Breaking News

New Amphibians Discovered in Goa

A relative of the recently found Gegeneophis mhadeiensis (shown above), is the newly discovered Gegeneophis goaensis. In the February 1999 issue of National Geographic Magazine, Goa was compared with the Amazon and Congo basins for its rich tropical biodiversity. It still is giving up some of its secrets. This new animal discovery is from Goa (see map below). An intriguing other recent find there was of an ethnoknown cryptid said to be have been a “two-headed snake,” the Kadu. Zoologists claimed to have discovered a new species of legless amphibian in northern Karnataka which vacates its marshy habitat at the [...]

Fortean Anthologist Peter Haining Dies Suddenly

“Why doesn’t somebody reprint Peter Haining’s book on Springheel Jack?” is a question Fortean author Robert Schneck asked in 2005. Maybe some publisher will now. Peter Haining, 67, has died suddenly. Peter Haining wrote and edited so many Fortean and related books, I would imagine that most people reading this notice own at least one of his works. Anthologist Peter Haining, born 1940, died from a heart attack on November 19, 2007, at the age of 67. He is best known to 007 fans as the author of “James Bond: A Celebration” – one of the first books focussing on [...]

Cryptozoology in New York City

A week from today, on Saturday, December 1, 2007, I will be giving my talk, “Introduction to Cryptozoology,” at 1:00 PM, at the American Museum of Natural History, New York City, New York, in conjunction with their current exhibition, Mythic Creatures. I look forward to meeting many of you who plan to attend. I won’t be able to sell any books there, of course. However, I understand the AMNH museum shop is carrying copies of Cryptozoology A to Z (NY: Simon and Schuster, 1999). I will be happy to sign your personal copies of that book or any you might [...]

Ivory-Billeds & Idaho Grizzlies: Coming Quests

This file photo shows a grizzly bear moving through the brush in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. (Courtesy: Yellowstone National Park) In September 2007, a black bear hunter “mistakenly” shot and killed a grizzly bear in the “rugged Idaho terrain near Kelly Creek about three miles from the Montana border,” according to the Associated Press. The 450-pound male grizzly killed by the unidentified hunter on Labor Day, September 3rd was shot in the North Fork of the Clearwater Drainage about 20 miles north of the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness boundary and within the 25,000-square-mile Bitterroot Experimental Population Area. It was the first [...]

First Thai Tomistoma Since 1970

Some unique crocs have been seen in Thailand. But as opposed to merely “out-of-place” or escaped reptiles, it might signal a recovery of a locally “extinct” species. Loosely using the term “gavial,” some form of a gavial or gharial is the source of this attention. Either it is the true gharial, Gavialis gangeticus, identified as such by the local Thai media, or the false gharial Tomistoma schlegelii, the preferred choice, I read after I first saw this news item, of cryptozoologist Chad Arment. Since I respect Arment’s opinion on this, as he knows his herps rather well, his insights over [...]

Overkill? Or Really Orang?

This is the trap being deployed for the “fox squirrel” or “spider monkey,” reportedly theorized to be in Baker County, Florida, instead of the originally-described “orangutan.” What is this equipment usually employed to trap? Bears.

Ponik Needs Your Love

In The Field Guide to Lake Monsters, Sea Serpents, and Other Mystery Denizens of the Deep (NY: Tarcher/Penguin, 2003), I wrote that the aquatic cryptids seen in Lac Pohénégamook are “supposedly” some of “the ugliest-headed monsters around.” But “ugly” does not translate into disrespect or unloved in my book, and perhaps it is time to send the Poniks a little more love than usual. For centuries people in Scotland have talked about a monster lurking in Loch Ness, called “Nessy.” It turns out, just a few hours away from Bangor there is talk of a similar creature named “Ponik.” Natives [...]

Sometimes An African Lion Is Only A Panthera leo

According to a report from WSAZ NewsChannel 3, on November 19, 2007, Monday of this week, there was an “African Lion on the Loose in Ohio.” Motorist driving in the area of US 23 near Wakefield, in Pike County, Ohio, saw an African lion chasing their vehicles. However, in this case, law enforcement officers caught the lion, “Lambert,” and returned him to its owner. The lion was a bona fide escaped pet. NewsChannel 3 calmly commented: “Ohio does not currently require a permit for exotic animals. The lion was contained and unharmed, but the whole ordeal is still under investigation.” [...]

South China Tiger Update: It’s A Fake

The controversy over the authenticity photographs of the believed-to-be-extinct wild South China Tiger seemed to have come to an end on Friday when a netizen posted online what he claimed was a “convincing proof” that the pictures are fakes – a New Year picture of a tiger that hangs on the wall of his home. The man, named “Panzhihua-Xydz,” said: “It’s the same picture. Even the stripes are identical.” He left an online message that he bought the picture last year, but did not specify the date. The discovery has encouraged skeptics who have always believed the pictures were a [...]