Forensic Science

Are Peru’s Ica Stones Safe?

Dinosaurs and men alive at the same time? I don’t really want to get into that discussion, but I want to alert you to the fact a “piece” of the evidence (pro or con) used by some to support their point of view in the debate, the Ica Stones, may be missing or damaged. The Peruvian earthquake of August 15, 2007, has resulted in some worry for them. Ica, Peru, was one of the hardest hit areas. I reached people usually in contact with those who keep the Ica Stone safe and/or at the Ica Stone Museum. Here’s the message [...]

Cryptid Cat: Maine Mystery Despite Fox Fur

This photograph was not published again with all the articles being run in New England (from Boston to Bangor) today on the results of the DNA sampling. Oakland — A scrap of hair and skin from a rock where an Oakland man reported seeing a mountain lion came from a fox, according to a state biologist. Still, the results of DNA testing on the sample neither prove nor disprove Oakland resident Kelvin Higgins’ assertion that he saw a mountain lion in his yard on a warm day in April, according to Keel Kemper, a state wildlife biologist. “There are a [...]

New Congolese Species

———————————————————————— Field teams discovered four mammal species new to science, including a new species of bat of the Rhinolophus genus. Other mammal species included a species of rodent and two shrews. ———————————————————————— An expedition led by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) to a remote corner of the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has uncovered unique forests which, so far, have been found to contain six animal species new to science: a bat, a rodent, two shrews, and two frogs. The forested region—including the Misotshi-Kabogo Forest (formerly Mt. Kabobo)—and nearby Marunga Massif is located just west of Lake Tanganyika and has [...]

Attack Panther “Like a Woolly Mammoth”

The photograph of the “Sidney Mystery Cat” taken in Maine late in June 2007. Articles about incidents in British Columbia, Ontario, and Maine have appeared recently, detailing breaking news and updates about mountain lions, cougars, panthers, puma or whatever you wish to call these great cats (Puma concolor) of North America. Here’s a roundup of panther news, from west to east: A cougar attack has left Colton Reeb with strange memories, but little fear of the big cats that roam rural areas such as the B.C. Interior region where the 12-year-old was scratched and bitten this week. “Colton remembers seeing [...]

Prince Arthur’s Feejee Mermaid

Gordon Rutter, a professional botanist and well-known collector of Fortean artifacts, wrote me: “I was in London last week and whilst in the British Museum I stumbled across a rather fine Feejee mermaid which I did not know they had!” Gordon shares the above photograph with Cryptomundo, of what he found. Gordon decided to write the museum and discover more about what was being exhibited: From: Gordon Rutter Sent: Sun 29/07/2007 19:36 To: Collection Enquiries Subject: Collection Request Dear Sir On a recent visit to the museum I chanced upon a Mermaid exhibit in the George II library. There was [...]

New Enigmatic Catfish: Lacantunia enigmatica

Lacantunia enigmatica shown above.Photo courtesy of John P. Sullivan. I get interesting emails. Here’s a good one with a new species discovery to share: I’m a fan of Cryptomundo and also an ichthyologist. I thought I’d point out an article we just published on an enigmatic catfish from Chiapas, Mexico (named Lacantunia enigmatica, appropriately). From DNA analysis we found that this species is apparently a relict of a once much more widespread clade of catfishes (claroteinea) all of which are today exclusively found African. It’s an amazing disjunct distribution for a freshwater clade. The paper, published in the latest Proceedings [...]

Scientists Need Your Help: Identify This

Have you seen anything like the above, ever? This crustacean, found in the marine environment off Walpole and Portland, Maine, is not like anything researchers have seen before. Can you assist them with identifying it? (Photo courtesy Casco Bay Estuary Partnership) Reporter Ann S. Kim noted in The Maine Sunday Telegram on July 31, 2007, specifically about this unknown animal: A crustacean the size of a grain of rice was among the hundreds of specimens that researchers gathered in recent days from docks and piers from Cape Cod to midcoast Maine. The tiny crustacean, the marine version of a pill [...]