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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Wednesday, May 09, 2018

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: Madhya Pradesh set to regain ‘Tiger Stat...
  • ARTICLE/PHOTOS: Machli: An extraordinary life of a...
  • NEWSLINK: In search of elusive high-altitude tiger...
  • NEWSLINK: Amur Leopard Population Triples — to 103...
  • NEWSLINK: ‘Bagheera’ Spotted in Chhattisgarh After...

  • PHOTOS: Giant otters face down jaguar trespassing 

  • 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 COMPLIANT

    The Gonzo Daily: Wednesday
     
    Graham is currently driving North towards Oregon, Carl is trimming the hedge outside Corinna's and my bedroom window; he has been working like a Trojan and has done remarkable things in the past few days. Charlotte comes over to finish filming the next OTT this afternoon, and the practise nurse has signed off the treatment on my leg ulcer. That is the good stuff.
     
    On the distaff side, my Live Mail is playing up, and although Graham has always fixed it in the past, I cannot remember how to do it, and so it will have to wait until he comes back in a few weeks time (unless it fixes itself in the meantime, which is by no means impossible). And yesterday, much to my psychopathic wife's amusement, I was given my first ever surgical stocking things to improve the blood supply in my lower limbs. Bloody hell they feel weird...
     
    Changing the subject completely, is there anyone reading this who has any experience in coding apps? Even more importantly, if you do, would you be prepared to lend your expertise to us for a few hours? Email me please at jon@eclipse.co.uk.
     
    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:
     
    And by the way chaps and chappesses, a trip to the Jon Downes megastore seems to be in order: if you want to make me a happy fellow, you can:
     
    buy my novel:
    buy the record by the main protagonist of the novel who isn't me in an elephant mask, honest:
    buy my single:
     
    But for now, here is the news:
     
    THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem
    FRANK ZAPPA POST
    RICK SPRINGFIELD NEWS
    THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: Leonard Cohen - You Wa...
    YES AND ALUMNI NEWS
     
    Gonzo Weekly #285
    THE STANDING ON A MANHOLE COVER ISSUE
     
    In the week where things get EVEN stranger than usual, Greg goes back a few years to the swansong of Emerson, Lake and Palmer and a gig that never was, Alan goes on patrol with Concrete Soldiers, Doug waxes lyrical on LCD Soundsystem, Jon celebrates the Renaissance of Mathew Street whilst standing on a manhole cover, and comes out in support of the Italian film director who challenged the Harry Potter empire.
     
    #Hail Eris!
     
    And there are radio shows from Strange Fruit, AND Mack Maloney, AND Friday Night Progressive, there are columns from all sorts of folk including Neil Nixon, Kev Rowlands AND the irrepressible Corinna, and Roy Weard, and C J Stone, and Mr Biffo. There is also a collection of more news, reviews, views, interviews and long nosed potoroos who have stood around waiting for other potoroos (OK, nothing to do with small marsupials who have decided to stage a reading of the Samuel Beckett classic, 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:
     
    JK Rowling, Harry Potter, Rick Wakeman, Yes, Discogs, Neil Young, Crazy Horse, George Clinton, Brian Wilson, Suede, Rolling Stones, Strange Fruit, Friday Night Progressive, Canterbury Sans Frontieres, Mack Maloney's Mystery Hour, Tim Calvert, Rose Laurens, Roberto Anglero Pepin, Larry Harvey, Roy Young, Charles Neville, Max Berru Carrion, David "Duck" Barraclough, Kato Khandwala, John Henry "Jabo" Starks, Ashton, Gardner, Dyke & Co., Michael Bruce, Man, Karnataka, Greg Jarrells, ELP, Doug Harr, LCD Soundsystem, Alan Dearling, Concrete Soldiers, Kev Rowland, Gabriele Tranchina, Gadi Caplan, Gregory Lewis, Half Past Four, Colin Tench Project, Endorphins Lost, -16-, Come to Grief,  Mr Biffo, Roy Weard, Chris Stone, Hawkwind, Jon Downes, The Wild Colonial Boy, Martin Springett, The Renaissance of Mathew Street, Justified Ancients of Mu Mu, Bill Drummond, Youthmovies, Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon, Elvis, Neil Nixon, Friedberger, Cultural Appropriation
     
    And the last few issues are:
     
    Issue 284 (Straqngelove)
    Issue 283 (Record Store Day)
    Issue 282 (Neil Finn and Fleetwood Mac)
    Issue 281 (Carl Palmer)
    Issue 280 (Steve Andrews)
    Issue 279 (Biffo)
    Issue 278 (The Beatles)
    Issue 277 (Auld Man's Baccie)
    Issue 276 (Dukes of the Orient)
    Issue 275 (Martin Gordon)
    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)
     
    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?

    THE LAST WEEK AT THE CFZ-USA BLOG

    CFZ-USA

    NEWS FROM NOWHERE: Wednesday

    ON THIS DAY IN -  1429 - Joan of Arc defeated the besieging English at Orleans. 
    And now some more recent news from the CFZ Newsdesk

  • Better species mapping can improve conservation ef...
  • Sweedish Zoo Drops 500 Lizards in Liquid Nitrogen ...
  • Research reveals snakes' surprising hunting strate...
  • New species of ancient whale identified and named ...

  • 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)