Cryptomundo
for Bigfoot, Lake Monsters, Sea Serpents and More

Scientists stand in a thawing bath as they inspect the eye of the colossal squid at Te Papa Museum in Wellington on April 30, 2008. The 26 feet (8 meters) long colossal squid weighs 1,089 pounds (about 495 kg) and is the largest and best preserved adult colossal squid to be caught. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) This […]

Read: Giant Colossal Squid Thawed »

Researchers discovered a legless lizard and a tiny woodpecker along with 12 other suspected new species in Brazil’s Cerrado, one of the world’s 34 biodiversity conservation hotspots. An example of Picumnus but not the new species. The Cerrado’s wooded grassland once covered an area half the size of Europe, but is now being converted to […]

Read: Brazil: Dwarf Woodpecker, Legless Lizard, and 12 Other New Species Found »

Life works in strange ways. So does death. Good things can come from appreciating the moments that issue from both. Cryptozoologist Scott Norman’s and then my crypto-supportive mother’s separate sudden deaths within a forty-day span gave me pause recently to slow down a bit. Between the two events, I kept writing at a busy pace […]

Read: Addax to Zebras: Mungall’s Exotic Animal Field Guide »

French cryptozoologist Michel Raynal is pointing to the “okapi” (?) of Tassili found in the book and bibliography of Bernard Heuvelmans, in his book On the Track of the Unknown Animals (Paris, Plon, 1955), referred to in the cave engravings as representing the okapi in Tassili. The starting point of this assertion is an article […]

Read: Another Giraffid/Okapid Cryptid? »

New insects are literally found daily, by the hundreds every year. Cryptozoology, as I have noted, generally deals with the discovery of larger animals, mostly vertebrates, with the now-and-then large invertebrate, such as the giant squid (verified) and giant octopus (still an active cryptid). But, it appears the entomologists deserve their due sometimes. They need […]

Read: Three New Articerodes Discovered »

Borneo’s pygmy elephants may be descendants of an extinct Javan elephant race, saved by chance by an 18th century ruler, according to a new study just released. The study suggests that a small number of opposite-sex elephants can produce a thriving progeny of thousands if left undisturbed on an island, giving fresh hope to conservationists […]

Read: Are Borneo Pygmy Elephants Javan? »

At least one species of proboscidean, a prehistoric relative of the elephant, lived in an aquatic environment, according to a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The extinct water-lover, which belonged to the genus Moeritherium and lived around 37 million years ago, appears to have munched on freshwater plants […]

Read: Elephantopotamus Discovered »

It is always good to update a year old story. The Kokako ~ the New Zealand version of the ivory-billed woodpecker intrigue ~ is back in the news. The Kokako has recently been in the newspapers again, with a new sighting of this contemporary cryptid. Alec Milne, an amateur ornithologist from Golden Bay, in the […]

Read: Kokako News »

Photo of Barbourula kalimantanensis. Researchers have confirmed the first case of complete lunglessness in a frog, according to a report in the April 8, 2008, issue of Current Biology, a publication of Cell Press. The aquatic frog Barbourula kalimantanensis apparently gets all the oxygen it needs through its skin. The closely related Barbourula busuangensis or […]

Read: Lungless Frog Discovered »

A strange new mystery fish find has turned up from Pioneer Park Pond in Brigham City, Utah. It allegedly has biologists stumped. A fish with fangs was discovered; now officials are trying to figure out what exactly it is. CNN News Video. What do you think? One thing it is not: a squashed otter. The […]

Read: New Mystery Fish »

A team of researchers and experts of Brazil’s Tocantins Sierra Environmental Station has catalogued 440 animal species in the Tocantins Sierra Wildlife Reserve (TSWR), among them 14 new species. Their work lasted 30 days. Below are photos of five of the species of interest to the researchers: Corythomantis greeningi Bachia sp. Stenocercus quinarius Proceratophrys sp. […]

Read: New Brazilian Species Discovered »

A wolverine has been captured on camera by an Oregon State student, Katie Moriarty. Confirming new photographs (below) have been recorded from the Tahoe National Forest in California, during mid-March 2008. Earlier, it was established this is the first wolverine verified in California since 1922. Side view of a wolverine photographed by a remotely triggered […]

Read: New Wolverine Photos »

The Greater White-toothed Shrew (Crocidura russula), shown above, is a small shrew found in Europe and North Africa, and related to the species newly discovered. A new, endemic species of shrew Crocidura hikmiya, has been described from Sri Lanka. The new shrew is presently only known from mid-montane and lowland rainforests of Sinharaja. This shrew […]

Read: Sri Lanka’s Newest Shrew »

National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research scientists Brent Wood (NIWA fisheries scientist, left) and Stefano Schiaparelli (Italian National Antarctic Museum taxonomist, right) examine an Antarctic toothfish (1.81 m long, 57 kg) in Tangaroa’s wet lab in Antarctic waters. Found: giant jellyfish with 12-foot tentacles, large sea spiders, huge sea snails, and 2-foot-wide starfish. Breaking […]

Read: Giant Species Found in Antarctic »

During the first couple weeks of March, several new species have been revealed as new discoveries. Here is a survey of their published images and links to more details about the findings. The green tree skink (Prasinohaema virens) is one of five described species of green-blooded lizards from New Guinea. Credit: Chris Austin, Louisiana State […]

Read: New Species Photo Roundup »