Extinct

Nessie Not Found in Antarctic

The Associated Press is reporting that the fossil bones of a baby plesiosaur have been found on an Antarctic island. That is a good find, but the papers won’t be stopping there. Be prepared. Of course, although there is no known relationship at all, except in the culture of the media, the following reference point is being thrown into the stories: In life, 70 million years ago, the five-foot-long animal would have resembled Nessie, the long-necked creature reported to inhabit Scotland’s Loch Ness. Hate to mention it but (1) we don’t know if any Nessies exist at all, so how [...]

Little Foot Coexisted With Homo

The remains of the apeman, dubbed Little Foot, were discovered in a cave complex at Sterkfontein by a local South African team in 1997. Its bones preserved in sediment layers, it is the most complete hominid fossil skeleton ever found. (Photo Credit: Alf Latham and used with his permission) Redating news published today calls for a younger age for the unknown species of Australopithecus popularly called "Little Foot," or technically "Stw 573." Initially, the species had been tentatively dated to three to four million years before present, but the new findings show the small upright Australopithecus died only about 2.2 [...]

The Agogwe

I want to share an addition to the International Cryptozoology Museum, a new sculpture whose photographs are seen about this blog. It represents a depiction of the Agogwe from Tanzania (Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), and gives me this opportunity to introduce these hominoids here. The following is my summary description of this unknown African hominoid: Agogwe The Agogwe is a downy-haired little unknown biped reported throughout east Africa. Said to have yellowish, reddish skin underneath its rust-colored hair, the Agogwe allegedly inhabits the forest of this remote region. One of the most discussed sightings occurred near the turn of [...]

Emela-Ntouka: Killer of Elephants

Click on above image, by Corey H., to see full-size version Flashback and Update… 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 a carving (below) seen here for the first time earlier this year, it appears to be a beast unlike the saurapod-like Mokele-mbembe. On page 219 of one of my recent field guides, written with Patrick Huyghe, we noted, among several different kinds of alleged “dinosaurs” in Africa, “one animal is called by locals [...]

Three-Toes Revisited

St. Petersburg Times: Tony Signorini said that in 1946 or 1947 his boss saw a picture of dinosaur tracks in a National Geographic and said, "You know, we could have fun with this." Ted McLaren, St. Petersburg Times: Signorini’s tracks, using these 30-pound molds, created a sensation. A zoologist speculated they were left by a giant penguin. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Tony Signorini told the media in 1988 that it was all a hoax, and then recycled it as “news” again last summer. (I refused to post it here as “news” then for that reason.) The zoologist was Ivan T. Sanderson, and he [...]

Grice Roast Anyone?

The Shetland pig, or grice, was a specific and special feral boar that was driven into extinction 100 years ago. It was called a “scourge of lambs, landowners and local produce.” There are no known photographs of it, although some drawings (such as the one above) exist. Highlighted in BBC News and other media, it’s been all grice and no pig with this news. The Scotsman recently noted the grice’s distinctive appearance: Short, squat, with a mohawk of bristled hair running down its spine, the grice was a primitive domesticated pig that became extinct after locals on the island were [...]

New Zealand’s Waitoreke

Could the Waitoreke be related to the Oriental small-clawed otter (Amblonyx cinereus)? Next to the giant moa reports, the most discussed mystery animal of New Zealand is the waitoreke. Maoris and early colonists on the nation’s South Island frequently reported a small otterlike animal known as the kaureke and also as the waitoreke. Late nineteenth-century writers on New Zealand’s natural landscape tried to fit the sightings into some logical framework, notwithstanding the reality that no otters, beavers, or other European animals then existed in that country. Around 1855 the Rev. Richard Taylor interviewed a man who claimed repeated observations of [...]