New Species

Delphos Hyena

The following report recalls the historical stories of the Shunka Warak’in of Montana, as represented in the now missing taxidermy example above. Delphos, O., July 31. – Considerable excitement was created here yesterday when Isaac Good, who lives on the Noah Miller farm in Marion township, about a mile east of Delphos, came into town and reported that he had seen in the Pohlman woods, near the W. C. Baxter farm, between 8 and 9 a.m., a strange looking wild animal that had all the appearance of being a hyena. Mr. Good first saw the animal in the woods. It [...]

New Golden Frog Discovered

A new poisonous frog was recently discovered in a remote mountainous region in Colombia by a team of young scientists supported by the Conservation Leadership Programme (CLP). The new frog, which is almost two centimetres in length, was given the name the “golden frog of Supatá.” Originally, the young scientists thought the frog was similar to several other common species in the area. However, after scientific analysis of the frog’€™s characteristics, and review of their findings by experts at Conservation International, it was determined that the golden frog of Supatá is unique and only found within a 20 hectare area [...]

Apes In Green Hell: Racism and Revisions

Dr. Karl Shuker has written numerous articles and several major books devoted to cryptozoological topics. One of his earliest books is the classic like Mystery Cats of the World (1989). But today, I do not speak of felines. He also wrote other books that have become favorites of cryptozoologists, such as Extraordinary Animals Worldwide (1991), The Lost Ark: New and Rediscovered Animals of the 20th Century (1993), From Flying Toad to Snakes with Wings (1997) and, acting jointly as consultant and contributor, Man and Beast (1993). During the 21st Century, Shuker has undertaken the revising and updating of many of [...]

Karl’s Kritter: Pliciloricus shukeri

Congratulations to Karl Shuker! Dr. Karl P. N. Shuker is a zoologist with a lifelong interest in cryptozoology and other animal-related anomalies. He studied zoology at the University of Leeds and obtained a Ph.D. in zoology and comparative physiology at the University of Birmingham. Due to the complications of a life that could have been hindered by a chronic form of diabetes, Shuker has continued on with his interest and passion for new animals through the written word and his documentary appearances in a dynamic fashion. Shuker has now been honored for his efforts with the naming of a new [...]

New Unknown Fossil Great Ape

To many, the reconstructions of Lucy (above) and other Australopithecus species appear to look rather apelike. However, until recently, fossil finds for the ancestors of the great apes have been lacking. That all seems to be changing. The nine fossil teeth (below) from Ethiopia are being announced in Nature, as gorilla-like and said to be from a previously unknown species of great ape. Here’s more from the BBC: The 10 million-year-old fossils belong to an animal that has been named Cororapithecus abyssinicus by the Ethiopian-Japanese team. This new species could be a direct ancestor of living African great apes, say [...]

Takahē Discoverer Dies

The Takahē (Porphyrio hochstetteri ). Photo: New Zealand’s Mount Bruce Organization. Geoffrey Orbell (October 7, 1908 – August 15, 2007) was a doctor and keen tramper/bush walker best known for the rediscovery of the Takahē (Porphyrio hochstetteri ) in 1948. The Takahē was widely thought to be extinct but Orbell suspected it might survive. While taking time off from his Invercargill practice to search for the Takahē, he discovered a set of unfamiliar footprints. After following the footprints with three companions he rediscovered the species on November 20, 1948, in a remote valley of the Murchison Mountains near Lake Te [...]

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 [...]