Forensic Science

Lion Vanishes Into Misquotation Valley

Cryptozoology author Matt Bille, who found himself in the middle of a firestorm of “African lion” sightings in his hometown, was interviewed by the local media. On July 22, 2008, The Colorado Springs Gazette published an article about the Colorado Springs “lion.” In it they quoted Matt Bille. Or, should I say, misquoted him? Bille has emailed me that he “did not say the last half of the last sentence about making no rational sense.” Wildlife officials had a few things to say about the misquotations in the unfolding of this story too. Here is the article Bille sends along: [...]

Rt. 66’s Kitty Cat, Not Panther

If you ever Plan to motor west Travel my way, take the highway that’s the best Get your kicks on Route 66 It winds from Chicago to LA More than two thousand miles all the way Baby, get your kicks on Route 66 Now you go through St. Louie Joplin, Missouri And Oklahoma City looks mighty pretty You’ll see Amarillo Gallup, New Mexico Flagstaff Arizona Don’t forget Winona Kingman, Barstow, San Bernadino Won’t you get hip to this timely tip When you make that California trip Get your kicks on Route 66 Now you go through St. Louie Joplin, Missouri [...]

No Trunks, Says Palaeontologist

In my never-ending quest to give both sides of various intellectually stimulating issues, here is part two of Monday’s discussion on whether or not Mokele-Mbembe, if discovered, might be found to have a trunk. University of Portsmouth vertebrate palaeontologist and science writer Darren Naish (above) has a contrary opinion to that of the one highlighted here by reconstruction artist Bill Munns yesterday, on whether or not trunks existed on sauropods and a variety of other fossil animals. For the sauropods, Naish emails me this comment about Munns’ images (one, shown above) and the pro-trunk theory: “Very cool. But the palaeontological [...]

Sea Monster Week

Darren Naish, over at Tetrapod Zoology, just rolled through five days, last week, of sea monster photographs and remarks about the mostly fake, false, or misleading images. Let’s take a look. First up was the March 1965 photograph (below) from Robert Le Serrec of a huge, tadpole-like creature encountered in Stonehaven Bay, Hook Island, Queensland, Australia. The case has been rather universally labeled a hoax. I mentioned in my field guide that Interpol was even after the guy. Naish does gather together all the “other photos” linked with this episode, and that’s a rather interesting angle ignored by most. Naish [...]

DNA: Falcons Closer To Parrots Than Hawks

The secret kinship of falcons and parrots is one of many surprises in a landmark genetic study of 169 bird species being published by Chicago Field Museum researchers. A consequence of the study in the June 27, 2008 edition of the journal Science is a re-ordering of the field guides that many of America’s 80 million bird-watchers use. Most bird guides are based on scientific classifications, which experts said the new work could change in numerous ways. “This is the most important single paper to date on the higher-level relationships of birds,” said Joel Cracraft, curator of birds at the [...]

Neosho Black Panther: A Leopard

A Newton County, Missouri, sheriff’s deputy shot and killed a large, black, declawed cat, which turned up in a residential yard on May 19, 2008. The cat was a young male whose body was approximately 3 feet long and weighed 40 pounds. Its age was estimated at six months. An initial examination showed the claws had been removed from all four of the animal’s paws. Its fur was jet black. Steve Bircher, curator of mammals/carnivores at the St. Louis Zoological Park, has positively identified the Newton County cat as a leopard (Panthera pardus). More non-news background at: Black Cat Killed [...]