One of the prize pieces of the Minnesota Association of Rogue Taxidermists. Suzanne Gerber (above). Suzanne Gerber has collected an incredible gallery of pieces in her “long-awaited Taxidermy, Cryptozoology & Animal Curiosa Überpost – dedicated to a very precious and talented friend” of hers: “The lovely Jessica Joslin.” Open the magnificent door to her Taxidermia Wurzeltodensis and visit her large online collection of cryptotaxidermy and more. By the way, I was watching Showtime’s early Dexter episodes two weeks ago, and was surprised to hear and see that one of the serial killer suspects was a practicing “cryptotaxidermist.” (I wonder the [...]
Van Roosmalen Temporarily Released
Chad Arment has passed along the news that the mammalogist and cryptozoologist Marc Van Roosmalen is out of prison on appeal. A Brazilian judge on Tuesday [August 7, 2007] ordered that a prominent Dutch scientist be freed from prison while he appeals his conviction for environmental crimes and embezzlement, a court official said. Marc Van Roosmalen was convicted on June 15 of trying to illegally auction off the names of monkey species, keeping rare monkeys at his house without authorization and selling a scaffolding donated to the National Institute for Amazon Research where he worked. He was sentenced to 15 [...]
See Monster
The sea is the best field for data. – Charles Fort. Okay, in celebration of today – August 7th – being the official “Sea Serpent Day” – here above is a humorous take on the events of the next 24 hours from cartoonist Charles Berlin, creator of the world explorer character Professor Wexler. M.T. Anderson’s “Serpent Came to Gloucester” (Candlewick, 2005) recounts in rhyming verse the early-19th-century sighting of a mysterious sea serpent off the coast of Gloucester. Inspired by real-life reports, Anderson writes from the perspective of a boy who witnesses the creature’s visitations and is secretly pleased when [...]
Champ’s Birthday Too
Happy Birthday Champ!!! – August 6, 2007 – The Lake Monsters will celebrate Champ’s Birthday tonight at historic Centennial Field when Vermont hosts the Tri-City ValleyCats beginning at 7:05 p.m. Be sure to get to the ballpark early as many of Champ’s mascot friends will honor him with a country-style birthday party before the game.Official Vermont Lake Monsters website
Beyond Mothman: I-35W Blues
Things fall down. People look up. And when it rains, it pours.Magnolia, 1999. The collapse of the I-35W bridge in Minnesota is a tragedy, some say of epic proportions. Certainly, it is the most significant bridge collapse, not caused by an easily visible external reason like an earthquake or an impact from a barge, since 1967. An Anomaly National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Mark Rosenker said it is too early for officials to know if the accident could have been avoided. “They are built not to fall down. This is an anomaly and we’re going to try to find out [...]
An Electrogenic Mammal?
There are three known kinds of electric – more correctly called electrogenic – animals: (1) the one species, Electrophorus electricus, of South American electric eel (really a knifefish), (2) the 19 species of African electric catfish in the genera Malapterurus and Paradoxoglanis, and (3) the 69 species of electric rays (order Torpediniformes) found around the world. The first two fish both demonstrate the ability to shock prey with electricity as an effective strategy for a piscivore (an animal that eats fish). They produce high levels of voltage, e.g. electric eel (600 volts) and the electric catfish (350 volts). Electric rays [...]
Bridge Name Game: Reeves/McDaniel
August 1, 2007: The I-35W Bridge collapses. Taking a couple Fortean and Mothman sidetreks, here is more pondering in the wake of the I-35W Bridge collapse. While reading the accounts about the fall of the Minnesota bridge, I noticed two names popped up, Reeves and McDaniel. Hang in here with me as I let that Fortean part of my brain wander and wonder. Jay Reeves, 39, was one of the first people on the scene after the collapse. He tried calling 911, but all the lines were jammed. Then, he heard the sounds of children’s screams from the school bus. [...]
Attack Panther “Like a Woolly Mammoth”
The photograph of the “Sidney Mystery Cat” taken in Maine late in June 2007. Articles about incidents in British Columbia, Ontario, and Maine have appeared recently, detailing breaking news and updates about mountain lions, cougars, panthers, puma or whatever you wish to call these great cats (Puma concolor) of North America. Here’s a roundup of panther news, from west to east: A cougar attack has left Colton Reeb with strange memories, but little fear of the big cats that roam rural areas such as the B.C. Interior region where the 12-year-old was scratched and bitten this week. “Colton remembers seeing [...]
Prince Arthur’s Feejee Mermaid
Gordon Rutter, a professional botanist and well-known collector of Fortean artifacts, wrote me: “I was in London last week and whilst in the British Museum I stumbled across a rather fine Feejee mermaid which I did not know they had!” Gordon shares the above photograph with Cryptomundo, of what he found. Gordon decided to write the museum and discover more about what was being exhibited: From: Gordon Rutter Sent: Sun 29/07/2007 19:36 To: Collection Enquiries Subject: Collection Request Dear Sir On a recent visit to the museum I chanced upon a Mermaid exhibit in the George II library. There was [...]
New Enigmatic Catfish: Lacantunia enigmatica
Lacantunia enigmatica shown above.Photo courtesy of John P. Sullivan. I get interesting emails. Here’s a good one with a new species discovery to share: I’m a fan of Cryptomundo and also an ichthyologist. I thought I’d point out an article we just published on an enigmatic catfish from Chiapas, Mexico (named Lacantunia enigmatica, appropriately). From DNA analysis we found that this species is apparently a relict of a once much more widespread clade of catfishes (claroteinea) all of which are today exclusively found African. It’s an amazing disjunct distribution for a freshwater clade. The paper, published in the latest Proceedings [...]
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