CONSERVATION: Study sees if Brazilian drivers intentionally squash small animals in the road

To see how motorists treated snakes, the scientists selected a stretch of the MG-010 road between Sumidouro State Park and Serra do Cipó National Park in Brazil’s Minas Gerais state. While the area boasts remarkable biodiversity, it receives upwards of 130 vehicles per hour.

The scientists created fake snakes using sand-filled cloth painted with realistic looking designs. The fake snakes were then placed in different spots on the road, for example close to the edge or close to the median, to judge if vehicles would travel out of their way to run over the life-like snakes. To see if the drivers actually paid attention to what was on the road, the scientists also placed out two liter plastic bottles in similar spots on the road. Then they set up hidden cameras to monitor passing vehicles.

The team was most interested in assessing if drivers would intentionally run over any of the objects placed in the road. The road-kills were only considered intentional if the vehicle changed its natural trajectory in the lane towards the object. Unintentional road-kills, or merely continuing along the same path, were still considered road-kills but were tallied separately.

Read on...

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.

Giant scary robot monster bird to protect Sydney Opera House

Exotic bird gets Hounslow locals in a flap

Peacock's train is not such a drag after all

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THE GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN IS SET TO RETURN

The Gonzo Daily - Thursday
www.gonzomultimedia.co.uk/about.html

Graham still manning the computer banks but the wanderers may well be returning today.

It's the prerogative of a newborn's parents to announce a birth first, and so Jon and Corinna delayed any comments until this had been done. Thus, while doing the blog updates on Tuesday morning, protocol demanded that I kept quiet about what I knew. So, being British, I just talked about the weather instead!

So now you all know why I was burbling on about thermometer readings and wind-chill and what-have-you.

And now to today's Gonzo blog updates...

The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown - interview with the God of Hellfire

http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/the-crazy-world-of-arthur-brown.html
Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain loses trademark battle
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/ukulele-orchestra-of-great-britain.html
THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2014/09/thom-world-poet-daily-poem_25.html
TOUR NEWS: Ozric Tentacles in Europe and Britain
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/tour-news-ozric-tentacles-in-europe-and.html
GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: Man (Manband) - 'Day & Night'
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/gonzo-track-of-day-man-manband-day-night.html
GONZO BLOG RELATIONS: Jon & Corinna Downes' first grandchild
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/cfz-people-jon-corinna-downes-first.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 an orange kitten named after a song by Frank Zappa 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 kitten?

TODAY'S BIG CAT NEWS

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.

Malayan tiger population plunges to just 250-340 individuals

(09/16/2014) Malaysia is on the edge of losing its tigers, and the world is one step nearer to losing another tiger subspecies: the Malayan tiger. Camera trap surveys from 2010-2013 have estimated that only 250-340 Malayan tigers remain, potentially a halving of the previous estimate of 500 individuals. 


Meet the newest enemy to India's wildlife

(09/11/2014) A boom in infrastructure and population has forced India's wildlife to eke out a creative existence in an increasingly human-modified environment. Big cats such as the leopard are often spotted within large cities, on railway tracks, and sadly, on India's burgeoning and sprawling road network. 


Zambia ends trophy hunting ban, elephants fair game

(09/09/2014) After 20 months, Zambia has lifted its ban on hunting, allowing trophy hunters to target numerous species in the wildlife-rich country including elephants. The announcement was made by the country's Tourism and Art's Minister, Jean Kapata, who stated that the ban had resulted in a loss of revenue to the Zambia Wild Life Authority (ZAWA).- 

READ MORE

BIGFOOT NEWS IN BRIEF

Gimlin On Bigfoot's trail

Gimlin's a small, wiry old cowboy with an elfin grin tucked under a sparse handlebar mustache. He rolls into Shari's Cafe and Pies, his favorite local spot, in a cream-colored cowboy hat, mahogany leather boots and an Ellensburg blue agate stone on his left-hand ring finger. He orders peach ice tea and when I ask him how he is, he points to his left shoulder. He got bucked off a mule a few weeks back, and now his left arm is about as strong and useful as silly putty.

The course of Gimlin's life changed dramatically on Oct. 20, 1967: He and his old friend Roger Patterson spotted Patty (named after Roger's wife) lumbering along Bluff Creek in Northern California. 

Kelly Shaw's Grandfather's Bigfoot encounter near a Volcano in Washington.

NEWS FROM NOWHERE - THURSDAY

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY ...was the Battle of Stamford Bridge.

But Chelsea fans can relax, as it happened in 1066, in Yorkshire, when an English army under King Harold
Godwinson beat the invading Norwegians.

And now the news...

Dogs can be pessimists too

Young 'Nemo' clownfish roam further than thought

Results from Abu Dhabi dolphin survey revealed

AND TO WHISTLE WHILE YOU WORK... (Music that may have some relevance to items also on this page, or may just reflect my mood on the day)

A dog that doesn't like Monday mornings...