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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, March 03, 2010

GLEN VAUDREY: The last dive between the pages of `The Savage World`

For my final dive between the pages of The Savage World I look at one of my favourite animals and perhaps the most likely extinct animal to make a return to the known world, the thylacine.

Strangely, the author appears to have a little difficulty picking a name for it and comes up with five different ones in the same short passage.

‘The Zebra Wolf, or Dog-headed Opossum (Thylacynus cynocephalus), is not strictly an opossum, for its hind feet lack thumbs, the tail is hairy and non-prehensile, and it has too few incisor teeth in each jaw. It is called the Tasmanian wolf, the Australian tiger, the Zebra wolf, and the Australian hyena. It is carnivorous like the wolf, to which it has many resemblances. Its body slopes forward in consequence of its hind legs being longer than the fore legs; its elongated thick muzzle is almost cylindrical, its tail broad at the base tapers to a point, and it dresses itself in gray indulging, however in black stripes across its back and hind legs.

It is very destructive to flocks and is hence anything but a favorite with farmers. Its digestion is sufficiently remarkable to admit of its competing with the goat or the ostrich, since it has been known to eat the porcupine, quills and all.


The animal is nocturnal in its habits and specially particular about making its home wherever the light of day cannot penetrate. The animal has only rudimentary marsupial organs’

I will let the author off this time for not seeing the extinction of this animal coming. The last captive thylacine died on 7 September 1936 in Hobart Zoo, Tasmania. While that may be the official end, reports of sightings have carried on and I, like many others, would not be at all surprised if one or more examples appeared out of the bush in the next year or so.

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