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, November 06, 2013

FORTEAN BIRD NEWS FROM THE WATCHER OF THE SKIES

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 took the plunge and started a 'Watcher of the Skies' blog of her own as part of the CFZ Bloggo Network.






DALE DRINNON: New York photo of 'Orangutan'/'Bigfoot', Frontiers of Anthropology, Benny's Blogs

New at Frontiers of Zoology:

THE GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN GETS OVERWHELMED

The Gonzo Daily - Wednesday
 
For those of you living in the UK there are some rather nifty Pink Floyd documentaries on BBC iPlayer for the next few days. I sat down with Mama and Frunobulax and watched two of them last night. The one with the most substance is, of course, the 'making of' documentary about Wish you were here. The other programme we watched was a collection of odds and sods including such jolly snippets as the 'Point me at the Sky' promo video that I had only ever seen as a bootleg. The main thing about this show, however, was that it reminded me why I have always liked 'The Final Cut' so much, and found 'Momentary Lapse of Reason' so lacklustre. I had not seen the videos from either album for some twenty five years, and it was a welcome shock to see how good the video for Roger's apocalyptic post-war dream song was.
 
Yesterday when talking about my diabetes test I forgot one enormous thing. Eventually I will be given a medicine that I have to inject each day. But - wait for this - it is made from an enzyme extracted from Gila Monster venom. How Carlos Castaneda is tHAT?
 
Another visit to our old friend Thom the World Poet
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2013/11/thom-world-poet-daily-poem_6.html
 
 
 
 
 
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young regroup for Bridge School Benefit
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2013/11/crosby-stills-nash-young-regroup-for.html
 
 
 
*  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.com/2012/11/all-gonzo-news-wots-fit-to-print.html
 
* 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 54 who - together with his orange cat (who is currently on sick leave in Staffordshire) and two very small kittens (one of whom is also orange) puts it all together from a converted potato shed in a tumbledown cottage deep in rural Devon which he shares with various fish, and sometimes a small Indian frog. 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 the orange cat?

DEAR OH DEAR OH BLOODY DEAR!

This video arrived in my e-mail inbox


It was sent by someone called Dr Donald Ryles and can be found HERE. I tried to leave the following comment: 'Those are not new species. Neither sunfish or lampreys have been discovered this year, and several of the pictures are of various dead dogs in different stages of decomposition.'

However, faffing about with wordpress took up ten minutes of my life that I am not going to get back. I then received a message saying that my comment would have to be moderated. I wonder whether it will be passed as fit for public consumption.

It is drivel like this that really gives fuel to the people who claim that cryptozoology is dubious in the extreme.


EXPEDITION NEWS: Could the Tasmanian tiger still be roaming the island's forests? British scientists join new hunt for 'extinct' creature

It has been ‘officially extinct’ for decades, but two British scientists have set off across the world to hunt for the curious animal known as the Tasmanian tiger.
The last known tiger died in captivity in a Tasmanian zoo in 1936, but a team of enthusiasts believe there is still a chance that several of the animals might still be roaming the forested regions of the island state.
British scientists Dr Chris Clark and Richard Freeman, who have searched for giant anacondas in Africa and the Indonesian equivalent of Bigfoot, are due to arrive in Tasmania today to join an expedition searching for the tiger, which has a dog-like appearance and a striped body.
The last known tiger died in captivity in a Tasmanian zoo in 1936
The last known tiger died in captivity in a Tasmanian zoo in 1936, but a team of enthusiasts believe there is still a chance that several of the animals might still be roaming the forested regions of the island state

THE TASMANIAN TIGER

  • Thylacine is Greek for 'dog-headed pouched one'. 
  • The Tasmanian tiger was the largest known carnivorous marsupial of modern times.
  • The creature is native to continental Australia, Tasmania and New Guinea.
  • It was the last member of its family, Thylacinidae.
  • Specimens of other members of the family have been found in the fossil record dating back to the early Miocene.
  • Surviving evidence suggests that the tiger was a relatively shy, nocturnal creature with the general appearance of a medium-to-large-size dog, except for its stiff tail and abdominal pouch
‘This is very serious and we’re putting aside all the other crazy things like Bigfoot hunts and concentrating very much on getting the first convincing evidence that the Tasmanian tiger still exists,’ expedition leader Mike Williams told the MailOnline from the search base in the island capital, Hobart.
While there have been reported sightings of the tiger, known scientifically as a thylacine, Mr Williams said the evidence has never been strong enough to be convincing.
‘The problem with a lot of the sightings from members of the public is that they’re generally caught by surprise and their photos are taken on things like mobile phones and aren’t very good.
‘It will take really good quality video to really convince anyone so we’ve brought as much gear as we can to improve our chances of being ready if we do see one.’
Dr Clark and Mr Freeman, from Britain’s Centre for Fortean Zoology, have explored many of the world’ outstanding mysteries and remain dedicated to cryptozoology - the study of unknown animals.
The centre is based in an old country house in Devon, parts of which are over 200 years old, and which is said to be home to several ghosts.

Read on...

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 are 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.




  • NEWSLINK: Black cat mystery surrounds Halloween
  • NEWSLINK: The Mystery Of Beijing's Dead Stray Cats...
  • US SIGHTINGS: WATCH: A Florida Man Insists He Film...
  • NEWSLINK: Amazing pictures of abandoned big cat an...
  • UK SIGHTINGS: Study at Royal Agricultural Universi...
  • UK SIGHTINGS: Evidence of British big cats discove...
  • NEWSLINK: Florida panthers at bigger risk in winte...
  • USA SIGHTINGS: Big cat sighted-Jack County - Texas...
  • UK SIGHTINGS: PROOF big cats are living and breedi...
  • UK SIGHTINGS: Big cats DO live in British countrys...


  • UK SIGHTINGS: Research suggests big cats may roam ...
  • KARL SHUKER: Bilbo Baggins Versus the Mongolian Death Worm?


    Karl Shuker investigates a remarkable link that may exist between Tolkien's hobbits and cryptozoology's Mongolian death worm.

    Read on...

    OLL LEWIS: Yesterday's News Today

    http://cryptozoologynews.blogspot.com/

    On this day in 2012 the actor Clive Dunn died. Dunn was best known for playing Lance-Corporal Jones in Dads army. Despite his elderly and doddery appearance, which was archived through make up and acting skill, Dunn was actually one of the younger members of the cast.

    And now the news:

  • Elusive Bay Cat Caught On Camera
  • Centuries-Old Elephant Imposter Unmasked
  • Beagle Sniffs Out Polar Bear Pregnancies
  • Dormice at risk from disappearing habitat
  • Good news for snow leopard
  • Alderney's 'ghost pig' may be wild boar from Franc...
  • Majestic lioness abandoned by her pride forms hear...

  • Extinct 'Godzilla' platypus found in Australia

  • Clive Dunn was 51 when he recorded this song, that's younger than JD is now, FACT:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KJGJRd8pGE