Expedition Reports

Search for Malabar Civet

The Malabar civet (Viverra civettina) was last seen half a century ago in the forests of Kerela, India, and is presumed to be extinct. There is not even a photograph in existence. Hopes were raised in 1991, when a fresh skin was found. A Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) project is now looking for this elusive animal in its historically known areas of distribution in hope that a few are still lurking in the undergrowth waiting to be found. Siddharth Rao, an Assistant Field Officer on the project recounts several months spent deep in the jungles of the Western Ghats [...]

New Golden Frog Discovered

A new poisonous frog was recently discovered in a remote mountainous region in Colombia by a team of young scientists supported by the Conservation Leadership Programme (CLP). The new frog, which is almost two centimetres in length, was given the name the “golden frog of Supatá.” Originally, the young scientists thought the frog was similar to several other common species in the area. However, after scientific analysis of the frog’€™s characteristics, and review of their findings by experts at Conservation International, it was determined that the golden frog of Supatá is unique and only found within a 20 hectare area [...]

Does Champ Exist?

A new 256-page book has been published that is an incredibly important contribution to cryptozoological history. It is a welcome document capturing a pivotal time in Lake Champlain Monster research Published by Coachwhip Publications, Does Champ Exist? Notes on the Historic Lake Monster Conference held in Shelburne, Vermont, 29 August 1981 by Gary S. Mangiacopra and Dwight G. Smith, has just been released. Does Champ Exist? was written, according to Chad Arment, to preserve the transcript of the (so far) only cryptozoological conference held to discuss the possible existence of an unknown species of animal in the waters of Lake [...]

Cousteau and Tessie

The subject of Jacques Cousteau and Lake Tahoe has been talked about here on Cryptomundo in the past, for example, when it was brought up by mystery_man in the post Cryptomundo’s Ultimate CZ FAQs and in another post entitled Another Bowness Monster Sighting?. What can be added on this topic? Tom Stienstra of the San Francisco Chronicle, who has written his share of Bigfoot articles for the newspaper, said the following in his article Mysteries of the deep at Lake Tahoe. Even famed oceanographer Jacques Cousteau is said to have had a brush with something horrific in a deepwater dive [...]

Takahē Discoverer Dies

The Takahē (Porphyrio hochstetteri ). Photo: New Zealand’s Mount Bruce Organization. Geoffrey Orbell (October 7, 1908 – August 15, 2007) was a doctor and keen tramper/bush walker best known for the rediscovery of the Takahē (Porphyrio hochstetteri ) in 1948. The Takahē was widely thought to be extinct but Orbell suspected it might survive. While taking time off from his Invercargill practice to search for the Takahē, he discovered a set of unfamiliar footprints. After following the footprints with three companions he rediscovered the species on November 20, 1948, in a remote valley of the Murchison Mountains near Lake Te [...]

Avdeev Snowman Photograph

[The above photograph, first published in 1990 but making the rounds of European hominology sites this week of August 2007, may actually be one of the worst "Snowman" photographs I have ever seen. Either that or none of us know exactly what Snowpeople look like. - LC] The Russian newspaper Volkhov reported in March 2006 about Nikolaj Avdeev’s field work in the southern Urals.1  According to the author Avdeev began his research in the Caucasus and in mid-Asia. Later he worked in the polar Urals. At the beginning of the 1980’s it was also claimed that the “Snowman” had been [...]

New Congolese Species

———————————————————————— Field teams discovered four mammal species new to science, including a new species of bat of the Rhinolophus genus. Other mammal species included a species of rodent and two shrews. ———————————————————————— An expedition led by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) to a remote corner of the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has uncovered unique forests which, so far, have been found to contain six animal species new to science: a bat, a rodent, two shrews, and two frogs. The forested region—including the Misotshi-Kabogo Forest (formerly Mt. Kabobo)—and nearby Marunga Massif is located just west of Lake Tanganyika and has [...]

New Suriname Species

Conservation International led expeditions to the South American country of Suriname in 2005 and 2006, finding two dozen potential new species in the process. Among the biological curiosities documented during the expeditions was this ant species, Daceton armigerum, which is a highly visual predator of the rainforest canopy. Piotr Naskrecki / Conservation International The Amazonian snail-eater snake, Dipsas indica, was documented by researchers on the Lely Plateau in Suriname. This snake feeds on snails, which extracts from the shell. After the snake seizes the exposed body of a snail, the slender lower jaws of the snake are drawn into the [...]

An Electrogenic Mammal?

There are three known kinds of electric – more correctly called electrogenic – animals: (1) the one species, Electrophorus electricus, of South American electric eel (really a knifefish), (2) the 19 species of African electric catfish in the genera Malapterurus and Paradoxoglanis, and (3) the 69 species of electric rays (order Torpediniformes) found around the world. The first two fish both demonstrate the ability to shock prey with electricity as an effective strategy for a piscivore (an animal that eats fish). They produce high levels of voltage, e.g. electric eel (600 volts) and the electric catfish (350 volts). Electric rays [...]