OLL LEWIS: Yesterday's News Today

http://cryptozoologynews.blogspot.com/

On this day in 1901 78 miners died in the Caerphilly pit disaster. The event is of Fortean significance because according to newspaper reports at the time the disaster had been predicted by an unusually large number of birds flying around the pit, following local superstitions that ‘corpse birds’ will appear when someone’s death is imminent.

And now, the news:

Tiny but deadly rare frogs bred in UK
Baby bonobos tragic victims of illegal trading
Abandoned Crab Pots Threaten Diamondback Terrapins
Tadpoles Screaming Underwater Show Unsuspected Sentience
Prehistoric' Frogs May Face Extinction
'Experienced' Female Lizards Attract Greater Attention
Three New Monitor Lizards from the Philippines
Gulf Oil Again Imperils Sea Turtle

It’s a ‘turtle’ disaster.

HEAD'S UP FROM AUBREY

Hello Jon,

it's Aubrey the whale artist from Toronto. Love your work I make it my mission to read every story every day, and I love everything you do. Below is a link of a strange unknown animal discovered only days ago in Northern Ontario. No one is sure what it is, but I must say it is very strange looking. Wishing you all the best

http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/292321

Thank you to everyone else who sent me the story. Personally I think it is a dead otter, but I would be interested in your opinions....

For Those Who Flip A Lot Of Rocks. (Via HerpDigest)

I don't usually pinch things wholesale from other sources, but this piece on Herpdigest about the effects of micro-environmental degradation was so interesting (and potentially devastating) that I decided to make an exception..

Interesting study from Australia (by David Pike) demonstrating the negative effects of moving cover materials and not replacing them. Be sure to practice proper field ettiquette as it certainly looks like replacing rocks and logs is important from a habitat perspective (most of you probably already do this anyway).
Jeff Hall/Partners in Amphibian & Reptile Conservation Biologist/NC Wildlife Resources Commission/405 Lancelot Drive/Greenville, NC 27858
cell: 252-917-1683/ http://www.ncparc.org

For Those Who Flip A Lot Of Rocks.

http://www.conservationmaven.com/frontpage/when-habitat-destruction-is-extremely-subtle.html

When it comes to habitat destruction, startling events like oil spills and deforestation are certain to grab the headlines.

Yet as a new study in the journal Animal Conservation shows, sometimes habitat destruction can be so subtle that it passes under the eyes of all but the most astute scientists.

David Pike and fellow researchers from the University of Sydney look at the case of reptiles in outcrops and find that people moving rocks less than 30 centimeters out of place can ruin the habitat for species like the endangered broad-headed snake that shelter in narrow crevices.

This impact to rocky environments is widespread across the world, particularly from reptile enthusiasts, researchers, and collectors who move rocks slightly out of place to search for their favorite species.

With an elaborate experimental design, Pike and his team were able to show that altering the position of rocks negatively impacts reptile habitat by modifying crevice microconditions that species prefer.

The study also demonstrated that the impact is easily reversible by restoring the rocks to their original position.

The researchers surveyed for lizards in Morton National Park in southeastern Australia under previously disturbed and undisturbed rocks.

Disturbed rocks are easily identifiable because they normally fit flush with underlying substrate (i.e. they do not wobble when pushed) and displacement usually leaves a light colored "scar."

The researchers found that broad-headed snakes and their prey, velvet geckos, were much less likely to be found under disturbed rocks.

The scientists also conducted a field experiment in which they found 26 pairs of previously disturbed rocks and returned one rock from each pair to its original setting.
They found the restored rocks harbored a much greater number of reptiles, showing that the impact is easily reversible.

It also provides evidence that changes in the crevice habitat itself cause the decreased reptile numbers under disturbed rocks rather than people scaring the animals or collecting them.

To understand how rock displacement alters habitat microconditions, the researchers took life-sized casts of the crevices under disturbed and restored rocks and compared the differences in surface area. They also placed data loggers in the crevices over a period of time to compare differences in microclimatic conditions.

The researchers found that restoration increased crevice surface area by 59% and raised mean daily minimum temperatures.

The findings from this study will hopefully raise awareness among resource managers in rocky environments to warn hikers and reptile enthusiasts in particular against displacing rocks from their original setting.

As the study shows, sometimes the ideal habitat for species forms over geological time and can be destroyed in the matter of a second by an act as subtle as moving a rock a few centimeters out of place.

 by Rob Goldstein. This article was also writtern for EcoTone, a blog produced by the Ecological Society of America. EcoTone showcases ecology and ecologists, focusing on ecological science in the news and its use in policy and education.

Pike, D., Croak, B., Webb, J., & Shine, R. (2010). Subtle - but easily reversible - anthropogenic disturbance seriously degrades habitat quality for rock-dwelling reptiles Animal Conservation DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-1795.2010.00356.x

NEIL ARNOLD: ....If This Was : Part 2 (images copyright Neil Arnold)

If This Was In The Pacific Northwest, would it be Bigfoot?

DALE DRINNON: Attempting a Composite Jersey Devil Profile

The Jersey Devil, sometimes called the Leeds Devil, is a legendary creature or cryptid said to inhabit the Pine Barrens in southern New Jersey. The creature is often described as a flying biped with hooves, but there are many variations. [1] The Jersey Devil has worked its way into the pop culture of the area, even lending its name to New Jersey's team in the National Hockey League.

...Throughout the 1800s, the Jersey Devil was blamed for livestock killings, strange tracks, and reported sounds. In the early 1900s, a number of people in New Jersey and neighboring states claimed to witness the Jersey Devil or see its tracks. Claims of a corpse matching the Jersey Devil's description arose in 1957[Generallysaid to be a hoax]. In 1960, the merchants around Camden offered a $10,000 reward for the capture of the Jersey Devil, even offering to build a private zoo to house the creature if captured.[3]

[1,3] McCrann, Grace-Ellen (26 October 2000). "Legend of the New Jersey Devil". The New Jersey Historical Society. http://www.jerseyhistory.org/legend_jerseydevil.html. Retrieved 16 February 2010.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jersey_Devil




As many readers might know, I was at one time a major contributor to the SITU and had full access to Ivan Sanderson's library and archives before they were broken up and sent away to various other institutions (I am currently in contact with an organisation that has retrieved most of the files).


After an initial survey of Jersey Devil reports subitted by Loren Coleman and Jerome Clark in the early 1970s, Ivan Sanderson sent them a letter (which I have seen) explaining that he considered the Jersey Devil sightings to be based on a large condor-like bird or 'Thunderbird' and he explained why. He also said that there was a secret society at work in New Jersey that would attack undesirable neighbours with acts of terrorism, framing the Jersey Devil as the cause (something out of Scooby Doo, but more deadly serious: the perpetrators would destroy livestock and leave faked tracks among other things). This secret society had been in existance since colonial times and was largely perpetrated by certain member families, operating along similar lines to the Ku Klux Klan.

However, once the obvious hoaxes and mistakes are sorted out, there are still any number of alleged Jersey Devil sightings, particularly in the 'Flying Horrible' category. There is something generally like a huge eagle that leaves large three-toed footprints and then again assorted other 'devils', which include trails of 'Devil's Footprints' such as seen in Devonshire in 1855 and 2009 (these would seem to have a natural origin not requiring the invention of a 'devil' to explain them). It seems that anything out of the ordinary in New Jersey gets slapped with the 'Jersey Devil' tag, and this includes sightings of bears, pumas, kangaroos and even a possible 'Mothman' or two, and unfortunately the inevitable bald dogs more recently. But most of the sightings are 'Jabberwocks' seen just once apiece for any sort of detailed description given.

In January 1909 came the most impressive series of Jersey Devil sightings when about a hundred individuals in Northern New Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania claimed to have seen it. The only scientific opinion advanced was that it could have been a relic pterodactyl that people were describing. Any or all of the sightings during this 'flap' period could be lies or hallucinations based on fear aroused by the 'Devil's Hoofprints' that were appearing at the same time. No single blanket explanation would cover all of the 'Devil' experiences at the time, unless it really was an outbreak of amorphous demons, since all the sightings described something different.

The following is a sampler of the reported traits: large crane-like bird; glowing head (eyes?); ram-like horns curling around the back of the head (this may have been an appearance caused by wrinkled and warty skin rather than actual horns); long thin legs and long thin wings; short useless forelegs pressed to the chest (which might be imaginary); squawking and whistling; red glowing eyes; bird legs and horse's head; bat wings; long tail with barb at the end; forked tail; alligator skin; breathed fire; one horn on the head; tail like an ostrich; monkey-like face; dogface; 3 feet high; 11 foot wingspan; winged kangaroo; head like (the size of?) a collie dog and face like a horse; long neck; 3 1/2 feet high; legs like a crane; horse's hoofs (probably to match the alleged footprints); split hoofs; human-like feet; 3-toed bird-like feet; wings about 2 feet long folded up (which meant possibly about a 10-12 foot wingspan with wings spread); 6 feet tall; 6-foot-long bird (beak to tail); feet hanging down as it flew; hopping on the ground; awkward flight close to the ground; effortless soaring high in the sky; hair and feathers; scales; red head; black, brown or grey colour on the rest of the body-occasionally reported as green or some other colour.

Some of the traits are possibly only imaginary or remembered incorrectly and exaggerated in the retelling. But there is no internal sorting criteria by which it could be guessed, which traits are more likely to be real and which ones might be false, as measured by the consensus of opinion. There is very little consensus of opinion.

This being in January with snow-covered ground, the 'fire-breathing' probably means no more than its breath made condensation or 'steam.' If it actually was a large condor-like bird, many of the reported traits would fit. These include the regularly-reported bird legs, feathers on the body and scales on the legs but a bald head and a ruff that looks like hair around the neck, the tail like an ostrich's, and even the different flight patters at different altitudes, even including the feet hanging down when it is flying at low level (this was a bird report but it was also the one that said 'human-like feet').

The comparison of the head to that of a horse or collie dog means that the head is an elongated oval, but the hooked beak is only very rarely mentioned. The size is also consistent if we take 3 to 3 and a half feet as the height and about ten feet as the wingspan: stretched out head to tail might be estimated as six feet long but probably that would be exaggerated.

This is, however, only after digging out the details. The reports as they stand sound nothing like condors at face value. Perhaps witnesses were so unnerved at seeing THE DEVIL at night that they all freaked out and were all confused about it afterwards. Perhaps some journalists took liberties with recording the reports afterwards

But basically all that can be said in summary is that if most of the witnesses are describing the same thing and that thing is a sort of a condor, then most of the reports that we have on record are remarkably bad reports.

• Bord, Janet and Bord, Colin. Alien Animals. Harrisburg, PA, Stackpoole books, 1981


• Clark, Jerome. UNEXPLAINED! Washington, DC, Visible Ink,1993


• MacDougall, Curtis D. Hoaxes. New York, Dover Books, 1958

MATTHEW WILLIAMS ASKED US TO PASS THIS ALONG

DIVINING THE WHITE HORSE & THE UFFINGTON COMPLEX

SAT JUNE 12th 10.30 - 3.30

Meet at the White Horse car park, Uffington. Only £25 per person. Dowse the ceremonial landscape and discover its secrets with authors and expert dowsers Maria Wheatley.

Wayland Smithy long barrow

Uffington Castle

The White Horse and The Older White Horse

The long lost fertility mare

St Mary’s Church

Dragon Hill

Interacting with spiral energy, vortex energy on the summit of Dragon Hill, the Belinus and Elen earth energy currents. The large Dragon Ley of Dragon Hill that courses through the countryside as if charging the entire complex with unseen energy. Track lines, power points and auric dowsing at St Marys.

Come along and meet likeminded people for a fascinating day out. Do something different this weekend!

mariawheatley@aol.com 01672 511427

www.theaveburyexperience.co.uk

OLL LEWIS: A Tale of Two Fishies

As most of you are probably aware we have a few eels at the CFZ, which we saved from being eaten by Cockneys. As the eels were not in the best of states when we got them it was sadly inevitable that despite our best efforts there would be some of the party that just didn’t make it. In all honesty they arrived in such a bad state, with some eels having chunks of skin missing and fungal infections, I was rather worried about their chances. However, thankfully two of the fellows have survived and would seem to be here to stay. The two eels couldn’t be more different, though.

A few months ago we had three eels, which had been getting along very happily together in their large tank in the office since last year: Eel-i Jenkins, Dan-eel Defoe and Ben Eel-ton (I bet you can’t guess who named them). When I came downstairs to feed and check on the animals, though, I noticed that Ben had been attacked. On inspection I saw that a chunk had been bitten out of his mid-section, removing the skin. Needless to say the prognosis did not look good and I removed him to another tank that I had set up for his recovery. As one of the two smaller eels in the tank, the other being Dan-eel, I had my suspicions that he had been attacked by Eel-i who was much larger than the other two in girth. I watched the tank and didn’t have to wait long for my suspicions to be confirmed, when Eel-i started trying to nip at Dan-eel. Needless to say I moved Dan-eel to another tank as well.

It looked for a while that Ben Eel-ton might survive against the odds and his wounds even started to heal before he eventually died about a fortnight after his ordeal, but the pre-emptive action has saved Dan-eel Defoe from a similar fate.

Since his separation from the other eels, Eel-i Jenkins has grown much larger and has a girth of perhaps three times that of Dan-eel. He struts around his tank confidently (or rather engages in the eel equivalent of strutting) and will eat anything. Although I have never tried him on anything more adventurous than meat, earthworms and fish pellets (and never will), I’m fairly sure that if something fell into his tank and he could get his jaws around it, he’d probably have a go at eating it within half an hour or so. Dan-eel, however, has hardly grown at all, remains rather thin and is a very fussy and picky eater. Dan-eel will eat nothing but earthworms and even then will approach them with caution, eat one or two and leave the rest. He is a lot more confident then he was when he was housed with Eel-i and stretches out around his tank more than he used to, which shows that he is aware that there are no competing eels around, but he seems to just eat the bare minimum he needs to survive out of fear that a bigger eel might turn up and demand the lion's share. Hopefully with time he will realise that this is not going to happen and start eating more and bulk up like Eel-i has.

Another reason for the differences between the two eels might be age: they were all the same size when we got them, but that does not necessarily mean they were the same age. Eel-i may well be a year or two older than Dan-eel and maybe getting ready to go off to spawn. Indeed, after finding Eel-i happily slithering around on the office floor about a fortnight ago I had to make a much more secure lid for his tank and change his lighting system to accommodate the new lid. From his general colouration, however, Eel-i is certainly not a silver eel yet, so could grow much larger. It is even possible that Eel-i could be a eunuch eel, which if so would give us a unique opportunity to observe the growth and size of a creature that could be responsible for a large number of lake monster sightings, including those of the Loch Ness monster. Even if Eel-i is just a regular eel it is fascinating to see how remarkably different Eel-i and Dan-eel are both physically and psychologically and to see just how much of the differences are due to environmental factors.