CFZ CANADA: 5 Cryptids Cooler than We Have in Canada

It strikes when residents are seeking relief from the brutal summer heat by bedding down on their roofs between midnight and 4 a.m. In May 2001, New Delhi, India became paralyzed with fear when an unidentified black monkey was reportedly terrorizing the population, causing a pregnant women to fall down a staircase and forcing two panicked men to jump off of balconies. All three died, and dozens reported scratches and bites.

Read on...

WE ASKED RONAN COGHLAN FOR A BLOG POST TO FILL IN THE GAPS WHILST WE AWAIT MORE NEWS FROM INDIA

In answer to your plea for interesting Indian facts, here's a little unusual information regarding Indian animals.

HOW MAHOUTS DO IT

If you have ever noticed, zoo keepers and trainers are wary of bull elephants. This is because when in a state of sexual excitement they develop musth, a condition that makes them go bananas.

However, if you've ever seen pictures of Indian elephant parades in India, you may have noticed that they have bull elephants in them. How do the mahouts driving them stop them attacking everybody in sight if they are suddenly seized with musth?

It's simple: in such parades all elephants are caparisoned with gorgeous raiment, which cover their back and sides. Musth is a nervous condition. If you were to peek under the aforementioned gorgeous raiment, you would find a network of ropes and knots. Each knot is carefully placed alongside the nexus of various nerves. If the elephant shows signs of musth, the mahout simply pulls on the end of the rope. The knots tighten on the nerve centres, stopping the progress of the musth, so it doesn't travel around the elephant's body, causing it to go wild.

So, at least, I understand.

Camels also get musth, but I don't know what you do with them. All I can suggest is speaking soothingly, but I have a funny feeling that wouldn't work.

If visiting the Punjab and you stray too near a riverbank, Indian belief will tell you to take care with any jalparis you might encounter. If you are male, a jalpari may emerge from the river. She may try to seduce you. If you rebuff her, beware! She will drown you.

Regards,

Ronan.

OLL LEWIS: The Ancient Sea-monsters of India

http://cfzindia2010.blogspot.com/2010/11/oll-lewis-ancient-sea-monsters-of-india.html


Once again, in the absence of any news from the India expedition, Oll Lewis visits another interesting facet of Indian cryptozoology.

LINDSAY SELBY: Indian neighborhood terrorised by cat-dog-mongoose cryptid, the Bhootbilli

There's been a rash of sightings of a creature known as the Bhootbilli, or ghost cat, in a neighbourhood near Pune, India. This large feline cryptid has consumed 45 pigeons (and one goat) belonging to one unlucky resident. The sightings of the creature have been in the Sanjay Park neighbourhood ~100 miles outside of Mumbai. From MiD DAY:


"The bhootbilli has been coming everyday the past 10 days around 7 pm. We had set up a lot of traps, but all turned into a flop show because whenever we would try to catch it, it would jump on the tree and sneak out somewhere," said Feroz Dilawar Khan, a driver and resident of the area. "It's fat and broad with a long tail, black in colour, has a face like a dog and back like a mongoose." The bhootbilli, as it is called by the residents, has eaten around 45 pigeons and one goat within a span of 10 days which all belonged to Feroz.Read rest here: http://io9.com/5685033/indian-neighborhood-terrorized-by-cat+dog+mongoose-cryptid-the-bhootbilli

WHILE WE WAIT FOR NEWS FROM THE INDIAN EXPEDITION...

http://cfzindia2010.blogspot.com/2010/11/oll-lewis-living-on-air.html

Oll Lewis continues to look at contemporary Indian Forteana...

OLL LEWIS: More Indian Cryptids..

As we continue to wait for news from the away team in the Garo Hills, Oll continues his look at the cryptids of the region with a peek at the pygmy elephants of the Western Ghats.

OLL LEWIS: Another elusive creature from the Garo Hills

Whilst waiting for news from the India expedition,
Oliver takes a look at another elusive creature from the Garo Hills.

INDIA EXPEDITION 2010: Chris Clark writes

http://cfzindia2010.blogspot.com/2010/10/chris-clark-writes.html

INDIA EXPEDITION: Richard writes...

Over on theIndia Expedition blog, Richard Freeman explains why he wants to go to India, and what he personally hopes to get from the expedition.

JONATHAN MCGOWAN ON THE INDIA BLOG

Over on the India Expedition blog Jonathan McGowan explains why he wanted to go to India in the first place, and therefore his motivations for asking to be included on the expedition.

INDIA EXPEDITION: Launching the Expedition Blog

Here it is

LAUNCHING THE INDIA EXPEDITION

On 31st of October the CFZ 2010 expedition leaves England. They will be exploring the Garo Hills in Northern India in search of the mande-burung or Indian yeti. The five-man team consists of team leader Adam Davies, Dr Chris Clark, Dave Archer, field naturalist John McGowan, and cryptozoologist Richard Freeman.

The creatures are described as being up to ten feet tall, with predominantly black hair. Most importantly, they are said to walk upright, like a man. Walking apes have been reported in the area for many years. These descriptions sound almost identical to those reported in neighbouring Bhutan and Tibet. Witnesses report that the mande-burung, which translates as forest man, is most often seen in the area in November.

The Garo Hills are a heavily forested and poorly explored area in Meghalaya state in the cool northern highlands of India. The area is internationally renowned for its wildlife, which includes tigers, bears, elephants and Indian rhino and clouded leopards.

The Indian team will be led by Dipu Marek, a local expert who has been on the trail of the Indian yeti for a number of years and has found both its nests and 19inch long `footprints` on previous occasions. The expedition team has also arranged to interview eyewitnesses who have seen the Mande-Burung.

Camera traps will be set up in sighting areas in the hope of catching one of the creatures on film.

The Mande-Burung may be a surviving form of a giant ape known from its fossilised teeth and jaw bones, called Gigantopithecus blacki, which lived in the Pleistocene epoch around three hundred thousand years ago. This creature is of course extinct. However, much contemporary fauna such as the giant panda, the Asian tapir and the Asian elephant that lived alongside the monster ape, still survive today. It is thought by many that Gigantopithecus also survives in the impenetrable jungles and mountains of Asia. Its closest known relatives are the Orangutans of Sumatra and Borneo.

Last year the team, who investigate mystery animals all over the world, travelled to Sumatra in search of a small, bipedal ape known as the orang pendek. Dave Archer and local guide Sahar Didmus saw the creature and the group brought back hair that was later analysed by Dr Lars Thomas at the University of Copenhagen. The DNA proved to be similar to an orangutan's, an animal not found in that part of Sumatra.

LAUNCHING THE INDIA EXPEDITION

ANOTHER PIECE OF VINTAGE STRANGENESS FROM THE BOY MUIRHEAD

WEIRD BEAST OF PREY
Wellington Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 85, 10 April 1935, Page 11
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MEMO FROM SUZI

Our friend and supporter Suzi Marsh is in India travelling through the Western Ghats. Richard asked her to see if she could find any information on the Pogeyam - the rumoured mysterycat from the region, and we have been awaiting her results with enthusiasm...

Just a quick update on my findings...

Unfortunately I didn't have much luck with the pogeyam. I stayed at Vattakanal, which is about 2 days trek from Anamudi where the original sightings took place. I asked around many people, using both the pronunciation you gave me and the alternative 'poggy-on' which I found online, and also giving a description of the animal, but none of the locals were familiar with it. It may well be that the legends are very localised, as it seems they have not spread far across the western ghats. Interestingly, a fellow traveller I met reported having seen a 'mountain lion' on the way from Munnar (which is near Anamudi) to Vattakanal; however, further research suggests they are not common to this area. I have tried to get in touch with her to get a more detailed report of what she saw - I will let you know of any developments.

I did hear another story while travelling which I thought might be of interest... in the town of Varkala in Kerala, a number of locals related the following story: that recently (a date was never specified, but it was implied that this event had taken place in the past weeks/months) a 'living god' had been found in a local stream. When asked to describe this further, the locals described something 'shaped like a human, but not a human'. Curiously, they noted that its hand was broken. This 'living god' was removed and placed in a local temple, but when word got round that it could bring great fortune to whomever possessed it, a local businessman bribed the watchmen and removed the relic to his own home. The story went that great ill fortune soon befell the man, and that his wife hung himself in the room that had contained the body. No one seemed able to say what had happened to the relic after that...

Anyway, I thought that these incidents were worth reporting! Let me know what you think about the whole 'mountain lion' thing...

Indian Surprises

2009 has already thrown up some interesting surprises on the Indian subcontinent, with at least two wildlife sightings of note.

Indroda National Park is a nature reserve in Gujarat on the west coast of India, near the border with Pakistan. They have a museum and a zoo, and according to their website:

"In addition to the animals in the zoo, the wilderness created in an area of about 400 ha at INP is inhabited by a large number of animals, birds and reptiles. This includes around 180 species of birds of which 65 have been reported to be nesting here. The park is, in fact, a paradise for bird watchers. Moreover, the common venomous and non venomous snakes are abundantly found in the Park. As per the census conducted in 2004 by the Foundation, the wilderness of the park has 545 Nilgai, 475 common langurs and 819 peafowls."

However, they now have a rare, and totally unexpected resident - a Rusty-spotted Cat - one of the smallest species of cat in the world. The Rusty-spotted Cat (Prionailurus rubiginosus) only measures 35-48 cm (14-17 in) in length, plus 15-25 cm (6-10 in) tail, weighing in at only approximately 1.5 kg (3.3 lbs). A healthy adult female can weigh as little as a kilo, which makes it arguiable that it is even smaller a species than the black-footed cat (Felis nigripes) of southern Africa.

GEER, the organisation who manage Indroda Nature Park are understandably making quite a big deal of the sighting. CN Pandey, the director said: "Last night, GEER staff was patrolling when they spotted this cat and photographed it. It is rare to spot this cat in Indroda Park let alone the state. In the past it has been spotted in Surpaneshwar in south Gujarat and by Bharat Pathak in Gir forest."

It is not a particularly rare species, being classified as "Vulnerable" but it is nice to hear of a species increasing its range.

The other notable wildlife sighting of the year so far, in India at least, is the "hyaena" reported from Kolkata (Calcutta) airport. It was seen by a pilot coming in to land who "promptly reported the sighting - probably a stray dog or one of the jackals that live in the airport grounds - to air traffic control. Officials in the control tower asked a Jet Airways flight from Mumbai, scheduled to land in a few minutes at 6.50 pm, to hover over the city. As an inspection was carried out to check for the presence of the animal, the Jet flight was delayed by 10 minutes.

Airport officials later said they immediately carried out a spot verification on the runway , but could not find any animal".

This species os commoner than the rusty spotted cat, being graded as `Near Threatened` and having a range that covers parts of the Middle East, Africa and bits of India and Pakistan, but it is unusual to have a report from a major international airport.

CRYPTOZOOLOGY NEWS: IN THE NIGHT ALL CATS ARE GREY

On the excellent Tetrapod Zoology blog our friend and colleague Darren Naish details what may be a new species of leopard sized cat from India’s Western Ghats. The creature was discussed in BBC 2’s series The Natural World in an episode entitled Mountains of the Monsoon Friday 16th of January.

The pogeyam is said to be large, have rounded ears, a long tail and be gray in colour. Environmentalist Sandesh Kadur saw the creature in broad daylight, in the high-altitude grasslands around Anamudi. He set up a camera trap with bait but the pogeyam did not reapprear. Native people have long known of its existance, calling it ‘the cat that comes and goes with the mist’. There are no known photographs of the beast, but this drawing is excerpted from the BBC documentary on the wildlife of the Western Ghats (described above)that can be viewed HERE

It is possible that this is an unkown species or a colour morph of the leopard. Leopards have been known to exibit a wide variety of morphs. However the melanistic morph or black panther is the only commonly occuring one, the others are rare. So if people have been consistently reporting this big grey cat it would arge that this is either a new species or an isolated group of leopards with a dominant gene for this colour. This has occurred in other mammals such as the American black bear that has a white population on Queen Charlotte Island. We await more information with baited breath. With this new cryptid hot on the heels of yeti sightings, the Western Ghats seem like the place to head for.

The pogeyam is not the only new mystery cat to have emerged recently. A small, beautifuly marked cat was photographed by Aldo Sornorza of Fundacion Jocotco at the Jorupe Reserve, Ecuador close to the border with Peru.

This photograph was taken by Aldo Sornoza of Fundación Jocotoco (FJ), who was helping with the construction of the new visitors' lodge on the Jorupe Reserve, Ecuador. It is thought to be a new species of cat, still to be described, which was first seen two years ago in Peru. The Jorupe Reserve, owned and managed by the World Land Trust's partners FJ, is close to the border with Peru and this would be the first known sighting in Ecuador.

If not a new species, the only other cat it could possibly be is an Andean Cat (Oreailurus jacobita), one of the rarest of all the cat species, about which very little is known. Its habitat and appearance make it the small cat analogue of the Snow Leopard. While it is only about the size of a domestic cat, it appears larger because of its long tail and silvery-gray, striped and spotted long fur.

It is believed to live only in the high Andes mountains of Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina. It has been sighted at elevations of 5,100 meters, well above the tree line. Since it lives only in the high mountains, human-inhabited valleys act as barriers, fragmenting the population, meaning that even low levels of poaching could be devastating. It is often killed in Chile and Bolivia because of local superstition.

Over the last 25 years there have been fewer than 10 documented sightings. Lou Jost, of Fundación EcoMinga, also an Ecuadorian partner of the WLT, is lucky enough to have seen the Andean Cat, not just once but twice. When presented with this photo, Lou commented:

"The ground color is very similar. However I didn't see any strong patterns on the legs, like this one has, though I would not have seen that from the angles I had (just the back and sides of the animal running through dense vegetation, both times). The elevations of my sightings were very high, around 2800-3000 m, and very wet, completely different from Jorupe. I could easily imagine that there is a new species of cat endemic to the Tumbesian zone of SW Ecuador and NW Peru."

MYSTERY BEASTS BENEATH OUR NOSES

This Guest Blogger malarkey, that I came up with by chance, mainly because I couldn't think of anywhere else to put Max's fascinating article, seems to be taking off. Catch a load of this! Richard Freeman, Zoological Director of the CFZ, was so impressed by Max's article yesterday that he decided to write a companion article explaining how unknon animals in captivity is actually nothing new...

The idea of people keeping unknown creatures in captivity may sound surprising but it’s not without precedent. The creature Max has been looking into are invertebrates, all relatively small but sometimes much larger creatures can make it into captivity unknown to the ‘experts’.

Wombwell’s Travelling Menagerie AKA Mr George Wombwell’s Royal Menagerie was one of a number of mobile zoos that toured the UK in the 18th and 19th centuries. The first was run by a man named Pidcock back in 1708. They consisted of wild beasts in cages that were horse drawn around the country from town to town. The set up seems odd to us today and must have been stressful to both the horses and the animals they transported. Escapes were commonplace and a number of people were recorded to have been killed by wild animals that absconded from these zoos on wheels.

Entertainment rather than education or conservation was the driving force. Animals were often mislabelled or given odd names such as ‘Prerie Fiend’ (heaven only knows what they really were. Wombwell’s had among its beasts, creatures labelled as ‘tiger wolves’. These may have been thylacines. I have theorized that the ‘Girt Dog of Ennerdale’ that terrorized Cumbria in the early 19th century, was an escaped thylacine. The description of dog like beast with tigerish stripes that lapped the blood of its victims fits the thylacine remarkably well.

In 1855 Wombwells exhibited the first captive gorilla in Europe. The lowland gorilla had only been discovered in 1847 by Thomas Staughton Savage. Only skulls and pelts had made it to European museums. The Wombell ape was, for a long while mislabled as a chimpanzee. Acording to zoo historian and education officer Malcome Whitehead, the gorilla was at first fed on roast beef, Yorkshire pudding and beer! If I’d had been around back then I would have been dressing up in an ape skin and applying for a place at Wombwells.



Even further back early zoos may have been behind some of the stories of legendary beasts in Britain.Confusion and controversy surround this legend on the Suffolk / Essex border. Both the town of Bures and the village of Wormingford lay claim to the story as their own. In a 19th century translation of a document from 1405, the story is told of a fearful dragon that had a hide impenetrable to arrows and which disappeared into the marsh after having caused “much hurt”. It dwelt in and around water and had four legs and a long tail.

Wormingford begs to differ, saying that the creature resided there and was finally killed by Sir George de la Haye.

The description of this dragon sounds very like a crocodile. Indeed, many think it was such a beast that got free from the Royal menagerie at the Tower of London and made its way to Suffolk. One can readily imagine the fear a 20-30 foot reptile would have struck into the hearts of the peasants.
An escaped exotic is probably behind the St Leonard’s Forest dragon of 1614.This wild briar is a part of the once vast forest of the Weald. In 1614 a limbless serpentine beast appeared here. It was some nine feet long that killed both man and beast with poison that it ‘cast forth’. For a while it became infamous in the area. It was said to raise up its head and look in an arrogant manner about itself. The creature fed on rabbits. It sounds very much like a cobra, possibly brought back from abroad by a traveler or merchant and which subsequently got free.