Recent News in Zoology: Of Giant Squid and Vietnamese Salamanders

I've been very busy lately, and I was hoping to do a non-cryptozoological article this week. I've decided to share this article by anthropologist and cryptozoological researcher Dale Drinnon, where he shared some recent zoological discoveries. The first news that Mr. Drinnon shared is about the diversity of the giant squid species known as Architeuthis. Through the growing advancements in genetic analyses, we have been finding that animals which were thought to be one species are actually genetically different. However, it has been discovered that Architeuthis (which is a globally ranging species) from diverse locations vary little in their mitochondrial DNA.

The other zoological discovery which has been shared on the Frontiers of Zoology website, is the exciting discovery of a new species of Vietnamese salamander. It was originally thought to have been a specimen of the known Vietnamese crocodile newt, but further morphological and genetic analysis showed otherwise. The new species has been named Ziegler's crocodile newt, with the scientific name of Tylototriton ziegleri.

Please read this article by Dale Drinnon to learn more about these exciting zoological discoveries.
Frontiers of Zoology: Recent News in Zoology

Science and Strange Animal Sightings at Cabela's

I just spent a great weekend (February 15, 16, and 17) at the outdoors outfitter known as Cabela's in West Virginia. The event that I attended was the Cabela's Strange, Rare and Unusual Sightings Seminar. This event had presentations by Dr. Jeffrey Meldrum (professor of physical anthropology at Idaho State University), Billy Williard (director of Sasquatch Watch of Virginia), Eric Altman (senior director of the Pennsylvania Bigfoot Society), David Dragosin (Western director of the Pennsylvania Bigfoot Society), and Stan Gordon (Bigfoot and paranormal researcher). This event was sponsored by Cabela's, and I would like to give a big thank you to them (and Bud Forte, especially) for making this great weekend possible.

(Left to Right) Billy Willard, Bud Forte, and Eric Altman

The theme of the seminar was to examine reports of strange or unidentifiable animals that people have seen in the woods with scientific minds, instead of speculation or subjective opinions. I was very compelled by this, as I feel that we really need to start using more scientific methods in the search for animals that are unidentified yet reported. Below are some images that were shown prior to the presentations. The first images are from a sequence of trail camera photographs from West Virginia which seem to show a large felid. It has been suggested that these photographs show an Eastern Cougar (Puma concolor couguar), a felid that is supposed to be extinct in West Virginia and other parts of the Eastern United States. Size comparisons were able to be made, and it does seem to be a decently large felid.

Two photographs from a sequence of trail camera photographs which seem to show a decently large feline. In my opinion, it looks like it could be a large feral cat, although I may be wrong.

The next images are, in my opinion, much more intriguing. They are not of an unidentifiable species, but rather a known felid that appears to be abnormally large. They clearly show a Bobcat (Lynx rufus) that is of a rather incredible size. This animal was trapped in West Virginia and allegedly weighed 63 pounds. If this is an accurate weight, then this is a record bobcat. Please note that the trapper's arms are bent (and not extended fully), meaning that forced perspective accounting for the animal's apparent large size is unlikely.

A bobcat trapped in West Virginia and weighed at 63 pounds.

I was able to talk to many great and kind people at this seminar such as Eric Altman, Billy Willard, Sharon Lee, and Bruce Harrington (I was not able to speak directly to Mr. Gordon or Mr. Dragosin, although I am sure that they are great people). The highlight of my weekend, however, was speaking to Dr. Jeffrey Meldrum. Dr. Meldrum (a professor of physical anthropolgy at ISU) was an extremely knowledgeable person and was far more friendly and welcoming than I had expected. He is truly a great person, and was clearly willing to answer each of the many questions that he had received to the best of his ability. He is also a great inspiration to me.

Billy Willard and me (please check out Mr. Willard's group's website: http://www.sasquatchwatch.org/)

Eric Altman and me (please check out Mr. Altman's society's website: http://www.pabigfootsociety.com/)

Dr. Meldrum had two interesting presentations on Saturday (where he spoke about the frequently asked questions regarding the subject of Sasquatch) and on Sunday (where he spoke about an upcoming field guide that he authored).

Dr. Jeffrey Meldrum and me (please check out Dr. Meldrum's scientific journal: http://www.isu.edu/rhi/)

In these speeches, Dr. Meldrum covered some extremely interesting topics. He looks at the evidence and reports of Sasquatch with a very professional, academic, and scientific approach. I must say that I (and my dad, who had been very skeptical of the existence of these animals) left convinced more than ever that a species of unidscovered ape is in North America. In this article, I would just like to briefly cover some of the information that was in Dr. Meldrum's speech as you may learn more.

Dr. Meldrum pointing out the soil pushed up in this Sasquatch half track. This is due to the walk of a Sasquatch, as the evidence suggests increased flexibility at the transverse tarsal joint of the foot results in early heel rise during stance and propulsion from the front of their foot pushes up a pressure ridge.

In both of his presentations, Dr. Meldrum addressed the question of why there haven't been Sasquatch physical remains discovered yet. I was very glad that he so heavily explained this, as lack of physical remains has been bothersome to me. The main answer that he had was that nature is very well equipped to recycle materials in very little time. Since Sasquatch are likely a species of large ape which have a very long lifespan (50 years minimum), reproduce infrequently, and are the top predator with no natural enemies, then death (which would be of natural causes) would be very rare. When top predators are dying, they hide in secluded areas which allow scavengers and decomposers to break down the body. The remains which are not consumed by scavengers and decomposers are broken down by the acidic soil of the wet coniferous forests in which they inhabit. A parallel to other animals that can be made is that even though up to 30,000 black bear live in West Virginia, hunters never find dead bear remains. Dr. Meldrum said that this number is six to eight times the population that he would allow for Sasquatch. In one of his presentations, Dr. Meldrum also talked about a project where time lapse cameras filmed an elephant carcass as it decomposed. The carcass was completely consumed by scavengers within only 6 days, meaning that a giant ape carcass would likely be consumed even faster.

Dr. Meldrum speaking about the midtarsal break present in the Sasquatch foot

Dr. Meldrum also addressed the commonly asked question of why there are not definitive trail camera images of Sasquatch. He said that as trail cameras have grown more popular, certain predatory animals such as coyotes and cougars are exhibiting avoidance to trail cameras. This may be due to infrared leakage, EM emissions, human scent, or the novelty of a unnatural object on a commonly travelled game trail. Dr. Meldrum argues that if a coyote and cougar notices the presence of a trail camera, an intelligent primate like a Sasquatch would likely avoid these. Dr. Meldrum also said that there have been instances where he and others have hiked into remote wilderness areas for days to deploy trail cameras, and (upon retrieval) have found the case snapped open and the camera pulled loose. Although he said that he is not sure of what animal did this, he pointed out that they had not seen any other humans for a month and that a bear would have simply chewed the trail camera.

Some trail camera images shown at the event which could possibly be of a Sasquatch
{Please note that I am not endorsing any of these photos as real Sasquatch}
Sadly, I feel that it is more likely that the top two images are bear, while the two in the middle are what may be a costume (left) and an owl (right). The images at the bottom may be a bear with mange, although I find them intriguingly primate like. I could be totally wrong, so please make your own opinions regarding these intriguing photographs!

Another very interesting part of Dr. Meldrum's presentation was when he spoke about the Patterson Film. Something that I found very intriguing was that the animal in the film has a skull adapted for heavy chewing (durophagy) with large zygomatic arches and a flat face, rather than a skull that has a more protruding face like a gorilla. In designing a suit that is supposed to look like a giant ape, Patterson would have likely turned to King Kong and the gorilla. Instead, the animal in the film has a skull that is totally unlike that of a gorilla and is actually more like the skull of a Paranthropus (which was not a known fossil species at that time).

A slide showing that the Patterson Film animal's skull is built for durphagy, and isn't like a gorilla skull.

Dr. Meldrum also pointed out that the feet of the animal in the Patterson Film would be extremely hard to fake as they show more flexibility than a human foot (allowed by the midtarsal break) and

also show dorsiflexion in the toes. Four way stretch fabric didn't exist in 1960's costumes, and the costume feet of that time were floppy and obviously artificial. Dr. Meldrum also told my father and I that in one part of the Patterson Film, the animal missteps onto hard ground which sends shock waves up through her body and shook the adipose (fatty tissue) of her breasts. More details about this and other reportedly exciting details of the Patterson Film (which is being analyzed by Bill Munns) will be released in the near future.

Dr. Meldrum's Ichnotaxonomical name for Sasquatch footprints: Anthropoidipes ameriborealis

This was a very interesting and enjoyable seminar where I met many nice people. One person I met already knew about my blog, which is very exciting for me! Once again, I would like to thank Cabela's and Bud Forte for making this great weekend seminar possible. I have certainly learned more, and have come back convinced more than ever that a species of undiscovered bipedal ape exists in North America.

A copy of the Paul Freeman "Wrinkle Foot" cast and Knuckle print cast with a signed copy of Dr. Meldrum's book

A Review of 'All Yesterdays', A "New Look" For Dinosaurs That I Hope Stays!

 

I have had the pleasure to receive a fantastic book this Christmas, named All Yesterdays: Unique and Speculative Views of Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Animals. This book features amazing artwork and excellent novel ideas by John Conway, C.M. Kosemen, and Dr. Darren Naish. With the danger of revealing too much of what is in this wonderful new book, here is a bit of a review.

The cover of All Yesterdays with its beautifully illustrated, tree-climbing ceratopsians

 

What I love about this book is that it combines beautiful "paleoart" with bizarre, yet totally possible ideas about the appearance and lifestyle of dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals (such as plesiosaurs and a giant, pterosaur-eating centipede). The authors reconstruct dinosaurs with seemingly odd behaviors, yet fully support these hypothetical portrayals with evidence from the modern natural world. They do the same with the appearance and integument of some of their dinosaurs, and point out that modern animals aren't always sleek and often have body parts hidden by layers of fatty skin or integument. Accompanying text helps us understand why the authors reconstructed the dinosaur (or other prehistoric animal) on that page in the way they did, and a skeletal drawing is also present.

As a warm-blooded predator, a Tyrannosaurus would actually spend a large amount of time sleeping while digesting a meal.

A Majungasaurus with a stunning display, spreading its arms out "in a manner completely unlike that of other large predatory dinosaurs".
 

One of my favorite aspects of the paleoart in this book is that the authors put plenty of interesting integument on their dinosaurs. These included Therizinosaurus that have massive bodies hidden by feathers, Triceratops with large spike-like bristles, and Heterodontosaurus which are covered in bristly "hairs" and porcupine-like quills! Interestingly, we are learning that such speculation is quite plausible. Not only does fossil evidence support the idea of theropods with body integument such as feathers, but we are now learning that many small ornithiscians had fuzzy bristles as well.  

The authors of 'All Yesterdays' don't reconstruct their Leaellynasaura as naked, lizard-like animals.....

But rather, they reconstruct Leaellynasaura as being perfectly adapted to life in a polar climate with a fluffy integument. Brilliant!

Therizinosaurus are portrayed in this book as elephant-sized mounds of feathers with gigantic claws.

To help enforce their claim that it is perfectly reasonable to reconstruct dinosaurs with bizarre behaviors or anatomy, the authors also dedicated a chapter to reconstructing modern animals as a future paleontologist might if they only had fossilized remains to go off of. Some of the results were a terrifying hairless spider monkey, a cow with skin so tight that its bones show, and birds with membranes instead of feathers on their wings. This chapter truly impacted my way of thinking, and surely justified the paleoart styles of these artists. It also supports the idea that many dinosaurs may have been much thicker-bodied with muscle, fat, and/or bountiful integument. This book has the ability to thrill the minds of readers, and to make them realize that dinosaurs were probably a lot more bizarre-looking and acting than we often see them depicted as! However, it also shows that dinosaurs weren't strange and alien monsters, but were regular animals which probably behaved and looked like many species of the modern day.

A reconstruction of a modern cat that is "shrink-wrapped" and represents how modern paleontologists often wrongly depict dinosaurs as very slim, with every bone feature visible through the skin.

All Yesterdays is a truly amazing book, which I would fervently recommend to anyone interested in the possible appearance and lifestyles of dinosaurs. The art contained in the book is not only beautiful, but rejuvenating for the animals depicted. Hopefully, All Yesterdays will help end the era of depicting unrealistically leathery-skinned and slim dinosaurs and will bring forth reconstructions of the reptiles with the fuzzy integument and fatty skin that real animals have. In my mind, All Yesterdays depicts dinosaurs more accurately than other resources which I have seen in that it recognizes the bizarre habits and appearances that many modern animals have and brings them to life in dinosaurs. If only Jurassic Park had depicted its Triceratops with huge protective spines, although the famed Tyrannosaurus rex would be boring as it would be sleeping throughout the movie after consuming the goat and lawyer.

A spiny Triceratops from All Yesterdays. A  specimen of this ceratopsian at the Houston Museum of Natural Science has preserved skin impressions which suggest that these animals actually did possess such bristles. 

 I seriously can't say enough about All Yesterdays, and I emphatically hope that you buy it and read this fabulous book. If you have an open mind and even a slim interest in dinosaurs, this book will change your mind about the way they looked and acted for the better.