Evidence

Discovering the Dhole

Remember the episode called "Alpha" in season six of The X-Files? It involved a cryptid dhole from China that was blamed for going on a killing rampage. The dhole (Cuon alpinus) is in the news because Vietnam feels these allegedly recently extinct "red dogs" are back from the edge in their country. "In Search for the Endangered Dhole" (Vietnam News Service, December 24, 2006) tells of the new quest for more about these elusive candids and their probable recovery. Reporter Lam Quang Huy, after giving background information, shared this compelling account of searching for the dhole with villagers: The first [...]

The Top Ten Cryptozoology Stories of 2006

The Top Ten Cryptozoology Stories of 2006 by Loren Coleman, Cryptozoology A to Z 1. Darlings of Cryptozoology Videotaped: Coelacanth and Giant Squid 2. Lost Worlds Revealed 3. New European Mammal and Others Discovered 4. Discoveries Debated: Ivory-billed Woodpecker and Kouprey 5. Africa Explored: Mokele-mbembe Quest, Gambia Expedition, and SEALs’ Secret Mission 6. Lake Monsters Photographed: Champ and Nahuelito 7. Canid Capered: Maine Mutant, Montana Creature, and Nebraska Cryptid 8. Cryptids Televised: Mothman, Monsters, and More 9. Thylacine Remembered: Steve Irwin’s Search, New Photo, and National Thylacine Day 10. Cryptozoology and Art Exhibited: A First ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 1. Darlings of Cryptozoology [...]

Black Panthers in Illinois

Black panthers in Illinois are not merely melanistic jaguars far from home. I grew up in central Illinois (1947-1965, 1969-1974) and went to undergraduate school at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale (1965-1969). I was out searching for black panthers when I was 14, for example, in Macon County, doing field work on big mystery cat sightings in southeast Illinois when I was 16, and slushing through swamps in southern Illinois more than I was in some classes during my college years at SIU. Needless to say, all those first few years, I wasn’t writing too much about what I was doing, because [...]

Top Ten Creepy Fossil Finds of 2006

Top Ten Creepy Fossil Finds of 2006 by Loren Coleman, coauthor, Creatures of the Other Edge. As often happens with fossil finds, sometimes they are stored away, forgotten, rediscovered, even exhibited, but then all of a sudden, an old find experiences a grand new awareness. The fossil is significant again. Or the fossil might be a recent or actual new find gaining its fifteen minutes of popular media fame, often before the journal articles are written. Such has been the case regarding the following selections, all from extinct species (supposedly). It is a roundup of certainly a unique collection of [...]

Not Quite Gone?

As widely reported today, the search for the baiji – the "Chinese river" or "white-flag dolphin" – declared extinct last week is not finished. UPI notes: "We will try every effort to save them as long as it is not announced to be extinct," said Wang Ding, head of the search team and vice director of the hydrobiology institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The dolphin is unique to China’s Yangtze River, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported. If determined to be extinct, the white-flag dolphin will be the first cetacean on record to be driven to extinction by [...]

Johor Wars: How About All The Tracks?

The Malaysian Natural Resources and Environment Ministry Parliamentary Secretary Datuk Sazmi Miahis is fighting with Johor’s Tourism and Environment Committee Chairman Freddie Long over the “reality” of the “Johor Bigfoot.” The debate has turned ugly in the papers in Malaysia on December 16th. Forgotten in the debate, apparently, are all the footprints, confusing as the picture may be, that have been found, including ones dating back to the 1970s of the Orang Dalam. This track, photographed on November 17, 2006, is the “one” mentioned my Minister Sazmi. But what of the others? See below. According to the New Straits Times, [...]