Out of Place

Beware Of Falling Moose

Photo courtesy Alaska State Troopers Okay, I’ve heard of falling frogs and fishes, of course, but a falling moose? This story comes to me thanks to the watchful eyes of Richard Hendricks, who has been looking up as well as around! I expect jokes to begin appearing about this incident in all kinds of places. For the moose, it was no joke. But strangely, it wasn’t the first time that it happened there, either. Read on. We’ve seen the highway signs that warn of falling rocks, and we’ve seen the ones that warn of moose crossing. Now Howard Peterson of [...]

Never Mind: Komodo Dragon Hunt Called Off

Hoax? Failed hunt? Mistaken identity? An update from PNG appears to have a different point of view that the last report published. Papua New Guinean authorities have called off a four-day “Komodo hunt”, believing reports of an escaped Komodo Dragon could be a hoax. The lizard was reported on the loose in PNG’s second largest city, Lae, on PNG’s west coast, and was said to be terrorising locals after it escaped captivity last week. But after extensive investigations authorities believe it could be a similar looking Salvadori Monitor, common to the Papuan region and not the endangered Indonesian reptile. Police, [...]

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 [...]

Boss Snakes Observed

Attention to Chad Arment’s newest book, Boss Snakes: Stories and Sightings of Giant Snakes in North America will be worth your time. First, let’s start with the obvious. Big snakes do exist. But various cryptozoological questions remain: Are there unknown species? How big do they get? And where are they found? Fluffy, above, who is thought to be the longest captive snake in the world at 24 feet long, drew record fans (1.53 million) to the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium in 2007. The reticulated python is 15 years old and weighs 300 pounds. It will keep growing, and may live [...]

Yucatan Raccoons: Not Nazis

Unlike the “Nazi raccoons” of Germany, the raccoons in the Yucatan are suppose to be there. They are not alien invaders. Chad Arment writes: “A quick fyi on this, the raccoon subspecies in the Yucatan is native, not introduced: Procyon lotor shufeldti. See p. 87 of Raccoons: A Natural History by Samuel I. Zeveloff.”

Nazi Raccoons

In 1934, Hermann Goering, then head of the Reich Forestry Office, gave permission for the release of a pair of common American raccoons (Procyon lotor) into the German wilderness to enrich the fauna. It has resulted in today’s furry blitzkrieg. Due to the recent discussions here of raccoons in the Yucatan and escaped pet raccoons taking over Japan, I share revelant historical and contemporary highlights from a Deutsche Welle article about “Nazi” raccoons. The link to the complete news item is at the end of this detailed overview of this alien invasion. They’re actually American but feel right at home [...]

More Moa News

As a followup to the recent story about Rex Gilroy’s proposed expedition to look for living Moas in the Urewera forest, Tony Lucas shares the latest. Hawke’s Bay cryptozoology researcher Tony Lucas is keeping an open mind on the possibility of moa still being alive in the Ureweras but thinks the evidence could point to emus. Mr Lucas, unable to join the hunt for New Zealand’s hidden species because of ill health, and who is confining his role mainly to researching other reports, says modern claims of moa sightings in New Zealand have mainly been in the South Island. The [...]

What Pumas In Vegas, Stays In Vegas

Are the performing lions and white tigers the only big cats in Las Vegas? Are there mountain lions there too? Were people seeing things there the second day of the New Year? Mountain lions, also known as cougars, panthers, or pumas, have a wide range throughout the West, including in Nevada, and populations are increasing. But are there panthers wild in Las Vegas? History would tell us that they are around. In 1991, at the Nevada Test Site, north of Las Vegas, Nevada, Mary Saether, was attacked by a 120-pound female mountain lion. She suffered minor cuts and received 21 [...]