Monday, 28 December 2015
A Walk On The Not-So-Wild Side
As a little aside I thought I'd post this since I found it yesterday in a file. Someone I knew wanted an illustration to go with an abduction report in a UK publication. They were in a panic -could I "pull one together?" I think the final illo (never returned -pre scan and computers!) I used more solid black on.
Interesting what you find in old files!
Well, Bigfoot Hunters Find Something Unexpected On Their Game Cam!
I miss a lot of things because my brain does too much! So when I set up this blog I thought people might kindly alert me to things.
No one ever does, though, so I missed this from last September!
http://www.kcet.org/news/redefine/rewild/mammals/bigfoot-hunters-have-found-something-unexpected-in-del-norte-county.html
No one ever does, though, so I missed this from last September!
http://www.kcet.org/news/redefine/rewild/mammals/bigfoot-hunters-have-found-something-unexpected-in-del-norte-county.html
Not Bigfoot, but pretty dang rare: A Humboldt marten | Photo: Bluff Creek Project
Myths die hard in the wilds of the Klamath and
Trinity mountains. Though the majority of biologists agree that the
large, hominid-appearing creature known as "Bigfoot" is a flight of
fancy, the cryptic creature has its diehard defenders. And a few of them
just made an important contribution to California wildlife science --
though not in a way they expected.
It'd be hard to think of a better place for a large, human-shaped wild animal to remain undetected in California than the interior of Humboldt and Del Norte counties, whose steep, rugged terrain and thick forests provide unparalleled wildlife habitat. And in fact, the one mental image most North Americans have of Bigfoot comes from a film shot at Bluff Creek, a tributary of the Klamath River in Del Norte County. The so-called "Patterson-Gimlin film" is controversial, with many biologists calling it a hoax, a sentiment shared even by some Bigfoot believers.
But there's been no slam-dunk debunking of the Patterson-Gimlin film, so a group calling itself the Bluff Creek Project has been setting up camera traps along the stretch of Bluff Creek where the 1967 film was shot, in hopes of getting better, less-shaky footage of the critter... or of getting none at all, to confirm most biologists' suspicions. And those camera traps have been quite productive. They haven't caught any images of Bigfoot so far, but they have captured two images of a creature so rare it was thought extinct not too long ago.
It'd be hard to think of a better place for a large, human-shaped wild animal to remain undetected in California than the interior of Humboldt and Del Norte counties, whose steep, rugged terrain and thick forests provide unparalleled wildlife habitat. And in fact, the one mental image most North Americans have of Bigfoot comes from a film shot at Bluff Creek, a tributary of the Klamath River in Del Norte County. The so-called "Patterson-Gimlin film" is controversial, with many biologists calling it a hoax, a sentiment shared even by some Bigfoot believers.
But there's been no slam-dunk debunking of the Patterson-Gimlin film, so a group calling itself the Bluff Creek Project has been setting up camera traps along the stretch of Bluff Creek where the 1967 film was shot, in hopes of getting better, less-shaky footage of the critter... or of getting none at all, to confirm most biologists' suspicions. And those camera traps have been quite productive. They haven't caught any images of Bigfoot so far, but they have captured two images of a creature so rare it was thought extinct not too long ago.
That animal isn't a seven-foot ape with large
feet: it's an adorable little member of the weasel family known as the
Humboldt marten.
The marten, known to science as Martes caurina humboldtensis, once ranged through the California redwood belt from Sonoma County north to coastal Oregon. Now it's down to fewer than 200 individuals, which is no surprise given that the little weasel has lost something like 95 percent of its habitat to logging and other industry.
In fact, the Humboldt marten is so rare that for a few decades, it was thought to have gone extinct... until a few individuals were sighted in 1996. It's so rare, in fact, that very few photographs of the marten exist, as evidenced by our reusing the one Humboldt marten photo we could find in our previous coverage of the animal.
As we mention in that previous coverage, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decided in April not to give the marten protection under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. That decision prompted a perhaps predictable reaction. In early September, two wildlife protection groups, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC) , to notify the agency they'd be taking it to court to force it to reconsider its decision.
Just a week after EPIC and the Center notified USFWS they'd be hauling them into court, the Bluff Creek Project posted new camera trap photos from the Patterson-Gimlin site on its blog. The team's camera had caught at least two images of a Humboldt marten. One showed a marten scampering in a light dusting of snow, and another, clearer image showing an animal in almost the same spot during warmer weather.
Capturing the images at all was a fluke, according to The Bluff Creek
Project's Jamie Wayne. "Truth be told we have been catching glimpses of
[martens] for years," writes Wayne. "Our cameras are set about two feet
off of the ground and the triggers are not set to fire on small
animals. The only reason we captured this one is because the camera had
malfunctioned."
That malfunction caused the camera, which was pointing lower than intended, to record more than 1,200 images between October 2014 and this past June, filling 8.4 gigabytes of space on the camera's card. (For those of you who've noticed the discrepancy between this story and the timestamp on that winter photo above, it also reset the camera's clock back about 8 months.)
That's a lot of images to sort through, and Wayne writes that he understandably didn't get to them right away.
It's no Bigfoot, but it's still a big deal. Regardless of what you think about the likelihood of Bigfoot's existence -- personally, I doubt they exist but I agree with primatologist Jane Goodall that it would be nice if they were real -- the fact that the Bigfoot legend has inspired people to get out and record rare California wildlife seems an undeniable Good Thing.
For the record: an earlier version of this article wrongly suggested that Jane Goodall doesn't believe Bigfoot exists. Apparently, as evidenced in a video provided by a commenter, she does. I regret the error.
_______________________________________________________________________
Okay, it isn't Sasquatch but it is a great "re-discovery" worth noting.
The marten, known to science as Martes caurina humboldtensis, once ranged through the California redwood belt from Sonoma County north to coastal Oregon. Now it's down to fewer than 200 individuals, which is no surprise given that the little weasel has lost something like 95 percent of its habitat to logging and other industry.
In fact, the Humboldt marten is so rare that for a few decades, it was thought to have gone extinct... until a few individuals were sighted in 1996. It's so rare, in fact, that very few photographs of the marten exist, as evidenced by our reusing the one Humboldt marten photo we could find in our previous coverage of the animal.
As we mention in that previous coverage, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decided in April not to give the marten protection under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. That decision prompted a perhaps predictable reaction. In early September, two wildlife protection groups, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC) , to notify the agency they'd be taking it to court to force it to reconsider its decision.
Just a week after EPIC and the Center notified USFWS they'd be hauling them into court, the Bluff Creek Project posted new camera trap photos from the Patterson-Gimlin site on its blog. The team's camera had caught at least two images of a Humboldt marten. One showed a marten scampering in a light dusting of snow, and another, clearer image showing an animal in almost the same spot during warmer weather.
The marten in winter | Photo: Bluff Creek Project
That malfunction caused the camera, which was pointing lower than intended, to record more than 1,200 images between October 2014 and this past June, filling 8.4 gigabytes of space on the camera's card. (For those of you who've noticed the discrepancy between this story and the timestamp on that winter photo above, it also reset the camera's clock back about 8 months.)
That's a lot of images to sort through, and Wayne writes that he understandably didn't get to them right away.
I retrieved the camera in late June of 2015 and check[ed] the photos. I saw that it had taken thousands and scanned a few in the field, I never thought much of them. It's been a busy summer for me working in Redwood National Park so I hadn't gone through all the still photos. I started working on it last week and I noticed the marten.Aside from the two clear marten photos, the camera also captured a few more marten candidates too blurry for positive ID, as well as deer, bears, a great blue heron, and -- according to Wayne -- lots of shots of running water.
It's no Bigfoot, but it's still a big deal. Regardless of what you think about the likelihood of Bigfoot's existence -- personally, I doubt they exist but I agree with primatologist Jane Goodall that it would be nice if they were real -- the fact that the Bigfoot legend has inspired people to get out and record rare California wildlife seems an undeniable Good Thing.
For the record: an earlier version of this article wrongly suggested that Jane Goodall doesn't believe Bigfoot exists. Apparently, as evidenced in a video provided by a commenter, she does. I regret the error.
_______________________________________________________________________
Okay, it isn't Sasquatch but it is a great "re-discovery" worth noting.
Lacheln's Achill Wolf
Interesting finds for which I make no guarantees since there is no original source on the German site.
Above: "Ein Wulf auf Achill Insel" c.1903
Below:"Canis lupus auf Achill Insel" c 1870
joke
Below:"Canis lupus auf Achill Insel" c 1870
joke
Saturday, 26 December 2015
So, HOW Bright Is "Eye Shine"?
People get confused when they hear someone on a TV programme say something like "I see eye-shine!" and don't understand just how bright it can be. So, two basic examples: a fox and a cat.
No flash was used on the camera (I'd never do that to a nocturnal animal) just a torch shone toward them.
Impressive!
No flash was used on the camera (I'd never do that to a nocturnal animal) just a torch shone toward them.
Impressive!
Black (Melanistic) Puma?
Of course, the 'experts' ("X" =The Unknown and "spurt" is a drip under pressure) say "impossible!" when it comes to a black puma. Because they have not read about one and they offer up all reasons WHY a puma like look black but is not -wet fur is usually a good one.
I have, in over three decades, spoken to people who have seen "the black panther" on the loose in the UK. They were close enough to give very clear descriptions. But while talking to them my mind was asking "What the hell are they talking about?"
You see, a puma looks different to a leopard -black or otherwise. So when observers add details that we naturalists call "pointers" (they help identify an animal) and you question them on these and you ask "Are you sure it was not just very dark grey -in the light the fur--" and a rather indignant response is: "Excuse me. It was ten feet from me in broad daylight and I have perfectly good eye-sight" then you have to conclude that they saw a black puma.
I can hear the idiots screaming "NO SUCH THING!!" right now.
People talked to me about the "that puma" others have seen and give perfect descriptions of a melanistic leopard (or "panther"). That is acceptable.
Whether farmer, police officers, members of the Armed Forces, doctors, nurses, naturalists and zoologists -whoever, so long as they report black leopards no problem. But a black puma? No, no, no, no!
I received a phone call one day from a man who was driving through a Welsh border area and took a wrong turning. As he slowed to try and turn on the dual carriageway he stopped the car. Several yards ahead of him, in the clearest conditions possible was a large black cat. The cat stood and looked at the driver before moving over the central road barrier and away. The man immediately got out of the car and walked slowly to where the cat had stood (next to the central road barrier) and used a tape measure to get length, height, etc. The man made a few enquiries and the localpolice gave him my contact details.
I spoke to the man who told me the size and estimated weight of the "melanistic puma" which was odd because most observers never say "melanistic" just black. I checked with a biologist who was interested in UK cat sightings. He laughed and said the man had obviously seen a panther and assumed that it was a puma. I was told to explain to him why it could not be a puma.
So, I called back the observer and explained what the biologist had said. I won't give his exact words but he pointed out that had it been a panther he would never have gotten out of the car to take the measurements. I pointed out that it was difficult to get anyone to believe that there were black pumas was there even the possibility of mistake? There wasn't. The man described the facil markings of the puma and point-for-point all the pointers.
I was told that a letter was on its way to me with all the details. I was then told the observers full name -I only had his surname at first. He was a Professor, a senior lecturer in zoology and biology and had workede at very well known universities and had done work in the United States and Canada -the latter involved work with pumas. He had also been a UK government advisor and when I heard his full name (I'm still waiting to hear whether I can give it in a book I'm working on) I think the blood drained from my face because he was very reputable. I was asked to get the biologist to phone him if he doubted the Professor's word. I certainly did not. The biologist? Apparently insisted it "must be a leopard" but refused to contact the professor to correct him.
I really have no idea why certain people will scream til dooms-day that you cannot have a melanistic puma. There is no scientific reason why there should not be and melanism occurs in pumas in certain regions -where they were trapped and transported to the UK/Europe for zoological gardens as well as travelling menageries.
Even old hunters noted shooting black pumas in South America and give very good descriptions -this was "sport" shooting and before handy carry-anywhere cameras but some had detailed sketches made. If a hunter(s) who hunted and knew pumas from the United States says they shot a black puma then I believe it. There is absolutely no reason why they would lie about it because it was no big thing, just "another cat" and so what if it was black? They were interested in telling how they lay in wait or came across the cat and killed it, weighed it and measured it and that's it. Somewhere in a private collection there may well be a mounted head or stuffed puma gathering dust.
Thousands hunted and shot cats and there is no problem until some know-it-all jackanape's today says "NO! It could not be black!!"
After all, there are very dark brown pumas around and some in zoos. Citing and continuing to pass along dogma is NOT science. It is stupidity. Let's not get into a long list of what top zoologists said were "absolutely impossible" but then turned out not to be.
_________________________________________________
And the photo above is not photo-shopped. It is of a genuine very dark brown leopard though it is being used and cited as a very dark brown puma and this one is in a recognised US zoological garden.Your Last Chance To Buy Classics Before They Are Deleted For Good!
Let's not get into the "whys?" and "What??" Come February these books will be deleted and unless some paying publisher picks upon them they will gather no more dust.
Alleged piece of crashed UFO from Berwyn Mountains, Wales.
Two Cases From The Borderline 286
Tales From A German Wood 152
The Strange Case Of The
Gotherington Gargoyle 156
The Strange Creature of
Repton Wood 165
The Star Child Hoax 170
Some Things Strange & Sinister (2013 -up-dated)
A4 Format
B&W
Paperback
358 pages
Heavily illustrated
Price:
£15.00
Ships in 3–5 business days
After more than 30 years as an
investigator and more than forty as a naturalist,the author has opened
some of the many files he has accumulated dealing with such things as..
The Terrifying Events At The Lamb Inn, The Ghosts Of All Saints
Church, Dead Aquatic
Creatures of Canvey Island, captured bigfoot like creatures in India -all
exclusively presented for the first time and with new
added research previously unseen.
PLUS a vastly expanded section on
Spring-heeled Jack!
Photographs, maps, line drawings
and up-dated to make 358 pages looking at Things truly Strange and
Sinister.
Cryptozoologist,Ghost Hunter,Ufologist or Fortean:this
book has something for everyone -including the just plain inquisitive!
Contents
Foreword by Travis L. Whitehurst
Introduction
- de occultis non judicat ecclesia
- The Bristol Rocking Horse
- The Terrifying Events At The Lamb Inn
- The Coonian Ghost
- The Ghosts Of All Saints Church
- His Luminous Chamber
- The Late Reverend Dr. Blomberg
- And More Ghost Stories
- The Thomas B. Cumpston Case
- The Chupacabra
- The Strange Case Of The Gotherington Gargoyle
- What’s Tall,Hairy And Vanishes?
- Mystery Beasts Of Ireland
- The Creature Of The Dump
- The Strange Creature Of Repton Woods
- The Bizarre Legends,Crimes And Truth About Spring Heeled Jack
- The Black Beast Of Darmstadt
- The Nameless Thing Of Berkley Square
- The Terrifying Case Of The U.S. Naval Transport
- The Case Of The Ghost Lear Jet
- Ghost Planes,Crashes And Dead Aquatic Creatures
- The Mitchison Loch Ness Monster Video
- From The Deep Below To The Air Above –USOs
- Aerial Encounters Over Austria
- A Crashed UFO In 1790?
- Angel Hair
- Quimper-Corentin:Where “Thunder Fell”
- Strange Aliens From Space
- The Llandrillo ‘Saucer’ And Other Crash Retrievals
- Transient Lunar Phenomena,Alien Structures And Moon Vegetation
- Whiddon Down-Saint-Jean-du-Guard:Impossible Correlations?
- The Venezuelan Horror
A Final Word.
Alleged piece of crashed UFO from Berwyn Mountains, Wales.
Some More Things Strange & Sinister
Paperback,
A4
327 Pages
A4
327 Pages
Heavily illustrated
Price:
£15.00
Ships in 3–5 business days
Follow-up to the hugely
successful Some Things Strange & Sinister.
For those interested in
Ufology, cryptozoology, hominology, unusual natural history, ghosts and
mysteries in general.
The secret history of gorillas in the UK -before they were officially 'discovered'. The history of the Wild men
of Europe, the UK and US: something that in the 1800s become very "pop culture" Very pop culture and totally forgotten today!
Hominology. Sasquatch and Bigfoot -is there evidence for their
existence? No sitting on the fence here -the Patterson-Gimlin film is
looked at as well as other evidence. The Author's conclusions? You
might be surprised.
Giant snakes. Amazons. The Giant
serpent of Carthage. The Girt Dog of Ennerdale -another big cult
'creature' amongst paranormal and cryptozoological circles. The Beast
of Gevaudan -what was it and were there really descendents of the
creature in the 19th century -one of which was actually brought to London?
Believe it or not more than one incident of historical crocodiles cases
in the UK. In fact, far more than even the Author had thought .
And, after more than a century of claims by 'researchers' that it no longer exists: The Silent City of Alaska and the near legendary 'lost' photograph taken of it.
And, after more than a century of claims by 'researchers' that it no longer exists: The Silent City of Alaska and the near legendary 'lost' photograph taken of it.
This and much more. Updated with extra pages and photographs.
Contents
Introduction:Investigation
And Research Is Not Debunking 4
Gorillas:Pre-‘Discovery’
To Discovery And Beyond 9
The
Barking Beast Of Bath:The Facts!
40
Primates –Escapes and Hunts 51
The Mystery Bili Ape 74
Just
What Is Oliver? 85
Whatever
Happened To The Texas Wild Woman? 92
The
Wild Man Of Hungary 96
A
Funny Wild Man Story? 97
The
Case Of The Bohemian Wild Man 98
The
Long Tailed Wild Man Of Kentucky 100
The
Wild Man Of Marcross Cwm 101
The
Wild Man Of Wallingford 103
The
Wild Man Of Indiana 105
The
Wild Man That Was Then Wasn’t 107
The
Wild Man’s A Yowie! 110
Wild
Man Or Bigfoot? 115
The
Running Bear, Or Wild Man –Or Sasquatch? 117
The
Wild Man Who Rode A Horse! 118
The
Indiana Captive Wild Man 120
The
Terrifying Wild Man Of Kansas 121
The
Wild Man Of Petit Quevilly 125
Where
Strikes The Wild Man Of Galicia? 126
What
Was The “African Udilacus”? 128
The
Wisconsin Wild Man –The End Of An Era 131
The
Yeti Of Bourganeuf 133
A
Monstrous Man-Toad 144
Of
Cokadrilles And Saints 145
More
Crocodile Stories 151
The
Suffolk Flying Killer 159
The
Giant Serpent Of Carthage 163
Another
Giant African Snake 167
Mystery
Constrictors Of Texas And Canada! 169
The
Giant Kentuckian Snake 173
The
U-Boat And The Sea Monster 175
The
Beast Of Faudiere –Mystery Killer 179
The
“Girt Dog” Of Ennerdale 180
The
Beast Of Gevaudan 201
The
Greenwich Park Elemental 225
The
Montauk Monster 228
The
Carancas Meteorite –Bringer Of Doom?
241
The
New England Darkness
251
Medieval
“Skyships” –“From The Sea Above” 258
Bristol
–Seen In The Skies Of Alaska?
263
The
shark Eating Monster 276
The
Ghost Photograph That Cannot Be Explained?
282 Two Cases From The Borderline 286
Tales
From A German Wood 275
Flower-Stealing
Aliens 294
What
Landed At Gatton? 297
The
Crawfordville Monster 300
The
Mystery Of The Raifuku Maru 305
Attack
Of The Amazons! 309
The
Case Of The British Bigfoot 319
Pursuing The Strange And Weird -A Naturalist's Viewpoint (2014 up-date)
Terry Hooper-Scharf
Paperback,
Paperback,
A4
249 Pages
Price:
£15.00
Ships in 3-5 business days.
UP DATE -From Dead Aquatic
(Humanoid) Creatures, the giant squid and yet undiscovered sea
creatures; submarine and ships crews encountering true leviathans.
There
is a fully expanded section which also refers to the so-called ‘Ningen’
sightings and video footage.
Extinct animals at sea that have been re-discovered.
The subject of Sasquatch and other mystery Hominids around the world is
dealt with including a look at the “Sasquatch-killer”, Justin Smeja.
Dr.
Bryan Sykes and his DNA test results for TVs The Bigfoot Files as well
as the controversial Erickson Project and Dr. Melba Ketchum’s
Even more controversial Sasquatch DNA test results.
Also included are two early French UFO entity cases that still baffle.
Ghosts, strange creatures and the Star-Child hoax. All dealt with by the
naturalist and pursuer of the strange and weird
Contents
Introduction –I Am Quite Normal 4
Things
Of The Sea
Those U.S.O., Sea Monsters,
Giant Squid And Things That Go “Bloop”
11
Giant Jelly-fish * Shark-killing Giant
Jelly-fish * Steller’s Sea Cow * Carribean Seal * Sharks * Thought
Extinct and “re-discovered”
* Giant Squid * Giant Octopus * Light
Wheels In The Sea * Unidentified Submarine Objects (USOs) * “Bloop” *
Ribbon
Fish * Dead Aquatic (Humanoid) Creatures *
Mermaids * Angler Fish * Sea
Serpents* Sea Monsters Past and Present.
Things
On Land
On The Scientific 'Need' To
Kill A Sasquatch 111
Dmitri Bayanov and the anti
“kill a Sasquatch” argument and John Green and John Steenburg on the need to
kill a Sasquatch: is it necessary to kill an individual of what might be a rare
relic population of hominids?
The Texas Bigfoot Research Conservancy Has Blood
On Its Hands 117
The TBRC has now claimed to
have shot and wounded Sasquatch creatures.
The Bigfoot community is up in arms that an organisation set up to
research and conserve these creatures is apparently turning to the gun to
“scientifically prove” the Sasquatch is real by producing a body.
On Gathering Hard
evidence 122
Rather than kill a Sasquatch
or any other unknown creature is there an alternative to prove they exist? The
simple answer is “yes”.
The Patterson-Gimlin
Film 129
Filmed in 1967, the brief
footage of “Patty” was shaky and split the scientific community in two
regarding its authenticity. With the
film now digitally cleaned, image steadied and modern scientific techniques
used to analyse it why is it getting harder to believe it is a hoax?
No, South
America Does Not Have A Sasquatch
142
South America from Patagonia
up to Mexico
has its own set of mysterious hominid creatures from the Mapirangua to
Ucu. The comparisons between the Yeti,
Sasquatch and these creatures are striking; from basic tools to habitat.
Raccoon-like dogs, a mystery
primate and much more seem to have focussed on a little village in Germany.
UFO reports and the sighting
by an off duty fireman of what he could only describe as a “hideous gargoyle”
creature.
UFO sightings and a report of
a strange, bi-pedal fox-like creature that vanished into the ground!
The ‘alien-human hybrid’ hoax
exposed but what was the “Chicken Man” –a real alien hybrid?
The Strange Creature On The
Beach 188
Just what did a couple on
holiday photograph on a German beach –a strange creature from out of time and
space?
Photographic Evidence That
Dinosaurs Exist? 195
The Kasai Rex photographs
said to have been taken in the 1930s in two different parts of Africa
are said to show dinosaurs still existed. And what of the hunt for the
African
Brontosaurus –and what happened to Stevens?
First Ever UFO Photograph Or
Proof Of Early Airships? 206
It is claimed to be the first
ever UFO photograph and was taken on a mountain top in the United States in
1870 –the best evidence of UFOs in the past or experimental airship flights?
Two Early French Entity Cases
212
Did Masse encounter a landed
flying saucer in 1965 and see two entities? And why did he vow never to reveal
what happened during the encounter –taking the secret to his grave? And what of Dewilde in 1954 –was he paralysed
by a UFO while the occupants went about their business? Did his dog die because
of the encounter?
End Word 221
Sasquatch DNA evidence
breakthrough? Did Justin Smeja
deliberately shoot two Sasquatch creatures and will the evidence prove it? How you can help gather information on the
strange and weird.
The Bizarre Legends, Crimes And Truth About Spring Heeled Jack (2014)
Terry Hooper-Scharf
Paperback,
53 Pages
Dimensions (centimetres) 20.98 wide x 29.69 tall (A4)
fully illustrated and referenced
Price:
£7.00
Ships in 3–5 business days
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