Photo by Jim Weber/The Commercial Appeal Allan Mueller of The Nature Conservancy trolls through Bayou DeView in east Arkansas, where there were several ivory-billed woodpeckers sighted in 2004. The continuing search has been fruitless — and expensive — with development projects delayed. “We’ve got to get a picture,” he says. The Commercial Appeal of Memphis has an update on the search for the ivory-billed woodpecker. One thing is for sure, skepticism is on the increase because the hunt is costing millions of dollars. Elusive woodpecker hatches controversy Millions have been spent on the hunt, but there’s still no definitive proof [...]
Neandertals Were Separate Species
A new, simplified family tree of humanity, published on Sunday, has dealt a blow to those who contend that the enigmatic hominids known as Neandertals intermingled with our forebears. Neanderthals were a separate species to Homo sapiens, as anatomically modern humans are known, rather than offshoots of the same species, the new organigram published by the journal Nature declares. The method, invented by evolutionary analysts in Argentina, marks a break with the conventional technique by which anthropologists chart the twists and turns of the human odyssey. That technique typically divides the the genus Homo into various classifications according to the [...]
Are Borneo Pygmy Elephants Javan?
Borneo’s pygmy elephants may be descendants of an extinct Javan elephant race, saved by chance by an 18th century ruler, according to a new study just released. The study suggests that a small number of opposite-sex elephants can produce a thriving progeny of thousands if left undisturbed on an island, giving fresh hope to conservationists trying to protect nearly extinct species of large mammals. “If proven, this fascinating story would demonstrate that very small populations of large mammals can be saved from the brink of extinction (simply by) moving a few individuals, from a seemingly doomed population, to a different [...]
Kokako News
It is always good to update a year old story. The Kokako ~ the New Zealand version of the ivory-billed woodpecker intrigue ~ is back in the news. The Kokako has recently been in the newspapers again, with a new sighting of this contemporary cryptid. Alec Milne, an amateur ornithologist from Golden Bay, in the Nelson region at the top of the South Island, has reported to the New Zealand Department of Conservation that he has recently heard what he believes was the call of the South Island kokako at the head of the Cobb Valley in Kahurangi National Park, [...]
Otter Unknown Kappa
Brent Swancer, from Japan, is my guest contributor for today. He introduces us to a known animal with a foggy cryptic presence today and its links to an extremely well-known Japanese cryptid: The Japanese River Otter (Lutra nippon) is a nocturnal predator, endemic to Japan, which reaches 26 to 30 inches long at maturity. Inhabiting mostly midstream and downstream regions, it was once found abundantly throughout Japan. The numbers of Lutra nippon decreased rapidly beginning around the Maiji and Taisho eras due to hunting for its fur and liver (which was used as a medication for tuberculosis) and further continued [...]
First California Wolverine Since 1922
A wolverine has been captured on camera by an Oregon State student. A wolverine has been spotted in the Sierra Nevada mountains for the first time since 1922. According to CBS5: A research project aimed at martens has turned up a bigger prize: a picture of a wolverine, an elusive animal scientists feared may have been driven out of the Sierra Nevada long ago by human activity. The discovery could affect land-use decisions if the wolverine is declared an endangered species, a step the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is considering, although the animals typically live at high elevations where [...]
More Moa News
As a followup to the recent story about Rex Gilroy’s proposed expedition to look for living Moas in the Urewera forest, Tony Lucas shares the latest. Hawke’s Bay cryptozoology researcher Tony Lucas is keeping an open mind on the possibility of moa still being alive in the Ureweras but thinks the evidence could point to emus. Mr Lucas, unable to join the hunt for New Zealand’s hidden species because of ill health, and who is confining his role mainly to researching other reports, says modern claims of moa sightings in New Zealand have mainly been in the South Island. The [...]
Living Moa News
The little blue moa. The Thylacine of the Avian world is in the news again. Australian cryptozoologist Rex Gilroy recently discussed the latest new findings for Moas with the Hawke’s Bay Today. One of the good points about Gilroy is that he does serve as a lightning rod for unusual animal accounts in the region sometimes, and likewise has the ear of the media. The press reports tend to lower the ridicule curtain and more reports and sightings, historical and recent ones, then come forth. Most of the cryptozoological attention to the survival of the Moas has been directed to [...]
Ivory-Billeds & Idaho Grizzlies: Coming Quests
This file photo shows a grizzly bear moving through the brush in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. (Courtesy: Yellowstone National Park) In September 2007, a black bear hunter “mistakenly” shot and killed a grizzly bear in the “rugged Idaho terrain near Kelly Creek about three miles from the Montana border,” according to the Associated Press. The 450-pound male grizzly killed by the unidentified hunter on Labor Day, September 3rd was shot in the North Fork of the Clearwater Drainage about 20 miles north of the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness boundary and within the 25,000-square-mile Bitterroot Experimental Population Area. It was the first [...]
First Thai Tomistoma Since 1970
Some unique crocs have been seen in Thailand. But as opposed to merely “out-of-place” or escaped reptiles, it might signal a recovery of a locally “extinct” species. Loosely using the term “gavial,” some form of a gavial or gharial is the source of this attention. Either it is the true gharial, Gavialis gangeticus, identified as such by the local Thai media, or the false gharial Tomistoma schlegelii, the preferred choice, I read after I first saw this news item, of cryptozoologist Chad Arment. Since I respect Arment’s opinion on this, as he knows his herps rather well, his insights over [...]
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