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COURTING THE COBRA KING - DANCING WITH DEATH, AND SPITTING IN THE FACE OF...
Burmese snake charmer Saya Hnin-Mahla kissing one of her king cobra co-performers (public domain)Since time immemorial, humans have been irresistibly fascinated by snakes - but most especially by...
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LESSER NESSIES - REVIEWING THE 'OTHER' MONSTERS OF MAINLAND SCOTLAND'S...
Sketch of Morag, the monster of Loch Morar, based upon eyewitness accounts (© Michael Playfair)Everyone has heard of Nessie, the reputed monster of Loch Ness, but fewer people realise that mystery...
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REVIEWING DRAGONS IN ZOOLOGY, CRYPTOZOOLOGY, AND CULTURE
My second dragons book – Dragons in Zoology, Cryptozoology, and Culture, published by Coachwhip Publications (© Dr Karl Shuker/Coachwhip Publications)The year 1995 saw the publication of two books of...
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DEBUNKING A TRIO OF QUASI-COLOURED MOCK PYTHONS
Photograph of a supposed green and white ball python, found by me on Pinterest (see below for © of original photograph)Having a longstanding interest in animal colour morphs, I knew that something was...
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NICK REDFERN REVIEWS DRAGONS IN ZOOLOGY, CRYPTOZOOLOGY, AND CULTURE - THANKS...
Dragons are clearly in season right now. Following hot on the heels of two excellent recent reviews of my book Dragons in Zoology, Cryptozoology, and Culture, by Richard Freeman in the CFZ's magazine...
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THE LONG-NECKED SEAL IN CRYPTOZOOLOGY - PART 1: GIRAFFE SEALS AND SEA SERPENTS
Restoration of the LochNess monster as a long-necked seal (© Anthony Wallis)Although many mainstream palaeontologists may shudder at the merest thought of it, the Loch Ness monster's most...
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THE LONG-NECKED SEAL IN CRYPTOZOOLOGY - PART 2: FROM SWAN-NECKED AND...
Brian Froud's wonderful rendition of Peter Costello's proposed long-necked freshwater seal graces the cover of the 1975 Panther paperback edition of Costello's classic crypto-book In Search of Lake...
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EXPOSING THE CON IN ANACONDA - OR, HOW I MONSTERED A MONSTROUS SNAKE HOAX
The online photo of a supposed gargantuan anaconda shot in Africa's Amazon River !! (photo-manipulated photograph's creator(s) unknown to me)Less than a month after debunking a trio of quasi-coloured...
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THE HYDRA OF LERNA – GETTING AHEAD (OR SEVERAL!) IN FICTION, FAKERY, AND FACT
Exquisite depiction of Heracles battling the hydra by John Singer Sargent, 1921 (public domain)Among the most unusual, and deadly, dragons, of classical mythology was the Lernaean hydra - whose slaying...
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MEDIEVAL SNAIL-CATS IN ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS - OR, CURIOUS CRITTERS FROM...
A snail-cat, depicted in the Maastricht Hours– an illuminated devotional manuscript produced in the Netherlands during the early 1300s (public domain)After my exhaustive books Mystery Cats of the World...
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TAPIRS AND TIGELBOATS – DOES THE MALAYAN TAPIR STILL EXIST IN BORNEO?
Malayan tapirs, depicted in a handsome chromolithograph from 1903 (public domain)Of the five modern-day species of tapir, four occur only in the New World and are uniformly dark brown/black in colour,...
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MOCKERY BIRDS AND TURQUOISE DRAGONS - A SHUKERNATURE TOP TEN LISTING OF...
The Mockery Bird by Gerald Durrell – Fontana paperback edition, 1990 (© Gerald Durrell/Fontana Books)Today, there are numerous novels whose themes deal with cryptozoological beasts or...
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DROP BEARS, FEATHERED KANGAROOS, AND OTHER FRAUDULENT FAUNA DOWN UNDER
Beware of the drop bear?!! (Photo-manipulator unknown/original photograph © Oz_drdolittle/Flickr)No country's corpus of traditional myths and folklore would be complete without also containing various...
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A GIANT MYSTERY SALAMANDER FROM CALIFORNIA, AND A GIANT VERY SILLYMANDER FROM...
The hellbender, indigenous to the eastern USA, 19th-Century engraving (public domain)Only the Chinese giant salamander Andrias davidianus (up to 6 ft long) and its Japanese relative A. japonicus (up to...
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TOPKAPI'S MUMMIFIED CROCODILE BOY AND AMERICA'S MONKEYFIED ALLIGATOR MEN - A...
Postcard depicting Jake the Alligator Man (© Marsh's FreeMuseum)On 1 March 1992, Turkish archaeologists publicly announced the discovery of an extraordinary Egyptian mummy in the vaults of Istanbul's...
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COMING TO A SWAMP NEAR YOU... LIZARD MEN, FROG MEN, AND REPTOIDS – OH MY!
My official model of the 'Creature from the Black Lagoon' (© Dr Karl Shuker)The term ‘reptoid’ is most closely associated with the reptilian category of extraterrestrial aliens, but it also has a much...
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MARSUPIAL SABRE-TOOTHS, QUEENSLAND TIGERS, BLUE MOUNTAINS LIONS, AND A MOST...
Screen-shot of the elusive and highly bemusing Australian newspaper cutting containing a Thylacosmilus-like sketch (source and copyright owner unknown to me)A great many cryptozoological mysteries have...
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WAS A GOLDEN FRESHWATER OARFISH ENCOUNTERED DURING THE VIETNAM WAR?
Illustration of a normal silver-scaled giant oarfish modified by me into a golden-scaled giant oarfish matching Craig Thompson's description (© Dr Karl Shuker/original unmodified illustration © Field...
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A CONFUSION OF CASSOWARIES
Plate XXXIII from Lord Walter Rothschild's definitive cassowary monograph, portraying the still-mysterious Sclater's cassowary Casuarius philipi (public domain)Distributed widely through Australasia,...
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A SHORT HISTORY OF SEA-MONKEYS - FROM COMIC-BOOK ADVERTISEMENTS TO...
A mail-order advertisement for sea-monkeys that appeared in numerous American children's comic-books during the early 1970s - click picture to enlarge it for reading the advert (© Transcience...
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