Extinct

Two Ancient Apes Discovered

Above, one of the most famed of the ancient apes, Proconsul africanus (Dryopithecus). A 10 million-year-old jawbone and teeth discovered in Kenya may represent a new species very close to the last common ancestor of gorillas, chimpanzees and humans, according to a study published in the U.S. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on November 12, 2007. Researchers from the Primate Research Institute of the Kyoto University in Japan found the jawbone, along with 11 teeth in volcanic mud flow deposits in the Nakali region of Kenya, in 2005. The last time a hominoid fossil of this period was [...]

Replica Cryptia: Przewalski’s Horses

The Przewalski’s horse, a Pleistocene megafauna survivor, can be called a “living fossil,” in the popularized employment of that phrase. Certainly, this horse is of interest to cryptozoologists. In the society we live in, this is an animal your daughter may know more about than you do. The species (Equus ferus przewalskii, Equus caballus przewalskii, or Equus przewalski poliakov – classification is debated) is the last truly wild horse, first recognized by zoology in Mongolia in 1881. It is an animal of discovery, with lessons to teach in cryptozoology. Besides, the Przewalski’s horse story overlaps with that of the Almas. [...]

Replica Cryptia: Giant Ground Sloths

Photographs of the replicas under examination, in most cases, are generously shared by Dave Plenn of The Dinosaur Farm, who retains all copyrights to the images. Today, at Replica Cryptia, the representations examined are those of the Giant Ground Sloth or Megatherium. In recent years, replicas of this species of Amazonian megafauna have become significant in the search for the Mapinguary. The Mapinguary has been discussed cryptozoologically since the 1950s-1960s, for instance, by Frank W. Lane in Nature Parade, by Bernard Heuvelmans in On the Track of Unknown Animals), and by Ivan T. Sanderson in Abominable Snowmen: Legend Come to [...]

Thylacines and More

Can we find any of these? Are some of the “extinct animals” merely today’s cryptids? Is this footage of a Thylacine? Compare it with all the known footage of living thylacines.

Saola Update

Here’s an update on the saola (Pseudoryx nghetinhensis). Twenty years after its discovery in the forested mountains of Vietnam, local authorities here have agreed to establish new nature reserves to protect a critically endangered wild ox. As part of a plan to protect the saola (Pseudoryx nghetinhensis), the central Vietnamese provinces of Thua Thien Hue and Quang Nam will create two 121km2 reserves. The reserves will link up with the Bach Ma National Park to cover a continuous protected landscape covering approximately 2,920km2 — stretching from the Vietnamese coast to the Xe Sap National Biodiversity Conservation Area in neighbouring Laos. [...]

First in Decades: South China Tiger Sighting

I’ve been away for parts of three days. Time to play a little catch up. This following report is interesting as this felid subspecies (Panthera tigris amoyensis) may not be extinct. (File photo of the South China Tiger.) Beijung — A type of tiger thought to be extinct in the wild for more than two decades has been photographed in a mountainous area in northwest China, state media reported Saturday. The endangered subspecies known as the South China tiger was spotted by a farmer on Oct. 3, the China Daily said. Experts confirmed that it was a young wild South [...]