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Half a century ago, Belgian Zoologist Bernard Heuvelmans first codified cryptozoology in his book On the Track of Unknown Animals.

The Centre for Fortean Zoology (CFZ) are still on the track, and have been since 1992. But as if chasing unknown animals wasn't enough, we are involved in education, conservation, and good old-fashioned natural history! We already have three journals, the largest cryptozoological publishing house in the world, CFZtv, and the largest cryptozoological conference in the English-speaking world, but in January 2009 someone suggested that we started a daily online magazine! The CFZ bloggo is a collaborative effort by a coalition of members, friends, and supporters of the CFZ, and covers all the subjects with which we deal, with a smattering of music, high strangeness and surreal humour to make up the mix.

It is edited by CFZ Director Jon Downes, and subbed by the lovely Lizzy Bitakara'mire (formerly Clancy), scourge of improper syntax. The daily newsblog is edited by Corinna Downes, head administratrix of the CFZ, and the indexing is done by Lee Canty and Kathy Imbriani. There is regular news from the CFZ Mystery Cat study group, and regular fortean bird news from 'The Watcher of the Skies'. Regular bloggers include Dr Karl Shuker, Dale Drinnon, Richard Muirhead and Richard Freeman.The CFZ bloggo is updated daily, and there's nothing quite like it anywhere else. Come and join us...

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Wednesday, May 19, 2010

SO WHAT'S SO WEIRD ABOUT HONG KONG CHELONIA?

Writing in 1951 in what has been one of the seminal books in my life, The Hong Kong Naturalist, Herklots wrote that the chelonia recorded from (or likely to occur) in Hong Kong included 'Two Marine Turtles, one large headed tortoise, six terrapins [and] three mud turtles.'

These figures have changed dramatically up and down ever since, and several of them exhibit cryptozoological (at least on a local level) interest.


Take Ocadia sinensis, for example. Herklots writes (see left) as if this is a well known (though uncommon) species in the colony (as it then was) whereas according to later pundits, such as the late John Romer, the incident described by Herklots is actually the only record EVER of it occurring in Hong Kong.


So you can see why Richard and I found the discovery of a new turtle species for Hong Kong so exciting. We are still waiting with baited breath to find out what Herklots's 'big headed tortoise' was, however, because the big-headed turtle (Platysternon megacephalum) is most definitely a terrapin rather than a tortoise, even though it is a peculiar creature that can even climb trees!

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