A great documentary series that explores Australia's 'monsters'!
Ancient Australia was a land of drought and fire, with a unique fauna dominated by marsupials, reptiles and giant flightless birds. The first Australians shared their home with the two-tonne Diprotodon, the giant short-faced kangaroo and the platypus. Emus and cassowaries were dwarfed by the ‘demon duck’ Genyornis. Predators like the marsupial lion and the giant ripper lizard, Megalania, stalked the land.
Wednesday, 14 April 2010
Saturday, 27 March 2010
Hollywood filmmaker link to tiger sightings?
An interesting little anecdote has come to light in recent months about a filmmaker who created his own Tasmanian Tiger in the 1970s.French-born Australian filmmaker Phillipe Mora, in recounting the making of his movie 'Mad Dog' Morgan (which due to a mistake with the date allowed the movie to slide into the public domain!) with lead Dennis Hopper, wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald:
"Collaterally, a dog I had dyed to look like a Tasmanian tiger escaped my motel and for years afterwards sightings were reported of the extinct animal."
Most of the film was shot around the Murray River region of NSW.
Incidentally, Morgan was never known as 'Mad Dog' in his lifetime - another Hollywood invention!
Read more:
http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/the-shooting-of-mad-dog-morgan-20100312-q39w.html
Watch some of the film here:
Bell frog bounces back
In the world of amphibians, it is the equivalent of finding the Tasmanian tiger. A species of frog presumed extinct for nearly 30 years has turned up in the Southern Tablelands. The yellow-spotted bell frog was once ubiquitous in the northern and southern tablelands of NSW, but was almost wiped out after the chytrid fungus arrived from Africa in the early 1970s.
It was found alive and well in 2008 by government researcher Luke Pearce, who was searching for a native fish, the southern pygmy perch. Instead, he spotted the bell frog, which has distinctive markings on its groin and thighs.
Read more here:
The Black Beast of Bungay
OK, not strictly Australian, but one of its authors is!Historian and anthropologist Dr David Waldron of Ballarat, Victoria, has co-authored this fascinating book with UK historian Christopher Reeve.
The Black Beast of Bungay and its infamous attack on the church of St. Marys in 1577, has inspired and fascinated residents and visitors to the town for centuries along with tales of Black Shuck the Ghostly Dog of Norfolk.
To this day, sightings of the Black Dog are common through the region and form an integral part of local folklore and myth. At the same time, the history of the legend itself tells its own tale of the town of Bungay and how the community has responded to crisis through local folklore and myth.
The book traces the rise of this story from its origins in the trauma of the English Reformation to the contemporary era where it has become a central part of Bungay’s communal and civic identity and a colourful and intriguing aspect of local folklore.Buy it here:
http://hiddenpublishing.com/about/shock-the-black-dog-of-bungay/
Wednesday, 10 February 2010
OOPA: Monkey spotted roaming Darwin (NT)
AN out-of-place monkey was picked up on CCTV footage crossing a Darwin road. (Pic from NT Department of Lands and Planning)
Following the sightings, the Northern Territory environment department issued a warning for people to stay clear of the animal.
All registered monkeys have been accounted for.
The department says the roaming monkey could have been brought illegally to the Territory from Asia and could be carrying exotic diseases, such as rabies.
Monday, 1 February 2010
Questions over Otway Ranges big cat video - CFZ
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/02/01/2806511.htm
Questions over Otway Ranges big cat video
Posted
Updated
Video footage taken in the Otway Ranges National Park at the weekend is being examined to determine whether or not it is that of a giant cat.
There have been unconfirmed sightings of a panther-like creature in the forest for many years.
Vision captured yesterday by a resident of the Otway Ranges appears to show a black cat-like animal walking through a paddock.
Mike Williams runs a website dedicated to Australian big cats and says the footage is too shaky to draw any conclusions.
"It's a large blue-eyed animal that could be bigger than a domestic cat," he said.
"It's just really hard to tell. If the witness is quite correct with the observation it could be quite interesting and hopefully more video will come out of the same area."
He says 80 per cent of Australia's big cat sightings are generated by central Victoria residents.
Mr Williams says he thinks there is more than one breed roaming the State's forests.
"If I was trying to give you a hypothesis, the most simple one would be one species of cat," he said.
"But the problem is they're showing several different colour variations of coats. So I have been forced to say there is more than one species of cat, which makes it even harder for me to try and prove."
>>>Also read the original story here...
Sunday, 31 January 2010
Humevale's big cat mystery (VIC)
THE discovery of large paw prints on a Humevale property has sparked speculation of panthers living in the Whittlesea bush.
The indentations, about 100mm in diameter and resembling big cat prints, were found in the driveway of Colin Hill’s home, invigorating Whittlesea’s own big cat legend.
“There was a set of tracks at the bottom of the driveway that crossed the yard and disappeared down into the valley,” Mr Hill said last week. “They were definitely a cat print and were as big as my fist. Judging by the size, I’d say they had to belong to a 50-80kg animal.”
It was not the first time Mr Hill had come across such tracks.
“Before the bushfires, I found another set of tracks down near a dam on the next property,” he said. Those prints were photographed, but the pictures were destroyed in the Black Saturday bushfires.
Mr Hill said they resembled the prints of a large cat with long claws. “The animal has used its claws to help lift itself out of the mud and the prints were unmistakable,” he said.
Two years ago, he shot and killed a small jet black animal with yellow eyes which he believed at the time to be a feral cat. Now he said it might have been a panther cub.
“At the time I didn’t even think about it, but I’ve never seen a cat with yellow eyes,” he said.
“After seeing the tracks, I wonder if it had been something else.”
Victorian big cat enthusiast John Turner said it was difficult to determine what had made the prints.
“They are interesting but not definitive,” he said, adding that they might have come from a large dog.
Mr Hill was convinced they were not from a dog.
Mr Turner has been attempting to uncover the big cat myth for 25 years and runs the website bigcatsvic.com.au, dedicated to Victorian sightings.
He said there had been a number of big cat sightings in the Whittlesea area in the past five years.
Most sightings described a jet black leopard-sized creature with yellow eyes in or around farmland or on roadsides.
The big cat theory is one that is common throughout Victoria, with about 400 reported sightings in the past five years.
Some believe the creatures are offspring of black panthers brought over by US soldiers during World War II as mascots that escaped into the bush.
Others think they may be an unindentified Australian predatory cat.
Many discount the big cat theory entirely, claiming the creatures could simply be feral cats or black wallabies.
http://whittlesea-leader.whereilive.com.au/news/story/humevale-s-big-cat-mystery/
Big Cat stalks Yarra Ranges (VIC)
“I have been working in the bush pretty much all of my life, but I have never seen anything like this before,” Mr Bligh said.
“I was standing on the veranda and I watched it for about a minute as it walked across the road and disappeared into the scrub. I was very still, so it either didn’t notice me, or it wasn’t bothered by my presence.”
Mr Bligh described the animal as the size of a large rottweiler, but with a different, stocky build. He said all four shoulders were of the same height, and it glided along the roadside.
“I don’t subscribe to the theories of big cats let loose in the bush, so I am wondering if what we are seeing is actually a naturally occurring animal species we have not come across before,” Mr Bligh said.
“My intelligent thought says to me it is a marsupial of some type, but something bigger than what we commonly see.”
An internet search for big-cat sightings revealed the Yarra Valley has had many sightings over the years. Dating back to 2001 there have been several sightings recorded in Healesville and Warburton, and even one in Montrose.
The Department of Sustainability and Environment’s project leader wildlife management, Ian Temby, said the DSE kept “an open but sceptical mind” about reported sightings of big cats.
“In the 50 years that reports have been made about big cats in rural Victoria there has never been any physical evidence to support the sightings,” Mr Temby said.
“If big cats were able to breed and maintain a population there would be some evidence other than these supposed sightings. To date there is nothing that would prove their existence.
“What people mistake for big cats may be as a result of poor light leading to mistaken size, or it may be a mangy fox.”
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Saturday, 30 January 2010
Weird Weekend 2010 - UK
We’d just like to cross-post this important CFZ announcement…
The Weird Weekend 2010 behemoth (held annually in the UK) is lumbering into action, and we are looking for businesses to donate goods or services that we can use as raffle prizes or door prizes.
There are several levels of sponsorship including donations of money to help defray the costs of the event, and donations of goods or services as raffle and door prizes. If you care to sponsor us, in cash or in kind, your logo will appear on our website for the rest of the year. You can also advertise on our website or on our monthly webTV shows, and we will host your advert for 12 months with prices starting at £40 (@$A72). It will get your company name out there to a worldwide - and a healthy local - audience, and you will also have the satisfaction of knowing that you are helping us change the world...just a little bit.
Go here to learn more - www.weirdweekend.org
Buy a t-shirt to support the effort here - http://www.zazzle.co.uk/cfzjon
Watch this promo to find out more about what the CFZ does...
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