Cryptozoology

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 [...]

Bridge Collapse: Flashback to 1967

A bridge over the Mississippi River has fallen. The I-35 W is visible as one of the darker (thus wider) bridges on this map, and is labeled. It is seen near the Gasworks Area and the Bohemian Flats. As it gets near 10 pm EDT, the wire services are saying seven people are reported dead from the freeway bridge that fell into the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota, about four hours ago. Reuters is flashing the news around the world that “One hundred cars [are] missing in US bridge collapse.” News channels on television are showing wall-to-wall images of the [...]

Scientists Need Your Help: Identify This

Have you seen anything like the above, ever? This crustacean, found in the marine environment off Walpole and Portland, Maine, is not like anything researchers have seen before. Can you assist them with identifying it? (Photo courtesy Casco Bay Estuary Partnership) Reporter Ann S. Kim noted in The Maine Sunday Telegram on July 31, 2007, specifically about this unknown animal: A crustacean the size of a grain of rice was among the hundreds of specimens that researchers gathered in recent days from docks and piers from Cape Cod to midcoast Maine. The tiny crustacean, the marine version of a pill [...]

Almasty Eyewitness at Weird Weekend

The reported appearance of the Almasty or Almas is often combined with frequently heard folkloric advice that the best way to escape from the female of the species is by running downhill. This motif is also found among reports from Sherpas regarding the Abominable Snowmen of the Himalaya. A Ukrainian biologist who has spent years hunting for the Russian equivalent of the Yeti will be one of the speakers at this year’s Weird Weekend in Woolsery. Grigoriy Panchenko claims to have seen one of the creatures himself in a barn on a remote farm in 1991. He also claims to [...]