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...




Thursday, March 15, 2018

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: Leopard scare grips V. Kota residents
  • PHOTOS: At dinnertime, mountain lion lurks in the ...
  • PHOTOS: Giant cat with appetite to eat dogs trappe...
  • NEWSLINK: Protecting tigers could be beneficial fo...
  • VIDEO: Zoo Keeper Mauled And Eaten Alive By Tiger ...


  • NEWSLINK: Tipeshwar emerging a tiger haven
  • THE GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN IS GETTING IT TOGETHER

    The Gonzo Daily: Thursday
    I feel considerably saner than I did yesterday, which is probably a good thing. Yesterday afternoon, Charlotte and Graham and I finished the latest episode of OTT which was uploaded this morning. I hope that you all enjoy it. Apart from that there is very little for me to report.
    ciaou....
    Forgive me for always banging on about our webTV show, but it matters a lot to me, and I would be grateful for as many people as possible to see it, and spread the tidings of it far and wide:
    And if you fancy supporting us on Patreon:
    And by the way chaps and chappesses, a trip to the Jon Downes megastore seems to be in order: if you want to make me a happy fellow, you can:
    buy my novel:
    buy the record by the main protagonist of the novel who isn't me in an elephant mask, honest:
    buy my single:
    But for now, here is the news:
    THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem
    Arthur Brown on working with Pete Townshend and Ki...
    BILL BRUFORD NEWS
    FOR THOSE OF YOU INTERESTED IN THE STUFF I DO WHEN...
    THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: Archie Fisher - Wester...
    Gonzo Weekly #277
    THE CAN BLUE MEN SING THE WHITES? ISSUE
    We visit the Northeast of England to meet Davey and Nick from Auld Man's Baccie, Alan finds DakhaBrakha, an insane ensemble from The Ukraine, Doug starts to explore Split Enz and the Finn brothers, Neil looks at New Zealand psychedelia, and Mr Biffo pitches a new TV show.
    Hail Eris!
    And there are radio shows from Strange Fruit, AND Mack Maloney, AND Friday Night Progressive, there are columns from all sorts of folk including Neil Nixon, Kev Rowlands, Roy Weard, C J Stone, and Mr Biffo AND the irrepressible Corinna. There is also a collection of more news, reviews, views, interviews and southern dibblers who have gone for a snooze (OK, nothing to do with small marsupials who have probably got hangovers and have decided to have a little rest, 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:
    Eric Burdon, Silver Fox Cafe, Elton John, Barbra Streisand, The Mind Map, Motorhead, Jeff Beck, Robert Smith's Meltdown, Strange Fruit, Friday Night Progressive, Canterbury sans Frontieres, Mack Maloney's Mystery Hour, NME, Jeff St John, Trevor Graham Baylis CBE, John Charles Kenneth Gardestad, Brandon Dean Jenkins, Ronald Lawrence Victor Prophet, Bill Burkette, Alexander Buchanan, Patrick Doyle, Barbara Dickson, Jessica Lee Morgan, Billion Dollar Babies, Rick Wakeman, Tangerine Dream, Auld Man's Baccie, David Curtis, Nick Phillips, Doug Harr, Split Enz, Alan Dearling, DakhaBrakha, Neil Arnold, New Zealand Psychedelia, Kev Rowland, Toothgrinder, Trepaneringsritualen, Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown, Until the Sky Dies, Veni Vidi, We Came as Romans, Wildness, World War Me, The Adicts, Apartment 213, Mr Biffo, Digitiser The Show, Roy Weard, CJ Stone, Hawkwind, Jon Downes, The Wild Colonial Boy, Martin Springett, ElectricNick, The Beatles, The Wonder Years.
    And the last few issues are:
    Issue 275 (Martin Gordon)
    Issue 274 (Steve Took)
    Issue 273 (Live Dead 69)
    Issue 272 (George Butler)
    Issue 271 (Mark E Smith)
    Issue 270 (Eric Clapton)
    Issue 269 (Narnia)
    Issue 267-8 (Happy New Year)
    Issue 265-6 (The Who)
    Issue 264 (John McLaughlin)
    Issue 263 (The magic Band)
    Issue 262 (DikMik)
    Issue 261 (Leonard Cohen)
    Issue 260 (Amsterdam Squat Festie)
    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 58 who - together with a Jack Russell called Archie, an infantile orange cat named after a song by Frank Zappa, and two half grown 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 Archie and the Cats?

    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.




    On The Track (of Unknown Animals) Ep. 89 (Out of place reptiles, British bigfoot, German rheas etc)

    Here we have the eighth 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. This episode contains: • Introducing Wally the Comedy Rhinoceros • The British Bigfoot - non human primates in the British fossil record • Dr Max Blake interview • Arctic weather in Woolsery • Out of place reptiles in Britain • Smooth snakes in Devon • Sand lizards in Devon and Cornwall • German rheas • Revisiting the Florida "river monster" • PRODUCT PLACEMENT - Weird Weekend North 2018 - Mark RaInes' Podcast - Mr Biffo and Digitiser TV • Archie sings the Beach Boys • Watcher of the skies • New and rediscovered: New mastiff bat in South America • New and rediscovered: New armoured catfish in South America • New and rediscovered: New lizard in South America • New and rediscovered: New cave millipede • New and rediscovered: New genus of freshwater crab • New and rediscovered: New genus of clearwing moth • New and rediscovered: New boa in the Bahamas • New Indian lizards • Fair use • Coming next month • The Patreon campaign • The team says goodbye until next month You can support us, and help us make this show ever more bigger and better at our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/CFZ

    NEWS FROM NOWHERE: Thursday

    ON THIS DAY IN - 44 BC - Roman Emperor Julius Caesar was assassinated by high ranking Roman Senators. The day is known as the "Ides of March." 
    And now some more recent news from the CFZ Newsdesk


  • Reptile Diversity in Food Markets in Laos – via He...
  • Marine animals explore the ocean in similar ways
  • 5.5 million-year-old fossil turtle species sheds l...
  • How bats carry viruses without getting sick


  • North Atlantic right whales may face extinction af...

  • 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)