Big Cat blamed for Sheep Deaths?

Cambridgeshire Constabulary’s wildlife officer has launched a special investigation following reports of attacks and possible deaths of several farm animals near St Neots.

Big Cats appear to be the most likely suspect, but as usual no solid evidence has been brought forward. Although there has been at least five eye-witnesses sightings of something that looked like a large black panther sized cat.

As usually the sightings have sparked debate as to whether there could actually be big cats roaming the British countryside.

Source and full story: St Neots Town Crier.

If you have seen a Big Cat or know where we can find one (not in a zoo), then please contact us now!

Long overdue update

It has been a while since I have updated Cryptoworld, partly because I have been busy with other projects, but mostly because there hasn’t been a great deal of (weird) news that I have found interesting enough to write about.

I must confess I have even considered closing Cryptoworld, but there seems to be a steady readership of some of the older articles, and there are plenty of people making new and interesting comments every week.

Over the last few days I decided to write down a list of the pros and cons for keeping Cryptoworld alive, and surprisingly keeping it alive came out as a clear winner. So over the next few weeks I am going to start making some changes, expanding the topics covered, redesigning a few areas and generally giving the whole site a shake up.

Your comments and suggestions would be appreciated, especially if you have an idea that would help improve the usability of the site or make the user experience more enjoyable. Suggestions for new topics or perhaps a re-visit to an old story would also be good. Basically I would like to hear what you do and don’t like about Cryptoworld.

Comments are open, so let me know what you think.

Strange New Fish Discovered near Antarctica

The eelpout Pachycara cousinsi is one of six new species of deep-sea fish found at depths of 2.8 miles (4.5 kilometers) off the remote Crozet Islands in the Indian Ocean between Antarctica and Africa.

The eelpout has been identified as a new species from just one sample that was caught during a 2005/2006 expedition. The size of the specimen is just over a foot long (41 centimetres) and has strange fleshy lips.

Source, National Geographic.

Ancient Devil Frog Discovered

Evidence of a giant frog the size of a bowling ball, with body armour and teeth that lived alongside dinosaurs millions of years ago has been discovered in Madagascar by paleontologist from Stony Brook University.

The 10 pound 16 inch monster lived around 65-70 million years ago, but bizarrely its closest know ‘living’ relative, a normal size frog, lives in South America. Raising new questions about the geology of the earth and how the contents have sifted over time.

The monster frog has been officially named Beelzebufo by researcher Catherine Forster. She took “Beelzebub,” the Hebrew word for devil, and combined it with the Latin “bufo”, meaning frog or toad.

Devil Frog seems to be the perfect name for this monster, as it has been suggested it may well have been big enough to eat hatchling dinosaurs!

External Links:
The Frog From Hell (CNN)
‘Frog from hell’ fossil unearthed (BBC)

Cat sized Shrew discovered

A new species of mammal, resembling a giant elephant shrew has been discovered in Tanzania.

The bizarre-looking creature, dubbed Rhynochocyon Udzungwensis, is a type of giant elephant shrew, or sengi.

But despite its name, the creature, is not actually related to shrews. It is actually more closely related to another group of African mammals, which include elephants, sea cows, aardvarks and hyraxes.

Source, BBC

External Links:
‘Bizarre’ new mammal discovered

Glowing Pigs pass on Gene to Piglets

Scientist from a Chinese university have said 2 out of 11 piglets born from genetically altered cloned pigs have inherited the genes that make them glow fluorescent green under ultraviolet light.

The original glowing pigs were genetically altered by adding genetic material from jellyfish to help the study of stem cell research.

The scientists continue to say that this research will help to study human disease…

Glowing green pigs do sound fun, but I must confess I am struggling to understand how genetically messing with animals can really help combat human diseases!

Source:
Glowing Pig Passes Genes to Piglets (National Geographic)

Giant Skeletons were just a hoax!

It was long thought to have be just a hoax, but the National Geograhic finally put the story to bed in December 2007 when it announced that the Giant Skeletons the National Geographic Society allegedly helped to “discovery” in India, was nothing more than an image manipulated hoax.

The original story was picked up by hundreds of blogs and news sites round the world earlier this year and at one point it really did look like part of the story was based on some fact… but alas not!

Source:
“Giant Skeletons” Fuel Web Hoax [source: National Geographic].

Anubis - God of the Dead visits London

An 8 metre (25 foot) high statue of Anubis, the Egyptian God of the Dead floated down the Thames (London) on Monday.

The Jackle headed God is in town to promote a new exhibition on Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs, and will be on desplay in Trafalgar Square for three days before moving to other locations around the city.

The exhibition starts on the 5th November at the O2 venue (formally the London Millennium Dome).

External Links:
kingtut.org (Official Website)
The O2 Dome

Possible sighting of Yangtze River dolphin?

Less than a month after the Baiji (Yangtze River dolphin) was declared “technically” extinct, a new sighting promises hope for one of the worlds most endangered species.

On the 19th August, a local man spotted a white object swimming in the river and decided to filmed it. Unfortunately the quality of the film is poor as the object filmed was a good 1000 meters away. But it is tantalising evidence, and has been suggested it could very well be a Baiji.

Cattle attacked by Vampire Bats

Vampire bats in Latin America are turning to cattle for their staple diet of blood, due to deforestation of their natural prays habitat.

Most forest clearing in South and Central America is for cattle grazing, and as a result, bats numbers have grown to take advantage of the larger prey.

Scientists have said said studies in area of deforestation where there are few or now farms say bat number have stayed the same, but in areas where there are lots of cattle grazing, the numbers have gone up sharply in resent years.

But the problem with the growing number of cattle farms now encroaching on the bats natural environment has also meant a rise in numbers of Rabies related diseases. In 2005 a staggering 1,500 people were treated for rabies and bat bites in just two months, and 23 people died as a result of the disease.

The only option is to try and better manage the bats natural habitat through conservation, along with efforts to reduce wildlife poaching scientist said, which will minimise the overall impact of vampire bats and their late-night raids!

Source:
National Geographic [link]
Wikipedia [link]