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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Sunday, September 22, 2013

CRYPTOLINK: Cryptozoological researchers bring the bigfoot hunt to Fairbanks

A word about cryptolinks: we are not responsible for the content of cryptolinks, which are merely links to outside articles that we think are interesting (sometimes for the wrong reasons), usually posted up without any comment whatsoever from me.


FAIRBANKS — Bigfoot. Nessie. Spectral phantasms floating the Yukon Flats. Scoff if you will, but as Fox Mulder noted, “The truth is out there.”
That’s kind of the approach Mike Esordi takes when researching myths, monsters and creatures from the cryptozoological world — he doesn’t know if they exist, but for Esordi and his team of researchers, it’s a whole lot of fun to explore and try to find out.

Esordi and his team of three researchers will be in Fairbanks on Sept. 4 presenting their findings on and querying the public about those things that go bump in the night, be they bigfoot, UFOs, sea creatures and even monster-type myths native to Bush Alaska.
“Research is just one thing we do,” Esordi said. “We’re also adventurers and crypto adventurers. We do a little bit of everything. We cover five major categories: the paranormal, cryptozoology, extraterrestrial, folklore and monsters. We throw folklore and monsters in there to cover anything out of the ordinary.”
Esordi and his team arrives in Anchorage today from Connecticut, where they will dive right in to all of the bizarre that Alaska has to offer. Plans include visiting the Alaska Native Heritage Center in Anchorage to connect with Native storytellers to check out stories of Native legends of sea creatures and sasquatches roaming the Alaska wilds. From there, the group will travel across the state in an RV and visit Denali, Fairbanks, Valdez and several Bush villages all in search of the things that may or may not exist.

WORLD RHINO DAY



World Rhino Day is on September 22 and celebrates all five species of rhino: Black, white, greater one-horned, Sumatran and Javan rhinos.
World Rhino Day was first announced by WWF-South Africa in 2010. The following year, World Rhino Day grew into an international success, encompassing both African and Asian rhino species, thanks to the efforts of two determined women …
It all started with an email: In mid-2011, Lisa Jane Campbell of Chishakwe Ranch in Zimbabwe was already planning ahead for World Rhino Day. She searched online for ideas and potential collaborators, and found Rhishja’s blog. Lisa Jane sent Rhishja an email, and the two found they shared a common goal of making World Rhino Day a day of celebration for all five species of rhino. In the months that followed, they worked together to make World Rhino Day 2011 an international success, both online and offline. 

World Rhino Day has since grown to become a global phenomenon, uniting NGOs, zoos, cause-related organizations, businesses, and concerned individuals from nearly every corner of the world!

VIDEO: “Kill the cull, not England’s badgers” – Dr Jane Goodall’s message to the Government



‘MASSIVE SUFFERING’: Jane Goodall‘MASSIVE SUFFERING’: Jane Goodall
BOURNEMOUTH resident and world-renowned primatologist Dr Jane Goodall has sent a powerful message to the Government urging it to abandon the badger cull, warning of “massive suffering”.
The chimpanzee expert and conservationist released a Youtube video following a statement from the Zoological Society of London against the use of badger culling in the control of bovine tuberculosis.
Dr Goodall rose to fame after her landmark study of chimpanzee behaviour in Tanzania and established the Jane Goodall Institute which continues her ground-breaking research.
In her message, the Durley Chine resident said: “The proposed killing will result in massive suffering for the badgers. They are intelligent animals. Like us, they feel apprehension and fear. Like us, they feel pain.
“And even those responsible for the plan have admitted that many animals will not be killed outright but will die maybe days later and many will know terror and great pain.”
Dorset Wildlife Trust was amongst the organisations which signed the online Team Badger petition opposing the badger cull.
The record-breaking petition received 263,000 signatures pledging support against the government policy of killing badgers in a bid to control the spread of bovine tuberculosis in cattle.

FORTEAN BIRD NEWS FROM THE WATCHER OF THE SKIES

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. So after about six months of regular postings on the main bloggo Corinna took the plunge and started a 'Watcher of the Skies' blog of her own as part of the CFZ Bloggo Network.






TODAY'S BIG CAT ROUND UP



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. In September 2012 Emma Osborne decided that the Mystery Cat Study Group really deserved a blog of its own within the CFZ Blog






  • US SIGHTING: Big Cat? - Naugatuck's Wildlife - Nau...
  • NEWSLINK: Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh compete to inc...
  • AUSTRALIA SIGHTINGS: Couple sees 'cat-like' myster...
  • NEWSLINKS: A round up of big cat genome stories


  • THE GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN IS SENSIBLE


     
    It's Sunday, there's a bracing breeze
    and I feel as mad as a bagful of cheese,
    but once again I find the time
    to do the Gonzo blogs in rhyme
     
    Why? purely for my own amusement
    I have to explain to people's bemusement
    and Rob Ayling lets me do it, so
    I carry on (hohohohohohoho)
     
    But let's start with the Gonzo Magazine
    the grooviest publication that you've ever seen
    issue 44 has just gone out
    so, c'mon, give a joyous shout
    http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2013/09/gonzo-weekly-magazine-44.html
     
    And the Gonzo Track of the Day today
    is from Hugh Hopper (shout wayhay)
    a man who really was the ace
    at playing jazz rock fusion bass
    http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-gonzo-track-of-day-hugh-hopper-and.html
     
    Jon Anderson is a musical magus
    and next week he's playing in Las Vegas
    with 'Raiding the Rock Vault' can't you guess,
    he'll be singing three classic songs by Yes
    http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2013/09/ex-yes-singer-jon-anderson-expecting.html
     
    And now a band that we all dig,
    the one and only Blodwyn Pig,
    who (and I'll confide in you)
    really deserve this ace review
    http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2013/09/brilliant-blodwyn-pig-review.html
     
    Now be cheerful, don't be dour
    Erik Norlander is going on tour
    and I'm pleased to tell you mates
    we have got the tour dates
    http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2013/09/erik-norlander-tour-dates.html
     
    And that's enough poetry for now
    but we'll be back next week (and how!)
     

    *  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:
    http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2012/11/all-gonzo-news-wots-fit-to-print.html
     
    * 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 54 who - together with his orange cat (who is currently on sick leave in Staffordshire) and two very small kittens (one of whom is also orange) 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 orange cat?

    WALLY THE COMEDY RHINOCEROS: Yesterday's News Today

    Oll is away, so for todayYesterday's News Today is done by Wally the Comedy Rhinoceros. He is a stand up comedian of some renown. Here is one of his rhino-related jokes.

    Q: What happens to a rhino-armor when it gets wet? 
    A: It rhinocer-rusts!

    Ha Ha that was funny. Sidesplitting. Yes. Ha!

    Now for the news...



  • Molasses Spill Suffocating Hawaiian Reef Fish
  • Climate Change: Polar Bears Change to Diet With Hi...
  • 'Cascade of Events' Caused Sudden Explosion of Ani...
  • Experts Fear Airborne Spread of Deadly Pig Virus
  • New spiny rat discovered in 'birthplace of evoluti...
  • 'I'm FINished with Fins' Shark Campaign Launches i...


  • And now for a happy tune that you can whistle while you work: