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...




Friday, December 14, 2012

ANDREW MAY: Words from the Wild Frontier

News and stories from the remoter fringes of the CFZ blogosphere...

From Nick Redfern's World of Whatever:

DALE DRINNON: Congo dragons,sabretooth sightings, Cedar & Willow, Benny's blogs

New at the Frontiers of Zoology: a couple of examples of possible "Congo Dragons" as represented on African Rock Art (North and South):
 
 
New at Cedar and Willow, some new connections emerge:
 
And New at Benny's Blog, New Information regarding the association of The Bowery Boy's "Whitey" with Captain Marvel (by Name!) on the Ominous Octopus Omnibus:
 
And also another Editorial Cartoon:

KARL SHUKER - THE MEGALOPEDUS, THE SUKOTYRO, AND A VERY CRYPTIC CABINET OF CURIOSITIES



The good Doctor goes sleuthing in search of a fascinating (and very sizeable) yet long-forgotten mystery beast from Java - the sukotyro.

Read more...

FORTEAN BIRD NEWS FROM THE WATCHER OF THE SKIES (CFZ)

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. So, after about six months of regular postings on the main bloggo, Corinna has taken the plunge and started a 'Watcher of the Skies' blog of her own as part of the CFZ Bloggo Network.











TODAY'S 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 should have a go at publishing a regular round-up of the stories as they come in. In September 2012 Emma Osborne decided that the Mystery Cat Study Group really deserved a blog of its own within the CFZ Blog Network.




  • SIGHTINGS UK: Big cat in Angus
  • SIGHTINGS UK: Two big cats spotted by cyclist
  • NEWSLINK: Curiosity nearly costs big cat his life ...


  • I'M YER GONZO BLOG DOO DAH MAN

    Yesterday was spent doing shopping, including Christmassy stuff which was pretty horrible, so I amused myself in the queue by singing rude words to the Christmas songs which were being played over the PA system in Morrison's. The other news is that my old mate Jim Jackson appears to have won yesterday's election to Northam Town Council (as a Conservative no less), so I fully intend to have some fun with him. Last night mother ate curry for the first time, and washed it down with a glass of Kingfisher. I am very proud of her. We have a film director coming to tea this afternoon, and I am interviewing Michael Des Barres later on, so it looks like it will be a jolly day.

    Michael Des Barres is on the bill for a special concert paying tribute to the Rolling Stones

    The new limited edition coloured vinyl version of the new Galahad album is available, and it is a thing of wonder

    Peter McAdam is ridiculously funny. If he was any funnier he would be made to have a Government Health Warning printed on his forehead reading "H.M Government warn that excessive consumption of Mr McAdam's work will lead to your sides splitting' or something like that

    The third part of our interview with the lovely Judy Dyble

    I am perfectly aware that this following story is off-topic but when Paul McCartney appears on stage with the surviving members of Nirvana and makes an elegantly brutal noise, it has to be noteworthy

    And finally for today, our daily visit to Thom the World Poet

    *  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: http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2012/11/all-gonzo-news-wots-fit-to-print.html

    *  Jon Downes, the Editor of all these ventures is an old hippy of 53 who - together with his orange cat - puts it all together from a converted potato shed in a tumbledown cottage deep in rural Devon. He is ably assisted by his lovely wife Corinna, his bulldog/boxer Prudence, his mother-in-law, and a motley collection of social malcontents. Plus.. did we mention the orange cat?

    OLL LEWIS: Yesterday's News Today



    On this day in 1911 Roald Amundsen and his expedition team became the first men to reach the South Pole.
    And now the news:
  • Jersey's squirrels are 'not severely inbred', a st...
  • Honey bees' genetic code unlocked
  • Obama-named lizard was wiped out with the dinosaur...
  • Giant sunfish washed up on Overstrand beach in Nor...
  • Red wolves endangered by rule designed to protect ...
  • Porcupine's prickly defence mystery solved
  • US Congress calls for investigation of US wildlife...
  • Undercover operation by conservation group reveals...

  • I'd like to say that 101 years ago today Amundsen and his rival in the race to the Pole Scott (who lived about 2 minutes down the road from my house) were walking in a winter wonderland, but my inner pedant won't let me as it was summer there at the time it was also too cold to even snow (fact: as there is no precipitation in central Antarctica it's the world's coldest and most southerly desert, impress your friends by mentioning that in conversation today). Still, this is a good song and vaguely linked if you don't think too hard about it: