It is Tuesday, May 27, 2008, and the History Channel, on behalf of “Monster Quest II,” is here in Portland, Maine, with a film producer and crew today to digitally film interviews with me about cryptozoology, in the context of a five hour tour of the International Cryptozoology Museum. Their snippets of the interviews, b-roll, and various background commentary on artifacts at the ICM will be used as web-linked support for Season Two of “Monster Quest,” which premieres tomorrow, Wednesday, May 28, 2008. Here are two trailers about the new season. Enjoy: MonsterQuest : Mutant Canines Airs on Wednesday May [...]
China’s Oldest Panda Dies
Giant pandas are one of the “classic animals of discovery” in cryptozoology. Taotao, at 36, China’s oldest captive panda and the enduring favorite of millions of visitors to Shandong Province’s Jinan Zoo, died Wednesday, May 22, 2008, following a battle against old age and illness, China News Service reported. Only a few weeks ago, it will be recalled, Tokyo’s popular giant panda, Ling-Ling, died of old age at the age of 22 years and seven months. Taotao died from brain thrombus disease and cerebral hemorrhaging at 36, far beyond the normal life expectancy of 25 years for a panda in [...]
First Panda Lady Has Died
Joined by her husband, Jack (left), and brother-in-law Quentin Young is Adelaide “Su-Lin” Young. Photo courtesy of her family. Forget about the fictional “Indiana Jones,” or even the real “Zoology Jones,” for a minute. Recall, please, that women were part of the early exploration adventures too! Ruth Harkness is often remembered as the first woman to have found the giant panda. But why was that first cub named Su-Lin? Here is the rest of the story. After Ruth Harkness’ husband William died as he set out to find the first live giant pandas, she turned to a man only identified [...]
Save The Zeren
What’s a “zeren”? Of course, if you are a frequent visitor to Cryptomundo, you know what the Yeren is, to wit, the population of so-called “Wild People” or unidentified hairy hominoids of China. But what is the zeren? The zeren, discovered first in 1777, is the strange megafauna known also as the Mongolian gazelle (Procapra gutturosa). They live on the grassy steppe and subdeserts of Mongolia, northern China, and southern Russia. Just as the pronghorn in the Americas seems an out-of-place antelope, so too does this species in Mongolia-China-Russia, and few in the West know of it. Zerens are very [...]
Dynamic Discoverer of Ants Dies
Roy Snelling (1934-2008). Cryptozoologically, insects are not really in the realm of animals that Bernard Heuvelmans, myself and others strictly defined as of interest to the field, but nevertheless, we must admire those toiling to make the new discoveries of all those little animals out there that remain to be described. One such giant in that arena of insects is to be celebrated in his passing. For many of us, our first intrigue may have been with the tiny crawling and flying things found around our backyards, and for some, such as this explorer of the kingdom of ants, the [...]
As Elusive As Bigfoot
Photo by Jim Weber/The Commercial Appeal Allan Mueller of The Nature Conservancy trolls through Bayou DeView in east Arkansas, where there were several ivory-billed woodpeckers sighted in 2004. The continuing search has been fruitless — and expensive — with development projects delayed. “We’ve got to get a picture,” he says. The Commercial Appeal of Memphis has an update on the search for the ivory-billed woodpecker. One thing is for sure, skepticism is on the increase because the hunt is costing millions of dollars. Elusive woodpecker hatches controversy Millions have been spent on the hunt, but there’s still no definitive proof [...]
Oldest Captive Gorilla Turns 55
Jenny at 55. Photo by Tony Gutierrez/AP. Jenny at 52. Photo by Jim Mahoney/Dallas Morning News. Before gorillas were discovered, they were cryptids. Now one of the oldest non-human primates among us has reached an age milestone. Gorillas, still rare in the wild, are more so in captivity. But it takes a special one to be noticed. For example, the world’s only captive albino gorilla, Snowflake (above) died from skin cancer in 2003. Snowflake lived beyond 40 years old; most male gorillas only live to be about 25 in the wild, although some female gorillas have a life expectancy of [...]
Are Borneo Pygmy Elephants Javan?
Borneo’s pygmy elephants may be descendants of an extinct Javan elephant race, saved by chance by an 18th century ruler, according to a new study just released. The study suggests that a small number of opposite-sex elephants can produce a thriving progeny of thousands if left undisturbed on an island, giving fresh hope to conservationists trying to protect nearly extinct species of large mammals. “If proven, this fascinating story would demonstrate that very small populations of large mammals can be saved from the brink of extinction (simply by) moving a few individuals, from a seemingly doomed population, to a different [...]
Anna and Yeti
I went to Ohio on Wednesday, April 9th, 2008, to give a special talk to a private, thoughtful, intellectual group of 150 people at the research organization called Emerson Climate Technologies. They wanted someone to stimulate their thoughts, to give examples of a different creative process, and, yes, to entertain them, scientifically and humanely. I did that by giving an illustrated lecture, full of humor and humanness, entitled “Cryptozoology: Passion and Patience.” I covered a lot of ground, from the beginnings of the study of hidden animals, through mentions of Ivan T. Sanderson, Bernard Heuvelmans, Ruth Harkness, Scott Norman, and [...]
Cryptozoology on Arthur C. Clarke’s Mysterious World
The late Arthur C. Clarke’s‘s Mysterious World broadcast many segments on cryptids. Here are some examples: Cryptozoology 1 of 3 Cryptozoology 2 of 3 Cryptozoology 3 of 3 Sea Monster 1 of 3 Sea Monsters 2 of 3 Sea Monsters 3 of 3 Bigfoot Yeti 1 of 3 Bigfoot Yeti 2 of 3 Bigfoot Yeti 3 of 3
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