A Moa? Please note the darker front part of the body is in shadow and the rear portion – with apparent feathers visible – is to the right, in sunlight. Is the above a photograph of a living Moa? I interviewed the credible eyewitness and photographer, a former member of the British Army’s elite Special Air Service (SAS). Here’s the backstory. In 1958, cryptozoologist Bernard Heuvelmans entitled a chapter of his On the Track of Unknown Animals, “The Moa, a Fossil That May Still Thrive.” Moas, both medium-sized and giant forms, have been reported periodically in New Zealand since their [...]
Ropen Expedition ‘07
Click on the Ropen for a larger version. No scale was given for this drawing. As we have learned, the “Destination Truth” team is on a filming trek in Asia. Here is another insight into the expedition’s point-of-view and cryptid focus as they pursue the Ropen in Papua New Guinea: I was interviewed by Neil Mandt a few weeks ago as he was preparing for the expedition (this kind of excursion should only be done after consulting with someone who has been in Papua New Guinea, searching for the Ropen and/or eyewitnesses). At first, suspicious – the “Fi” of “Sci-Fi [...]
Footprints Skunk Ape Doc
The students keep going good p.r. When I see their production someday, I shall overview my thoughts here. Until then, in the meantime, here’s another story about the doc. BEASTLY FILM: Film students work on the production of Footprints, a documentary on the Everglades’ mysterious Skunk Ape, for a class project. Claudia Echeverria/Special to The Beacon Students search for elusive Florida monster Charlie Grau / Sports Editor Posted: 1/18/07 Close encounters with a huge, hairy mysterious species; government conspiracies and townspeople infatuated with an ape-like creature in the Everglades. Sounds like a summer blockbuster, right? Footprints, a documentary less than [...]
“Living Fossil” Shark Captured
It is no an unknown cryptid discovered or a new species, but like the underwater footage of the giant squid which rocked the media, there is new images of a very rare deep sea shark being discussed widely today. The remarkable-looking frilled shark (Chlamydoselachus anguineus) are a bit camera shy because they live so very deep, oh, at about 1800 to 3000 feet. Intriguingly, this might be the source of sea serpent sightings, during those infrequent times it has surfaced (but please note it swims – like all sharks – from side to side, not up and down like sea [...]
Coelacanth Quickies: Hofmeyr and Mount Karthala
Coelacanth tidbits have been surfacing and leaping up into my awareness over the last few days. I’ve fished them out of my short term catches and netted them anew here for you. 1) A highly debated bit of hominid fossil news these days is focussing on the Hofmeyr skull. The skull, found 55 years ago in a river bed near Hofmeyr in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa, has resurfaced because of a new analysis of the contents of the inside of the skull. This new study has shown that the Hofmeyr skull is a lot older than people thought. [...]
What Is A New Species?
This is the latest new mammal discovered in Europe, Mus cypriacus or the Cypriot mouse, which was described last year in the journal Zootaxa. How does one determine that a new species has been discovered? How is it that one location has one species of salamander and thirty years later there are said to be many new species in that area? From where do all the new species come? The Naung Mung Scimitar-Babbler (Jabouilleia naungmungensis) was discovered in the pre-montane rainforests of northern Myanmar (Burma) in 2005. Their discovery, however, was not announced until 2006. It is a unique new [...]
Patterson Dies + 35: Anniversaries of 2007
This is the week, 35 years ago that Roger Patterson, rodeo rider, songwriter, and Bigfoot hunter, died. Thirty-five years! How time flies. During the next twelve months you will find your calendar filled with anniversaries that hit close to home, if you are interested in cryptids and other "strange things" that happen all the time. This year is the 400th anniversary of the founding of Virginia’s Jamestown colony and is (according to various media) the biggest milestone of the year in the United States of America. Intriguingly, 2007 will see the publication of many books about Virginia, including Weird Virginia. [...]
Top 100 Cryptic Mammals
When this baby Sri Lankan slender loris is all grown up, it won’t be more than 5 inches long. But it’ll have huge night vision eyes. The Zoological Society of London has created an amazing list of the world’s top 100 rarest and thus most endangered mammalian species. "We are focusing on EDGE species — that means they are Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered," announced the Zoological Society of London ‘s Jonathan Baillie. "These are one-of-a-kind species. If they are lost there is nothing similar to them left on the planet. It would be a bit like the art world [...]
Kokako Becomes A Cryptid
Extinct? Which one? In less detailed media reports you may hear today or over the weekend, the New Zealand Ko¯kako has been declared extinct. Sad news indeed, but let’s be specific. It is not an entire species that is being declared extinct. Once again, also, there are hints that this may be another subspecies, despite recent sightings, which is being declared extinct too early. The one with the orange wattles is allegedly gone. But is it? Is the Ko¯kako the New Zealand version of the ivory-billed woodpecker? The South Island Ko¯kako is the subspecies that is now being declared extinct. [...]
Art Deco Adventures: Patagonian Plesiosaurus
Click on image for a full size pdf version of the April 9, 1922, Lima, Ohio, graphic. Today, the lake monster reported in Lago (English: Lake) Nahuel Huapi in the northern Patagonia region between the provinces of Río Negro and Neuquén, in Argentina, near the border with Chile, is called “Nahuelito.” The huge lake itself, which is about 1350 feet deep, covers over 300 square miles at the base of the Patagonian mountains, a perfect site for a watery cryptid, variously described as a giant serpent or a huge hump. Or a prehistoric dinosaur? Forget about Africa’s Mokele-mbembe hunts in [...]
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