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

Check it out here


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, February 04, 2014

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. 

The worldwide mystery cat phenomenon (or group of phenomena, if we are to be more accurate) is not JUST about cryptozoology. At its most basic level it is about the relationship between our species and various species of larger cat. That is why sometimes you will read stories here that appear to have nothing to do with cryptozoology but have everything to do with human/big cat interaction. As committed Forteans, we believe that until we understand the nature of these interactions, we have no hope of understanding the truth that we are seeking. 
  • NEWSLINK: Big cat burglar: Shocked woman returns h...
  • UK SIGHTINGS: Biologist keeps busy investigating b...
  • NEWSLINK: Enrichment for Lions, Tigers, Leopards a...
  • UK SIGHTINGS: Is the Fens big cat back?

  • NEWSLINK: Homeless Man 'Lucky To Be Alive' After ...
    • Posted by at No comments:

    FORTEAN BIRD NEWS FROM THE WATCHER OF THE SKIES

    What has Corinna's column of fortean bird news got to do with Cryptozoology?

     Well, everything actually!

     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. 




    Posted by at No comments:

    THE GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN PLAYS CATCH-UP

    The Gonzo Daily - Tuesday
     
    I had a headline already planned, and furthermore one with a peerless Bob Dylan connection, but - thankfully - I don't have to use it. The headline was 'Temporary like Achilles'. I have had a lump on my heel/ankle, and have been very worried about it, because being a diabetic, feet problems can be fatal. I went to the Doctor yesterday, convinced that I was heading for an operation (at the very least) and amputation (at the worst) but it turns out to be something almost completely harmless. If it had been the worst scenario I could even have quoted the only decent track on Led Zeppelin's seventh studio album. But luckily it has not come to that. This, however, is why my darling wife Corinna was doing the blogs yesterday, and why I was not available for much of the day.
     
     
     
     
    GARY WINDO: Steam radio tapes, Belgium review translated)
    http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2014/02/gary-windo-steam-radio-tapes-belgium.html
     
     
    THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: Paul Kantner - Have You seen the stars tonight?
    http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-gonzo-track-of-day-paul-kantner.html
     
    Apart from other things, you will be pleased to hear that Jon has already begun working on Issue 64 of the Gonzo Weekly.
     
    And the best part is IT's COMPLETELY FREE!!!
     
    To make sure that you don't miss your copy of future issues make an old hippy a happy chappy and subscribe
    http://eepurl.com/r-VTD

    PS. If you are already a subscriber but think that you haven't been receiving your copies please check your spam filters. For some reason known only to the Gods of the internet, some e-mail programmes automatically count the magazine as 'spam' probably because it comes from a mass mailer. Either that or they are just jealous of our peerless content
     

    *  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?
    __________________________________
    Jonathan Downes,
    Director: Centre for Fortean Zoology
    Director: CFZ Publishing Group
    Editor: Animals & Men
    Editor: Still on the track
    Editor: Gonzo Daily (Music and More)
    Editor: Gonzo Weekly magazine
    Presenter: On the Track (Of Unknown Animals)
     
    The Centre for Fortean Zoology,
    Myrtle Cottage,
    Woolfardisworthy,
    Bideford, North Devon
    EX39 5QR

    Telephone 01237 431413
    Fax+44 (0)7006-074-925
    eMail jon@eclipse.co.uk

    www.cfz.org.uk
    http://www.youtube.com/user/cfztv
    www.weirdweekend.org
    www.gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com
    www.forteanzoology.blogspot.com/
    Posted by at No comments:

    CRYPTOLINK: TX man claims he photographed Chupacabra

    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. 
    CNN
    CNN Staff
    Monday, February 3, 2014 - 1:00pm
    HOUSTON (CNN) — In one Texas community people say they are concerned about a mysterious animal that's been spotted in the area.
    Some are calling it the "Chupacabra," but before you roll your eyes, there may be a legitimate explanation for this mythical animal.
    Paw prints along the Buffalo Bayou in the memorial area reveal that it could be the Chupacabra in the photos. They were snapped last Sunday in the backyard of gated condos near Gessner and Dolliver.
    It was the third sighting of the animal in just the past 11 days.
    At least one man is convinced it could be the legendary Chupacabra.
    Scott Black said the animal had "big long pointy ears. Long tail had no skin, or no fur, but you could see splotches of gray.”

    Read on...
    Posted by at No comments:

    DR BEACHCOMBING: Did You Hear the One About Nessie, the Sceptic and the Water Horse?

    nessieTwo of the most interesting Christmas books this year were Roland Watson’sThe Water Horses of Loch Ness and Daniel Loxton and Donald R. Prothero’sAbominable Science! Origins of the Yeti, Nessie, and Other Famous Cryptids. As is evident from the titles these books take opposite sides of the crypto argument: in fact, the authors have had a public scrap online – ‘fight’, ‘fight’, ‘fight’ as the braying kids used to say at Beach’s northern comprehensive school. Having gone through and enjoyed both of these works I, however, find myself in an unusual position. I would bet my house that no pleiosaurus or other large acquatic animal unknown to science lurks in Loch Ness, nor has, I suspect, one lived there in the last couple of thousand years: Beach is very much a small ‘s’ sceptic and has been influenced by the Count’s attack on acquatic monsters. However, in one important respect I find myself in absolute agreement with Roland Watson and in absolute disagreement with Donald Loxton (the writer of the Nessie chapter in Abominable) and that is about the documentary evidence for the Loch Ness monster prior to 1933: the breakthrough year in Nessie sightings. There are certainly prior records and these records should not and cannot be dismissed with an airy wave of the hand.
    Posted by at No comments:

    CRYPTOLINK: Bownessie mystery deepens after scientist reports lake 'encounter'

    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 Westmorland Gazette: Making waves: Is this disturbance on the lake a sign that Bownessie really exists?Making waves: Is this disturbance on the lake a sign that Bownessie really exists?
    SCOTLAND has its legendary Loch Ness Monster and Windermere has the equally enigmatic ‘Bownessie’ – but has the creature from the deep been spotted ‘again’?
    Ulverston-based Matt Benefield might have had an encounter with the mysterious creature while out and about on a ‘calm’ Sunday.
    As a petrophysicist, Matt has a special interest the physical and chemical properties of rock and their interactions with fluids.
    On January 12, he was at the north of the Lake, taking various photographs. When flicking through the photos back at home, he noticed something odd in the water. The 43-year-old said: “It was a really calm day and the water was very still. There was nobody out in the water, it was very quiet. When I was looking back through the photos, one caught my eye.
    Posted by at No comments:

    OLL LEWIS: Yesterday's News Today

    http://cryptozoologynews.blogspot.com/

     On this day in 1913 Rosa Parks was born. Park's simple act of defence in refusing to give up her seat in the coloured section of a bus for a white man brought the civil rights movement in the United States to the attention of many people.
    And now the news:
  • German head of environmental protection one of the...
  • Online pack to educate children about wildlife cri...
  • If You Thought Getting Old Sucks, Try Having A Lif...
  • Homeless Man 'Lucky To Be Alive' After Mountain Li...
  • Effects of catch-and-release fishing on sharks stu...
  • That One Time A CATNADO Actually Happened In Engla...
  • Animal welfare organisations call on IOC to stop d...

  • As Monarch Butterfly Populations Hit Record-Low, E...
    • Another turning point in the American civil rights movement:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UV1fs8lAbg
    Posted by at No comments:
    Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)