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DENYING A DEINOTHERE - WHEN THE CAMERA DOES LIE!
The fake deinothere photograph that inspired this ShukerNature blog article (© owner/photo manipulator unknown to me – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for...
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THE PEEL STREET MONSTER - LOOKING BACK AT A LOCAL CRYPTID
Vintage illustration of a coati (public domain)It's always good to stumble upon the history of a mystery beast not previously documented in the cryptozoological literature (which it hadn’t been, prior...
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DOL HAREUBANG AND HAETAE - A COUPLE OF KOREAN CURIOSITIES
What is the identity of this small but heavy, dimple-surfaced statuette that I purchased many years ago in an English charity shop? Only recently did I find out – and was most surprised by what it...
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ALL FINGERS AND THUMBS – INVESTIGATING FELINE POLYDACTYLY
A male polydactylous kitten, sporting 23 toes (© Howie831/Wikipedia – CC BY-SA 3.0 licence)One of the most frequently reported and familiar teratological conditions exhibited by humans is the...
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SNAKES WITH WINGS - AND OTHER STRANGE THINGS!
Artistic representation of the Namibian flying snake based upon eyewitness descriptions (© Philippa Foster) I went once to a certain place in Arabia, almost exactly opposite the city of Buto, to make...
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LAOCOÖN, HIS SONS, AND POSEIDON'S CRESTED SERPENTS FROM THE SEA
The famous ancient Greek marble statue, 'Laocoön and His Sons', unearthed within an Italian vineyard in 1506, depicting the Trojan priest Laocoön and his twin sons being slain by a pair of huge...
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INVESTIGATING THE BLUE MYSTERY MINI-BIRDS OF GALILEE
An adult male specimen of the blue rock thrush Monticola solitarius (© AquilaGib/Wikipedia – CC BY-SA 3.0 licence)Nowadays, as a result of long experience in such matters, I am rarely if ever...
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MYSTERY BEASTS SERVED UP ON A PLATE, GREEK STYLE!
My newly-purchased modern-day Greek wall plate featuring some very mysterious creatures depicted upon it – please click photograph to enlarge it for close-up viewing purposes (© Dr Karl Shuker)On...
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HOW TO LOSE A CHIMAERA, IN ONE EASY LESSON!
Vintage picture postcard depicting the famous Chimaera of Arezzo bronze statue; it was originally part of a group, with Bellerophon and Pegasus fighting it (public domain)How to lose a chimaera in one...
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A LIKING FOR THE (MISNAMED) LAKE OF ALLIGATORS
Vintage engraving depicting a lake of crocodiles (public domain)What's in a name? Not a lot, sometimes. Or, to put it more poetically: the naming of books – and animals – is a difficult matter, it...
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THE ISLE OF WIGHT MEGA-FOOTPRINTS – A CAUTIONARY CRYPTOZOOLOGICAL TALE
My cast of one of the set of Isle of Wight mega-sized animal footprints from April 1994 (© Dr Karl Shuker)Here's a cautionary little tale for cryptozoology that I included during a lecture presented by...
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MADAGASCAR'S SNAKE-EATING ANTS - FORGOTTEN FABLE, OR FASCINATING FACT?
A worker specimen of Aphaenogaster swammerdami, a Madagascan species of funnel ant (© AntWeb.org/Wikipedia – CC BY 4.0 licence)While lately perusing online some 19th-Century back numbers of the...
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NEVER A NEITHER – A HYBRID MYSTERY SNAKE IN ENGLAND?
Barred grass snake (top) and female common adder (bottom); can these two species, very separate taxonomically, not only mate but also produce viable hybrid offspring? (public domain/public domain) In...
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INTRODUCING THE FIRST – AND LAST – BRITISH TINAMOUS
An adult rufous tinamou, depicted in a beautiful illustration from 1838 (public domain)At the turn of the [19th] century, many tinamous, mainly Pampas hens, were introduced and raised as game birds in...
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ST GEORGE AND THE PTERODACTYL – A SHUKERNATURE 'PICTURE OF THE DAY'
'St George and the Pterodactyl', a painting by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins, 4 December 1873 (public domain)It's been a while since I posted a 'Picture of the Day' on ShukerNature, so here is a...
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TIJUANA'S 'ZEBRAS' - OR, PUTTING THE ZONKEY INTO ITS DONKEYS!
A vintage hand-coloured(?) picture postcard depicting a Tijuana 'zebra', from my collection (Photo of this picture postcard © Dr Karl Shuker)In 2004, when I visited the city of Tijuana in Baja...
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SMALL-SCREEN SHUKER SIGHTINGS - A CLICKABLE COLLECTION OF MY TV APPEARANCES
Screenshot from one of my appearances on GMTV during the early 1990s (© Dr Karl Shuker/GMTV– reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)I tend to...
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A TALE OF SCALES, AND SOME BOTANICAL SERPENTS
Vintage engraving from 1885, depicting giant tree-like Lepidodendron lycophytes thriving during the Carboniferous Period (public domain)I've always been fascinated by zoological misidentifications,...
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A GREEN MAN OF NOTTINGHAM, AND A PURPLE WINGED CAT? A SHUKERNATURE PICTURE OF...
The very curious but captivating painting spied and photographed in a Nottingham pub by Facebook friend Kristian Lander (© Kristian Lander)Today's ShukerNature Picture of the Day dates back to 15...
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CAUGHT ON THE HOP BY PHANTOM KANGAROOS AND OTHER OUT-OF-PLACE MYSTERY...
How can reports of phantom kangaroos and other out-of-place mystery macropods be explained? (public domain) GENERAL INTRODUCTIONDuring the past 35 years, I have written many hundreds of...
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