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This very strange footage was brought to my attention recently and I was asked what I thought about it.  I initially thought the footage must be faked because the “canine” in the video is simply huge. But as I watched it several times, the dire wolf is what started coming to my mind.

Dire wolves were an ancient species of wolf thought to have become extinct some 10,000 years ago. The were roughly twice the size of a modern timber wolf, stockier built, with shorter legs, probably not built for fast running. But they could have been more of an ambush predator of some of the very large prey that existed at that time, due to their large and powerfully muscular build.

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Well, I guess this post might seem out of sorts to some people, but over the past few days I've been thinking about my days growing up. This subject matter of my thinking back to my youth, might be of some interest to some people. Over the years, this same subject matter, has crept into my mind at various times. So, I thought I would share it with the readers today.

I can remember growing up and about this time of year, we would start seeing the June bugs. June bugs are a type of beetle or scarab, they are also sometimes called June beetle instead of June bugs. Here in my part of the world, we have the green June bugs. The green June bugs are found in the Southeaster part of the United States. I can remember, as a young boy, that the yard would be swarming with what looked like hundreds of June bugs. As kids we would catch the June bugs and tie a string on one of their back legs and fly the bug around. It was a fun thing to do back then, as there really wasn't video games or cell phones or a lot for kids to do, so we played outside. Flying the bugs around didn't seem to hurt them any and later, most of the time, we got bored and turned the June bug loose. I don't know when it happen or why it happened but one day I noticed we no longer had June bugs filling up our yards.  Oh, sometimes you might see one or two but nothing like when I was growing up. So, I often wonder what happened to them, why they no longer come in our part of the world. Is it just here, in my area, that the June bugs no longer visit or are other places also seeing little or no June bugs?

So, with me wondering whatever happened to the June Bugs, It got me to thinking about other creatures that I no longer see. Creatures that once seemed so abundant when I was growing up, but now have all but disappeared.

The Monarch Butterfly is one that we use to see all the time growing up, but now you almost never see them, at least not around here. Did the migration path change, and the beautiful butterfly now does not come our way? Are they all dead? This got me to looking into this mystery. I found that there has indeed been a big population drop in Monarch butterflies and it is predicted by some that the species will go extinct in the next 20 years. I think that is terrible news and someone should be working on re-population. I miss seeing them and I will be looking for them while out in the mountains.

Another, I wonder whatever happened to creature, is the Bobwhite. I can remember sitting on my mamaw's porch and listening to the Bobwhites make their very recognizable whistle. Along about dust, about the time us kids would stop playing, we'd be sitting on the porch and seems like you would hear the whistle every evening. But it has been years since I have heard a bobwhite. I know the little ground dwelling quail, is very vulnerable to predators but we use to have a good population of them. I wonder what ever happened to them around here. It was enjoyable listening to that famous whistle, I would like to hear it now, on the evenings I sit on the porch.

This next little fellow may not but very popular, but they serve a good purpose. Bats. I can remember playing in the yard at dust and there would be bats flying about and swooping down. There was not real large numbers, maybe 15-20 of them but compared to what we see now, it seems like a lot. I have not seen a small swarm of bats in the yard in many years. They do eat a lot of bugs, maybe that is why there seems to be so many bugs now, because there are less bats.  I can also remember fishing at one of our local strip mining ponds as a teenager and the bats would be swarming around. There would be so many of them that they (the bats) would fly into our fishing lines.

 I know, there could be many factors to why I no longer see some of these creatures. But I still miss them.

Thinking back and missing things are a part of life, I guess. But growing up and seeing these creatures, I never even thought the day would come when I would miss them or wonder what happened to them. It's funny, as you get older, you seem to appreciate things you gave very little thought about while growing up.



Thanks
~Tom~

This post by Thomas Marcum, Thomas is the founder/leader of the cryptozoology and paranormal research organization known as The Crypto Crew. Over 20 years experience with research and investigation of unexplained activity, working with video and websites. A trained wild land firefighter and a published photographer, and poet.


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Over the years and even recently, I have heard people talk about the population of bigfoot. Some think that bigfoot population is dwindling down and some even think they are about to go extinct. So, all that got me to thinking about the many factors that can cause extinction. Lets look at a few that may or may not effect bigfoot and see if we can make some assessments.

Changes in Habitat - Destruction of wildlife habitat can result in a species going extinct. Things like deforestation, development of highways, dam building, urban development and other factors can cause havoc to wildlife. Destruction of habitat can lead to starvation of a species, make them a target for predators, or possibly cause them to die of disease. A species experiencing destruction of habitat must adapt to the changes or move to a different location. This is only some of the possible things that could happen. But would this apply to or effect bigfoot to the point of extinction? In my opinion, I would say probably not. As most of us know, bigfoot is extremely intelligent and would probably just move into a better area. The food source might be a bigger factor in the case destruction of habitat when it comes to bigfoot. But with the intelligence level of bigfoot, I would assume bigfoot would manage to find something. Another point to consider in destruction of habitat, to me, would be the rate of destruction. Of course a very fast, rapid destruction would probably be more devastating to all wildlife. In my are, in days gone by, strip mining and logging disturbed wildlife but the effects seemed to be only a temporary. If bigfoot had to move to another area due to habitat issues, could this be a factor in more sightings? I think it would.

Hunting -  While legal hunting can play a factor, it's the over hunting, poaching and commercial hunting that causes the most problems. Commercial hunting is hunting done for fur/pelts, tusks, horn and other parts. A good example is the hunting of Rhinoceros. Rhino's are/were hunted for their horn. The western black rhino was declared extinct back in 2013. It was due to poaching and a lack of conservation. Now, when it comes to bigfoot, we currently don't have a major problem with people hunting and killing them. Oh yes, some people hunt them and hope to kill one but nothing has come of it so far. There are numerous reports over the years of people shooting bigfoot, but in almost all cases it was a random chance encounter. So I think we can conclude that hunting of bigfoot is not a problem in the bigfoot going extinction theory.

Predators - Natural predators normally kill off the weak, wounded or sick prey, but it can play a part in the extinction of wildlife if a population is already low. But far worse is the human predator factor. Humans tend to take stronger and larger animals, which can really hit wildlife hard and make a species weaker. But neither of these would seem to pertain to our buddy bigfoot. As far as we know, bigfoot really don't have any natural predators. I would assume, new born or very young bigfoot could be prey for mountain lions or something but I would also assume they are well guarded.

Pollution and Disease - Pollution can have negative effects on habitat and animals. This would include plants and trees which could be a food source, among other things. But water pollution would have a bigger devastating effect in most cases. A damaged local water supply could lead to many factors which could result in a die off.  Insecticides and pesticides can be dangerous as well. But this type of problem is rarely seen in mountainous areas so the effects would be very rare and limited and probably not great enough to wipe out a whole species. Disease can be something very unpredictable. It may come from stagnated or polluted water. It could be introduced by a lower prey species. But generally cases of disease doesn't wipe out an entire species. So these factors probably would not play a major role in the dwindling or dying off of bigfoot.


Now, there are also other factors that can lead to extinction, but most are so rare and devastating nothing could be done anyways. For example, rapid climate change or abrupt climate change. Carboniferous Rainforest Collapse was a minor extinction event that occurred around 305 million years ago in the Carboniferous period. It altered the vast coal forests that covered the equatorial region of Euramerica (Europe and America). This event may have fragmented the forests into isolated 'islands', which in turn caused dwarfism and, shortly after, extinction of many plant and animal species. Another possibility is a major meteorological event. Plus I'm sure you can think of other things that can cause or lead to extinction but would it really effect bigfoot in a major way? Probably not.

So, after reviewing this information and thinking about the idea/theory that bigfoot is going extinct, I have concluded that most likely this is not true. And if they are going extinct, then it must be due to some outside factor that we don't know, understand or have thought of. I know this may not be a popular opinion that I have about it bigfoot not going extinct. But if you look at the sighting data, there seems to be a general overall uptick in sightings. You would think, for a dwindling population on the verge of going extinct, sightings would be way down. But that doesn't seem to be the case at all. Having more bigfoot sightings would seem to suggest there is a more robust population.

Of course, we don't know much about bigfoot. We don't know what or if they have a breeding cycle, how long pregnancy last, how long they live and many other things that could play a factor. I would assume, and I really don't know, that bigfoot have similar breeding cycles and pregnancies to humans. In Bonobo apes, the gestation period is about 240 days for pregnancy and that is comparable to humans at 280 days.

So, what might cause some people to think that bigfoot is going extinct?  While I can't really answer that for sure, I can offer a guess. Maybe a person does have less sighting in their area than in days gone by. This could lead them to believe bigfoot is dying off, but it really could only mean that the bigfoot have moved to another location. This would seem to account for the raise in sightings in other locations. I know in my area of Kentucky, there seems to be an increase in sightings. It could be due to a few factors. For one, the lack of logging and coal mining in my area many have led to an increase. Maybe, the increased destruction of habitat in other locations drove bigfoot  into our area.

My final assessment, opinion, would be that bigfoot is not about to die off or go extinct. That bigfoot has been here a long time and it will continue to be here for a long time.  That it is very hard to put a number amount on bigfoot. We really don't have any way to determine just how many bigfoot are out there.  We could make a guess, but it would be just that, a guess.  



Thanks
~Tom~

This post by Thomas Marcum, Thomas is the founder/leader of the cryptozoology and paranormal research organization known as The Crypto Crew. Over 20 years experience with research and investigation of unexplained activity, working with video and websites. A trained wild land firefighter and a published photographer, and poet.


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Lake Champlain is a 125 mile (201 km) long strip of freshwater lake located between New York State and Vermont, extending all the way up into Quebec, Canada. It is named for Samuel De Champlain, the founder of Quebec. It’s a beautiful area, but the most interesting thing about it is the legend of Champ, the monster that’s believed to live in the lake.

And Champlain was the first recorded European who claimed to have seen the creature. He described it as “20-foot serpent thick as a barrel, and a head like a horse." Many believe the creature could possibly be a relic plesiousaur, a dinosaur believed to have become extinct during the early part of the Jurassic period, but somehow managed to survive after the lake dried up somewhat and was cut off from the larger body of salt water which included the Atlantic Ocean.

Many people in the area believe the stories are just legend with no real basis except to boost tourism around the lake. But since Champlain’s time, there have been hundreds of sightings, but very little concrete evidence.

But that may have changed when two fisherman in the area claimed to have spotted the creature and caught it on video. 

Watch this footage carefully and tell us what you think.




This Post By TCC Team Member Dorraine Fisher. Dorraine is a Professional Writer, photographer, a nature, wildlife and Bigfoot enthusiast who has written for many magazines. Dorraine conducts research, special interviews and more for The Crypto Crew. Get Dorraine's book The Book Of Blackthorne!


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"Honshu-wolf4" by Ｋａｔｕｕｙａ from ja. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Honshu-wolf4.jpg#/media/File:Honshu-wolf4.jpg

The Honshū wolf (Canis lupus hodophilax), known in Japan as the Japanese wolf  or simply wolf , is one of the two extinct subspecies of the gray wolf once endemic to the islands of Japan. The Honshū wolf occupied the islands of Honshū, Shikoku, and Kyūshū in Japan. The other subspecies was the Hokkaidō wolf, native to the island of Hokkaidō.

Honshū wolves, the smaller descendants of mainland gray wolves, were plentiful in the country of Japan. They were the smallest known wild subspecies of Canis lupus; they measured about 35 inches (90 cm) long and 12 inches (30 cm) inches at the shoulder. Their population began to decrease in 1732 when rabies, first reported in Kyūshū and Shikoku, was introduced to the area they inhabited. It affected different wolf populations all through the nineteenth century. Most argue that it was humans that brought the virus to Japan, trying to kill the wolves on purpose. It is also believed that local domestic dogs in the regions may have transported the disease. Either way, along with intense human persecution, the wolves proceeded into extinction. The last known specimen died in 1905, in Nara Prefecture.

Some interpretations of the Honshū wolf's extinction stress the change in local perceptions of the animal: rabies-induced aggression and deforestation of the wolf's habitat forced them into conflict with humans, and this led to them being targeted by farmers.
Other sources say the wolves were killed off as a national policy.
There are currently eight known pelts and five stuffed specimens of the Japanese wolf in existence. One stuffed specimen is in the Netherlands, three are in Japan, and the animal caught in 1905 is kept in the British Museum. Owing to its small size the Honshū wolf's classification as a subspecies of the gray wolf is disputed.

The wolf was afforded a benign place in Japanese folklore and religious traditions: the clan leader Fujiwara no Hidehira was said to have been raised by wolves, and the wolf is often symbolically linked with mountain kami in Shinto. The most famous example is the wolf kami of Mitsumine Shrine in the town of Chichibu in Saitama Prefecture.
Sightings of the Japanese wolf have been claimed from the time of its extinction to the present day, but none of these have been verified.

The Honshū wolf was the world’s smallest known wolf. From nose to tail, it grew to about 35 inches in length and stood about a foot tall. It was said that the Honshū wolf much more closely resembled dogs, coyotes and jackals than its Siberian wolf ancestors due to their short wiry hair and a thin dog-like tail that was rounded at the end, along with their short legs. Therefore, the Honshu wolf is argued to be its own species instead of being a gray wolf subspecies because of these physical differences.

The Honshū Wolf was known to eat animals much larger than it, including deer and wild boar. Farmers appreciated their appetite for smaller animals such as rodents and hares, which reduced the number of farm pests. The specialized, strictly carnivorous diet was one of the many reasons the Honshū Wolf became extinct. As wolf populations increased, they required more of their exclusive diet to maintain their numbers, which could not be sustained by the local fauna.
Honshu wolves were abundant in Japan until 1732 when rabies was introduced to the island. It was rabies, deforestation of the wolf's habitat, and conflict with humans that led to their extinction. The last specimen was officially killed in 1905 in Nara prefecture. Although there have been many sightings claimed since then, none of them have been verified. There are five known mounted specimens: three in Japan, one in the Netherlands, and the last officially killed specimen in the British Museum.

The Honshu wolf is a prominent figure in Japanese folklore and culture. The mountains of Japan, seen as a dangerous, deadly place, are highly associated with the wolf. The Honshu wolf is believed to be the protector and guardian of the mountains, where it resides in its most remote parts. Many mountain villages, such as Okami’iwa (Wolf Rock) and Okamitaira (Wolf Plateau), are named after the wolf; this could be due to a sighting at the location, or a simple homage to the species. Sightings of the Honshu wolf were very rare, and the wolf was described as being more of a spirit entity protecting travelers. Some legends bring this to a whole new level, where abandoned infants are found and raised by the wolves. The wolves also protect surrounding villages from the dangerous wildlife. The spirit form of the Japanese wolf, which has been worshiped since ancient times, is called makami (真神). It is believed to understand human speech, reward good, and punish evil. Makami shrines are found in Saitama, Shizuoka, and Tokyo.

Some villages have wolf charms called shishiyoke, that protected their village and their crops against wild boar. In addition, other protective shrines can be found in many villages, especially on the Kii Peninsula. In some villages, such as in Gifu prefecture, the skull of the wolf was used as the charm for both protection as well as curing possessed villagers. In addition to protecting the crops, the wolf may leave prey for villagers. A tradition called inu no ubumimai consists of giving a mother Honshu wolf rice when she gives birth to a cub. In return, the wolf would protect the village and assist in danger, or leave the village in times of famine.

Some legends portray the Honshu wolf as being prophetic creatures. In the Tamaki Mountains the location of a tree called “the cypress of dog-howls” is said to be the site where wolves howled before a flood in 1889, warning the villagers. The Honshu wolf was not commonly killed by villagers, and attacks were rare. Some folklore states that the killer of a Honshu wolf faced punishment from the spiritual world. Legends also describes the wolf as being concealed by the environment, and that its fur changes with the seasons to further camouflage itself. In many local cultures, therefore, the Honshu wolf is believed not to be extinct; it was always difficult to find.

- Source: wikipedia -

 While this does not look all that similar to the Shunka Warakin, it did remind me of it. Yet another animal that is said to be extinct but yet there are reports of people seeing it. Now, it would seem that sometimes animals are declared extinct when really some may be left and over time they seem to make a recovery. For example, the Javan Elephants became extinct sometime in the period after Europeans arrived in Southeast Asia. Elephants on Sulu, never considered native to the island, were hunted out in the 1800s. But the elephants were rediscovered in 2006 800 miles away on the island of Borneo. The Laotian Rock Rats are another good example. They were said to have gone extinct millions of years ago, but were re-discovered in 2005. So, it is feasible to think that the Honshu Wolf may be discovered again someday. 


Thanks
~Tom~


This post by Thomas Marcum, Thomas is the founder/leader of the cryptozoology and paranormal research organization known as The Crypto Crew. Over 20 years experience with research and investigation of unexplained activity, working with video and websites. A trained wild land firefighter and a published photographer, and poet


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HISTORY
The Tasmanian Tiger, otherwise known as the Thylacine (a conjugation of its scientific name) was an inhabitant of Australia and Tasmania up to about 12,000 years ago. Once dingoes appeared on the Australian mainland the thylacine population disappeared, with the only surviving population being left on the island of Tasmania. When farmers moved to Tasmania in the early 1800s, the thylacines were seen as pests that were good for nothing other than killing the livestock of the farmers. A systematic slaughter of the thylacines was set in place, with bounties being rewarded for the scalps. By the early 1900s thylacines were rare creatures, and the last bounty was paid in 1909. The last reported killing of a "tiger" was 1930. The thylacines were given protected status in 1933, but it was too late... the last thylacine found was captured and sent to the Hobart Domain Zoo just two months after they became a protected species. This last thylacine died on September 7, 1936. The people of Australia and Tasmania mourned the loss of their Tasmanian Tiger. Tasmania put the thylacine on its official Coat of Arms. This thylacine was later named "Benjamin".

DESCRIPTION
The thylacine closely resembles a dog, but it is actually a carnivorous marsupial, belonging to the same family as the kangaroo and Tasmanian devil. The male thylacine would reach 6 feet in length from head to tail, at about 45 lbs. It sported distinctive stripes that began in mid-back and continued down to the tail. Females were smaller. The bunched and extended rear was reminiscent of hyenas. The tail was long, thin, inflexible and did not wag. Its fur was coarse and sandy-brown. They had pouches in which they carried their young. The opening on their pouches faced towards the rear of the animal, rather than towards the head (as with Kangaroos). Thylacines often hunted in pairs, but they did not have great speed, the best they could do was a fast clumsy "ambling", and they seemed to catch up to prey mainly by exhausting it from constant chase. They fed on various animals up to the size of kangaroos. They had powerful elongated jaws with a huge gape that could crush the skulls of their victims. When hunted by people using dogs, the thylacines would show no fear when cornered and would often kill the first dog to go in. The thylacines normally did not make any sound, but while hunting they were heard to sometimes make a quick barking "yip-yip". No known recording exists. Thylacines were primarily nocturnal animals. Little is known about their social habits. From shot and captured specimens it seems that a typical thylacine litter was 3 or 4 "pups". The thylacines that were captured and put into captivity often died quickly, but some survived up to 13 years. They did not make for great attractions at the zoos, caged thylacines were morose and did not respond to affection from their human caretakers.


THE SIGHTINGS BEGIN
Soon after Benjamin's death, reports of thylacine sightings came in from the mountains of northwestern Tasmania. Australia's Animals and Birds Protection Board sent an investigative team into the area but all they came back with were some interesting reports from the inhabitants of the area. Interest was high and another expedition that was sent in 1938 found the first evidence of living thylacines - footprints that were positively identified as belonging to thylacines. After this expedition, World War II intervened and the next expedition did not take place until 1945. This privately funded expedition found thylacine footprints and collected more sighting reports.

SHEEP KILLINGS
In 1957 zoologist Eric R. Guiler, chairman of the Animals and Birds Protection Board, went to Broadmarsh to investigate the killing of some sheep by an unknown predator. Tracks were found that were identified as thylacine prints. But no thylacine was found. Several more expeditions followed between 1957 and 1966, but these produced only more footprints and more reports of sightings from the local residents.

HIDDEN CAMERAS
In 1968 a Tiger Center was established, to which people could report their thylacine sightings. Expeditions continued to beat the brush in the wildlands of Tasmania searching for thylacines. In the 1970s a project was set up by the World Wildlife Fund that set up several automatic-camera units at locations where sightings were concentrated. Bait was used and infrared beams were used to trigger the cameras. The project ended in failure in 1980, no thylacines were captured on film. In his official report, project leader Steven J. Smith of the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) stated his view that thylacines are extinct. Zoologist Eric Guiler later set up his own hidden camera operation, but this attempt to capture a living thylacine on film also failed. But the number of reported sightings shot up between 1970 and 1980, a total of 104. This gave investigators new hope in finding a remnant population of thylacines still surviving in the more remote areas of Tasmania. Reports of living thylacines also began to come in from southwestern Western Australia, which was very strange because thylacines were eliminated from mainland Australia thousands of years ago after the introduction of dingoes, which made quick work of the slower moving thylacines.

LIVING THYLACINE IDENTIFIED BY PARK RANGER
On a rainy night in March of 1982 a NPWS park ranger was sleeping in the back seat of his car. Something woke him up and he turned on his spotlight, and turned it onto an animal that was about 20 feet away. He said it was a thylacine, "an adult male in excellent condition, with 12 black stripes on a sandy coat." The animal ran off, and because of the rain, no footprints were left.

The NPWS kept the report from the public until January 1984, in order to keep people from going to the area and disturbing the possible habitat of the last living thylacines. This sighting did not prove the existence of living thylacines to the government's satisfaction though, and no official statement was made to that effect. There was also the question of was to do about the extensive mining and timber operations in the area. If living thylacines were found, would the government have to shut down those commercial enterprises? The question of protection of thylacines versus business interests was a thorny one that the government would have to be very careful about. Real proof of living thylacines was necessary - a live or dead thylacine body would have to be produced.

A THYLACINE SHOT IN 1981?
Following the rash of thylacine sightings in Western Australia, the state's Agricultural Protection Board sent Kevin Cameron, a tracker of aboriginal descent, to investigate. Soon Cameron reported that he himself sighted and identified a living thylacine in Western Australia. But this was not proof enough. Then in 1985 Cameron produced pictures that he claimed were taken of a living thylacine, along with casts of thylacine footprints. The pictures were presented to zoologist Athol M. Douglas at the Western Australian Museum in Perth. They showed an dog like animal burrowing at the base of the tree. The head was hidden from view, but its striped back and stiff tail strongly implied that it was a thylacine. Suspicions began to arise though. Cameron would not say where he took the pictures, and he vacillated on giving permission to have the pictures reproduced for publication, eventually agreeing. Cameron accompanied Douglas to a photographic laboratory while he made enlargements. Douglas found,

"When I saw the negatives, I realized Cameron's account with regard to the photographs was inaccurate. The film had been cut, frames were missing, and the photos were taken from different angles - making it impossible for the series to have been taken in 20 or 30 seconds, as Cameron had stated. Furthermore, in one negative, there was the shadow of another person pointing what could be an over-under 12 gauge shotgun. Cameron had told me he had been alone. It would have been practically impossible for an animal as alert as a thylacine to remain stationary for so long while human activity was going on in its vicinity. In addition, it is significant that the animal's head does not appear in any of the photographs." The story and pictures were released in the New Scientist magazine, and its readers were soon criticizing the authenticity of the photographs. They pointed out that the animal seemed to stay dead still from photograph to photograph. And they realized by the differing lengths of the shadows that the pictures were taken over at least an hour. It would seem that the pictures were a hoax, and the specimen was a stuffed thylacine. But the first picture, the one that showed the shadow of a person holding a gun aimed at the thylacine, was omitted from the New Scientist story. Douglas feels that,

"The full frame of this negative is the one which shows the shadow of the man with a rigid gun-like object pointing in the direction of the thylacine at the base of the tree. This shadow was deliberately excluded in the photos published in New Scientist. If I am correct in this supposition, the thylacine was alive when the first photo was taken, but had been dead [and frozen in rigor mortis] for several hours by the time the second photograph was taken." Douglas hoped that the carcass would surface, but that is doubtful since shooting a thylacine is punishable by a $5000 fine. Cameron was not helpful in shedding any further light on it. So the "Cameron" episode remains clouded in mystery. Either it was a hoax using a stuffed thylacine, or a living thylacine was shot, for reasons unknown, and pictures were taken of it. The fact that the head is not in any of the photographs may be because the animal was shot in the head. If they were using a stuffed thylacine, then why hide the head?

THYLACINE CARCASS FOUND IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA
In 1966 an expedition from the Western Australia Museum found a thylacine carcass in a cave near Mundrabilla Station. Carbon dating showed the carcass to be 4,500 years old, but that method of dating may be invalid since the body had been soaking in groundwater which permeated the whole body. Zoologist Athol Douglas reported that along with the thylacine carcass was also found a dingo carcass, and that the dingo carcass was much more deteriorated than the thylacine carcass. Douglas gave his opinion that the dingo carcass was not older than 20 years, and that the thylacine carcass was not older than a year. But since the carbon dating argues against a recent death of this thylacine, official proof of surviving thylacines has still not been claimed.

THE SIGHTINGS SPREAD
Cryptozoological investigator Rex Gilroy has collected various reports of thylacine sightings from "over a wide area of the rugged eastern Australian mountain ranges, from far north Queensland through New South Wales to eastern Victoria." Casts of footprints found in those areas have been verified as thylacine prints. Gilroy even claims to have seen a thylacine himself. Diving at night with a friend along a highway towards the Blue Mountains west of Sydney, something dashed out of the scrub along the highway and ran in front of them. It then stopped and stared back at the headlights for a few seconds before running off into the scrub, towards Grose Valley. It was "almost the size of a full-grown Alsatian dog, with fawn-colored fur and a row of blackish stripes...I have no doubt that it was a thylacine; its appearance matched that of stuffed specimens preserved in Government museums."

Another Park Ranger reported seeing a thylacine in 1990. Ranger Peter Simon was in the Namadgi-Kosciusco National Park along the New South Wales-Victoria border when he saw what he identified as a thylacine in broad daylight at a range of 100 feet. After Peter Simon published an article on his sighting and the thylacine mystery in The Age magazine, he received many cards and letters from Victoria residents who also claimed to have seen Thylacines. Peter Simon said that the reports were so consistent that they, " left me in no doubt that each had seen something unusual [and] ... broadly consistent with the appearance of a thylacine."

SUPERNATURAL APPEARANCES?
In 1982 a Western Australian farming couple claimed to have lost livestock to thylacine predation, and say that they always gets a "prickly feeling" at the back of his neck when the thylacines were nearby. That "prickly feeling" is sensation that is widely reported when people experience encounters with strange out of place creatures or entities.

Australian writer Tony Healy reported that on the day before Ranger Peter Simon was to have his encounter with a thylacine, his hunting dogs refused to leave a truck that they were being transported in after they heard strange harsh panting sounds in the brush nearby.

At a Benedictine monastery named New Hoacia, the secretary to the Addot, Tony James, walked into a room early in the morning and saw a thylacine, "We both froze, and he looked at me, in quite a fearless way, and I sense that he was just simply filled with curiosity at the sighting." The animal fled. Tony feels that perhaps the animal was feeding off the table scraps that were usually left out for the magpies every morning. Another member of the monastery also reported seeing an animal that fit the description of a thylacine while driving from the monastery.

On April 7, 1974, at 3:30 a.m. Joan Gilbert was driving in the outskirts of Bournemouth, England, when a strange animal ran across her headlights. It was a, "strange striped creature, half cat and half dog. It was the most peculiar animal I have ever seen. It had stripes, a long thin tail, and seemed to be all gray, though it might have had some yellow in it. Its ears were set back like a member of the cat family, and it was as big as a medium-sized dog. It was thin, and it definitely was not a fox." She identified it as a thylacine when she found a picture of it in a reference book.

- Selected Sources: Clark, Jerome, Unexplained! Animal X (Discovery Channel) - Please note I DO NOT know the original source for this post. No copyright infringement intended. Will be happy to credit original source.


Thanks
~Tom~

This post by Thomas Marcum, Thomas is the founder/leader of the cryptozoology and paranormal research organization known as The Crypto Crew. Over 20 years experience with research and investigation of unexplained activity, working with video and websites. A trained wild land firefighter and a published photographer, and poet


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The woolly mammoth may be on the comeback trail, thanks to a deal signed between prominent Russian and South Korean scientists to collaborate on efforts to clone the extinct prehistoric beast. Vasily Vasiliev, of the North-Eastern Federal University of the Sakha Republic, forged the pact with controversial cloning expert Hwang Woo-Suk—who you might remember as the guy who faked the cloning of a human egg, the AFP reports.                                                           
Hwang does have some serious credentials, however; he legitimately produced the world's first cloned dog, and his efforts on human stem cells accidentally yielded a huge breakthrough in parthenogenesis. Hwang's Sooam Biotech Research Foundation will transfer technology to Vasiliev's university, which is already working with Japanese researchers on cloning the mammoth. "This will be a really tough job," one of Hwang's colleague says, "but we believe it is possible because our institute is good at cloning animals."
[Via Newser.com ]

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