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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Thursday, March 19, 2015

BIGFOOT NEWS IN BRIEF



Possible Bigfoot Tracks Found in Maine (Video)
This set of tracks was found by a lady in northeastern Maine and sent to Michael Merchant to examine. Could these be Bigfoot tracks? What do you ...

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.



THE GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN RETREATS

The Gonzo Daily - Thursday
 
I am not going to bellyache on about my illnesses, but yesterday - particularly last night - was not very nice. I still can't hear a thing, which makes my activities as a music journalist somewhat difficult. However, there are two interesting bits of UK cryptozoological news. There have been three sightings of a yellow legged tortoiseshell in Norfolk. Whether these are ones that bred here last year and have successfully overwintered, or whether they are stragglers from mainland Europe is unsure. Either way this is brilliant news, because until last year there had only ever been one UK record of this delightful butterfly, and that was back in 1953. There was a significant invasion of our shores last year, and those people who care about such things are hoping that this will lead to us having a new species on the books. The species has already successfully colonised Sweden and Denmark.
 
And the other piece of news is particularly gratifying for me. Twenty years ago, in my book The Smaller Mystery Carnivores of the Westcountry, I annoyed a lot of people in the Natural History establishment, including various folk at the Mammal Society and the Natural History Museum, by insisting that our rarest carnivore, the Pine Marten, was not extinct in the Westcountry. I was vilified by all and sundry, but recent evidence has proved that relict populations have indeed hung on in parts of England, and finally there has now been a trail cam picture from Cornwall. Sometimes the old hippy can be right, so yah boo sucks.
 
 
The Gonzo Weekly #121
www.gonzoweekly.com
 
Annie Haslam, Renaissance, Gryphon, Daevid Allen, Hawkwind, Jon Anderson, and Yes fans had better look out!
 
The latest issue of Gonzo Weekly (#121) is another bumper one at 96 pages and IS available to read at www.gonzoweekly.com, and to download at http://www.gonzoweekly.com/pdf/. It has Annie Haslam on the cover, and an exclusive interview with her inside, as well as the Renaissance European Tour Dates. Doug Harr interviews Gryphon, but of course the whole magazine was disrupted totally by the untimely death of Daevid Allen on Friday. There are tributes and his last messages inside. We send cartoonist Mark Raines to a Desert Island. Neil Nixon reports on an even stranger album than usual, Wyrd goes avant garde and there are radio shows from Strange Fruit and from M Destiny at Friday Night Progressive, and the titular submarine dwellers are still lost at sea, although I have been assured that they will hit land again soon. There is also a collection of more news, reviews, views, interviews and pademelons trying to choose (OK, nothing to do with small marsupials having difficulty in making choices, 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:
Sandy Denny, John Lennon, Bjork, Muse, Noel Gallagher, Ringo Starr, Steve Strange, Daevid Allen, Strange Fruit, Friday Night Progressive, Terry Pratchett, Jimmy Greenspoon, Sam Simon, Lewis Michael Soloff, Tommy James, Mick Abrahams, Firemerchants, Dee Palmer, Atkins May Project, Wagner, Hawkwind, Karnataka, Paul Buff, Frank Zappa, Charli XCX, Garth Brooks, 5 Seconds of Summer, Ed Sheeran, Annie Haslam, Gryphon, Hawkwind, Yes, Rick Wakeman, Chris Squire, Peter Banks, Trevor Rabin, Bill Bruford,Kanye West, Take That, Beatles, Blues Brothers, 1D,Neil Nixon, Eden Ahbez,Death Dealer, Ecnephias, Edge, Giuntini Project, Aktarum
 

Read the previous few issues of Gonzo Weekly:
 
 
 
 
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:
http://www.gonzoweekly.com/pdf/
 

* 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.com/…/all-gonzo-news-wots-fit
 
* 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 55 who - together with an infantile orange cat named after a song by Frank Zappa puts it all together from a converted potato shed in a tumbledown cottage deep in rural Devon which he shares with various fish, and sometimes a small Indian frog. 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 infantile orange cat?

NEWS FROM NOWHERE - Thursday

ON THIS DAY IN 1571 - Spanish troops occupied Manila.
And now some more recent news from the CFZ Newsdesk


  • Native toads avoid aggressive ants
  • How planthoppers got (and changed) their wings
  • Bug-Eyed Catfish Named for Greedo in 'Star Wars'
  • Chimpanzees will travel for preferred foods, innov...
  • New species of aetosaur discovered in North Caroli...


  • David Leyonhjelm wants native wildlife kept as pet...

  • 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)