Cadborosaurus, Filmed In Alaska?

By erika on 8/26/10 3:56pm
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The cryptozoology world is lighting up with talk of a video which shows a cryptid many are tentatively identifying as cadborosaurus.  The video will be shown on the Discovery Channel some time in September (no air date yet) but several prominent cryptozoologists have seen it already, and feel it's legit.  (P.S., stay classy, Cryptomundo.)

Cadborosaurus willsi, known colloquially as "Caddy," is a species name coined to cover a sea serpent which is said to frolic off the coast of British Columbia. Similar to the Loch Ness Monster, Ogopogo, Champ and other plesiosaur-like creatures, Caddy has a head like a horse, a long neck, flippers, and an undulating spine.  Cadborosaurus takes its name from Cadboro Bay in Victoria, where it has frequently been sighted.


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Stunning Critters: Weird Caterpillars

By erika on 8/11/10 4:37pm
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As autumn approaches, caterpillars start ramping up their feeding frenzy.  Most caterpillars spin their cocoons in fall, in order to emerge next spring as beautiful butterflies.  (Or, as is more often the case, as really boring moths.)  A caterpillar lives only to feed, and the later it gets in the season, the bigger - and more visible - caterpillars tend to become.

NOTE: Many caterpillars look cute and cuddly and fuzzy.  Don't be fooled!  As a general rule, the hairs of a caterpillar are poisonous.  Reactions range from mild itchiness to a full-blown reaction similar to that of poison ivy.  Never touch a caterpillar with your bare hands!  (Just in case, here's some helpful tips on dealing with caterpillar stings.)




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Radioactive Wild Boars Annex Germany

By erika on 8/6/10 12:15pm
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25 years after the Chernobyl meltdown, Germany's wild boar population is on the rise.  Unfortunately the boars don't respect human boundaries of state, and have been feeding on mushrooms over on the Ukrainian side of the border.  Mushrooms turn out to be excellent at absorbing radioactivity from their environment - which they then pass on to the boars.

German news outlet Spiegel is reporting that the problem of radioactive boar's meat is becoming serious, especially in the rural southern part of the country.  Although Germany has strict requirements on allowable radioactivity levels in wild game, many rural hunters are not going out into the field equipped with Geiger counters.


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Please Welcome Our Adorable New Zedonk Overlords

By erika on 7/29/10 10:45am
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Have you seen these pictures of the new zedonk baby, born to a donkey mother and a zebra father on a wildlife preserve in Georgia?  I think this is the result of what other donkeys call "stripe fever."  The little female was born on July 22nd, and appears to be wearing a pretty sweet set of striped legwarmers.  

(I like to imagine the little zedonk frolicking in a field with another recent hybrid, the sheep-goat cross called a "geep."  I bet they would become best friends!  I mean, if you think about it, they have so much in common!)

As unusual as they may sound, these crosses do occasionally occur.  Stripey love knows no bounds, and several donkey-zebra hybrids have been born.  Some of these hybrids did not live into adulthood, probably partly because of the genetic mis-match between donkeys (which have 62 chromosomes) and zebras (which have 32 to 46 chromosomes).


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Giant Dino Graveyard Discovered

By sarajean on 7/29/10 9:25am
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Centrosaurus SkullCentrosaurus SkullDo you remember the elephant graveyard scene in The Lion King? It was pretty creepy. Even without the crazy, cub-hungry hyenas, the atmosphere itself was enough to give a kid nightmares. (Disney has been known to do quite a few scenes like that, haven’t they?) Knowing that elephants do mourn their dead, I would have thought that an elephant graveyard would be more of a somber, respectful place—less ghoulish, more loving; you know, like how Rocky mourned Adrian.

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Stunning Critters: Sea Slugs

By mous on 7/20/10 12:53pm
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Sea slugs are pretty strange critters. They can be found just below the low tide line in tropical waters, clinging to underwater vegetation or creeping along the bottom of the ocean. Unlike their land crawling relatives, sea slugs are beautiful and come in an array of colors and textures. they are typically tiny, most under an inch long, but some have been spotted as long as 12 inches long.



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The Drop Croc

By erika on 7/14/10 3:53pm
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Not another Fearsome Critter, the drop croc is a real thing!  (Or was, having become extinct in the Pleistocene.)  

The drop croc is, just as you might expect from the name, an arboreal species of crocodile which "may have attacked prey by climbing trees and dropping on them."

Today there are only three families of crocodilians: crocodiles, alligators, and gharial.  But the Eocene was an era with expansive growth in the crocodilian line, which expanded to fill the ecological niches left behind by the sudden absence of the dinosaurs.  


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Lion Cubs Born in PA Animal Park

By sarajean on 7/13/10 8:47am
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Though they’ve been extinct in the wild since 1921, three baby Barbary lion cubs were born at the Living Treasures Wild Animal Park of Lawrence County, Pennsylvania on July 7. Pictures of the rare cubs—adorably spotted at birth—can be viewed here.

The lion’s famous thick, dark manes made the animals largely sought after, and they were hunted to death by humans. Today, only a handful of the lions exist in a few zoos around the world.

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Black Dogs

By erika on 6/27/10 1:38pm
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Although demonic apparitions and monsters are one thing, and ghost dogs are quite another, the British Isles have a long history of demonic apparitions of ghost dogs colloquially known as "Black Dogs."  These Black Dogs roam the British countryside at night, eyes glowing orange or green, frightening the locals and portending doom.  In fact, Black Dogs are so common that it seems that every area of the UK has its own resident Black Dog.


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The Elusive Splintercat

By erika on 6/11/10 1:26pm
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When I was a young and impressionable child, somewhere I picked up a book about Fearsome Critters.  It covered all of the legendary animals created whole cloth by loggers and other assorted woodsmen, from the drop bear to the sidehill gouger.  One of my favorites was the splintercat.  Not only was the description fascinating, but it was a kitty, and I was an eight year-old girl.  Mea culpa!  I liked kitties.  (Also, stickers.)


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