Cryptozoology

Topanga’s “Condor”

What if this story is about a large flying cryptid? This youngster did a better job than many adults do when they see something large and unknown, flying off into the sunset. Monday, Nov 06, 2006 Small fry captures rare glimpse of straying big bird By Bob Pool Los Angeles Times Gabriel Gottfried, 5, shows the digital photo he took of a condor launching from a pine tree near his Los Angeles home. LOS ANGELES – Like any good bird-lover, Gabriel Gottfried knew what to do when he spied the huge creature perched on a tree branch outside his Topanga [...]

Dolphin Photo

Here’s the photo of the dolphin that goes with the story previously noted here of the dolphin with "extra legs," actually fins, apparently. AP This photo, released by the Taiji Whale Museum, highlights the extra set of fins. The tail is being held by a diver whose hand is visible at upper right.

The Black Thing

This black (melanistic) color phase of the white-tailed deer, Odocoileus virginianus, was taken during hunting season in Michigan, apparently this October 2006. They are said to be rarer than appearances of the albino phase. Thanks to John Lutz and Judith Rogers for sharing this.

Dolphin With “Remains of Back Legs”

Not cryptozoological, but considering what’s been discussed today, it seemed worth sharing: Japanese researchers said Sunday [November 4, 2006] a bottlenose dolphin captured last month has an extra set of fins that could be the remains of back legs, providing further evidence ocean-dwelling mammals once lived on land. Fishermen captured the four-finned dolphin off the coast of Wakayama prefecture in western Japan on Oct. 28 and alerted the nearby Taiji Whaling Museum, said museum director Katsuki Hayashi. Fossil remains show dolphins and whales were four-footed land animals about 50 million years ago and share the same common ancestor as hippos [...]

Giant Caribbean Snake Sighted

  Alsophis antiguae (pictured above) is a harmless grey-brown four-foot long snake, found only on Antigua, a small Caribbean island, thus it carries the common name the Antigua Racer Snake. It is considered the rarest snake in the world, with approximately 200 existing on a small island off the coast of Antigua. But is there a bigger unknown snake on a nearby island? Breaking news seems to indicate as much: The Department of Environment [on the Caribbean's Cayman Islands] said it was called to investigate a report of a large snake in the vicinity of Newlands recently after a resident [...]