Sydney owls falling out of the sky

Sydney's owls are in trouble!

Very large numbers have been coming in to care throughout the metropolitan area and no one is sure why. Is it a virus? Poisoning? Is it related to the mouse plague?

Most of these owls are very underweight, and are showing signs of significant debilitation.

If you see an owl in this condition call WIRES immediately on 13 000 WIRES.

Hunt for the Orang Pendek 2011 - the video!

You've heard all about our expedition on this blog and elsewhere, now enjoy this short presentation on this year's expedition...

Panther spotted in Lithgow, NSW

The Lithgow Mercury has a story about another local big cat sighting:

"Lithgow's Black Panther has been here today and gone tomorrow leaving little evidence it ever was and those who claim to have seen it in total shock over the years.
The last reported sighting was in early August this year not far from Crane Road.

One long term resident of Lithgow, Marika Vervoorn, has also witnessed the elusive black panther in recent years up near her son’s property at Mt Walker and says people should not be sceptical about reported sightings.

“I travel up that road regularly,” Ms Vervoorn said.

“On one trip about five year ago the panther jumped out about 500 metres in front of my car.

“As it neared my son’s gate it turned allowing me to get a good look at its profile.

“It was definitely all panther in the face, black all over and as big a Rottweiler but heavier.”

Ms Vervoorn got in touch with a black panther researcher, Michael Williams, who told her there had been 600 sightings reported over the years in the area stretching from Jenolan Caves through to the Queensland border.

Mr Williams’ aim was to raise awareness that the black panther or panthers are out there and to report sightings in an attempt to keep track of this very shy over sized kitty on steroids."

Is this evidence of the Orang Pendek?

An Orang Pendek handprint? Photo: Andrew Sanderson

CFZ zoological director Richard Freeman has had a third article published in The Guardian about our expedition in search of the Orang Pendek:

"Even in this age of satellite mapping and global positioning, there remain "lost worlds" where few humans tread and where species of animal unrecognised by science live. Kerinci Seblat National Park in West Sumatra is one such place. The size of a small country, its dim, steamy interior has never been explored properly. Last month I returned to these jungles for the fourth time to track an elusive and, as yet, unrecorded species of ape known to the locals as the orang pendek or "short man".

"This year's expedition was the largest of its kind ever to visit the area. It consisted of two teams. The first, made up of Adam Davies (expedition leader at the Centre for Fortean Zoology), Dave Archer, Andrew Sanderson and myself, would concentrate on the highland jungles around Lake Gunung Tujuh. The second team, consisting of Dr Chris Clark, Lisa Malam, Rebecca Lang, Mike Williams, Jon McGowan and Tim De Frel would have their base in the "garden" area – the more open, semi-cultivated land that abuts onto the true forest."

Read the full article here.

The CFZ's Richard Freeman wrote these two articles prior to the CFZ Sumatra Expedition kicking off.

On the trail of the Orang Pendek, Sumatra's mystery ape

Orang Pendek quest begins in Sumatra

More on that Queensland Tiger...

We reported recently via ABC Radio that a Daisy Hill family had spotted a Thylacine near their property. Queensland newspaper the Courier Mail has followed up the lead...

First there was reports of a black panther at Eagleby, and now Daisy Hill residents Lisa and Sean Smith believe they have spotted the extinct Tasmanian Tiger.

The world's last captive Tasmanian Tiger died in Hobart Zoo in 1936.

However, Mrs Smith said one could very well be living in the Daisy Hill Forest.

``A few years ago we were standing in the back yard and we (husband Sean and father Barry) saw this fox-like creature staring at us,'' she said.

``Then we looked at it properly and it didn't look like a fox at all, it had a long thin whippy tail, stripes on its back and it was a lot bigger than a fox.

``A few years ago we were in Tasmania and saw this book (on Tasmanian Tigers), and thought it looked a lot like what we saw. We sight it every now and then and can hear it screaming and making noises at night.''

With their home backing on to the Kimberly Forest Park which connects to Daisy Hill Forest, Mrs Smith said there was definitely something interesting in there.

``I'm happy to think something like the Tasmanian Tiger defied the odds and survived. We're trying to take a photo for proof next time we see it, but sometimes we won't see it for a year, then it comes back.''

According to the Tasmanian Government's Department of Primary Industrys, Parks, Water and Environment, the thylacine (Tasmanian Tiger), was the the world's largest marsupial carnivore and fossils and Aboriginal rock paintings showed that the thylacine once lived throughout Australia and New Guinea.

Rare albino whale visits Australian waters

A white whale calf spotted off the Whitsundays coast is believed to be just a few weeks old but it's impossible to tell yet whether the animal is related to Migaloo.

Species expert Mark Read, of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, said without DNA information experts would be unable to link the calf to the other famous white whale.

"We know from basic genetics that this animal could have come from a dark mum and dark father and Wayne Fewings, who took the photograph, said the female was in attendance was a standard dark humpback."

Wayne Fewings captured the white calf on camera while diving near the entrance to Cid Harbour last week.

Mr Fewings, who calls both the Whitsundays and the Gold Coast home, said he and his son's family were in a 4.5m runabout boat when the white calf, believed to be around 4m in length, and two predominantly black adult humpback whales swam towards them.

OOPA: Cuscus a long way from home

A mysterious spotted creature dropped off at a zoo in China is actually a type of possum most likely smuggled into the country as a novelty pet.

Keepers at Wenling Zoo in south-eastern China were baffled by the bug-eyed, long-tailed critter, after it was handed in by an unknown man last week.

But not long after the zoo was contacted by Danny Li, an animal enthusiast who lives in Hong Kong, who told them it was a spotted cuscus — a marsupial native to northern Australia, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia's Maluku Islands.

A Queensland Tiger spotted near Ipswich

Apparently there's a Tasmanian Tiger in Daisy Hill!

Flinders View resident Barry Potter says he's seen it - and even heard it growling.

His daughter Lisa and her husband Shaun built their home backing onto Daisy Hill Forest 5 years ago and it was then that Barry first saw the animal.

Listen to Barry Potter, then Matthew Shaw from the Queensland Museum Inquiry Centre, on ABC Radio.

On the Track - Episode 50

The latest episode of On The Track of Unknown Animals (Episode 50) from the CFZ and CFZtv, brings you the latest cryptozoological, and monster hunting news from around the world, including:

• CFZ in autumn
• introducing Dan
• Emily and the big cats
• Sumatra expedition
• Preparing trailcams
• Crocodile stories - a Phillipino giant - short sightedness in The Phillipines - let's all do the taxonomy shuffle
• Changes at the CFZ
• Happy Birthday Max
• Corinna looks at out of place birds
• New and Rediscovered: New dolphin
• New and Rediscovered: New frogs
• New and Rediscovered: New sparrow

Noisy koalas give cows a run for their money

A 15 pound koala is as loud as a cow weighing more than a tonne, a new study found.

Researchers discovered the marsupial emitted a louder sound as a way of attracting sexual partners during mating season.

The team of Australian and Austrian scientists, writing in The Journal of Experimental Biology, also found their cries were a way of boasting about their body size and intimidate rival lovers.