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...

Search This Blog

WATCH OUR WEEKLY WEBtv SHOW

SUPPORT OTT ON PATREON

SUPPORT OTT ON PATREON
Click on this logo to find out more about helping CFZtv and getting some smashing rewards...

SIGN UP FOR OUR MONTHLY NEWSLETTER



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...




Wednesday, February 10, 2016

RICHARD MUIRHEAD: CFZ Notes and Queries

This is a new feature for the CFZ Monthly Newsletter and is based upon the popular series of questions and answers that appeared in Victorian national and regional periodicals in the 19th Century and in much more recent times in The Guardian. or more appropriately, Science Gossip. The questions you submit can be on any aspect of cryptozoology or its allied discipline, Fortean Zoology.

For example,if you are highly curious and can`t wait to find out the answer to the Question: "When was the first time a black squirrel was seen in Britain?" hopefully someone will be in the know! to kick off, Richard Muirhead would like to know,"where and when have bona fide tropical butterflies been seen in the wild in the U.K. ones that were not kept in zoos or as pets?" Readers - it`s over to you!

Email 

TODAY'S BIG CAT NEWS


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: Zookeeper attacked by rare Sumatran tige...
  • NEWSLINK: Monks Selling Big Cats on Thai Black Mar...
  • 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




    Grouse Hunters Encounter Bigfoot In Utah
    From the youtube channel of the Rocky Mountain Sasquatch Organization: Bigfoot encounter by two small game hunters above the bench of Brigham.

    Is Bigfoot In Eastern Idaho? (POLL)
    Is Bigfoot in the mountains around Pocatello? The Idaho State Journal asked this question recently in regards to some research by an Idaho State ...

    Young Woman Sees Bigfoot By Road Sign On Her Way Home In Kentucky
    Don Neal posted the following interview of a young woman who had a possible bigfoot sighting as she was driving home in Hopkins County, Kentucky ...

    New York Daily News
    Either way, the search for the legendary yeti continues, as it does for Bigfoot across the Pacific Northwest — generating fervor from true believers who ...

    THE GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN HURRIES

    The Gonzo Daily - Wednesday
    I felt particularly peculiar yesterday afternoon. This blasted cold has not yet gone, and I have had it all year. My Mother used to say that she would get a cold in October and it would last until April. I always thought that was hyperbole, but now I'm not too sure. I am currently working with the legendary Tony Palmer on a new edition of his book on Yehudi Menuhin which is interesting.
    Our heartfelt condolences go to our friend and colleague Richard Freeman, whose Grandmother died today. Our love and best wishes also to his Grandfather.
    Death is nothing at all.
    It does not count.
    I have only slipped away into the next room.
    Nothing has happened.
    Everything remains exactly as it was.
    I am I, and you are you,
    and the old life that we lived so fondly together is untouched, unchanged.
    Whatever we were to each other, that we are still.
                           Henry Scott Holland
    THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: Maria Callas - La Trav...
    THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem
    BYRDS: MusicWorks’ concert to benefit HPS
    Keith Christmas performing at Bradford Roots Music...
    FDH Lounge Interview with Jon Anderson Formerly of...
    Gonzo Weekly #168
    www.gonzoweekly.com
    David Bowie, Rick Wakeman, Paul Kantner, Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship, Beatles, Dixie Dregs, Mr Biffo, Roy Weard,  Dogwatch, That Legendary Wooden Lion, Hawkwind, and Yes fans had better look out!
    Following the overwhelming response to Rick Wakeman’s piano tribute to David Bowie, Rick has recorded new piano versions of both Life on Mars and Space Oddity with royalties going to Macmillan Cancer Support. Pete Sears pays tribute to his old friend Paul Kantner as does John Brodie-Good. Doug writes about the Dixie Dregs, while Jon gets all intense about positivity, and for once finds a Beatles book that he DOESN'T like. There are radio shows from Strange Fruit, Friday Night Progressive, and Mack Moloney, the latest installment of the saga of Xtul, and columns from all sorts of folk including Roy Weard, A J Smitrovich, Mr Biffo and the irrepressable Corinna. There is also a collection of more news, reviews, views, interviews and pademelons ouyside zoos(OK, nothing to do with small marsupials who have escaped from captivity, 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:
    Lady Gaga, Colin Vearncombe, Primal Scream, Yoko Ono, Status Quo, ELO, Ozzy Osbourne, David Bowie, Daevid Allen, Daevid Allen Weird Quartet, Barbara Dickson, Strange Fruit, Friday Night Progressive, Mack Maloney's Mystery Hour, Signe Toly Anderson, Jon Bunch, Francis "Frank" Finlay, CBE, Sir Michael Terence "Terry"  Wogan, KBE, DL, Maurice White, Joe Dowell, Inner City Unit, Brand X, Gregg Kofi Brown, Nucleus, Captain Beefheart, Third Ear Band, The Selecter, Genre Peak, Mick Farren and Jack Lancaster, Rick & Adam Wakeman,A Dixie Dregs, John Brodie-Good, Paul Kantner, Dave Bainbridge, Roy Weard, A J Smitrovich, My Dad's LPs, Mr Biffo, Yes, Hawkwind, Pete Sears, Xtul, The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon, Elton John, Neil Nixon, Ross Bolleter, Tengwar
    Read the previous few issues of Gonzo Weekly:
    Issue 167 (Paul Kantner)
    Issue 166 (Spirits Burning)
    Issue 165 (David Bowie)
    Issue 164 (Free Festivals)
    Issue 163 (Lemmy)
    Issue 161-2 (The Christmas Double Feature)
    Issue 160 (Frank Zappa)
    Issue 159 (Jon Anderson and Matt Malley)
    Issue 158 (Billy Sherwood)
    Issue 157 (Drones for Daevid)
    Issue 156 (Rick and Emmie)
    Issue 155 (Pink Fairies)
    Issue 154 (Steve Ignorant)
    Issue 153 (Martin Barre)
    Issue 152 (4th Eden)
    Issue 151 (Corky Laing)
    Issue 150 (Roger Dean)
    Issue 149 (Tony Palmer in Space)
    Issue 148 (Wally Hope)
    Issue 147 (Thom the World Poet cover)
    Issue 146 (Bee and Flower cover)
    Issue 145 (Dave Brock cover)
    Issue 144 (Percy Jones cover)
    Issue 143 (Billy Sherwood cover)
    Issue 142 (Daevid Allen and Spirits Burning cover)
    Issue 141 (Rick Wakeman cover)
    Issue 140 (Jaki Windmill cover)
    Issue 139 (Raz cover)
    Issue 138 (Galahad cover)
    Issue 137 (Chris Squire cover)
    Issue 136 (Neil Nixon cover)
    Issue 135 (FNP cover)
    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 56 who - together with an infantile orange cat named after a song by Frank Zappa, and two small 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 the infantile orange cat, and the adventurous kittens?

    NEWS FROM NOWHERE: Wednesday

    ON THIS DAY IN 1840 - Britain's Queen Victoria married Prince Albert of Saxe Coburg-Gotha. 
    And now some more recent news from the CFZ Newsdesk
  • Scientists turn to drones to count growing seal co...
  • More sperm whales found dead - this time on a Germ...
  • Ship noise stops Orca whales from talking to each ...
  • Activists condemn trophy-hunting club for 'turning...
  • Crocodile caught on Townsville tourist beach is 'm...


  • 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)