DISAPPOINTING NEWS

I received an e-mail late last night from Lars Thomas.

Hi Guys,Finally we have the results of the DNA analysis of the antler samples from India. It has taken an awful lot of time, but we do need to check and recheck and check again - and earn a living every now and then :-).

Unfortunately there was no new species in there after all...

The antlers turned out to be from a Sambhur (Sambar) deer -(Rusa unicolor) presumably a juvenile - because although the antlers of an adult resemble those of a fallow deer, the antlers of the juvenile surprised me greatly by looking like those of a muntjac.

It is mildly disappointing but our job is to find out the truth, and not purely to look for cryptids, and we have found the truth.

Richard Freeman and I would like to thank Tom Gilbert and his team for all their painstaking work. And as I often do, I am going to take refuge in the words of Rudyard Kipling:

As the dawn was breaking the Sambhur belled --
Once, twice and again!
And a doe leaped up, and a doe leaped up
From the pond in the wood where the wild deer sup.
This I, scouting alone, beheld,
Once, twice, and again!

TEST RESULT ON INDIA SAMPLE

The India Expedition brought back several sets of samples last November. One was this bone, found deep in some caves. Lars Thomas confirmed to us a couple of days ago that it was from an adult human, and quite old. He is disposing of it with due reverence, but meanwhile... the search continues.

ADAM DAVIES: Civil War in Garo Hills

Hi Jon,

Please can you post this on the CFZ website? It seems like we had a very lucky escape. I have just heard from Dipu that there has been 'communal fighting' between the Garos and Rabha people from Assam. As a result the Garo border is closed, shops and vehicles are burnt out, and people have been killed. I understand that National Geographic have cancelled their planned expedition to search for the Mande-Burung. I have checked on our team and can confirm that they are okay.

Adam.

ANOTHER PIECE OF POTENTIALLT EXCITING NEWS FROM THE INDIA EXPEDITION

I have been saving this nice little titbit for Christmas Eve. Whilst in India the team examined the pelt of a red panda shot in the Garo Hills during the 1960s. This is particularly interesting because there are none of these animals known nearer than Bhutan. At the very least this is evidence for a marked extension of their known range.

However, it may be even more interesting. Compare the tail with the animals pictured here. This may of course be due to bleaching from the sun or a similar cause but samples have been sent to Lars Thomas, who is working through quite a backlog of CFZ related stuff at the moment.



Watch this space.

SOME POTENTIALLY EXCITING NEWS

During their time in India, the CFZ team may have made a very interesting discovery. Richard writes:

In the town of Tura in Meghalaya we interviewed Llewellyn Marak, historian, naturalist and author. His grandfather, a noted hunter, had seen the mande-barung. He also showed his late father’s extensive collection of hunting trophies.

Eagle-eyed Jon McGowan spotted something unusual among them. There were a pair of muntjac horns of unbelievable size.

On closer examination these very distinctive horns proved to be even larger than those of the giant muntjac (Muntiacus vuquangensis) of Vietnam and Laos. The accompanying photo shows the horns next to those of the Indian muntjac (Muntiacus muntjak), the startling size difference is apparent. Local people have a name for this particular deer. The call it ‘matchok’.

As you can see in the lower picture, Jon cut of some of the inside of the horn to be analysed by Lars Thomas and his team at the University of Copenhagen.

INDIA EXPEDITION COVERAGE

That is it for India coverage for the time being. There will be other bits and bobs. Richard will be up next week again, so if enough people ask for more pictures, we shall see what we can do!

There will be a book-length expedition report on the India expedition, and it will include contributions from the expedition members as well as the folk on the ground in India. It will take some time to be put out so don't hold your breath. There will also be a full-length documentary film. Expect both in the spring. We have somewhat of a backlog at the moment and do not want to make any unrealistic promises....

INDIA EXPEDITION: Last Video Report

INDIA EXPEDITION: Video Report #5

THE LAST BATCH OF PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THE INDIAN EXPEDITION... FOR NOW

Shireng R Marak, a two-thumbed village elder,

who heard the mande-barung's cry and was chased into a cave by it.

A swarm of yellow butterflies near the jungle stream at Imangri

A simulacrum of a huge footprint in limestone near a stream some miles from Imangri,

not to be confused with the real thing.

A dead whit- lipped tree viper we found in the jungle.

Jon fishing for a tarantula in a hole in the wall outside our lodge.

CAN YOU IDENTIFY THIS CATERPILLAR (AT LEAST TO GENUS)

This is another photograph from the India expedition. Max and I think that it is probably a Saturnid.

ANOTHER SET OF PICTURES FROM THE INDIA EXPEDITION

Me reading Kipling's wonderfull Jungle Books

(so cheapened and ruined by Disney's crass cartoon) in the Indian jungle.
The expedition team standing on the edge of the gorge at Balpakram
Neka the shaman who saw both the mande-barung and the sankuni
A canoe on the Simsang River.
A pied hornbill owned by a villiger. It was fond of chillies!

ANOTHER SET OF PICTURES FROM INDIA

A close-up of the bone found by Pintu at Siju. We brought half back for analysis

The ootheca or egg case of a praying mantis photographed at Balpakram.

Some of the strange stalagtite formations in the cave system

Weird white fungi growing on bat guano in Siju Cave

A cave crayfish, one of the inhabitants of the Siju caves

INDIA EXPEDITION: Jessica Taylor and a friend interview Richard

Before the expedition left for India, Richard was interviewed by 12-year-old Jessica Taylor (now a sophisticated young lady of 13). The interview was so popular that by general request we asked Jess to interview him again on his return. This time she bought a friend along...

INDIA EXPEDITION: Video Report #4

INDIA EXPEDITION: Video Report #3

MORE PICTURES FROM INDIA (Captions by Richard Freeman)

Pintu, one of our guides, who found a mysterious bone in Siju caves

Me in Siju cave, looking for bones

Chris, Adam and I outside of Siju Cave, where a village headman reported an encounter with a mande-barung

Chris and Dave on an old fashioned jungle suspension bridge, minus Johnny Weissmuller

The beautiful Simsang River, where the sankuni, a huge mystery snake, has been reported.

INDIA EXPEDITION: Second Video Report

INDIA EXPEDITION: Second Video Report

MORE PICTURES FROM INDIA (Captions by Richard Freeman)

A fallen tree blocked the trail up into Nokrek National Park.

We had to cut it up with a saw!

A shot of the jungle at Nokrek. It is some of the most undisturbed
rainforest in India and the home of the wild ancestor of the orange.


The nest of a wild boar found on our first day at Nokrek.
The mande-burung is said to build huge nests by
twisting branches together to form a kind of roof.

A view of the beautiful Simsang (rice pot) river at Baghimara.
Of an evening I read Kipling's Jungle Books
(so cheapened and bastardised by Disney)
overlooking the Simsang as the sun went down.

This is a whip scorpion captured by Dave Archer.
Despite appearances, it is harmless due to lacking a sting like true scorpions.

INDIA EXPEDITION: First Video Report

For the next week we shall be posting pictures and a brief video from the India expedition.

FIRST PICTURES FROM INDIA (Captions by Richard Freeman)

A few weeks prior to our arrival the jungle was filled with elephants passing through the area.

Each morning we heard the hoolock gibbons calling from deep in the forest.

This is a tourist lodge in the jungle at Nokrek. It is made to look like a traditional Garo house.

One night, or so our guide Rudy said, a tiger was prowling around it, attracted by the live chickens.

Sadly we didn't see hide nor hair of it!

We sampled a local wild fruit that the guides called 'tescun.'

It was quite delicious, but also quite unlike anything I have tasted before.

Describing the flavour would be akin to trying to describe a new colour never seen before!

One of our first ports of call was Nokrek National Park.

There have been several recent mande-barung sightings here.

We set up several camera traps baited with fruit and left

them in the hope that the creature would be attracted.

We bought fresh produce from village markets; produce such as

fruit, rice, vegetables, eggs and live chickens. All of whom I named!
The food prepared by our guides in the jungle lodges
was far better than the fare we endured in Tura.