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...




Wednesday, February 28, 2018

CFZ MONTHLY NEWSLETTER #29

Dear Friends,

For those of you not in the know, at the beginning of each month we send out a newsletter to all members of the CFZ. The most recent (which went out earlier this afternoon) included articles on OTT, Loren Coleman's Mothman book, the Capcom crypto compy, a mysterious carcass, ongoing arguments, a horned lion, Mokele Mbembe, unseasonable water beetle, giant tapir, CFZ in the news, yeti hair controversy, BHM Study Group, Ronan, Patreon, a new book on vampires, Notes and Queries etc.

The infrastructure of the Centre for Fortean Zoology has changed rapidly over the last few years and truthfully doesn’t look like its going to stop changing anytime soon.

The newsletter costs a quid a month (or the equivalent in your currency) and is delivered straight into your inbox by a plethora of tiny invisible elves, or email if your prefer it that way. You can sign up for it here: http://tinyurl.com/jtsq7ew

If you want to view a sample issue click here: http://tinyurl.com/pw7rw9l

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.


  • ARTICLE: Wild Ideas: No cougars in Virginia... so ...
  • NEWSLINK: Family shocked to see 3 male cats having...
  • NEWSLINK: Poacher 'hunting big cats' mauled to dea...
  • NEWSLINK: Another tiger found dead in Bandipur
  • ARTICLE: National Geographic explorer uses stories...


  • NEWSLINK: Forests in and around Mumbai are home to...
  • THYLACINES IN THE NEWS





    And while very closely resembling a dog, the last time the two animals shared an ancestor was approximately 160 million years ago. Its scientific name is Thylacinus cynocephalus and it is commonly referred to as the thylacine. Joining the ranks of some of Oceania's most famous creatures, the thylacine ...


    The Tasmanian tiger — otherwise known as the thylacine — was a large Australian marsupial mammal known from the island state of Tasmania. Once ranging throughout Australia and New Guinea, the species disappeared from the mainland around 3,000 years ago, probably through competition and ...

    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.




    THE GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN IS OVER THERE IN THE UNDERGROWTH

    The Gonzo Daily: Wednesday
    Today is actually proving to be quite an enjoyable one. I am not quite sure why, but it is, so I am not going to probe into it too deeply. Probably it is because my sleep patterns are finally back to normal after my idiocy on sunday, but that is a depressingly prosaic explanation. I would prefer to think that Prudence has been having a few words with the fairies that live at the bottom of the garden.
    ciaou....
    Forgive me for always banging on about our webTV show, but it matters a lot to me, and I would be grateful for as many people as possible to see it, and spread the tidings of it far and wide:
    And if you fancy supporting us on Patreon:
    But for now, here is the news:
    THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem
    THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY:  Napoleon Murphy Brock...
    YES IN THE NEWS
    HAWKWIND NEWS
    Gonzo Weekly #275
    THE APOCALYPSE WOW ISSUE
    In this massively groovy issue we meet Martin Gordon (ex of Sparks and Radio Stars amongst others) to talk about his excellent, if apocalyptic, new record, Alan discovers an art enclave near Portsmouth, Doug goes to see Bananarama, and Jon watches Riverdale
    Hail Eris!
    And there are radio shows from Strange Fruit, AND Mack Maloney, although - for technical reasons beyond our control - Friday Night Progressive is on hiatus this week. TheRE ARE columns from all sorts of folk including Neil Nixon, AND the irrepressible Corinna, although Roy Weard, C J Stone, and Mr Biffo are on a break. There is also a collection of more news, reviews, views, interviews and southern dibblers who have gone for a snooze (OK, nothing to do with small marsupials who have probably got hangovers and have decided to have a little rest, but I got carried away with things that rhymed with OOOOS) than you can shake a stick at. And the best part is IT's ABSOLUTELY FREE!!!
    This issue features:
    Riverdale, Chic Ft Nile Rodgers, Wilderness Festival, George Harrison, Elton John, The Rutles, Soft Cell, John Lydon, Damon Alban, Strange Fruit, Mack Maloney's Mystery Hour, Shaun "Stormin MC" Lewis, Didier Lockwood, Little Sammy Davis, Boyd H. Jarvis, Billie Johnson, Klaasje van der Wal, William Franklin Graham Jr. KBE., Norm Rogers, Nuray Hafiftas, Rapee Sagarik, Barbara Dickson, Jessica Lee Morgan, Rick Wakeman, Billion Dollar Babies, Tangerine Dream, Martin Gordon, Doug Harr, Bananarama, Alan Dearling, Portsmouth, Kev Rowland, Playgrounded, Primitive Man, Pulsing Dark Absorptions, Riddlemaster, Scour, Security Project, Signs of the Swarm, Smothered Bowels, Hawkwind, Jon Downes, The Wild Colonial Boy, Martin Springett, Michael A. Duffy, The Beatles, Traveling Wilburys, The Who, Prince, Grateful Dead, Paul McCartney, Neil Nixon,
    Wild Man Fischer
    And the last few issues are:
    Issue 274 (Steve Took)
    Issue 273 (Live Dead 69)
    Issue 272 (George Butler)
    Issue 271 (Mark E Smith)
    Issue 270 (Eric Clapton)
    Issue 269 (Narnia)
    Issue 267-8 (Happy New Year)
    Issue 265-6 (The Who)
    Issue 264 (John McLaughlin)
    Issue 263 (The magic Band)
    Issue 262 (DikMik)
    Issue 261 (Leonard Cohen)
    Issue 260 (Amsterdam Squat Festie)
    Issue 259 (Out come thee Freaks)
    Issue 258 (The Devil's Jukebox)
    Issue 257 (Judge Smith)
    Issue 255/6 (John Lennon)
    Issue 254 (Mr Biffo)
    Issue 253 (Dana Gillespie)
    Issue 252 (Cropredy)
    Issue 251 (Scott Walker)
    Issue 250 (Jamms)
    Issue 249 (Bill Bruford)
    Issue 248 (The Selecter)
    Issue 247 (Don Airey)
    Issue 246 (Steve Hackett)
    Issue 244-5 (Summer Special)
    All issues from #70 can be downloaded at www.gonzoweekly.com if you prefer. If you have problems downloading, just email me and I will add you to the Gonzo Weekly dropbox. The first 69 issues are archived there as well. Information is power chaps, we have to share it!
    You can download the magazine in pdf form HERE:
    SPECIAL NOTICE: If you, too, want to unleash the power of your inner rock journalist, and want to join a rapidly growing band of likewise minded weirdos please email me at jon@eclipse.co.uk The more the merrier really.
    * 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.co.uk
    * 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 58 who - together with a Jack Russell called Archie, an infantile orange cat named after a song by Frank Zappa, and two half grown kittens, one totally coincidentally named after one of the Manson Family, purely because she squeaks, puts it all together from a converted potato shed in a tumbledown cottage deep in rural Devon which he shares with various fish. 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 Archie and the Cats?

    NEWS FROM NOWHERE: Wednesday

    ON THIS DAY IN - 1900 - In South Africa, British troops relieved Ladysmith, which had been under siege since November 2, 1899. 
    And now some more recent news from the CFZ Newsdesk

  • Decoding behavioral variation in ant clones
  • Ants nurse wounded warriors back to health: study
  • Fastest spin on Earth? For animals that rely on le...
  • 3-D vision discovered in praying mantis
  • Two men jailed for badger-baiting in Wales

  • Whale and shark species at increasing risk from mi...

  • 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)