Living Fossils

Gilroy Associate Announces Tracks

Rex Gilroy’s earlier Karumba, Australia, track find. An individual only identifying himself as “ausiepath9,” who serves as a spokesperson for the Gilroys of Australia, is posting around the web that “Fresh Moa Tracks” have been discovered in New Zealand. This associate shares this week that “Rex and Heather have returned from New Zealand and have many new discoveries to show” in the future, including “the Moa tracks Rex discovered.” Ausiepath9 relates that a “few years back” Rex Gilroy “discovered a small scrub Moa track(s) [sic] up-to 20 in leaf-mould..of which two were cast.” But the latest tracks are apparently different: [...]

Another Giraffid/Okapid Cryptid?

French cryptozoologist Michel Raynal is pointing to the “okapi” (?) of Tassili found in the book and bibliography of Bernard Heuvelmans, in his book On the Track of the Unknown Animals (Paris, Plon, 1955), referred to in the cave engravings as representing the okapi in Tassili. The starting point of this assertion is an article of Robert Perret, who publishes a photograph of one of these engravings. This document is available: PERRET, Robert 1936 archaeological and ethnographic Research in Tassili of Ajjers (the Sahara central). Rupestral engravings of the Djaret Wadi, population and ruins of Iherir. Bulletin of the Company [...]

Scott Norman by Bill Gibbons and Others

Scott Norman It is very difficult for me to write these words about my friend and brother in Christ, Scott Norman. John Kirk and Loren Coleman has really said everything there is to say about Scott, a man who deepy impacted all of us who knew him. I corresponded with Scott via email for about 4 years before we eventually met during our departure from North America for the 2001 Cameroon expedition. I was immediately struck by the peace that seemed to be embedded deep in his soul. Here was a man who truly walked with God. Although Scott was [...]

Gobi Kulan Soon At Edinburgh Zoo

I have mentioned Przewalski’s horse before, regarding their presence in zoos (as above) and concerning their replica appearance (as below). The Przewalski’s horse, a Pleistocene megafauna survivor, extinct in the wild, can be called a “living fossil,” in the popularized employment of that phrase. Certainly, this horse is of interest to cryptozoologists, as mentioned earlier. 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. But if you live in or visit Scotland, you can see another unique wild horse [...]

Dragon Hunt Continues

Komodo dragons on display at the American Museum of Natural History, New York City. During the last week, a released, escaped, or very out-of-place giant Komodo dragon has terrorized Papua New Guinea’s second largest city and caused a massive search by law enforcement officers and local officials around Lae city on the north-west coast. The Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis) is one of cryptozoology’s “classic animals of discovery,” having only been verified less than a hundred years ago, after a specific search for this new species. Now, it is the source of some excitement far from its known home. “Some people [...]

10,000 B.C.: Cryptofiction?

You have got to love the mammoths! And sabertoothed tigers! What elements of narrative cryptofiction, in which these animals, as well as the hominids, are shown as surviving late into protohistorical times in 10,000 B.C. overlap with our interests? Frankly, I always find it intriguing and instructive to see how artists, filmmakers, and scientists recreate Pleistocene animals, so as to give us a clue of what might be behind some cryptids. I look forward to this movie, therefore, for just such images. I guess there are other things to watch in this film too, with regard to our ancestors. However, [...]

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 [...]

Cryptozoology in the Medieval World

I have been in New York City for two days, but I have left various items to be posted in my absence, as you have been seeing. I could not be away without, at least, leaving an intellectual contribution to be posted at the start time of my talk at the American Museum of Natural History. For those looking for an extremely thoughtful discussion of the history of cryptozoology, you may download the following paper here: Cryptozoology in the Medieval and Modern Worlds.