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...




Friday, October 04, 2013

INAPPROPRIATE CORNER: Brazilian Man to Marry Pet Goat in Devil’s Church



Aparecido Castaldo, a retired stone cutter from Jundiai, Brazil has decided to marry his beloved Carmella, a goat. Because no Christian minister would agree to perform the marriage ceremony, the two will be wed by a known satanic leader, in the Church of the Devil.
People have married their pets in the past, although in most cases the marriage ceremony was just a symbolic one performed by family or friends. However, 74-year old Aparecido Castaldo, a widower and father-of-seven, apparently wanted to be united with his goat Carmela in a church, by an evangelical minister. Unfortunately, none of the churches he contacted with his unusual request wanted to perform the ceremony, so Aparecido eventually contacted Toninho do Diabo (Tom the Devil), an old friend who just happens to be one of the most famous satanists in Brazil. The wedding is scheduled to take place at midnight, on October 13, at the Devil’s Church, in Sao Paolo. ”Only our church accepted this love between man and animal because we have no prejudice,” Toninho said.
man-marries-goat
Photo: Elcio Alves / AAN
Aparecido fell in love with his pet goat two years ago, and apparently she has already been accepted as a “stepmother” by the man’s seven children, who will all be at the wedding.

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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.




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TODAY'S BIG CAT ROUND UP



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 are 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: The alarming case of a serial cat killer...
  • US SIGHTINGS: DC mountain lion alert generates jok...
  • UK SIGHTINGS: Teeth marks could prove big cats are...
  • NEWSLINK: Five questions with Jamie Veronica, pres...
  • FEATURELINK: Big-cat trainer Alexander Lacey roars...
  • FEATURELINK: Protective wildebeest mother leaves l...


  • FEATURELINK: 'Man, Cheetah, Wild' Showcases Filmma...
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    THE GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN IS PERIPETATIC

    The Gonzo Daily - Friday
    As I believe I wrote a week or so ago, I am currently reading Conan Doyle's Complete Professor Challenger stories, which Judge Smith was sweet enough to give me at this year's Weird Weekend. It is the first time I have sat down and read the entire canon since I was at school, and I cannot say how much I am enjoying them. Last night I finished The Land of Mist, which is basically a semi-fictionalised look at psychic research in the 1920s. When I first read the book as a teenager, I perceived it as merely a well written and somewhat freaky ghost story, but now, having swum in the Fortean ocean for the last three decades, I appreciate it for an unparalleled slice of social history. Thank you, Judge!
    Another visit to our old friend Thom the World Poet.
    http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2013/10/thom-world-poet-daily-poem_4.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:     www.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 54 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?
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    TURTLE SURVIVAL ALLIANCE

    We are proud to support the global conservation efforts of the Turtle Survival Alliance (TSA). We are excited to announce that the TSA is a finalist in Toyota’s 100 Cars for Good Program. Now, they need your support!

    Tell your friends and vote for the Turtle Survival Alliance at www.toyota.com/facebook on October 10.

    Toyota’s 100 Cars for Good program will be awarding 100 vehicles to 100 nonprofits over the course of 50 days based on votes from the public. We are hoping to help the TSA win a new Toyota Tundra that will be used at their new Turtle Survival Center in South Carolina. To learn more about the TSA and to learn how to set a reminder to vote on October 10th, visit the TSA’s website: http://www.turtlesurvival.org/get-involved/100-cars-for-good.
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    Acta Herpetologica 8(1)

    Acta Herpetologica 8(1)
    Contents:
    b2ap3_thumbnail_Acta8-1.jpgCanessa, Stefano, An Martel and Frank Pasmans. 2013. No detection of chytrid in first systematic screening of Bombina variegata pachypus (Anura: Bombinatoridae) in Liguria, northern Italy. Acta Herpetologica. 8 (1): 59-63. [ canessas@unimelb.edu.au]
    Castiglia, Riccardo, Alexandra Maria Ramos Bezerra, Oscar Flores-Villela, Flavia Annesi, Antonio Muñoz and Ekaterina Gornung. 2013. Comparative cytogentics of two species of ground skinks: Scincella assata and S. cherriei (Squamata: Scincidae: Lygosominae) from Chiapas, Mexico. Acta Herpetologica. 8 (1): 69-73. [ castiglia@uniroma1.it]
    Delaugerre, Michel-Jean. 2013. Going out tonight? When insular Hierophis viridiflavus breaks the Whip Snakes rules. Acta Herpetologica. 8 (1): 47-52. [ m.delauggere@conservatoire-du-littoral.fr]
    Gutierrez, Joel Antu, Carla Piantoni and Nora R. Ibargüengoytía. 2013. Altitudinal effects on life history parameters in populations of Liolaemus pictus argentinus (Sauria: Liolaemidae). Acta Herpetologica. 8 (1): 9-17. [ carla.piantoni@gmail.com]
    Gvozdik, Vaclav, Veronika Javurkova and Oldrich Kopecky. 2013. First evidence of a paedomorphic population of the smooth newt (Lissotriton vulgaris) in the Czech Republic. Acta Herpetologica. 8 (1): 53-57. [ kopeckyo@af.czu.cz]
    Hojati, Vida, Kazem Parivar, Eskandar Rastegar-Pouyani and Abdolhossein Shiravi. 2013. The oogenic cycle of the Caspian Bent-toed Gecko, Cyrtopodion caspium (Squamata: Gekkonidae) in Iran. Acta Herpetologica. 8 (1): 1-8. [ vida.hojati@gmail.com]
    Kaliontzopoulou, Antigoni, Daniele Salvi, Veronica Gomes, João P. M. C. Maia and Panagiotis Kaliontzopoulos. 2013. Polydactyly in the Tyrrhenian Wall Lizard (Podarcis tiliguerta). Acta Herpetologica. 8 (1): 75-78. [ antigoni@cibio.up.pt]
    Kleewein, Andreas and Günther Wöss. 2013. Status of the European Pond Turtle, Emys orbicularis (Reptilia: Testudines: Emydidae) in Vorarlberg, Austria. Acta Herpetologica. 8 (1): 65-67. [ andreas.kleewein@gmx.net]
    Nakamura, Yasuyuki, Akio Takahashi and Hidetoshi OTA. 2013. Recent cryptic extinction of squamate reptiles on Yoronjima Island of the Ryukyu Archipelago, Japan, inferred from garbage dump remains. Acta Herpetologica. 8 (1): 19-34. [ ynaka.riukiaria@gmail.com]
    Razzetti, Edoardo. 2013. Book review: Roberto Sindaco, Altero Venchi, Cristina Grieco. The Reptiles of the Western Palearctic. 2. Annotated checklist and distributional atlas of the snakes of Europe, North Africa, Middle East and Central Asia, with an update to the Vol. 1. Acta Herpetologica. 8 (1): 79-80. [ razzetti@unipv.it]
    Sukalo, Goran, Sonia Dordevic, Dragojla Golub, Dejan Dmitrovic and Ljiljana Tomovic. 2013. Novel, non-invasive method for distinguishing the individuals of the Fire Salamander (Salamandra salamandra) in capture-mark-recapture studies. Acta Herpetologica. 8 (1): 41-45. [ sukalogoran@yahoo.com]
    Zuffi, Marca A. L. and Chiara Giannelli. 2013. Trophic niche and feeding biology of the Italian Wall Lizard, Podarcis siculus campestris (De Betta, 1857) along western Mediterranean coast. Acta Herpetologica. 8 (1): 35-39. [ marcoz@museo.unipi.it]
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    CRYPTOLINK: It's a fake! Skipper who took 'the most convincing Loch Ness Monster photograph ever' admits it was a hoax

    Evidence? Mr Edwards' picture that he claims proves the existence of Nessie
    • It's a fake! Skipper who took 'the most convincing Loch Ness Monster photograph ever' admits it was a hoax
    • Boat tour guide George Edwards, 61, published image in August last year Skipper re-photographed a fake hump that featured in a National Geographic documentary in 2011Mr Edwards admitted yesterday he'd created fake for 'just a bit of fun'
    • Expert Steve Feltham says skipper is 'nothing more than a faker and a liar'
    • Image will join host of phoney pictures of the monster, including the famous 'Surgeon's Photograph' taken by Dr Robert Kenneth Wilson in 1934


    Read on...
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    OLL LEWIS: Yesterday's News Today

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