Expedition Reports

New Sahara Dinos

Eocarcharia dinops Fossil hunters have discovered two new meat-eating dinosaurs thanks to the fossils unearthed from the sands of the Sahara, according to media reports during the last week. The fossils represent previously unknown ferocious dinosaur predators that roamed the Earth about 110 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period, University of Chicago paleontologist Paul Sereno and co-author Stephen Brusatte reported in the journal Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. Kryptops palaios They named one Kryptops palaios, or “old hidden face,” because of a horny covering over its face. The other was named Eocarcharia dinops, or “fierce-eyed dawn shark,” for its razor-sharp teeth [...]

50th Anniversary: Slick Begins Snowman Search

This week marks the 50th anniversary of Tom Slick’s most organized, first San Antonio Zoo-sponsored expedition in search of the Yeti. It was formally called the Slick-Johnson Snowman Expedition. Via a feature giving a flashback of 50 years ago, the Los Angeles Times reprinted an old Matt Weinstock column, from the reporter who was sort of the “Herb Caen of Los Angeles.” In this passage, Weinstock talked of the Abominable Snowman and Tom Slick, thus giving a good period view of one newspaper columnist’s way of dealing with the event. Matt Weinstock (You gotta love Weinstock’s 1950s’ haircut.) The following [...]

Why Mokele-Mbembe Is Not A Rhino

The Emela-ntouka has been an unknown animal of some confusion in Africa. A few chroniclers have felt it was merely another named cryptid representing the sightings of the Mokele-mbembe. But as revealed by an image seen here exclusively at Cryptomundo in the past, it appears to be a beast unlike the saurapod-like Mokele-mbembe. Click on image for larger size Copyright: Michel Ballot – Mokélé – Mbembé CAMEROUN 2004 On page 219 of one of my field guides, coauthored with Patrick Huyghe, we noted, among several different kinds of alleged “dinosaurs” in Africa, “one animal is called by locals the emela [...]

Robert Rines: “Are They All Liars?”

It reads like an obituary. And after a fashion, it is a pre-obit, a reflection on how it must feel as the end is in sight. The Boston Globe looks at the final and waning days of the Loch Ness Monster hunter Robert Rines. The article carried in today’s New England newspaper is detailed, joyous, and, I must admit, a little sad to read. In 1999, along with my sons (one of whom has a very Scottish name and it’s his birthday today), I came upon Rines and one of his sons in a teahouse on the shores of the [...]

First Photo of Cyprus Spiny Mouse

This is a small version of the first photograph of Acomys nesiotes (TUR: Kıbrıs dikenlifaresi, ENG: Cyprus spiny mouse), by Mustafa Sozen. For information on obtaining the full-sized image, please refer to the Trek Nature link noted below. The Cyprus Spiny Mouse is endemic to Cyprus. It lives in rocky areas. We captured 4 individual on 22.10.2007 around Lefkoşa (Nicosia) area at an altitude of about 600 meters asl in Turkish Republic of Northern Cypruc. No considerable effort has been made since the 1980s to verify its presence and it may persist in small numbers. For this reason, the IUCN [...]

Cryptozoology Futurology

Yes, I have turned up in this new book, What’s Next: The Experts’ Guide: Predictions from 50 of America’s Most Compelling People by Jane Buckingham. I am one of the fifty “most compelling people” in the country. I’m still trying to explain what that means to my sons. I do like the company I get to keep in the pages of this tome, which has just hit the bookstores. What’s Next takes cryptozoology seriously. It contains my next decade’s predictions about where I see the field going and what animals I feel will be discovered. I won’t spoil this author’s [...]

CryptoGadget News: Nessie Expedition Planned

The man behind May 2007′s video is returning to Loch Ness. Gordon Holmes is going to experiment with new technology to try to capture Nessie, at least with a camera. Holmes has emailed me with the breaking news he is going back to Loch Ness this year with “NET –> NESSIE 2008.” He writes it will be the… …’smallest’ ever attempt to obtain proof of any large unknown Creature swimming in Loch Ness. Basically, it is a radio-controlled boat with sonar and a wireless-linked CCTV camera monitoring the sonar screen. The idea is, I stand on the shore obtaining video [...]

New Giant: First Elephant-Shrew In 126 Years

Grey-faced sengi, Rhynchocyon udzungwensis. Photo credit: Francesco Rovero. “This is one of the most exciting discoveries of my career,” said Galen Rathbun of the California Academy of Sciences. Rathbun’s and Museum of Natural Sciences in Trento, Italy, Francesco Rovero’s discovery is published in the February issue of the British-based Journal of Zoology. Although there is unquestionably much left to be discovered about life on Earth, charismatic animals like mammals are usually well documented, and it is rare to find a new species today—especially from a group as intriguing as the elephant-shrews, monogamous mammals found only in Africa with a colorful [...]