WELCOME TO THE CFZ BLOG NETWORK: COME AND JOIN THE FUN

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...

Search This Blog

WATCH OUR WEEKLY WEBtv SHOW

SUPPORT OTT ON PATREON

SUPPORT OTT ON PATREON
Click on this logo to find out more about helping CFZtv and getting some smashing rewards...

SIGN UP FOR OUR MONTHLY NEWSLETTER



Unlike some of our competitors we are not going to try and blackmail you into donating by saying that we won't continue if you don't. That would just be vulgar, but our lives, and those of the animals which we look after, would be a damn sight easier if we receive more donations to our fighting fund. Donate via Paypal today...




Wednesday, April 24, 2013

THE RETURN OF "ANIMALS & MEN"


After two years of speculation, Animals & Men, the world's longest running Fortean zoological journal is back, with a new look, a new format and a new team. There will be more news over the next few weeks...

FORTEAN BIRD NEWS FROM THE WATCHER OF THE SKIES

In an article for the first edition of Cryptozoology Bernard Heuvelmans wrote that cryptozoology is the study of 'unexpected animals' and following on from that perfectly reasonable assertion, it seems to us that whereas the study of out of place birds may not have the glamour of the hunt for bigfoot or lake monsters, it is still a perfectly valid area for the Fortean zoologist to be interested in. So after about six months of regular postings on the main bloggo Corinna has taken the plunge and started a 'Watcher of the Skies' blog of her own as part of the CFZ Bloggo Network.



DALE DRINNON: Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings

As announced yesterday, I am starting a series on Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings at Frontiers of Anthropolgy. Today we are covering the basics.
http://frontiers-of-anthropology.blogspot.com/2013/04/russian-article-on-northern-origins.html
h...ttp://frontiers-of-anthropology.blogspot.com/2013/04/more-maps-of-ancient-sea-kings.html
http://frontiers-of-anthropology.blogspot.com/2013/04/more-maps-of-ancient-sea-kings-part-2.html

TODAY'S BIG CAT NEWS ROUNDUP

The hunt for British Big Cats attracts far more newspaper-column inches than any other cryptozoological subject. There are so many of them now that we feel that they should be archived by us in some way, so we should have a go at publishing a regular round-up of the stories as they come in. In September 2012 Emma Osborne decided that the Mystery Cat Study Group really deserved a blog of its own within the CFZ Blog Network.




  • NEWSLINK: Lion cage where California intern died w...
  • FEATURELINK: Cheetahs in race to survive
  • THE GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN IS COMPLIANT

    On September 11th 2001 I had a reasonably heavy cold and had decided to spend the day in bed.  I was self-medicating with a bottle of milk from the Kentucky cow when the telephone rang.  It was Tim Matthews, the notorious British ufologist.  "Don't say a thing, switch on BBC1.  I'll 'phone you back!" he said, and rang off.  I did as I was told. Stunned, I watched the horrific events at the World Trade Centre.  That was 12 years ago.  This evening, I re-read the final chapters of Nelson DeMille's novel Nightfall.  This is a gripping thriller which ends with most of the protagonists being killed at the Twin Towers, and I re-lived my own experiencing of that dreadful day. 
     
    Nelson DeMille is one of my favourite authors  and for no particular reason, I am re-reading his 'John Corey' novels, basically in order.  However, last night, I was hit - once again - by the true enormity of human tragedy of that terrible day.  Somehow, from the safety of my little house in North Devon, cushioned by brandy, an intermittent conversation about family matters with my beloved mother-in-law, and the BBC IPlayer Nick Drake tribute, the event seemed more terrible, even more horrific, and DeMille's writing seemed even more spot on.  I don't know why I'm telling you this, because the blogs I write are either about cryptozoology or about rock music, but Nightfall - like the others in the series - is a bitching good book, and DeMille, if you have not heard of him, is an author who will repay investigation.  That's all. 
     
     
     
     
     
    King Crimson live in Hyde Park, 1969, supporting the Stones
    http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2013/04/i-didnt-even-know-this-existed-i-wonder.html
     
     
    *  The Gonzo Daily is a two way process. If you have any news or want to write for us, please contact me at  jon@eclipse.co.uk. If you are an artist and want to showcase your work, or even just say hello please write to me at gonzo@cfz.org.uk. Please copy, paste and spread the word about this magazine as widely as possible. We need people to read us in order to grow, and as soon as it is viable we shall be invading more traditional magaziney areas. Join in the fun, spread the word, and maybe if we all chant loud enough we CAN stop it raining. See you tomorrow...

    *  The Gonzo Daily is - as the name implies - a daily online magazine (mostly) about artists connected to the Gonzo Multimedia group of companies. But it also has other stuff as and when the editor feels like it. The same team also do a weekly newsletter called - imaginatively - The Gonzo Weekly. Find out about it at this link:
    http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2012/11/all-gonzo-news-wots-fit-to-print.html
     
    * We should probably mention here, that some of our posts are links to things we have found on the internet that we think are of interest. We are not responsible for spelling or factual errors in other people's websites. Honest guv!

    *  Jon Downes, the Editor of all these ventures (and several others) is an old hippy of 53 who - together with his orange cat (who is currently on sick leave in Staffordshire) and a not very small orange kitten (who isn't) puts it all together from a converted potato shed in a tumbledown cottage deep in rural Devon which he shares with various fish, and sometimes a small Indian frog. He is ably assisted by his lovely wife Corinna, his bulldog/boxer Prudence, his elderly mother-in-law, and a motley collection of social malcontents. Plus.. did we mention the orange cats?

    MUIRHEAD'S MYSTERIES: Chinese Sea Monster?


    There has been a debate on Hong Kong Wildlife.Net recently as to whether or not fishermen found the remains of a sea monster off the Yellow Sea, Chinaport of Qingdao recently.

    OLL LEWIS: Yesterday's News Today



    On this day in 1916 Ernest Shackleton launched a lifeboat from Elephant island as part of his bid to save the crew of his stricken vessel the Endurance.
    And now the news:
  • Watch distracted photographer nearly eaten by croc...
  • Ants 'Use Math' to Find Fastest Route
  • How Red Squirrels Are Like Tiger Moms
  • Footage reveals how insects use their bodies to ho...
  • Seal pups released back into wild by Guernsey anim...
  • Research Shows Great White Sharks Enjoy Their Hawa...
  • Human introductions create opportunities for intra...
  • Pig-Nosed Turtles Resting in Indonesia After Appar...

  • For a brief period in the late 80s and early 90s this sort of thing was the height of cool: