Cryptotourism

New Cloud-Forest Rat Announced

This illustration depicts Isothrix barbarabrownae, a newly discovered species of Neotropical rodent, in its arboreal habitat in the cloud-forests of Peru. (Frankly, dispute this being the orientation the drawing is being published in the press releases, I think the artist was showing this new species on a tree branch, not climbling up it.) The strikingly unusual animal has long dense fur, a broad blocky head, thickly furred tail and a blackish crest of fur on the crown, nape and shoulders. It is about the size of a squirrel. Illustration by Nancy Halliday, Courtesy of The Field Museum This map shows [...]

Coelacanth Quickies: Hofmeyr and Mount Karthala

Coelacanth tidbits have been surfacing and leaping up into my awareness over the last few days. I’ve fished them out of my short term catches and netted them anew here for you. 1) A highly debated bit of hominid fossil news these days is focussing on the Hofmeyr skull. The skull, found 55 years ago in a river bed near Hofmeyr in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa, has resurfaced because of a new analysis of the contents of the inside of the skull. This new study has shown that the Hofmeyr skull is a lot older than people thought. [...]

Kokako Becomes A Cryptid

Extinct? Which one? In less detailed media reports you may hear today or over the weekend, the New Zealand Ko¯kako has been declared extinct. Sad news indeed, but let’s be specific. It is not an entire species that is being declared extinct. Once again, also, there are hints that this may be another subspecies, despite recent sightings, which is being declared extinct too early. The one with the orange wattles is allegedly gone. But is it? Is the Ko¯kako the New Zealand version of the ivory-billed woodpecker? The South Island Ko¯kako is the subspecies that is now being declared extinct. [...]

Art Deco Adventures: Patagonian Plesiosaurus

Click on image for a full size pdf version of the April 9, 1922, Lima, Ohio, graphic. Today, the lake monster reported in Lago (English: Lake) Nahuel Huapi in the northern Patagonia region between the provinces of Río Negro and Neuquén, in Argentina, near the border with Chile, is called “Nahuelito.” The huge lake itself, which is about 1350 feet deep, covers over 300 square miles at the base of the Patagonian mountains, a perfect site for a watery cryptid, variously described as a giant serpent or a huge hump. Or a prehistoric dinosaur? Forget about Africa’s Mokele-mbembe hunts in [...]

Top Twelve Black Bobcat Hot Spots

UPDATED: January 14, 2007. Photograph of a cryptid black felid taken late in 2005 in Florida, by a Georgia professor (credit Ben Willis) that probably is a melanistic bobcat (Lynx rufus floridianus). Based on one of yesterday’s melanistic bobcat blog comments, here are my promised suggestions for the hot spots to go observe these black felids. Top Twelve Locations To See Black Bobcats 1-10. South Florida. If there’s one place that has produced the most melanistic bobcats, it would be this south central east Florida coast county that lies next to the Okeechobee Swamp region, specifically, Martin County, Florida. Ten [...]

Sunday Comics: Loren Coleman, Cryptid Hunter

Peter Loh has penned a new image (above), and I feel honored to be placed under his own special cryptocartoonist’s magnifying glass, once again. In “My Comic Life,” I overviewed various artists’ past graphic attempts to capture me, including the following by Loh: That Loren, the fedora-wearing Loren, was created by Loh for Scott Marlowe’s Crypto-Man comic series. Goofy in the Pine Tree State (no telling which one is Goofy) is one of Peter Loh’s more subtle but funny renderings, which touched close to home, as this is a visual commentary on the 2006 Maine Mutant investigation. To see more [...]

Old Newspapers: Lake Merritt Monster

I posted on the current news about California’s Lake Merritt Monster, a couple days ago, here. Now comes some archival newspaper articles, shared by Craig Heinselman. Following these images of the Lake Merritt Monster from old newspapers are the pdfs from 1946, 1954, and 1958, on this “created cryptid.” Oakland Tribune June 21, 1946 Oakland Tribune August 22, 1954 Oakland Tribune June 15, 1958 Thanks to Craig Heinselman for these, and to Craig Woolheater for technical assistance in uploading them to pdfs.