tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5032673Fri, 09 May 2008 16:19:19 +0000http://www.strangeark.com/blog/noreply@blogger.com (Chad Arment)Blogger770125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5032673.post-1242597604009019838Fri, 09 May 2008 16:16:00 +00002008-05-09T12:19:19.988-04:00felinesblack pantherunknown feline"Black lions" are reported from South Africa. (News source.) Sightings of a big black cat in Tynedale (UK). (News source.)http://www.strangeark.com/blog/2008/05/feline-news.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Chad Arment)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5032673.post-3380578557366337412Fri, 09 May 2008 03:34:00 +00002008-05-08T23:36:48.741-04:00geneticsbacteriaThe large (up to 600 micrometers) bacteria Epulopiscium, found in the gut of the unicornfish, carries up to 200,000 copies of its genome, far more than is found in any other organism. (News source.) http://www.strangeark.com/blog/2008/05/big-bacteria-stores-genome-aplenty.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Chad Arment)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5032673.post-177615629669565948Wed, 07 May 2008 23:24:00 +00002008-05-07T19:24:41.384-04:00eastern cougarMore stories here on cougar-like sightings from Ontario.http://www.strangeark.com/blog/2008/05/ontario-cougar-sightings-continue.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Chad Arment)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5032673.post-5030858270406704450Wed, 07 May 2008 23:18:00 +00002008-05-07T19:21:32.918-04:00fishnew speciesA new species of darter has been discovered in West Virginia. (News source.) "A new species of fish has been discovered in the lower Elk River near Charleston by a West Virginia University professor. Stuart Welsh, assistant professor in the Wildlife and Fisheries Resources Program in the Davis College of Agriculture, Forestry and Consumer Sciences, named the new species Crystallaria cincotta, orhttp://www.strangeark.com/blog/2008/05/new-fish-in-west-virginia.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Chad Arment)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5032673.post-8865949718085372504Wed, 07 May 2008 06:30:00 +00002008-05-07T02:31:50.429-04:00unknown felineBioFortean ReviewJust added to BioFortean Review: The Carraguar, or Night-Tiger, of Colima, Mexico Chad Arment http://www.strangeark.com/blog/2008/05/carraguar.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Chad Arment)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5032673.post-7962833092800173918Tue, 06 May 2008 22:51:00 +00002008-05-06T19:01:22.775-04:00primatesAn odd little review here of the Mande Barung, of India's Galo Hills in Meghalaya.http://www.strangeark.com/blog/2008/05/indias-bigfoot.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Chad Arment)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5032673.post-5207333889834040223Mon, 05 May 2008 18:17:00 +00002008-05-05T14:56:17.820-04:00out of placesnakeA dead 12-foot python was found in a channel of Nippersink Lake (near Chicago, IL). It's thought that snappers may have eaten the head. (News source.) (I'm thinking retic morph, as it's oddly patterned, but it looks like it is badly decomposed, so can't be certain from the poor images shown... doesn't appear to be a boa or Burmese.)http://www.strangeark.com/blog/2008/05/oop-python.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Chad Arment)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5032673.post-1792595788973150867Mon, 05 May 2008 17:50:00 +00002008-05-05T13:55:28.877-04:00cryptofictionFound this one while browsing on Amazon, released in March 2008: Ancient Lake, by David Coleman. Looks more like straight horror with a cryptozoological creature (Bigfoot-related, from what I gather on the details page), but could be interesting.http://www.strangeark.com/blog/2008/05/cryptofiction-novel.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Chad Arment)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5032673.post-1774359590524092250Sat, 03 May 2008 19:59:00 +00002008-05-03T16:01:33.161-04:00giant squidBioFortean ReviewI've just added a couple of downloadable papers (from 1813 and 1814) on early accounts of giant squid to the BioFortean Review PDF Archive.http://www.strangeark.com/blog/2008/05/kraken-papers.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Chad Arment)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5032673.post-6953782676490883904Sat, 03 May 2008 17:37:00 +00002008-05-03T13:41:43.735-04:00sea monsterswhaleAn Alaska newspaper recounts the story of the 1930 Glacier Island carcase. (If I'm not mistaken, this is the first time the whole story was been given.) (News source.)http://www.strangeark.com/blog/2008/05/glacier-island-sea-monster.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Chad Arment)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5032673.post-9202240085066617777Sat, 03 May 2008 17:32:00 +00002008-05-03T13:36:12.174-04:00felinesblack pantherunknown felineA black feline in Spain is being blamed for attacks on pigs. (News source.)http://www.strangeark.com/blog/2008/05/spain-black-cat.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Chad Arment)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5032673.post-3948412360393130998Sat, 03 May 2008 05:39:00 +00002008-05-03T01:45:01.438-04:00felinesblack pantherunknown felineA California man caught a black feline on a digital camera trap, and wonders if it might be a black mountain lion. Experts note that the feline is too far away, and the picture too blurred, to be identified. (News source.)http://www.strangeark.com/blog/2008/05/california-black-cat-photo.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Chad Arment)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5032673.post-9051317147929389642Fri, 02 May 2008 18:38:00 +00002008-05-02T14:43:43.254-04:00lake monsterpublicity stuntmediaThe Lake City (MN) Tourism Board is offering a $50,000 reward for "undisputable photographic and scientific evidence" of their local lake monster, from Lake Pepin. Of course, they don't want DNA evidence, as they don't want to "hurt" the creature, whatever it is. Just what we need, more stupid publicity ploys exploiting cryptozoology for tourism dollars. (News source.) http://www.strangeark.com/blog/2008/05/lake-pepin.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Chad Arment)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5032673.post-7050939160215620016Fri, 02 May 2008 18:34:00 +00002008-05-02T14:37:06.236-04:00invertebrateendangered speciesTwo new localities are now suspected for the rare giant Palouse earthworm. Specimens are thought probable for this species, though not conclusively identified. (News source.)http://www.strangeark.com/blog/2008/05/giant-earthworm-expands-range.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Chad Arment)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5032673.post-1610043862723152302Fri, 02 May 2008 18:31:00 +00002008-05-02T14:32:32.353-04:00squidbioluminescenceSome interesting details about the bioluminescence of the colossal squid at NatGeo.http://www.strangeark.com/blog/2008/05/more-on-colossal-squid.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Chad Arment)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5032673.post-3453420023831454519Thu, 01 May 2008 17:37:00 +00002008-05-01T13:42:11.601-04:00insectsnew speciesBiologists knew that when the Yolo Bypass flood corridor between Sacramento and Davis floods, the juvenile chinook salmon "grew like gangbusters," but they didn't know why, until they discovered that the fish were feasting on midges. After taking these small flies to an expert, he realized that the flies were a new species that lies dormant in the soil until flooding occurs. (News source.)http://www.strangeark.com/blog/2008/05/new-fly-is-salmon-buffet.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Chad Arment)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5032673.post-7584033197076423233Thu, 01 May 2008 17:27:00 +00002008-05-01T13:36:50.170-04:00new specieslizardA new species is being described in the news as the largest gecko yet found in India, at 250 mm. (I'm a bit leery of this claim; the Tokay gecko, for example, is found in northern India, and can surpass that length in at least parts of its wide range.) The new species has been named Hemidactylus aaronbaueri, after lizard expert Dr. Aaron Bauer of Villanova. (Dr. Bauer, of course, should be a http://www.strangeark.com/blog/2008/05/largest-gecko-in-india.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Chad Arment)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5032673.post-2883272626040834008Wed, 30 Apr 2008 23:22:00 +00002008-04-30T19:25:30.630-04:00cougarThe Chicago cougar came from Wisconsin. (News source.) Frankford, Ontario, has a cougar roaming the area. (News source.)http://www.strangeark.com/blog/2008/04/more-cougar-news.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Chad Arment)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5032673.post-8752399342859533220Tue, 29 Apr 2008 21:48:00 +00002008-04-29T17:53:16.064-04:00conservationdolphinsnew speciesAfter a census of river dolphins in the Orinoco and Amazon River basins, the Bolivian river dolphin has been officially recognized as a separate endemic species (Inia boliviensis). "The Bolivian species is smaller and a lighter grey in colour than the other species and has more teeth. It lives only in the Bolivian Amazon and is isolated from the other Amazon River dolphins, separated by a series http://www.strangeark.com/blog/2008/04/bolivian-river-dolphin-recognized.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Chad Arment)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5032673.post-2987670322843160422Tue, 29 Apr 2008 17:51:00 +00002008-04-29T13:55:39.161-04:00new speciesFrom the Eurekalert: "Researchers discovered a legless lizard and a tiny woodpecker along with 12 other suspected new species in Brazil’s Cerrado, one of the world’s 34 biodiversity conservation hotspots. "The Cerrado’s wooded grassland once covered an area half the size of Europe, but is now being converted to cropland and ranchland at twice the rate of the neighboring Amazon rainforest, http://www.strangeark.com/blog/2008/04/brazilian-new-species.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Chad Arment)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5032673.post-5346773865218883348Tue, 29 Apr 2008 17:41:00 +00002008-04-29T13:51:03.736-04:00squidA 10 meter squid is being thawed for study. (News source.) "On a museum blog following the progress of the thaw, Chris Paulin -- who is projects manager at the museum, known as Te Papa Tongarewa, said Tuesday that the beak of the colossal squid has been exposed as the flesh defrosts. "The size of the lower beak -- used to chop prey into bite sized pieces -- is around 43 to 45 millimetres. "http://www.strangeark.com/blog/2008/04/monster-squid-speculation.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Chad Arment)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5032673.post-992638644437995689Tue, 29 Apr 2008 06:05:00 +00002008-04-29T02:08:27.739-04:00researchprimatesGenetic investigation reveals that the giant "sloth" lemurs of Madagascar were a sister group to the living indriid lemurs. Paper can be downloaded here.http://www.strangeark.com/blog/2008/04/giant-sloth-lemurs.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Chad Arment)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5032673.post-6218094113729888225Mon, 28 Apr 2008 16:30:00 +00002008-04-28T12:31:38.510-04:00invasive speciesWhite-toothed shrews have been found for the first time in Ireland, suggesting a recent introduction. (News source.)http://www.strangeark.com/blog/2008/04/irish-shrew-introduction.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Chad Arment)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5032673.post-4659175707177567743Sun, 27 Apr 2008 19:48:00 +00002008-04-27T15:49:06.944-04:00forteanaA profile on Charles Fort here.http://www.strangeark.com/blog/2008/04/charles-fort.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Chad Arment)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5032673.post-5387902633596361649Sat, 26 Apr 2008 20:36:00 +00002008-04-26T16:41:11.651-04:00rediscoveredA dwarf cloud rat species from the Cordillera, in the Philippines, was rediscovered after 112 years by a recent expedition. (News source.)http://www.strangeark.com/blog/2008/04/rodent-rediscovered.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Chad Arment)