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, February 05, 2020

NEWS FROM NOWHERE: Wednesday

ON THIS DAY IN -  1782 - The Spanish captured Minorca from the British.
And now some more recent news from the CFZ Newsdesk


  • .
  • Weak Arctic ice sees 56 polar bears descend on Rus...
  • Seahorse breeding project aims to recover endanger...
  • Endemic mountain amphibians deserve more attention...
  • Denver Water makes way for toads - via Herp Digest...



  • 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)


    Monday, February 03, 2020

    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.


    BIGFOOT NEWS IN BRIEF

    Regular readers will know that in recent years we have migrated the two specialist Study Groups – Mystery Cats (curated by Carl Marshall and Olivia McCarthy) and Lake and Sea Monsters (curated by Sally Watts and Richard Muirhead) – to their own standalone blogs, although when there are postings, notifications of them can be found here on the main blog.


    Now, we are doing the same for the BHM Study Group, curated by Glen Vaudrey and Nathan Jackson


    On the Track (of Unknown Animals) Ep 111 (Loch Ness, Boleskine House, Crowley, Pink headed duck etc)

    Here we have the 30th episode of the relaunched webTV show by the Centre for Fortean Zoology, written and presented by Jon Downes and Charlotte Phillipson, their families and other animals. 

    In the new look OTT; we will try to keep the montly episodes to half an hour, but in between the scheduled episodes will be others - OTTXtra. So hold on, its gonna be a bumpy ride. And so far the bumpy ride seems to be a success: viewing figures are noticeably up, and the reactions we are getting seem very positive.

    This episode contains:

    •  Archie takes over
    •  Nipper runs amok
    •  Archie the dog historiasn
    •  An explanation 
    •  The last ydear at Loch Ness
    •  Loch Ness: Fire at Boleskine House
    •  Loch Ness: Aleister Crowley
    •  The hunt for the pink headed duck
    •  Why the PHD went extinct (if it did)
    •  Walking sharks
    •  Jon is perplexed
    • Coming next month
    • Changes at OTT
    • The team says goodbye until next month
    _________________________________

    Some useful contacts:

    CFZ Website
    www.cfz.org.uk

    CFZ Patreon
    https://www.patreon.com/CFZ

    OTT on Facebook
    https://www.facebook.com/OnTheTrack/

    Jon on Twitter
    @cfzjon

    CFZ Blog Network
    https://forteanzoology.blogspot.co.uk/

    CFZ Publications
    http://cfzresources.com/publishing/

    CFZtv
    https://www.youtube.com/user/cfztv

    CFZ Next Generation Initiative
    https://www.facebook.com/groups/29796...

    CFZ MONTHLY NEWSLETTER #52

    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 a few minutes ago) included articles on OTT, changes at the CFZ, welcoming Guin, the way forward, a horned rooster, a mysterious severed head critiqued by Carl, remembering Mother, a strange creature,  Patreon, Richard Muirhead's new book, my new novel and record, 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 you 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

    THE LATEST FROM CFZ CANADA

    The Centre for Fortean Zoology was founded in the UK in 1992 - nearly 20 years ago. Over the past two decades it has expanded to become a truly global organisation. We opened our American office in 2001, our Australian office in 2009, and in 2011 - we were proud to welcome CFZ Canada, curated by Robin Bellamy to the CFZ global family.

    A Creepy UNESCO World Heritage Site

    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.