Cryptotourism

Reality Check: Behind The Lost World Hype

Do you know where the Foja Mountains are? Most people don’t. And are there really "hundreds of new species" discovered? Bruce Beehler of the U.S. organization Conservation International and Indonesian Institute of Sciences reportedly told the BBC: "It’s a beautiful, untouched, unpopulated forest. We found dozens, if not hundreds, of new species." The attention to the new "Lost World" in Indonesia is all over the media, as mentioned earlier here on Cryptomundo. But what’s the reality behind the headlines? Photographs of two rare but not "new" species – the long-beaked echidna and the golden-mantled tree kangeroo; Conservation International. Not to [...]

Stegosaur in Cambodia?

What real evidence exists for dinosaurs having survived into more contemporary times? What are we to make of the carving of a Stegosaur (Stegosaur stenops) on an ancient Cambodian temple at Angkor Wat? Click image for full-size version This carving is now being shown to tourists, proclaiming it is a dinosaur. Such a situation, thusfar, has only caused a few comments online, at such locations as the Unexplained Earth webpage last summer, as well as other sites. But all this appears to be changing, with more and more attention to this item. For example, there is new talk of this [...]

Hoan Kiem’s Giant Turtle

In the midst of a very long article reviewing the eating establishments and the The Ho Chi Minh Museum of Hanoi, Vietnam, there’s a surprising update on the Old City’s most famous cryptid. Photograph of the Hoan Kiem Lake’s Giant Turtle. Credit Vietnam.net Here’s what we learn from Simon Busch, in the January 28th edition of London’s Financial Times: The turtle of Hoan Kiem Lake sounds terribly lonely. Such experts as there are on this most elusivecreature, Vietnam’s only slightly less fabulous version of the Loch Ness Monster, contend furiously over its likely age and its species – even its [...]

2006: Year of the Imperial Woodpecker?

Could 2006 be the Year of the Imperial Woodpecker? Clearly 2005 was the year of the ivory-billed woodpecker (Campephilus principalis). As the #1 cryptozoology story of 2005, the rediscovery of the ivory-billed made a dramatic statement beyond the realm of zoology and cryptozoology that long-thought extinct animals may still exist. Has a recent sighting of the world’s largest woodpecker foretold another major forthcoming cryptozoological rediscovery? Are we prepared for another major avian event for 2006? The Imperial Woodpecker (Campephilus imperialis) was or is the world’s largest species of woodpecker; yes, it is even grander than its often-discussed relative, the ivory-billed [...]

Death Worm News

The Centre for Fortean Zoology’s May 2005 expedition to Mongolia is summarized in an article today. The CFZ’s cryptozoologists reportedly discovered two animals previously unknown to science – a dragon-like lizard and a two-meter-long horned snake, although information on where the formal publication of these finding occurred is lacking. Information on the old holiday package-expedition, new year’s plans, and CFZ is discussed in the About.com article and it’s links to the CFZ and E-Mongol.com