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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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...




Tuesday, June 11, 2013

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.



DALE DRINNON: Mosasaurs, Benny's Blogs, Cedar and Willow

New at Frontiers of Zoology, Guest Blog by Scott Mardis:

THE GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN IS DEAF

Yesterday was a long and strange one. The highlights included starting Mick Farren's excellent new book 'Elvis died for somebody's sins not mine', which particularly amused me, because for many years my little ensemble started off our sets with a ditty about Albert Goldman called 'Elvis died for our sins'. Tuly Senor Farren and I are singing from the same Emma Goldmanesque hymnbook. Another highlight was guffawing my way through the first four episodes of season five of 30 Rock, whilst Corinna and Mother sat there impassive not getting any of it. Am I the only person that finds this show massively funny? And the third highlight was receiving Carl Marshall's expedition report from Borneo. I really am most awfully proud of these young men of the CFZ who go out and do intrepid stuff. Yes, there were downsides to yesterday, but I am in a good mood this morning and intend to stay there, so I won't go into details.
Another visit to our old friend Thom the World Poet
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2013/06/thom-world-poet-daily-poem_11.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 two very small kittens (one of whom is also orange) 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?

CRYPTOLINK: Legend of the Cayuga Lake Monster

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, (sometimes for the wrong reasons) usually posted up without any comment whatsoever from me.

CAYUGA LAKE -- The cool waters of Cayuga Lake have long invited boaters, swimmers and even divers into its shadowy depths.

"I would daresay I've spent more time underwater than any other human being in this area, in Cayuga Lake anyhow," said Jack Marshall, owner of Jack Marshall Professional Diving Service. 

For more than 40 years, Marshall has trained aspiring divers, and even explored his underwater hometown history. 

"People will research and find out where the old hotels were and they'd go out front and dump their garbage," Marshall said. "And people would find old bottles, neat things like that."

But beneath the surface lies much more than antique treasures. 

At 38 miles long and more than 400 feet deep, the bottom of Cayuga Lake dips below sea level. And some say there's no telling what lives in the murky darkness.

"Of course the lake is very deep," Marshall said. "Not quite as deep as Loch Ness, but you know people have never been down there to see what's there. So who knows?"

Read on...

CRYPTOLINK: Do It: Bigfoot research ongoing at Canadice Lake

Norman Heid of Syracuse is a member of the Northern Sasquatch Research Society. He's standing near the Bigfoot statue in Whitehall, scene of a celebrated series of Sasquatch encounters in the 1970s.
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, (sometimes for the wrong reasons) usually posted up without any comment whatsoever from me.


The Old Forge Hardware Co. in Herkimer County is a 113-year-old business that helped settle the Adirondack Park. Here, one can buy anything from a fly fishing tippet to a toilet. On a recent visit, though, it was a sign emblazoned with two giant footprints in the store’s front window that grabbed my attention above all else and wouldn’t let go.

“BELIEVE’’ it began. “Have you had an unusual encounter? Unexplainable footprints? Strange, unfamiliar sounds? Creature sightings? All incidents, no matter how small, are important!!!’’ The sign carried the logo of something called the Northern Sasquatch Research Society and said to call one Norman Heid. Hold on a minute. Are we talking Bigfoot? Right here in New York?

I’ve always been intrigued by the legend of 8-foot tall, bi-pedal apelike humanoid creatures inhabiting the woods. I’ve seen the famous 1967 Patterson-Gimlin 16 mm footage of a giant, hair-covered being walking in Northern California more times than the Zapruder film. I’m glued to every Bigfoot documentary aired on History or Animal Planet and yes, those “Messin’ with Sasquatch” beef jerky commercials ignite primal laughter.

Naturally, I had to call Norman Heid.

Read on...

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:

OLL LEWIS: Yesterday's News Today


Yesterday’s News Today

On this day in 2013 the Pokemon XY press conference and Q&A will be taking place at E3. Now, there will be some of you reading this (older people that might scoff at the idea of computer games and such 'new fangled' entertainment) to which this means very little but let me assure you this is a big deal. Word on the street is, as Huggy Bear might say, this will be the bigest reveal to date and may contain information about NEW pokemon types being added, the first time this has happened since the introduction of Dark and Steel types in Gen II over 10 years ago!
And now the news:
  • Killer Bee Attack: Science Explains Man's Death
  • Special team flies to Bangkok to care for Critical...
  • Why Manta Rays Generate More Money Alive Than Dead...
  • Stranded Orcas Hold Critical Clues for Scientists
  • Another poaching gang broken up in Central Africa
  • First photo of a baby Kipunji - Africa’s rarest mo...
  • How Remora Fish Get Their Bizarre Suckers

  • This is the trailer of the last big news a few months back, enjoy: