “The paw prints came from the woods towards the house. A friend of ours who does a lot of shooting and has tracked animals confirmed they were cat prints and a big one at that.

Friday 22 April 2011

Serpent of Silver lake. A hoax?


Extract
There are hoaxes and frauds in many fields, especially in the paranormal. One of them involved a cryptid, an unknown mysterious animal, sighted in Perry, New York. The Unique Serpent of Silver Lake was first seen on July 13th, 1885 by four fishermen who saw what they thought was a huge log – until it moved in a serpentine manner. Over a hundred people saw the serpent during the next several weeks. Hoards of people travelled to Silver Lake, hoping to see or kill it. The creature’s last appearance was in the late summer of 1885.
In 1857, there was a fire at A. B. Walker's hotel. Firemen found a contraption, about 60 feet long, made of waterproof canvas with coils inside with weights attached to it, a hose and large bellows to inflate it and ropes to move it, in the attic – the remains of the Silver Lake serpent.
Walker wanted to increase his hotel business, so he and friends created the serpent. After they were almost discovered with their contraption, they stored it in the hotel’s attic. Walker left Perry after the hoax was discovered. The townspeople of enjoyed the hoax. They decided to hold an annual Sea Serpent Balloon Festival that commemorates the “serpent.”

Tuesday 19 April 2011

some articles of interest to cryptozoologists including a creature that shouldn't exist but does.


Motor boat turbulence kills zooplankton in estuaries
by Matt Walker Earth News
Experiments on copepods, tiny crustaceans that live and float in water, show that a third die in waters frequented by propeller-driven boats. That is significantly more than in bodies of water not used by boats. Zooplankton play a crucial role in water ecology and their death may have hitherto unknown impacts. Details of the discovery are published in the Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology.
Ends with:
The scientists have not yet been able to establish how many boats might cause a problem, and much would depend on their size and speed, which have a large effect on the turbulence they create. "When viewed at a global scale, the portion of zooplankton killed by boat-generated turbulence is probably minimal," she says. However, turbulence could have a significant impact on zooplankton, and therefore water ecology, at a local scale. This may be particularly so in areas of high boat traffic and in closed freshwater systems such as lakes.
The whole engines and boats thing could have had far reaching implications on all wildlife including marine cryptids, perhaps even causing extinction.More marine/sea monsters were seen in the days of sailing ships,but no longer,  perhaps  due the sound of engines in modern ships frigthening them away.

Also by Matt Walker:
Oddballs: the midge that shouldn't exist:
Again interesting, another creature that shouldn’t exist but does. All generates hope for finding cryptids! The next item is just interesting for those into evolution.

Dental evolution big toothache for ancient reptile
Missing teeth and the decayed jawbone of a 275-million year old reptile have pushed back the earliest evidence of tooth decay some 200 million years, according to a study published Tuesday. The new find also highlights the downside of the evolutionary shift from loosely-fitted teeth that fall out but grow back to having a single set of permanent chompers, a drawback shared by adult humans, the researchers said.Labidosaurus hamatus -- a fat-headed, omnivorous reptile about 75 centimeters (30 inches) long -- adapted over millions of years to life on land rather than the watery marshes of its amphibious forebear.It's stouter legs and armour-like skin were better adapted to running and warding off predators.And its non-replaceable teeth, deeply anchored in its jaw, were better suited for eating fibrous plants and stems, alongside its more ancient diet of flying and crawling insects.