New Journal of Cryptozoology

This Facebook Group is devoted to the Journal of Cryptozoology - a new peer-reviewed 
scientific journal devoted to mystery animals, published by the CFZ Press. Check here for regular updates concerning the journal! :
http://www.facebook.com/groups/261237557287228/

For anyone who thinks Jurassic Park is a good idea

T. rex bite was world's strongest

By Victoria Gill  Science reporter, BBC Nature

Tyrannosaurus rex had the most powerful bite of any creature that has ever walked the Earth, say scientists.Previous estimates of the prehistoric predator's bite suggested it was much more modest - comparable to modern predators such as alligators.This measurement, based on a laser scan of a T. rex skull, showed that its bite was equivalent to three tonnes - about the weight of an elephant.The findings are published in the journal Biology Letters.Dr Karl Bates from the biomechanics laboratory at the University of Liverpool led the research.He and his colleague, Peter Falkingham from the University of Manchester, used the life-sized copy of a T. rex skeleton exhibited at Manchester Museum as a model for their study. "We digitised the skull with a laser scanner, so we had a 3-D model of the skull on our computer," Dr Bates explained.

Read rest see pics here : http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/17159086

The Wodewose, the origin of Bigfoot?

The wodewose is a savage, naked man decked out in leaves and boughs or moss and ivy, carrying a huge club. He has been reportedly seen in England since 14th Century and up to the 16th Century and  has been described as a large bearded man whose entire body was covered in curly hair . Historians theorised that the wodewose may have been some ancestor of man, and during the periods of its existence, had learned to fashion tools from wood. Similar stories of large hairy ape-men are found in the Pacific Northwest, Europe, Canada, Mexico, Belize, Guiana, Ecuador, Brazil, Malaysia, Indonesia, parts of Africa, and of course the Himalayas .

The first “Wild Man” appearing in the world’s literature was Enkidu in the ancient Summerian Epic of Gilgamesh. Created by the goddess Aruru (also known as Anu) to appease the prayers of the subjects of Gilgamesh who tired of his iron hand rule, Enkidu was made to match the strength of Gilgamesh and to do battle with him although he actually became Gilgamesh’s closest ally. Historian Fred Gladstone Skinner wrote that Enkidu was “a valiant god of battle, whose entire body was covered with hair, shaggy as a woman’s head. His clothes were of animal skins and, like an animal, he grazed in the fields and fought with the wild beasts for a place at the water holes.” .

A woodwose is described in Konungs skuggsjá which is a Norway educational text from around 1250:

It once happened in that country (and this seems indeed strange) that a living creature was caught in the forest as to which no one could say definitely whether it was a man or some other animal; for no one could get a word from it or be sure that it understood human speech. It had the human shape, however, in every detail, both as to hands and face and feet; but the entire body was covered with hair as the beasts are, and down the back it had a long coarse mane like that of a horse, which fell to both sides and trailed along the ground when the creature stooped in walking.

There were pictures and books printed during the 15th century in England ,which told of stories of appearances made by the wodewose. Tales about the wodewose were also very popular during the Elizabethan Era in the 16th century. Late-medieval churches in the areas of Norfolk and Suffolk in East Anglia have depictions of the wodewose on their structures and a doorway in St ,Mary's church Beverley East Yorkshire depicts a wild man.. Some of the stone statues depicting the wodewose show the hairy man defeating a beast such as a lion or a dragon-like creature. Could the green man depicted in many churches also be the wodewose? 

So the original bigfoot may have been an ancestor of man. The stories go back for thousands of years across the world. Could there once have been a worldwide distribution of wild men and that the creatures being reported as seen now, be just remnants of those tribes living in remote places?

Skinner, Fred Gladstone. 1970 “Myths and Legends of the Ancient Near East”. New York: Barnes & Noble Books

This lady is still missing. Please pass on this information

Your help urgently needed. Has anyone seen this lady who is missing?

Jeanett Thomas (48) is still missing. We repeat what we posted yesterday:

Our old friend Lars Thomas has asked us to post this:

On friday, his wife Jeanett left home. She was only meant to be gone a few hours, but she has disappeared. There has been no contact from her.

Lars has contacted the police, but asks: "Please, if you know, or have heard anything, let me know".

Contact Lars: lars_thomas@msn.com
Or me: jon@eclipse.co.uk

Our thoughts and prayers are with Lars at this terrible time.

The only good thing to come out of all of this, is that it proves (as if any proof were needed) that
I am not guilty of hyperbole when I refer to the 'CFZ Family'. One glance at Lars' Facebook page shows how members of the CFZ Family from all across the globe are not only sending messages of sympathy, but mobilising to spread the word and help to find Lars' missing wife.

Thank you my dears. At the risk of sounding over-mawkish, I am so proud of you lot. Thank You..

more rare creatures caught on film

Scientists capture footage of rare whale

A stroke of good luck has given a team of Tasmanian scientists an encounter with a pod of extremely rare whales.The Australian Antarctic Division team was searching for blue whales off the coast of Portland in Victoria last month when they spotted the pod of Shepherd's beaked whales.They captured video footage of up to a dozen of the black and cream-coloured whales which have prominent dolphin-like beaks.Voyage leader Michael Double says the mammals have been seen in the wild only a few times."To encounter this group was amazing but the fact that they remained at the surface for so long that we could get many minutes of footage is unique," he said.

See video read rest here: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-02-23/scientists-capture-footage-of-rare-whale/3846926

Monster lobster caught off Maine coast

See story here: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505245_162-57383555/monster-lobster-caught-off-maine-coast/

Another large bird sighting report

New sighting reported on http://cryptozoo-oscity.blogspot.com/2009/11/piasa-bird-legend-or-thunderbird.html

kateyvankirk said...

I work in Grafton, il and live nearby. I always work odd late hours and luckily ride home with another passenger. One night in January 2012, we were heading home at about 2 a.m. and a large bird (larger in size than any bird i have ever seen)whose feathers reminded me of an owl, and head looked like someone took a knife to fine leather. This bird was amazing and swooped right down in front of my car as if I were threatening its territory. Lucky for me I had another person there to tell me I wasn't crazy. I did not grow up in the Grafton area so this legend is all new to me, and I have been highly interested ever since my encounter to find out how many others have seen what I did that night.

23 February 2012 08:49 

Thanks CFZ Press

I just want to thank CFZ Press for the great job they did of publishing my book Dark Ness. So far the comments I have received about the design of the book :

‘Its a work of Art’

‘The photos really show the atmosphere of the place’

‘loved the photos and the little nessie at the start of each chapter’

You did a brilliant job guys  , better than some of the big publishers could do because you have a feeling and understanding for cryptozoology. Keep up the good work!

http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Ness-Tabitca-Cope/dp/1905723849/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1330004901&sr=8-1

ancient species spotted, new species found,ancient plant brought back to life .

From depths of the Charles, an ancient species

By Peter Schworm Globe Staff / February 20, 2012

As Rick Bellitti walked along the Charles River Locks this month, he spotted a looming figure in the water below. Probably a piece of driftwood, he figured. Until he saw it swimming slowly toward him. “He was right there on the surface,’’ Bellitti, a 36-year-old accountant, recalled recently. “A prehistoric, floating dinosaur. Covered in armor.’’ Turns out, Bellitti had happened upon an Atlantic sturgeon, an ancient, endangered species that had not been spotted around the Charles River for as long as anyone could remember.Bellitti had no idea what the strange creature was, but was certain he had never seen anything like it, so he took pictures with his phone. Once specialists got a look at the sharp-snouted fish, a 3-foot-long juvenile, they were immediately convinced.“No doubt about the identification,’’ said Tom French, an assistant director at the state’s fisheries and wildlife division. “It’s clear.’’The confirmed sighting delighted aquatic specialists, who said sturgeon, famed for their caviar and predating dinosaurs, are fighting for their survival.

Read more see pic here: http://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/2012/02/20/from_depths_of_the_charles_an_ancient_species/

News Species of Blenny Fish Found Near Andaman Islands

Dr. William Smith-Vaniz of the University of Florida and Dr. Gerald Allen of the Western Australian Museum have discovered a new species of diminutive blenny fish near the Andaman Islands, Indian Ocean. A paper in the journal Zootaxa describes the species, called Alloblennius frondiculus, on the basis of one female specimen measuring 23.8 mm (0.9”) in body length. It was found near the shore of South Cinque island, which lies just to the south of the main Andaman Islands. “The type locality was situated next to shore along a wave-exposed coast in 0–3 m depth,” the researchers wrote in the paper. “The bottom consisted of large algal-covered boulders in an area of very strong surge.” Until now, the genus Alloblennius has included four species: A. jugularis, A. pictus, A. parvus and A. anuchalis. “It differs from other species of Alloblennius in having a pinnately branched supraorbital cirrus about equal to eye diameter in height, lower jaws with relatively large, darkly pigmented labial flap anteriorly on each side of chin, pectoral fin with 10 or 11 distinct, small dark spots; and anteriormost preopercular pore position with a vertical pair of pores,” the researchers described

Read rest and see pic here: http://www.sci-news.com/biology/article00188.html

Ancient plants back to life after 30,000 frozen years

By Richard Black Environment correspondent, BBC News

Scientists in Russia have grown plants from fruit stored away in permafrost by squirrels over 30,000 years ago.The fruit was found in the banks of the Kolmya River in Siberia, a top site for people looking for mammoth bones.The Institute of Cell Biophysics team raised plants of Silene stenophylla - of the campion family - from the fruit.Writing in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), they note this is the oldest plant material by far to have been brought to life.Prior to this, the record lay with date palm seeds stored for 2,000 years at Masada in Israel.The leader of the research team, Professor David Gilichinsky, died a few days before his paper was published.In it, he and his colleagues describe finding about 70 squirrel hibernation burrows in the river bank."All burrows were found at depths of 20-40m from the present day surface and located in layers containing bones of large mammals such as mammoth, woolly rhinoceros, bison, horse, deer, and other representatives of fauna from the age of mammoths, as well as plant remains," they write."The presence of vertical ice wedges demonstrates that it has been continuously frozen and never thawed."Accordingly, the fossil burrows and their content have never been defrosted since burial and simultaneous freezing.

Read rest see pics here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17100574

Hybridised and extinct..could this happen to lake creatures?

Fish hybridise themselves extinct in Alpine lakes

15:05 16 February 2012 by Michael Marshall

Extract:

When the going gets tough, species start merging. Lake-dwelling fish species that once lived separately began interbreeding when pollution forced them together.After the last ice age, whitefish (Coregonus) in Europe's Alpine lakes split into several species, each with a specialised appearance and lifestyle. They first separated because they spawned in different places, some favouring the lake bottom and others the surface layers. That all changed when the lakes became polluted in the mid-20th century, says Ole Seehausen of Eawag: Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology in Kastanienbaum and the University of Bern, Switzerland.

The number of species in the lakes has fallen 38 per cent since the 1920s, and the remaining species have become more similar in shape. What's more, lakes that have experienced more eutrophication have fewer species. Seehausen found that the remaining species sometimes carry genetic markers previously found only in extinct species, suggesting that those species have hybridised themselves out of existence.

Read rest here: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21482-fish-hybridise-themselves-extinct-in-alpine-lakes.html

It begs the question are lake creatures a hybrid or have they bred themselves almost to  extinction, which is why so few are seen? A hybrid would explain a lot and would explain how they are still here .Thought for the  week there .

Nessie Prize

Nessie 'sighting' wins £1000 prize

A SONAR image of a large mystery object deep below the surface of Loch Ness has netted boat skipper Marcus Atkinson the Best Nessie Sighting of The Year Award — the first time in several years it has been presented by bookmaker William Hill.

The photograph, claimed by at least one seasoned Nessie spotter to the conclusive evidence of a creature, was a late contender in the contest which has been dormant following several lean years of close encounters with the loch’s most famous resident.However, 2011 proved to be a bumper year with three “good” sightings reported to the Official Loch Ness Monster Fan Club which first launched the competition in conjunction with the bookmaker in the 1990s.Although Mr Atkinson’s encounter in Urquhart Bay was not registered at the time with the fan club, it was reported to full-time Nessie hunter Steve Feltham, based at Dores beach. The image depicts something about 1.5 metres wide and 23 metres below the surface. The entry has now been judged to be the winner by Inverness Courier readers in an online poll along with the views of an expert panel.Mr Atkinson receives a £1000 cash prize and a free £500 bet while William Hill will also place a £100 bet on the Natural History Museum confirming the existence of Nessie by the end of the year — odds are currently 100/1.“I am absolutely delighted. It’s fantastic especially as the competition has been revived,” said Mr Atkinson who captured the image on 24th August while on his boat, Ness Express, waiting to pick some customers up from Urquhart Castle.

Read rest see photo here: http://www.inverness-courier.co.uk/News/Nessie-sighting-wins-1000-prize-13022012.htm

Humans,the biggest predator

Super-predatory humans

Matt Walker 

Predators have roamed the planet for 500 million years. The earliest is thought to be some type of simple marine organism, a flatworm maybe or type of crustacean, perhaps a giant shrimp that feasted on ancient trilobites. Much later came the famous predatory dinosaurs such as T. rex, and later still large toothed mammals such as sabre toothed cats or modern wolves. But one or two hundred thousand years ago, the world’s most powerful predator arrived. Us.

We lacked big teeth or sharp claws, huge tentacles or venomous bites. But we had intelligence, and the guile to produce tools and artificial weapons. And as we became ever better hunters we started harvesting animals on a great scale. We wiped out the passenger pigeon, the dodo, the great herds of North American bison. Last century we decimated great whale populations. Today the world’s fishing fleets routinely take more fish than scientists say is sustainable, leading to crashes in cod numbers for example, while people kill more large mammals in North America than all other causes put together. But out of our mass consumption of the world’s fauna appears a curious conundrum. Predators and prey are normally locked in an evolutionary arms race. As predators evolve to run faster, their prey too is selected to become fleeter of foot. As predators evolve sharp teeth, herbivores evolve horns for protection. Some carnivores hunt in packs, so their prey form defensive herds. But animals don’t appear to have evolved defences against us. Which raises the question why?

Read rest here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/wondermonkey/2012/02/super-predatory-humans.shtml

Tiny creature found

Tiny lizards found in Madagascar

By Ella Davies Reporter, BBC Nature

One of the world's tiniest lizards has been discovered by keen-eyed researchers in Madagascar. The miniature chameleon, Brookesia micra, reaches a maximum length of just 29mm.German scientists also found a further three new species in the north of the island. The lizards were limited to very small ranges and scientists are concerned they could be at risk from habitat disturbance. The discovery is reported in the journal PLoS ONE. The research team, led by Dr Frank Glaw from the Zoologische Staatssammlung in Munich, have a specialist knowledge of Madagascar's dwarf chameleons having described other species in the past. They conducted fieldwork at night during the wet season in order to find the easily overlooked animals.

See photos and read rest here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/17028940

We tend to think of cryptids as huge creatures....what what if there are some tiny versions to discover? There could be miniature Nessies or bigfoots that we have walked past  without knowing. Just a thought for the week.

Your help urgently needed. Has anyone seen this lady who is missing?

Jeanett Thomas (48) is still missing. We repeat what we posted yesterday:

Our old friend Lars Thomas has asked us to post this:

On friday, his wife Jeanett left home. She was only meant to be gone a few hours, but she has disappeared. There has been no contact from her.

Lars has contacted the police, but asks: "Please, if you know, or have heard anything, let me know".

Contact Lars: lars_thomas@msn.com
Or me: jon@eclipse.co.uk

Our thoughts and prayers are with Lars at this terrible time.

The only good thing to come out of all of this, is that it proves (as if any proof were needed) that
I am not guilty of hyperbole when I refer to the 'CFZ Family'. One glance at Lars' Facebook page shows how members of the CFZ Family from all across the globe are not only sending messages of sympathy, but mobilising to spread the word and help to find Lars' missing wife.

Thank you my dears. At the risk of sounding over-mawkish, I am so proud of you lot. Thank You..

stories of woolly mammoth sightings.

In view of the news in The Sun newspaper a few days ago that a woolly mammoth had been filmed 

(see story and video here :http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4116326/Woolly-mammoth-spotted-in-Siberia.html)

I thought I would repost the stories of sightings.

There have been many tales about living Mammoths. This is in part due I am sure to the fact that some frozen specimens found look as if they died recently as they are so fresh. With scientists talking about regenerating a mammoth clone ala Jurassic Park, I thought I would dig up some of the living mammoth stories.

In the 1580's the Stroganoff family sent a band of Cossacks to hunt down a group of bandits in Siberia that had been stealing from their mines there. The leader of the expedition, Yermak Timofeyevitch, reported that beyond the Ural Mountains he met a "large, hairy elephant." The natives told him that the Kingdom of Sibir considered the giant animals a part of its wealth; they were valued as food and called "mountains of meat."

In 1873 an article appeared in the Zoologist containing an interview with  Cheriton Batchmatchnik, a Russian convict who escaped from Siberia who claimed to have encountered living Mammoths in a valley of the Aldan mountains.Batchmatchnik had been convicted of smuggling and had been to the mines of Nartchinsk Siberia. He escaped and travelled southwards heading for the Amur river in the hope of reaching China. He ran into a band of Cossacks so he turned north and got to the gorges of the Aldan mountains when  winter arrived. Following  herds of migrating animals he hoped to find shelter. Instead he claimed he found a hidden valley, hemmed in by cliffs on all sides and  he descended to find  the valley to be warm and fertile. There was a lake so he made camp beside it and lit a fire. When night fell some huge animals approached, attracted by the fire. Frightened Batchmatchnik fired his pistol into the dark causing a stampede. Come daylight he discovered large tracks and a well worn track leading to the water. He looked for somewhere safer to shelter and found a cave. He said when he entered the cave there was a full grown mammoth already in residence. He described the animal as 12 feet( 4 metres) tall and 18 feet(6 metres)  long. It was covered in reddish wool and black hair. The curving tusks were about 10 feet( 3 metres) long.In the coming days Batchmatchnik saw about twenty mammoths in the valley. All were adults and he saw no calves. They were peaceable animals who were never aggressive to him and indeed took little notice of him. He also claimed to have seen a dragon like creature that lived in the lake and prayed on animals that came there to drink. He described it as 30 feet (10 metres) long with fangs and covered with scales One morning he saw this "dragon " attack a mammoth. The reptile sized its victim and tried to crush it it in its coils. After a long struggle the mammoth managed to pull itself free and get to safety. Batchmatchnik eventually left the valley and found his way back it civilisation and on his return  the Russian officials seemed to believe his story as they pardoned Batchmatchnik due to his "services to science".

A Russian hunter claimed to have seen a pair of mammoths in 1918. This story was recorded by M. L. Gallon, the man in charge of the French Consulate in Vladivostok during the year 1920. Gallon claimed that the hunter did not understand what he meant when he referred to the beast as a mammoth, but the hunter simply maintained that it was similar to pictures of elephants he had seen. Although Gallon shared the story with friends when he returned to France later that year, he was not persuaded to publish the account until 1946. The report can be found in Heuvelmans book, about page 550, depending on which edition you read.

"In the second year I was exploring the taiga, I was very much struck to notice the tracks of a huge animal, I say huge tracks, for they were a long way larger than any of those I had often seen of animals I knew well. It was autumn. There had been a few big snowstorms, followed by heavy rain. It wasn't freezing yet, the snow had melted, and there were thick layers of mud in the clearings.. It was in one of these big clearings, partly taken up by a lake, that I was staggered to see huge footprints pressed deep into the mud. It must have been 70 cm across the widest part and 50 cm the other way, so the spoor wasn't round but oval.. There were four tracks, the tracks of four feet, the first two about 4 m from the second pair, which were a little bigger in size. Then the tracks suddenly turned east and went into the forest of middling-sized elms. Were it went I saw a huge heap of dung; I had a good look at it and saw it was made up of vegetable matter.Some 10 feet up, just where the animal had gone into the forest, I saw a sort of row of broken branches, made, I don't doubt, by the monster's enormous head as it forced it's way into the place it had decided to go, regardless of what was in its path. I followed the track for days and days. Sometimes I could see were the animal had stopped at some grassy clearing and then gone on forever eastwards. Then, one day I saw another track, almost exactly the same. It came from the north and crossed the first one. It looked to me as if they had trampled about all over the place for several hundred m as if they had been excited or upset by their meeting. Then the two animals set out marching eastward one following some 20 m behind the other, both tracks mingling and plowing up the earth together. I followed them for days and days thinking that perhaps I should never see them, and also a bit afraid, for indeed I didn't feel I was big enough to face such beasts alone. One afternoon it was clear enough from the tracks that the animals weren't far off. The wind was in my face, which was good for approaching them without them knowing I was there. All of a sudden I saw one of the animals quite clearly, and now I must admit I really was afraid. It had stopped among some young saplings. It was a huge elephant with big white tusks, very curved; it was a dark chestnut colour as far as I could see.. It had fairly long hair on the hindquarters but it seemed much shorter on the front. I must say I had no idea that there were such big elephants. It had huge legs and moved very slowly. I've only seen elephants in pictures, but I must say that even from this distance (we were 3000 m apart) I could never have believed any beast could be so big. The second beast was around, I saw it only a few times among the trees: it seemed to be the same size. 

It sounds like a fantastic tale. Heuvelmans suggested a couple of  reasons why the story sounded so fantastic. a) the hunter got caught up in his tale and added some details which are an exaggeration , but these don't effect the basic veracity of the account b) Gallon inadvertently added details in his recording of the account., especially if it was a story for publication. (Plus the story being retold many years apart would suffer from the Chinese Whispers effect and get distorted over time and of course it may not be true. )

 There was a least one definite hoax which appeared in a 1899 magazine article, published in McClure’s Magazine, in which the author purported to have, during a trip to Alaska, stalked, trapped and killed a living woolly mammoth .In October of 1899 McClure's Magazine ran a story by Henry Tukeman. Called "The Killing of the Mammoth" it began with a letter penned by a recently-deceased man named Horace Conradi which released Tukeman from his promise to keep the slaughter of what may have been the last living mammoth a secret. Some extracts:

Tukeman's story began in the untamed wilds of Alaska in 1890. There was little in the way of creature comforts, but Tukeman decided to stay the winter in Fort Yukon. One day during his stay he was showing some pictures of African animals he had hunted to an Inuit named "Joe" who, when Tukeman turned to a picture of an elephant, became very excited. Joe already knew of such a creature. He had seen one himself, up there in Alaska!Joe's run in with the beast had occurred many years before while he was out hunting with his son. They were looking for beaver and other game when they had come across a huge animal, the Tee-Kai-Koa, bathing in a lake. It was a living woolly mammoth. Joe's son shot it but did not kill the behemoth, and afraid of what such a great beast might do when wounded the two Inuits rushed back home”.

“When the following summer melted the ice and snow they were on their way.The trip was arduous but Paul and Tukeman soon found signs they were on the right track. They found a cave "paved" with the numerous remains of mammoths. Surely there would living ones nearby, and the bones provided Tukeman the chance to test the strength of the firearms he had brought for the hunt..On August 29th the hunters finally found their prey, yet they did not immediately try to gun it down. Joe had said that the mammoth he say followed the smoke from the gun his son had fired. Perhaps, Tukeman reasoned, mammoths were attracted to the smoke so that they could stomp out any forest fires before they really got going. “

“When the trap was set in the autumn the mammoth was drawn by the smoke and tried to stamp it out. Everything was going as planned. Paul and Tukeman did not waste their chance. They fired, over and over again, until blood oozed out of scores of bullet wounds in the animal's flesh. The Tee-Kai-Koa was dead. Paul and Tukeman skinned their prize and collected its bones, but by that time winter was setting in. They would not be able to leave until the following spring. Tukeman had hoped that the remains would be purchased by a great museum in Europe or America but Conradi, the man who put a gag order on Tukeman until 1899, offered a much larger sum than Tukeman could otherwise hope for. The plan was for Tukeman to stay silent while Conradi presented the mammoth as a discovery he had made himself.

 A  subsequent article meant to set readers straight on mammoths (reprinted in the Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution) a McClure's editor wrote;

Ever since the appearance of that number of the magazine the authorities of the Smithsonian Institution, in which the author [F.A. Lucas] had located the remains of the beast of his fancy, have been beset with visitors to see the stuffed mammoth, and our daily mail, as well as that of the Smithsonian Institution, has been filled with enquiries for more information and for requests to settle wagers as to whether it was a true story or not.

Tukeman's story was a work of fiction.

However articles continued to appear:

Portland Press. “Do Mastodons Exist? – Good evidence that at least one species still lives.” Decatur Daily Republican. Decatur, Illinois. Monday, March 29, 1897. "The Portland (Me.) Press of November 28 publishes a long conversation with Col. C.F. Fowler, late of the Alaskan Fur and Commercial company, in which he gives very clear evidence that in the interior of Alaska many mastodons still survive. He first discovered among some "fossil" ivory collected by the natives two tusks which showed evidence of being recently taken from the animal which carried them. On questioning the native who sold it to him he was surprised to receive a full description of the immense beast which had been killed by the natives, a description fully identifying the animal with the mastodon. Col. Fowler quotes Gov. Swineford, of Alaska, as having also investigated this matter and as being satisfied that on the high plateaus of that country large herds of mastodons still roam unmolested by the natives, who fear them greatly. The Alaska News also admits that the evidence of their existence is too strong to be denied." For other news paper reports including the full text of this  see :www.cryptomundo.com

 It is not impossible for a Mammoth to have survived but unlikely. The climate has changed and the food sources have changed so it would have to have evolved somewhat. Still the stories are wonderful and fired up the imagination of many who read them.

Heuvelmans, Bernard (1959). On the Track of Unknown Animals. New York: Hill and Wang.

Newman, Edward. 1873. The Mammoth Still in the Land of the Living. Zoologist (London) Série 2:8:3731-3733.

has the beast returned?

Has 'Skerray Beast' struck here again?

Older readers may recall that, way back in the halcyon days between 1976 and 1981, the area round Bettyhill and Skerray was haunted by a cat-like animal with a taste for mutton.

The creature, which became known as “The Skerray Beast” was the subject of numerous sightings over several years, coincident with the discovery of the remains of a significant number of sheep, each of which had been disposed of in a similar manner. And now, the people of Farr are wondering if the large puma-like cat has returned. The beast’s modus operandi, marking it off from local scavengers or predators, was its ability to skin its prey every bit as neatly as any human being could. In the late seventies, there were armed hunts for the animal in the Borgie area, on Naver Rock and around Strathy but, though well-formed footprints were found both in sand and in snow, neither keepers, nor crofters nor police marksmen were ever able to get close enough to take a good shot at the creature or even to identify it positively. In the eighties the sightings, and the killings, stopped although big cat sightings thereafter became common as far afield as Surrey – probably as a consequence of troublesome pets being released in to the countryside following the Dangerous Wild Animals Act of 1976 which required owners of exotic pets to keep them securely and care for them properly.

Indeed, a half-tame puma was captured in Moray in October 1980 and ended its days as an exhibit in the Highland Wildlife Park!Back to today, and to Swordly on 19th December last year where former cattleman, Andy McLachlan was lamping for foxes.

Read rest here see pics here : http://www.northern-times.co.uk/News/Has-Skerray-Beast-struck-here-again-10022012.htm

lost evidence of long necked seal?

Lost treasures: The Loch Ness monster that got away

09 February 2012 by Michael Marshall

 Despite centuries of alleged sightings, no Loch Ness monsters or sea serpents have ever been found. But in the 1600s, the specimen of a curious long-necked creature emerged that could explain where such aquatic tall tales may have originated - if only it hadn't been mislaid.In the late 17th century, the botanist Nehemiah Grew published a catalogue of oddities held by the Royal Society in London. The book, called Musaeum regalis societatis, contains the first scientific description of a skin belonging to an unusual seal. He writes: "Wherein he principally differs, is the length of his neck; for, from his nose-end to his fore-feet, and from thence to his tail, are the same measure." By contrast, most seal necks are only about a half the length of their lower body. In 1751, Grew's description was cited by James Parsons in the Royal Society journal Philosophical Transactions (vol 47, p 109). Parsons included it in his list of known species.Nobody has seen the skin since, and no further specimens have emerged. Could long-necked seals really exist? The idea persists but is now relegated to cryptozoology, the search for semi-mythical species. Cryptozoologists argue that many legendary creatures have actually existed and point to the colossal squid or king cheetah as examples

Read more here: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21328502.300-lost-treasures-the-loch-ness-monster-that-got-away.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news

verdict on the film of Iceland's Lake monster

Is this Iceland's Loch Ness monster? Giant 'serpent-like sea creature' caught on camera swimming in glacial river

Footage becomes a monster hit on the internet as it goes viral

By KERRY MCQUEENEY

There's something undoubtedly fishy about this footage of a 'serpent-like' sea creature gliding through the waters of an Icelandic river.

The video, captured last week by Hjörtur Kjerúlf, shows a mysterious creature swimming through the cold water of the glacial river Jökulsá í Fljótsdal, in east Iceland.

And in just over a week, it has already become a monster hit on the internet.

Some are claiming this grainy footage is proof of the existence of the legendary beast Lagarfljótsormurinn - Iceland's version of Scotland's Loch Ness Monster.

The notorious 'snake-like' creature is said to live in the Lagarfljót lake, which is 25 miles long and 367 feet deep - and it has been the subject of many a supposed sighting since reports of it first emerged in 1345.

However, an expert on the legendary Lagarfljótsormurinn lake beast believes this footage is fake.

Loren Coleman, director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine, has researched the Icelandic creature and wrote about it in his book Field Guide to Lake Monsters and Sea Serpents

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2098225/Icelands-Loch-Ness-monster-Giant-serpent-like-sea-creature-caught-camera-swimming-glacial-river.html#ixzz1lsHqD7n5

Monster tales and the sound of Jurassic park

Roger Moroney: Monster tales from deep dark past

 Tuesday, February 7, 2012 17:06

Extracts:

For Colenso went on to describe how two other chaps, who had been out riding the same area some time before the young duck shooter had gone there, had come across a "beast" in the water.
All that poked out above the surface was a dark grey head, about 18 inches long - that's close to half a metre.
The young shooter who also sighted it said he got one shot away at it, and believe he may have struck it "about the angle of its mouth."

Read rest here: http://www.hawkesbaytoday.co.nz/news/monster-tales-from-deep-dark-past/1263159/

Jurassic cricket's song recreated

By Victoria Gill Science reporter, BBC Nature

Night-time in the Jurassic forest was punctuated by the unmistakable sound of chirping bush crickets. This is according to scientists who have reconstructed the song of a cricket that chirped 165 million years ago.A remarkably complete fossil of the prehistoric insect enabled the team to see the structures in its wings that rubbed together to make the sound.The international team report their findings in the journal PNAS. Scientists from the US and China discovered the tiny fossil and named their newly discovered species Archaboilus musicus , because the music-making structures in its body were so clearly visible.

Read rest hear song here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/16878292

Tim the Yowie man on Big Cats

Paws for thought

BY TIM THE YOWIE MAN

04 Feb, 2012 04:00 AM

Are there really pumas or other killer cats roaming stealthily on our very doorstep? Tim the Yowie Man investigates.

'I just hope it doesn't have kittens.'' So warns farmer Bill Fogarty who recently while on the phone to a friend in his Adaminaby farmhouse when he glanced out the window and saw ''a large creature carrying something in its mouth''. A long-time farmer at Yaouk Gap, 14 km from Adaminaby, Bill initially dismissed the animal as one of the many wild dogs which roam this part of the high country. ''I thought it was a dingo with a fox in its mouth,'' Bill recalls.However, as the creature sauntered closer to his home and Bill was able to get a much closer look at it, he realised, ''it was no dog''.''It's body was as big as an adult kelpie, it's tail was about half a metre long and, it was a gingery, creamy colour,'' he recalls.''It had a big head and pointy ears and one of those beautiful feline tails - you know, with that cat-like curl in it with a white tip.''Bill, who kept talking on the phone describing what he was seeing to his friend, claims it was, ''four or five times bigger than a feral cat''. However, as the animal got closer, he realised, it actually had ''a lyrebird, not a fox in its mouth''. ''There's been many sightings over the years of the so-called 'Yaouk panther', but it's always been reported as black or a sandy brown, not this gingery colour,'' says Bill, who was left with no doubt at all that the creature he saw was a cat of some sort and not a dog.

Read rest see pics here: http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/local/news/general/paws-for-thought
/2445785.aspx


book on big cats in Australia:

 http://www.amazon.com/Australian-Big-Cats-Unnatural-Panthers/dp/0646530070/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1328521569&sr=8-1

sea monster sighting from 1980's

Another sighting reported on comments section :

http://cryptozoo-oscity.blogspot.com/2009/04/sea-monster-sightingsnovia-scotia.html?showComment=1328409933997#c7519763847990118503

HI I was either 12 years old in 1987 or 13 in 1988 and in early to mid mays going to the beach was nice as there was no one there except me and a freind looking out at the nice water ice having just left fully a week earlier- after strolling the beach then getting ready to leave after an twenty minute period or so- we stopped i looked he looked we both looked together we said do you see what i see i said yeah do you see whati see- we said holy :%^it it had a head at the front about 5 to 6 feet and as flat as a horse is long onthe snot but pronounced and behind there 60 feet or so was split by three sections around 9 to15 feet each coming up so you could see thru the hoop left in the bottom of each section over the water like a flex or a coil protracted so lets say three14 ft sections with around the same under water distance of the rest of it so almost 60 feet of "tail"with a head- it had to be 5 to 7 feet around and we saw this all from 50 feet back from shoreline at a distance of 350 feet out in the water.
Now people can say there are no sea monsters- but I have been inthat water my whole life and that day in Creginish onthe Creignish beach with my freind Rossie,I saw one.No one can tell me any different-cause that animal inthe water still there ibeleive just after ice left back for up iceland-well snake- eel whatever- this had a long horse like shaped lethery looking from distance head- and to me that is one big monster not no fish from little mermaid.Scary and true.
Sincerly- Ashley MacIsaac musician and seeing of a real cape breton sea monster

4 February 2012 18:45

another thunderbird sighting report

new comment on post : http://cryptozoo-oscity.blogspot.com/2009/08/new-thunderbird-sighting.html

I am so glad there are others who have seen what I have seen! In Pueblo Colo. in Feb. of 2008 I saw a thunderbird in fight while in a meeting at a library, I was listening to a lecture, and looked out the window and stared in shock, and then what turned into frozen fear.I was unable to say anything to any one until I told my husband that evening, who did not believe me. I also called the police who were not at all interested, I also tried to contact someone on Cryptozoology, who did not respond back. Anyhow, it was black, extremely large. The day was cloudy and cold, it just seemed to sore around a while and then went away. I estimate from other birds that were flying around that day to be the size of a small plane.

Lisa-
elhernandez2005@yahoo.com

Giant deep-sea crustacean found

Giant deep-sea crustacean found

An expedition to one of the deepest parts of the ocean has discovered a "supergiant" species.The huge crustacean was discovered more than four miles deep in waters north of New Zealand by scientists from the University of Aberdeen. The creature is a type of amphipod, commonly found in the deep sea, which are usually 0.8in-1.2in long. The new specimen measured 11in.Using submergence cameras and a large trap designed by the university's Oceanlab, the team was able to explore up to depths of six miles. The team was hoping to find specimens of deep-sea snailfish which have been photographed before but have not been seen since the 1950s.Expedition leader Alan Jamieson said: "The moment the traps came on deck, we were elated at the sight of the snailfish as we have been after these fish for years."However, seconds later I stopped and thought 'What on earth is that?' whilst catching a glimpse of an amphipod far bigger than I ever thought possible. It's a bit like finding a foot-long cockroach."Seven specimens were caught in the trap and up to nine were photographed gathering around the camera system. Scientists say the term "supergiant" was coined by US researchers when they found some large amphipods in the early 1980s.
The supergiant amphipod has not been reported since and has faded into the realms of rare and mysterious deep-sea creatures. Researchers will try to establish whether the new samples are the same species as those found by the US scientists near Hawaii in the 1980s.

Read rest see pics here: http://news.uk.msn.com/environment/giant-deep-sea-crustacean-found