Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #TetZoo
Most recents (15)
During the early 1990s, John Blashford-Snell, Rula Lenska and other travelled to Nepal to find and photograph the giant #elephants Raja Gaj and Kansha. They succeeded, and got great images of both animals. They later wrote a book about their adventures... 1/n 
The twin-domed skulls and convex trunk bases of these animals - Raja Gaj in particular - led to suggestions (albeit only in talks and popular articles) that they were 'living mammoths' or 'living stegodonts'. I asked Blashford-Snell a few times where these ideas came from... 2/n
They were the result of confusion. The Nepalese giants had been compared by some elephant experts to Elephas hysudricus, an Asian #Pleistocene fossil #elephant with very prominent cranial doming. No deliberate reference to mammoths OR stegodonts! 3/n
I just can't believe we're halfway through the year already. I haven't done much at #TetZoo - just no chance - but here's a quick thread of personal highlights of 2022 so far...
First off, I enjoyed putting together my lookback at the 2001 #DorlingKindersley Encyclopedia of #Dinosaurs & Prehistoric Life, a book I co-authored and helped put together during my formative PhD-focused years tetzoo.com/blog/2022/1/29…
The recycled article on Kogia - the dwarf and pygmy sperm whales - was fun to reassemble... tetzoo.com/blog/2022/3/7/… #mammals #marinemammals #cetaceans #whales
Time once more for a #TetZoocryptomegathread. Again, it’s on #seamonsters, and again on a supposed actual photo of a live one! I refer of course to the enigmatic Professor Sharpe ‘1908’ photo, which I first wrote about back in 2008…
The photo was brought to recent attention by cryptozoological researchers Dwight Smith and Gary Mangiacopra in a 2001 article, published in a special volume of Crypto devoted to aquatic #monsters...
It concerns a photo that’s been republished more than once since its first appearance in a Californian newspaper, and must have been seen by thousands, if not millions, of people… #cryptozoology #monsters
After an long hiatus caused by a ridiculous workload, it’s time for another #TetZoocryptomegathread, in which I examine the backstory to a cryptozoological photo or bit of film. This time, we look at the Lake Dakataua ‘Migo’ monster footage of 1994. Warning: LONG thread ahead…
I’ll tell you now that this case is complex. It involves crocodile systematics and behaviour, the ‘surviving archaeocete’ hypothesis, mosasaur life appearance as depicted in #palaeoart, and the world of the pre-internet cryptozoological community…
What is the #Migo?... I hear (some of) you cry. Also known as the Masali or Migaua, it’s an alleged mystery creature of New Britain’s Lake Dakataua, said to be about 4m long, and to be a flippered, long-tailed, long-snouted, aquatic, predatory animal…
Back from Mayfield Park, a mix of wooded, beech-dominated hillsides and seasonally flooded, willow-dominated valley. Here's a thread of things I saw. First of all, active burrow complex. Either badger sett or fox earth, I think badger...
The UK needs more thickets, they're really important for small birds, mammals and arthropods, especially in the winter. There are a few good ones in the park, I hope that they persist...
Robins are abundant, and tame and ready to approach people. I've written about #robins at #TetZoo, here's an article.... web.archive.org/web/2015073017… #passerines #birds #ornithology
It's #TetZoocryptomegathread time, in which I take a VERY long, detailed look at a monster-themed photo, or photos, or bit of film. This time, we look AGAIN at photos alleged to show a monster carcass: the 1937 Naden Harbour #Cadborosaurus sea monster carcass… #cryptozoology
As usual, my aim here is to cover the story in all its twists and turns, and to look at the evidence critically and sceptically but to ALSO look at the case as it was interpreted by those who accepted it as a valid bit of monster evidence… #monsters #seamonsters
Some minor backstory before we get to the photos themselves. European colonists of coastal British Columbia, Canada and Washington, USA claimed – from the 1880s onwards – to witness a large sea monster in the region’s coastal waters…
We’re here for another #TetZoocryptomegathread. Once more, we’re looking at images of a supposed dead cryptid, not a live animal. I refer to the MINNESOTA ICEMAN, the claimed carcass of a recently deceased hominid implied to be a ‘prehistoric man’ or #bigfoot-like creature…
As per usual, this is a VERY LONG AND DETAILED look at the story which involved me looking at, and checking, numerous sources, all of which I’ll discuss as we approach the end… #cryptozoology #bigfoot #monsters
And because I discuss both sides of the story, its various twists and turns, please remember that it might sometimes seem as if I’m presenting things from just one of those sides. In reality: stick around, the take from the ‘other side’ will get covered too…
Time for another #TetZoocryptomegathread, again a #LochNessMonster one, again on one of my favourite #Nessie photos: the Peter O’Connor photo of May 27th, 1960. Follow this thread as we take a VERY DETAILED look at the story behind this case…
The O’Connor photo – a single black and white image – is one of the ‘best’ #Nessie images, by which I mean that it shows an object which looks something like an animal, and shows it at close range and at reasonable detail. #cryptozoology #monsters
The photo was taken in darkness, from close to shore, and (supposedly...) as the camera was held less than 1 metre above the water surface. The flash illuminates the scene, and is bouncing off wavelets as well as what looks like the body of a large animal…
Our new #IsleofWight #theropod #dinosaurs - Vectaerovenator (not as scary as it looks: 'vect-air-oh-ven-a-tor') from the Greensand of #Shanklin - was published yesterday in an #OA paper, available here: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.10… Brief thread on this research...
This dinosaur - so far known from four extremely unusual, anatomically interesting vertebrae (two of them shown here) - was discovered by three different collectors, our work on describing them was led by University of Southampton PhD student @palaeoguy12 ... #FossilFriday
It was obvious from the start that this was (1) a theropod (or predatory dinosaur), (2) a new species and genus, and (3) interesting in being highly pneumatic (that is, it has loads of air-filled cavities and openings: you can see those features in these photos)... #dinosaurs
Time to embark on another of my #cryptozoology PHOTO MEGA-THREADS (from hereon, #TetZoocryptomegathread). Today: Rilla Martin’s 1964 Ozenkadnook tiger photo, aka the ‘Rilla critter’ photo, from western Victoria, Australia. It's one of my favourite mystery animal photos. Ok...
The photo – a single black and white image – shows a vaguely dog-shaped, long-tailed mammal in the scrub, assumed to be a predatory marsupial of some sort, but one which doesn’t match anything known to science.
The story is that Martin was holidaying with her cousin Bushy (yeah, ‘Bushy’) at Goroke on the Victoria/South Australia border (map from Google maps)...
It’s time for another of my monster-themed mega-threads, wherein we examine the backstory to photos (or other bits of evidence) said to be evidence for a given #monster. This time, we’re going to look at the so-called #LochNessMonster FLIPPER PHOTOS of 1972. Here we go…
During the late 1960s/early 70s it was believed by a large group of people – affiliated as the Loch Ness Phenomenon Investigation Bureau or LNIB (it went by other names over the years) – that camera-led vigils at #LochNess would lead to definitive proof of Nessie’s existence...
During the early 70s, the LNIB joined forces with another group: the US-based Academy of Applied Science (AAS), led by inventor and lawyer Robert Rines (whose name is very often wrongly written ‘Rhines’). Rines died in 2009. In the photo here, Rines is on the far left…
Me and the family went to ZSL #LondonZoo today, had a great time and saw all the #animals. Here's a short thread. Some highlights: Western lowland gorilla, Sumatran tiger, Komodo dragon, Galapagos giant tortoise...
Just a few of the literally 100s of birds at #LondonZoo: Woolly-necked stork, Northern crested caracaras (big, semi-terrestrial American falcons) and Red and yellow barbet. Barbets are members of the woodpecker group; some are close kin of toucans. #birds #animals #zoos
Some #reptiles: the remarkably yellow Cuming's water monitor, an awesome Reticulated python (cue #HarryPotter link), Big-headed turtle (able to climb, prehensile-tailed) and Rio Fuerte beaded lizard... #lizards #snakes #squamates #turtles
The 'Dr Darren Naish is an idiot because he's only just decided that monsters (like the #LochNessMonster) aren't real' story continues to have legs in the global press today. Here's a thread...
(1) I've most certainly not spent the last 20 years searching for monsters. I think I told a journalist that I've been publishing on monsters for about 20 years (my 1st articles on the subject date to 1996, so 23 years); they must have taken the figure from this...
(2) I've never been a dedicated monster hunter. Rather, the cryptozoological stuff is something I do on the side and certainly not the way I make a living, which is what is implied in some of these articles. I'm mostly known for my palaeozoological writings...
In June 2018, I tweeted a list of #JurassicParkTrivia (timed to celebrate the 25th birthday of #JurassicPark). Today I need that stuff archived, and because I'm an idiot I didn't thread the tweets. Soooo -- I'm going to tweet them all AGAIN, and this time THREAD THEM...
When checking out the sick Triceratops, Sattler puts her hand inside its mouth to touch its tongue. I know it’s not a real dinosaur. But this never seemed like a smart thing to do… #JurassicParkTrivia
I never quite understood the giant dung pile in the Triceratops enclosure. Does this mean that the #dinosaurs poop neatly in the same place? (that’s ok, some animals do). Or has it been shovelled together by the staff? Something to think about. #JurassicParkTrivia
At the 2014 #TetZooCon - that's the first one ever - I spoke about Speculative Zoology, or Speculative Evolution, or whatever. And here I'm going to tweet some of what I said... The cover slide shows awesome #Squamozoic art by @alaskanime plus a Night stalker and a .. a.. well..
Evolution is real and animals have a past; therefore they also have a future, something we can take seriously. And many authors have... #TetZooCon
There's already a whole genre of 'alternative history' fiction, variously called AH, allohistory or Uchronia. Ideas about alternative or parallel timelines. And the idea is in mainstream fiction... #TetZooCon
