Loren Coleman

Loren Coleman

New Shrub Frog Discovered

The tiny shrub frog (Philautus ochlandrae) lives in bamboo hollows. This new species of shrub frog from the Western Ghats adds its name to the growing list of frogs discovered recently. The latest is a tiny oriental shrub frog, named Philautus ochlandrae, discovered in the cool evergreen forests of the Kakkayam Reserve Forest in Kerala, India. The squat little amphibian does not grow beyond 2.5 cm, has a short rounded snout and protruding eyes with striking golden yellow markings. With this, the number of frog species discovered in the last seven years in India stands at 25. The discovery was [...]

New Alux Sighting

Alux hominids are Proto-Pygmies. The Aluxob (plural Maya) are seen in the Yucatan, Mexico, mostly by the Mayans, but sometimes by Mexicans and United States tourists, quite regularly. People in the Yucatan see the Aluxob, and when I was there in the 1980s, I was able to interview informants (mostly Mayans) who had firsthand sightings. In my 1985 book, Curious Encounters, I devoted a chapter to the lore, legends, and legacy of these Little People in that corner of the world. Things do not seem to have changed there. In one recent case, Dan Gannon, the moderator of an anthropological [...]

New Moray Eel Surprise Discovery

According to Zootaxa (Smith et al., 2008), a new species of moray eel, Gymnothorax baranesi has been discovered in the most surprising of locations: in relatively shallow water in front of a major marine laboratory. This finding of the new species took place in a well-studied area in front of the Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences of Eilat (IUI). These specimens were collected from a depth of approximately 200 metres off Eilat, in the northern Red Sea. They could not be identified with any known species. It indicates to those who found it how much we still have to learn [...]

New Mystery Panther Photo

The most frequently and quietly discussed cryptids in America are the mystery cats, the phantom felines, the so-called “Black Panthers” of legend and lore. Many people say they see them, so much so they are taken for granted in many parts of the country. While most photographs of “black cats” taken across fields turn out to be nothing more than long-distance pictures of the neighborhood tom-cats, once in a blue moon I’m shown a photograph that has me wondering. This week one such image came my way. Please see the attached pdf photograph file which shows an apparent black panther. [...]

Dhaliwal: “We Yelled & Waved At Tiger.”

South Africa’s News 24, via reports from San Francisco, shared the following summary late on January 18, 2008. One of the three victims of the San Francisco Zoo tiger attack was intoxicated and admitted standing atop a railing of the big cat enclosure and yelling and waving at the animal that would later maul them, killing his friend, police said in court documents. Paul Dhaliwal, 19, told the father of Carlos Sousa Jr, 17, who was killed, that the three yelled and waved at the tiger but insisted they never threw anything into its pen to provoke the cat, according [...]

Cloverfield Cellphotos the Destruction of NYC

What are we to make of this film, Cloverfield, which opens January 18, 2008? What is the monster? Is it the monster of the id or a cryptid? Is this MySpace horror or YouTube cryptofiction run amok? Certainly people have had fun for a few months trying to figure it out (see sample video solutions below). What is this movie really all about? A cellphone camera version of “Blair Witch Horror” meets “Godzilla,” with a bit of “Planet of the Apes” thrown in, regarding the Statue of Liberty. And how about, jeez, those trailers? Some people love them, some people [...]

New Monster Palm Discovered

New findings are everywhere, sometimes even when you happen to be on picnic! The palm will be called Tahina spectabilis which is Malagasy for blessed or to be protected. Tahina is the name of one of the discoverer Xavier Metz’s daughters. The most important new species of palm for 50 years has been discovered by a family picnicking in the jungle. Tahina spectabilis soars 60ft (18m) as it puts out millions of flowers in a spectacular last hurrah that kills it. Despite its size it escaped detection until Xavier Metz, a plantation owner, took his family for a picnic in [...]

Monster Quest ~ The Real Hobbit + DSD ~ Loch Ness

Monster Quest: The Real Hobbit Travel to the interior of Sumatra, in Indonesia, in a search for what locals call the Orang Pendak [sic], translated as: Man of the Woods. In 2004 skeletal remains were found on the neighboring island of Flores and named “the Real Hobbit.” Could Orang Pendak [sic], with its human face, be a surviving ancestor to the Flores Man? An expedition is launched deep within the rainforest. The natives claim to see the creature often, and they even find footprints of an unknown upright walking beast. Will camera traps reveal its identity? One-part history, one-part science [...]