Could the solution of the mystery fish photograph on an antique postcard (first noted at Cryptomundo on November 29, 2005) be at hand? Could this postcard reveal evidence of a beached megamouth shark decades before the species was officially verified? (Click on image to see full size version the Mystery Fish Photo postcard, enhanced by shockbeton) Mystery Fish head, click to enlarge. Does the head of the megamouth look similar to that of the Mystery Fish’s head from the old postcard? The above photograph (and the one below) of this 2004 megamouth are courtesy of Ton & Marjan of the [...]
1983’s Megamouth Prank
Richard Ellis is one of the curators of the current 2007 “Mythic Creatures” exhibition at the American Museum of Natural History. He once was part of a “new species” hoax back in the early 1980s. The long delay between initial discovery (1976) and the scientific description (1983) [of the Megamouth shark] became the focus of an elaborate practical joke by two friends of Leighton Taylor, Richard Ellis of the American Museum of Natural History and John McCosker, director of San Francisco’s Steinhart Aquarium. Ellis and McCosker photocopied random articles from Japanese scientific journals and inserted photographs of the megamouth shark [...]
New Limbless Lizard Discovered
The discovery of a new species of limbless lizard (pictured above), belonging to the genus Sepsophis, was announced on May 28, 2007. The seven-inch-long lizard was found 10 days before during a field study in the forested region of Khandadhar near Raurkela in Orissa state, India, about 625 miles southeast of New Delhi. It prefers to live in a cool retreat, soft soil and below stones. The lizard is new to science and is an important discovery. It is not found anywhere else in the world. The new species will be scientifically described at a later stage after accumulation of [...]
Women in Bigfoot Studies: Jane Goodall
Yeti or Bigfoot or Sasquatch….I tell you that I’m sure that they exist….I’ve talked to so many Native Americans who all describe the same sounds, two who have seen them. I’ve probably got about, oh, thirty books that have come from different parts of the world, from China from, from all over the place.Dr. Jane Goodall, while being interviewed by Ira Flatow, National Public Radio’s “Science Friday,” September 27, 2002. Of late, while talking about women in Bigfoot studies, I ventured off into writing about women in racing and mentioning briefly Jane Goodall as a woman whose entry into the [...]
“Mythic” Opens
The exhibition, “Mythic Creatures” opens at The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in New York City on Saturday, May 26, 2007. Two good articles on the exhibition and the opening are (click on the title of each article for the link): “The Surprising Realities of Mythical Creatures,” LiveScience; “Exploring the Nature of the Unnatural,” New York Times. On some level, I was surprised to see Richard Ellis is a co-curator of the exhibition, while on another, I wasn’t. Richard has painted and illustrated various museums and books with some outstanding images of marine life, has a deep interest in [...]
Elephants’ Graveyards, Whale Falls, and A New Species
The discovery of a new species reveals some interesting side facts. I’m sure you’ve heard of the alleged “elephants’ graveyard,” a cryptic place where supposedly older elephants go to die. Well, have you ever been told of the “whale fall”? According to MSNBC’s senior science editor Robin Lloyd, “Whale falls, the resting place of a dead whale, provide temporary but important nutrition boosts and habitats for deep-sea life. The flesh of the dead whale decomposes within weeks, but the bones can last anywhere from 60 to 100 years as bacteria break down the bones, releasing sulfur that aquatic creatures use [...]
New Thai Mountain Frog
A new species of mountain frog that changes color in response to its surroundings has been discovered in northeast Thailand. The Odorrana aureola, known locally as the Phu Luang Cliff frog after the national park where it was found, can grow to 3.5 inches (80 millimeters) and has a green body which occasionally turns brown, researchers said. “It reflects its surrounds,” said Tanya Chan-ard, curator of Bangkok’s National Science Museum, who studied the frog with a team of government biologists and researchers. Tanya Chan-ard said it was the world’s newest species of mountain frog, and was found only in Phu [...]
Where Are The Lost Sasquatch Columns?
Saturday, May 26th is the anniversary of the death of Sir Michael Bruce, a little-remembered early columnist who wrote about Sasquatch. He died fifty years ago. Mark A. Hall has passed along the following attached notes and articles about Sir Bruce. Sir Michael Bruce, an advocate for the Sasquatch, was the brother of Nigel Bruce, the actor best known for portraying Dr. Watson to Basil Rathbone’s cinematic Sherlock Holmes. Sir Bruce died of a heart attack on May 26, 1957. I mentioned him in Living Fossils, on page 20. As far as I know, no one has gone back to [...]
Update: Woolfie Versus Maine Mystery Beast
As an update to this morning’s posting of “Maddening Mystery of Maine Mutant Muddled”, here is the photograph of the proposed candidate, “Woolfie,” followed by ones of the Turner carcass, when first found. The above photograph is of Woolfie (courtesy of Mark LaFlamme). The bottom three are of the “Maine Mystery Beast” (courtesy of Michelle O’Donnell). Click on image for full-size version Please click on image for full-size version Click on image for full-size version What do you think? Do they match?
Maddening Mystery of Maine Mutant Muddled
The dead dog near the road was photographed by Michelle O’Donnell, Turner, Maine, August 2006. Click on the image to make it bigger. The Maine Mystery Beast is back. Well, at least, the animal discovered next to Route 4, which was incorrectly labeled as the killer of livestock and pets, is. Mark LaFlamme called yesterday, and interviewed me about the claims of a Florida woman that the dog probably killed by a vehicle barreling down Route 4 was her’s. Anything is possible, but the problem with this whole new sidebar to last summer’s sensational story rests in the matter of [...]
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