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...

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Saturday, June 01, 2013

MY WIFE DOES NOT UNDERSTAND ME


She says that I can't call one of these kittens Captain Frunobulax the Magnificent!
(but she didn't object when Graham called both the axolotls Steve)

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 took the plunge and started a 'Watcher of the Skies' blog of her own as part of the CFZ Bloggo Network.

Scottish Bean goose population given helping hand ...

CRYPTOLINK: Could the Tasmanian tiger be hiding out in New Guinea?

Many people still believe the Tasmanian tiger (Thylacinus cynocephalus) survives in the wilds of Tasmania, even though the species was declared extinct over eighty years ago. Sightings and reports of the elusive carnivorous marsupial, which was the top predator on the island, pop-up almost as frequently as those of Bigfoot in North America, but to date no definitive evidence has emerged of its survival. Yet, a noted cryptozoologist (one who searches for hidden animals), Dr. Karl Shuker, wrote recently that tiger hunters should perhaps turn their attention to a different island: New Guinea.

A word about cryptolinks: we are not responsible for the content of cryptolinks, which are merely links to outside articles that we think are interesting, usually posted up without any comment whatsoever from me.

The Tasmanian tiger, also known as the thylacine, once populated much of Tasmanian and mainland Australia—where it is also still searched for—but few know that the animal was present on New Guinea as well. Its prehistoric presence there first came to light in 1960 when archeologists discovered the lower jaw of a Tasmanian tiger.

"Further confirmed fossil remains, dating at over 2 million years old, have subsequently been found on New Guinea; and also in later years, unconfirmed sightings of thylacine-like beasts have been reported from both Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Irian Jaya (the western, Indonesian half of New Guinea)," Shuker told mongabay.com.

A specimen of the Tasmanian tiger in the Natural History Museum at Oslo, Norway. Photo by: L. Shyamal.
A specimen of the Tasmanian tiger in the Natural History Museum at Oslo, Norway. Photo by: L. Shyamal.
A specimen of the Tasmanian tiger in the Natural History Museum at Oslo, Norway. Photo by: L. Shyamal.


While Tasmanian tigers are believed to have died out in New Guinea at the end of the Pleistocene, Shuker believes there's a chance a population still survives on the mountainous island, which contains some of the world's least-explored terrestrial habitats.

Read on...

THE GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN HOPPING

The eagle eyed amongst you will notice that the Saturday Gonzo blogs are early. It is indeed Saturday, but only just. This evening, while I was putting the final touches to this weekend's Gonzo Weekly, I had a telephone call from my younger stepdaughter who is living in my house in Exeter. There has been a burst pipe and a subsequent flood. There doesn't seem to be that much damage, but I won't know until Graham gets there tomorrow.
Earlier this week did I say something about an Emotional rollercoaster?
Another visit to our old friend Thom the World Poet
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2013/06/thom-world-poet-daily-poem_1.html
Cool Eric Burdon feature (let's face it, anything that features Eric Burdon is cool)
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2013/06/eric-burdon-of-animals-celebrates-50.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) 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 cat?

ANDREW MAY: Words from the Wild Frontier

News and stories from the remoter fringes of the CFZ blogosphere...

From Nick Redfern's World of Whatever:
From CFZ Australia:

DALE DRINNON: Bigfoot, mammalian sea serpents and Benny's Blogs

New at the Frontiers of Zoology:

WALLY THE COMEDY RHINOCEROS: Yesterday's News Today

CRYPTOZOOLOGY ONLINE: Still on the TrackOll is away, so for todayYesterday's News Today is done by Wally the Comedy Rhinoceros. He is a stand up comedian of some renown. Here is one of his rhino-related jokes.

Knock Knock

Who'se there

Wally the Comedy Rhinoceros

Ha Ha that was funny. Sidesplitting. Yes. Ha! Now for the news...


And now for a happy tune that you can whistle while you work:


Many thanks Shaun Histed-Todd for this week's happy tune