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GLOBSTERS ABOUNDING! - PART 1: BLOBS, TRUNKO, LUSCA, AND MORE...
Me with giant octopus model (© Dr Karl Shuker)Mystery beasts come in all sizes and shapes, but in the case of globsters they are most famous not just for their great size but also for their conspicuous...
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GLOBSTERS ABOUNDING! - PART 2: SEEKING GIANT OCTOPUSES… BUT FINDING ROTTING...
Vintage illustration of a deepsea octopus, by Ernst Haeckel (public domain)In Part 1 of this ShukerNature blog article (click here), I surveyed a wide range of globsters, including the celebrated...
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THE LAST OF THE IRISH ELKS? - INVESTIGATING SOME MEGALOCEROS MYSTERIES
Spectacular Megaloceros painting (© Zdenek Burian)One of the most spectacular members of the Eurasian Pleistocene megafauna was the Irish elk Megaloceros giganteus. Formally described in 1799, it is...
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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 - SURVEYING 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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FAN-TAILED MERMEN AND SCALY SEA BISHOPS
The version of the Russian merman-depicting lubok that was sent to me by Robert Schneck (public domain)On 18 August 2015, Facebook friend Robert Schneck kindly brought to my attention on my FB timeline...
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THE BEAST OF GÉVAUDAN - WOLF, MAN...OR WOLF-MAN?
One of numerous differing depictions of the infamous Beast of Gévaudan prepared in France, Germany, or elsewhere in Europe during the 1700s (public domain)Between June 1764 and June 1767, a hideous...
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MY 500TH SHUKERNATURE POST! – PRESENTING THE TOP TEN SHUKERNATURE POSTS OF...
Subjects documented in six of my all-time Top Ten ShukerNature blog posts (mermaid photo © Dr Karl Shuker; Venezuelan poodle moth photo © Arthur Anker; giant sea serpent gaff photo © Takeshi Yamada; ©...
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INVESTIGATING THE LOCUST DRAGON OF NICOLAES DE BRUYN - AN ENTOMOLOGICAL...
Nicolaes de Bruyn's mystifying engraving from 1594, depicting a wide range of readily-identifiable insects, plus what can only be described as a truly bizarre 'locust dragon' (public domain)As a...
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ANTLERED ELEPHANTS - OR UNLIKELY UINTATHERES?
'Antlered elephants' and other North American prehistoric fauna from the Eocene epoch in what is today Wyoming, USA, as depicted in William D. Gunning's book Life History of Our Planet (1881) (public...
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MY LATEST BOOK, A MANIFESTATION OF MONSTERS, IS NOW AVAILABLE TO PRE-ORDER ON...
Front cover of my latest book, A Manifestation of Monsters (© Dr Karl Shuker/Michael J. Smith/Anomalist Books)I'm delighted to announce that my latest book, A Manifestation of Monsters: Examining the...
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MEDUSA'S MENAGERIE - NAME-CHECKING SOME ZOOLOGICAL GORGONS FROM THE PRESENT...
Photo-bombed by a gorgonopsid – it could only happen to me! © Dr Karl Shuker)Deriving their name from 'gorgos', an ancient Greek word translating as 'dreadful', the gorgons are undoubtedly among the...
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PRESENTING THE TSMOK STATUE AT LAKE LEPEL IN BELARUS - AN AQUATIC DRAGON, A...
Lepel Tsmok, the tsmok statue, immediately after its ceremonial unveiling at LakeLepel in Belarus on 9 November 2013 (© Alexander "Tarantino" Zhdanovich / cmok.budzma.org/node/81 on...
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CRYPTO-SELFIES! IN THE PICTURE WITH SOME SERIOUSLY WEIRD – BUT WONDERFUL –...
With E.T. – how could I not take pity on this errant extraterrestrial and bring him back home with me? In any case, he must be happy here – he hasn't phoned home once, which is just as well, bearing in...
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THE PELUDA – SHAGGY SURVIVOR OF NOAH'S GREAT FLOOD
The peluda or shaggy beast (© Helena Zakrzewska-Rucinska/Dr Karl Shuker/Marshall Editions; this splendid illustration was specially commissioned for my book Dragons: A Natural History)When I was...
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A GIANT DOG-FANGED MYSTERY FROG FROM THE CONGO
Alongside a statue of a hypothetical giant frog (© Dr Karl Shuker)The 20thCentury opened with one of the most dramatic amphibian discoveries of all time – the aptly-named goliath frog Conraua goliath....
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WHEN TRUNKO MET NESSIE?? - PARADOX OF THE PICTISH BEAST
Line diagram of the Pictish beast (public domain)Named after their very distinctive body tattoos, the Picts ('painted people') inhabited northeastern Scotlandas a separate tribe from c.300 AD to 850...
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FLUORESCENT FLORA - UNEXPLAINED REPORTS OF GLOWING, LIGHT-EMITTING FLOWERS
What a light-emitting orange-petalled flower might look like in the dark (public domain)A still-unexplained yet little-known wildlife-related phenomenon is the extraordinary occurrence, discussed by...
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IN TUNE WITH NESSIE - A SELECTION OF LOCH NESS MONSTER-THEMED SONGS
Sheet music for 'I'm the Monster of Loch Ness', a 1934 song made famous by British variety star Leslie Holmes (public domain/supplied by Joe Mancini)It will probably come as no surprise to discover...
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A NEW ZEALAND MOA IN CAMBODIA?
Bayon glyph depicting mystery long-necked bird between rhinoceros and ox at AngkorWat, Cambodia (public domain)They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and the same has certainly been true...
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