Reality TV goes in search of the skunk ape

By BRENT BATTEN
Posted June 13, 2011 at 4:14 p.m.

David Shealy’s been trekking through the Everglades for 35 years looking for the skunk ape.

This week, he’ll have company.

A film crew from California-based Authentic Entertainment, the production company behind reality TV shows Ace of Cakes (Food Network) and Flipping Out (Bravo) is in Ochopee to begin filming a pilot reality show intended for Discovery Channel in the fall.

Shealy, curator of the Skunk Ape Research Headquarters, has appeared on other shows about the legendary skunk ape, a yeti-like creature adapted to the wilds of South Florida, including "Unsolved Mysteries" and "The Daily Show."

He calls the Discovery Channel pilot the biggest project he’s worked on.

An Authentic Entertainment associate in Burbank confirmed that a film crew is in Florida on the project but the producers in the field declined to comment on the making of the show.

Shealy said they’ll employ a helicopter to get aerial shots and tour the 10,000 Islands by boat. Advanced technology, which he declined to describe, will be used as well, he said.

“The producers really want to put together a successful show,” he said.

Shealy knows not everyone buys the tale of the skunk ape, a 7-foot tall biped covered in hair and emitting a foul odor. The website for his Trail Lakes Campground on U.S. 41 in the Big Cypress Preserve, hosts an ongoing poll asking visitors if they believe in the creature’s existence. More than 25 percent of the 2,500 respondents either believe it to be a hoax or are skeptical.

But a majority either believe in the idea or find it plausible.

He says new information is surfacing all the time. “I’m hot on the trail,” he said, adding the fresh evidence points to the presence of a skunk ape around Sunniland. “New doors are opening. I look forward to bringing this to a close real soon.”

He hopes the Discovery cameras are on hand when he does. “We’re going to break new ground here.”

Saturday just after noon, to mark the occasion of the television production and as a way to thank his camp ground and Skunk Ape Research Headquarters patrons, he is hosting a fan appreciation day at the campground. There will be live music, food, soft drinks, Shealy said. He said he’s promoting a family event so alcohol won’t be sold, but he has a couple of cases of Swamp Ale, a specialty beer made in Florida that he may give out as prizes.

Local radio host Joe Whitehead is to serve as the master of ceremonies.

In the 1990s, Shealy gained notoriety when he tried to sell the county on the idea of using tourist tax revenue to fund an expedition leading the media in search of the skunk ape. The theory was that if the media could show the skunk ape to be real, tourists would flock here hoping to get a glimpse.

The idea actually won initial approval from the Tourist Development Council before being shot down by an unamused board of county commissioners.

In the intervening years, the explosion of reality TV means that an enthusiastic pitchman -- “I consider myself the top researcher in the country, possibly the world, on the skunk ape,” Shealy says -- can on his own get the media to come to the swamp in search of an elusive and possibly illusory creature.

Even if the cameras don’t capture a skunk ape, they’re sure to capture the beauty of the Everglades, all without taxpayers having to spend a dime.

If it ends up on a major cable network, that’s a win for Collier County either way.

http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2011/jun/13/brent-batten-shealy-skunk-ape-discovery/

Bigfoot search planned in N.C.

Credit: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Bigfoot is said to be a large, fur-covered creature that
lives in forests and avoids human contact.

By TIM CLODFELTER
Published: February 25, 2011

Rick Lunsford, a Wilkes County resident who says he saw Bigfoot more than 30 years ago, is planning an expedition to look for proof of the elusive creature.

"I'm really looking for evidence, and looking for people to go with me," Lunsford said Thursday.

Bigfoot is said to be a large, fur-covered creature that lives in forests and avoids human contact. Bigfoot sightings have been reported in every U.S. state except Hawaii, according to the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization, a national group that investigates such reports. The evidence to date has consisted largely of witness reports, plaster casts of footprints, and fuzzy images.

Lunsford plans a March 5 expedition to search for evidence in the Roten Creek Road area in Wilbar. That is where he says he saw the creature back in late August or September 1978, when he was 20 years old.

Lunsford, now 52, came forward with his story last year.

He described Bigfoot as being somewhere between 6 and 8 feet tall and as broad as a refrigerator. Its arms were bowed out. It had dark hair, 3 or 4 inches long, on its arms. It gave off a terrible odor, he said.

But what he remembers most vividly, he said, were the creature's dark, round eyes and oval head.

Lunsford filed a report last year with the BFRO about his encounter. Counting Lunsford, the organization's website lists 64 Bigfoot sightings in North Carolina, most of them near the Tennessee border.

"People have lived up here all their lives and never knew it existed up here," Lunsford said. "I've heard some more stories since I came out with mine.

"I'm wanting to prove it so bad, I can see it."

He has already heard from about 50 people interested in joining the expedition, he said, and hopes to find more. He doesn't want anyone to bring guns or dogs, saying, "I don't want nobody getting hurt or nothing."

His expedition will gather at noon March 5 at the Food Lion parking lot on NC Highway 16 in Millers Creek, then travel about 12 to 13 miles up the mountain.

http://www2.journalnow.com/news/2011/feb/25/wsmain02-bigfoot-search-planned-in-nc-ar-811886/

Scientific Search for Chinese Bigfoot Relaunched

October 10, 2010 8:54 a.m. EST

Lawrence Mijares - AHN News Contributor

Beijing, Beijing, China (AHN) - Though over 400 people claim to have sighted an elusive ape-like creature covered all over with red, gray or black hair, lurking in the mountainous region of Shennongjia Nature Reserve, Heibei China, it has never been found despite three expeditions launched since the 1980s. However, a new, inspired expedition is calling on for volunteers worldwide to join.

"Unlike expeditions three decades ago, the better technological support will help us get closer to solving the mystery," said Wang Wang Shancai, a 75-year-old expert with the Hubei Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, who is also the vice president of the Hubei Wild Man Research Association -- organizer of the expedition.

Wang continued to elaborate that, "We are now working together with the China Three Gorges University to develop long-time energy-supply devices to support cameras that will be installed in the ape man's possible habitat."

Unlike past high-profile expeditions, the new search would also be more localized with teams focusing their search in certain caves located in the Shennongjia mountains believed to be the habitat of the ape-like creature who may not be living alone.

Past expeditions have only brought back hairs supposedly from the creature, which when analyzed were neither of human or any known animal species. If found, this “missing link” would help scientists learn how primates evolved from ape to human.

The worldwide recruitment call for the expedition invites all male and female 25 to 40 year olds who have basic knowledge of biology, know how to handle a camera, loves the outdoors and must be devoted as hard work would be involved.

Unfortunately, no specific timetable has yet been set for the expedition as the association is still negotiating for funding which will cost at least 10 million yuan ($1.5 million), according to Wang.

http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7020168792?Scientific%20Search%20for%20Chinese%20Bigfoot%20Relaunched
(Via CFZ Australia)

Search for Bigfoot begins in Kemerovo Region

22.09.2010, 18.49

KEMEROVO, September 22 (Itar-Tass) -- A fourth science expedition has left for Mountain Shoria (a territory in Southern Siberia, east of the Altai Mountains) earlier on Wednesday in search of any traces of the abominable snowman. Taking part in the expedition will be the director of the International Center for Hominology, Igor Burtsev, deputy president of the public association Kosmopoisk, Vasily Dovgoshei, History Doctor Valery Kimeyev and other experts.

As Igor Burtsev, a participant in several previous expeditions, has told Itar-Tass, the search will last for about ten days. The experts are determined to find irrefutable evidence the Bigfoot (also known by the names of Sasquatch and Yeti) does exist.

“During the previous expedition a year ago I saw markers (half-broken branches) the creature uses to mark the controlled territory,” Burtsev said.

“Mountain Shoria is a perfect place for yetis. It is a sparsely populated, mountainous area, where there are many caves, it is relatively warm and there are sources of pure fresh water. In the mountain rivers fish is in abundance and hunting in the forests must be really good. I reckon the Bigfoot likes to go fowling. In the woods I have found several artifacts to confirm my theory of mine. This time I plan to find the Bigfoot’s shelter and even try to contact the creature."

The head of the Tashtagol District, Vladimir Makuta, says that the first mention of Bigfoot’s presence in Mountain Shoria dates back to 1980. The creatures seem to have gone especially active over the past three years.

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=15519526

England's own Loch Ness Monster?

Thursday, September 23, 2010
Catherine Deshayes

The legend of the Loch Ness Monster has proved to be a marketing boon for the Scottish Tourist Board and now the Lake District looks set to be the next hot destination for intrepid monster hunters...

Seven sightings of a long hump-backed animal swimming in Lake Windermere have been reported over the last four years.

The mysterious creature's fame has been slowly growing and she was recently given the nickname Bow-Nessie.

One local, Windermere hotel owner Thomas Noblett, claimed to have had a close encounter with something in the lake.

He told Sky News: ‘All of a sudden I felt something brush past my legs like a giant fish. And then I was lifted up by a three-foot wave. I've no idea what it was.'

A tourist claimed to have captured the Loch Ness Monster on camera in 1934

Now 21st century technology, including sonar equipment, is being deployed to try and track her down.

The lake is 11 miles long and up to 220-feet deep in some places so the team searching for the creature will have to cover some ground.

So far, nothing has been detected, aside from a reported 14-foot long disturbance in the water, and the sonar read-outs have been blank.

Hunt organiser, Dean Maynard, added: ‘We've had more creature sightings here than at Loch Ness in recent years so we think it's time that Bow-Nessie received more attention.'

A 20-metre long object was spotted below the surface of the lake last year by a local film crew but sceptics claims the footage shows a wave from an unseen boat.

Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

http://www.themovechannel.com/news/bac3f06e-80e1/

Reopen investigation into Chinese version of the Yeti

Beijing, Sep 7 (Prensa Latina) A new scientific expedition will seek evidence of so-called Wild Man of Hubei Chinese version of the famous Yeti, have given name to the legendary being of the natives of the Himalayan snows.

The investigation into the possible existence of this unknown bipedal species, tall and hairy, was resumed in Shennongjia nature reserve in the central province of Hubei, after its suspension 20 years ago, according to reports from local media.

With an area of 70 000 467 hectares, the protected site referred to is situated in a rich forest area of the same name that has the highest peak in central China, more than three thousand meters above sea level and inhabited by a surprising plant and animal biodiversity.

Rare specimens of flora and fauna as Davidia, gold and white monkeys, the bear of the latter color, water sources, and ethnic groups with typical customs make up the place, including by UNESCO in 1990 in the Network of protection of man and Biosphere.

Since ancient reference books beings Shennongjia wild. During inspections of the region after 70 years, Chinese experts collected samples of hair and plaster models of traces of between 21 and 48 inches, however, consider that this evidence need evidence.

The question on which the ape-man described as accelerated in July, after area residents sent to the Institute for Scientific Research of the strange signs that stock animal hair found 18 kilometers northwest of Songbai, head of that forest land in a mountainous strip of two thousand meters above sea level.

In order to achieve a more comprehensive study of the phenomenon, the Society of Research of the Wild Man of Hubei, in conjunction with the editorial "Chinese National Geography", work on a new "scientific expedition" launched last month, for the a preliminary analysis of those areas where the species supposedly was seen.

http://www.prensa-latina.cu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=218449&Itemid=1 via Google Translate

Snakes alive - Bewdley park animal keeper on a mission

11:10am Saturday 13th March 2010
By Cadisha Brown

AN animal keeper at West Midland Safari Park has jetted off to Papua New Guinea (PNG) to find the third most venomous snake in the world.

Steve Slater has packed his bags and made the 35-hour journey from his home in Kingswinford to the PNG capital, Port Moresby.

The 45-year-old will be joining up with the park’s consultant reptile curator and herpetologist, Dr Mark O’Shea, on a 20-day field expedition.

He will be working with Dr O’Shea to locate, catch and milk the venom from wild Papuan Taipan (Oxyuranus scutellatus canni), the third most venomous snake in the world, for the Australian Venom Research Unit Snakebite Project.

Papuan Taipan is responsible for up to 400 deaths a year in PNG alone. The park currently houses two young Papuan Taipan in their collection, but this will be Mr Slater’s first real taste of catching snakes in the wild.

He will be fully equipped with heavy duty tactical kit designed for tough situations Describing the experience, Mr Slater said: “Staff progression is high on the agenda at West Midland Safari Park and when this fantastic opportunity presented itself, the park went out of its way to support me. It is a once-in-a-lifetime experience and I am really looking forward to the challenge.”

Mr Slater, a senior keeper in the discovery trail, has been working at the Bewdley-based safari park for more than three years, following a zoological profession spanning more than 30 years.

He has had vast experience working with a variety of animals from birds to elephants, although his main interest has always been reptiles.

People can catch up on Mr Slater’s adventures by visiting the park’s website, wmsp.co.uk, when he returns in time for the Easter bank holiday weekend.

http://www.kidderminstershuttle.co.uk/news/local/5055656.Snakes_alive___Bewdley_park_animal_keeper_on_a_mission/?ref=rss

Jungle ape man spotted by Brits

By LEON WATSON
Published: 30 Sep 2009

BRIT explorers claim they have spotted a legendary ape man believed to inhabit an island jungle — and snapped its footprints.

The four-strong team and their Indonesian guide were tracking through dense jungle in Sumatra when two of them caught a glimpse of the famous Orang Pendek — or short man.

The group brought back a hair sample and a piece of chewed palm from the island's Kerinci National Park they hope will provide DNA evidence of the beast.

They also snapped a strange footprint thought to belong to the creature.

Sightings of the hairy human-like monster have been made in the area since colonial times — and it is alleged to be immensely powerful.

The explorers hope the sample of rattan palm, which is thought to have been munched on by the Orang Pendek, will contain some of its cells. The palm and hair sample have been sent for testing.

Elusive

Witnesses have described the beast as being about 5ft tall and say that it walks on two legs.

It is thought to be extremely powerful — with reports of onlookers seeing it ripping apart logs.

After a spate of sightings around Lake Gunung Tuju, in the Kerinci national park, a team from the Devon based Centre for Fortean Zoology — which investigates unknown species of animals — embarked on a two-week mission to the region to see if they could obtain evidence of the creature.

The elusive Orang Pendek shares its habitat with the Sumatran Tiger, pythons, and Saltwater crocodiles.

Richard Freeman, the expedition zoologist and zoological director at the Centre for Fortean Zoology, said he believes the creature is an unidentified species of ape.

"We are not talking about a unicorn or a griffin, we are talking about an ape that's unknown to science," he said.

"It's name means 'short man' in Indonesian.

"It's supposed to be a powerfully built upright walking ape.

"It walks on two legs rather than four - like a man, about five foot tall with dark fur - immensely strong.

"It's been seen since colonial times.

"It's quite possible that in some museum there are skull and bones of the Orang Pendek that have been labelled orangutan."

The team, who have just returned from their two-week expedition, hailed it a success and are awaiting the results of the DNA tests.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/weird/2661919/Jungle-ape-man-spotted-by-Brits.html

Ape Man? Researchers Spot Legendary Orang Pendek in Sumatra

Written by Jace Shoemaker-Galloway
Published on October 1st, 2009
Posted in About Animals

Legend has it, an ape-like man has been roaming the forests of Sumatra for years. For two weeks, a team of British explorers from the Centre for Fortean Zoology (CFZ), along with an Indonesian guide, tracked the creature deep within the Kerinci National Park to find evidence of the ape-like man known as Orang Pendek, or short man.

Two of the explorers caught a brief glimpse of the hairy creature. The two described the creature as a broad-shouldered, large-headed creature with black skin and dark brown hair about the size of an adult chimpanzee.

The creature was seen chewing on a piece of vine, which was collected and preserved in ethanol. Hair samples were also collected for analysis. Although the witnesses were unable to get a photograph of the creature as it squatted in a tree, photographs were taken of the creature’s footprints, which were about six to seven inches long. The guide, completely overwhelmed by the rare sighting, reportedly burst into tears and had to be comforted by team members.

CFZ’s Zoological Director Richard Freeman said, “We are not talking about a unicorn or griffin, we are talking about an ape that’s unknown to science.” CFZ investigates unknown species of animals.

Orang Pendek Project

Debbie Martyr, from the Orang Pendek Project, is also hot on the trail of the elusive creature. Martyr originally went to Sumatra to help save the island’s dwindling rainforest. She did not believe the creature existed until she saw the creature with her own eyes. On a mission, the former reporter hopes to provide the first real photographic proof the primate actually exists.

The Legend of Orang Pendek

There have been many accounts of the elusive hairy creature over the years. Often described as a powerful, ape-like creature about three to five feet tall, its body is covered in hair. The creature walks in an upright position on its two legs.

Hobbits

In 2003, remains of a Homo floresiensis, nicknamed Hobbit, were discovered on the Indonesian island of Flores. Some wonder if this early bipedal man with a grapefruit-sized skull may be related to the Orang Pendek? The Hobbits lived on the island as recently as 12,000 to 18,000 years ago, had very small brains and small bodies.

Fact or fiction, legend or myth - is the Orang Pendek an ape, small man or just ancient folklore?

http://ecoworldly.com/2009/10/01/ape-man-researchers-spot-legendary-orang-pendek-in-sumatra/

Explorers hope Sumatran ape will yield clues on human development

dave.tanner@archant.co.uk
15 September 2009

AN unknown species of Indonesian ape could shed light on how our human ancestors began to walk erect.

The orang-pendek of Sumatra is said to be a powerfully built ape that walks on two legs like a man. Both native people and western explorers, including two noted scientists, have reported the creature from the deep jungle.

This week four English scientists and explorers will brave the rainforest in search of the orang-pendek.

The team from the Woolsery-based Centre for Fortean Zoology, will spend two weeks in Sumatra working with the Kubu people, the island's original inhabitants, who will help them track the mysterious ape.

The expedition comes shortly after the announcement of the discovery of a fossil hominid in Georgia. The Dmansis hominids lived 1.8 million years ago and had legs like modern humans, but primitive arms. Their early occurrence has made scientists rethink how hominids moved out of Africa to colonise the rest of the world.

Richard Freeman, the team's zoologist, said: "It was once thought that our ancestors became bipedal when they descended from the trees and moved onto the grass lands of East Africa in order to exploit new food sources. However, now it seems that many apes and hominids were moving 'bipedally' while they were still rainforest dwellers.

"As well as being a major zoological discovery, the orang-pendek could give us some clues on how bipedalism developed."

The group's trip will be recorded on the Centre for Fortean Zoology's website at http://www.cfz.org.uk/

http://www.northdevongazette.co.uk/northdevongazette/news/story.aspx?brand=NDGOnline&category=news&tBrand=devon24&tCategory=newsndga&itemid=DEED15%20Sep%202009%2005%3A45%3A09%3A257

Team in search of mystery yeti-like creature

Thursday, September 10, 2009

MYSTERY animal researchers from Woolsery are heading to Indonesia in search of a yeti-like creature.

Four explorers from the Centre for Fortean Zoology, the world's largest mystery animal research organisation based in Woolsery, will be searching through the jungles of Sumatra on the hunt for the orang-pendek.

The yeti-like creature is described as a powerfully built and upright-walking beast, which the CFZ believe may be related to the orangutan and the yeti of mainland Asia.

The Kubu people, the first inhabitants of Sumatra will aid the team and the tribe and their chief are said to have seen the creature in their poorly explored jungle homelands.

The expedition's zoologist, Richard Freeman, said: "The orang-pendek is especially interesting as it is an ape that walks upright rather than on all fours.

"It may show us how our own ancestors first began bipedal locomotion.

"New species are turning up in Indonesia all the time — it is the real life lost world."

Wildlife photographer Jeremy Holden and Debbie Martyr, head of the Indonesian tiger conservation group are both said to have seen the orang-pendek in the past.

The CFZ said that huge horned snakes, alleged to be ten metres long, and a savage golden cat with a stubby tail and large canine fangs have also been reported in the Indonesian jungles.

Joining Richard on the adventure will be team leader Adam Davis, Dr Chris Clark and Dave Archer.

http://www.thisisnorthdevon.co.uk/news/Team-search-mystery-yeti-like-creature/article-1323429-detail/article.html

Fiji Petrel found at sea – pungent fish attracts “lost” species

11-09-2009

An expedition to find the Critically Endangered Fiji Petrel Pseudobulweria macgillivrayi at sea has been successful, returning with stunning images and new information on one of the world’s least-known seabirds.

The expedition was partially financed by a grant from the BirdLife Preventing Extinctions Programme and its official sponsor, the British Birdwatching Fair. The team included members of NatureFiji-MareqetiViti, the BirdLife Species Guardian for Fiji Petrel.

Known from just one specimen collected in 1855 on Gau Island, Fiji, the Fiji Petrel was lost for the next 130 years. Since 1984 there have been a handful of reports of “grounded” birds that had crashed onto village roofs on Gau. Until now there had been no confirmed sightings of the seabird at sea.

The search for the elusive petrel is described in a paper in the latest Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club. Up to eight individuals were seen over eleven days in an area around 25 nautical miles south of Gau. The species’ flight, behaviour and detailed comparison to other species are also described for the first time.

The paper’s lead author, Hadoram Shirihai, said: “Finding this bird and capturing such images was a fantastic and exhilarating experience”. Fellow expedition member Tony Pym commented, “To see such a little-known bird at such close range was magical.”

Finding Fiji Petrel at sea was no accident, combining meticulous planning and luring the seabirds with a specially made food, called “chum”. The main ingredients of chum? Fish offal cut into small pieces and mixed with very dense fish oil, to which water was added and then frozen in 10-kg blocks. The chum was prepared a few weeks ahead by volunteers from the BirdLife Affiliate in Fiji, NatureFiji-MareqetiViti, the official BirdLife Species Guardian for Fiji Petrel.

Frozen chum blocks persist for up to one-and-a-half hours, creating a pungent and constant oil slick, which attracts petrels from some miles away. On the second day, the first Fiji Petrel appeared, approaching the chum slick from downwind, slowly zigzagging over the slick, and suddenly changing direction to drop onto a small floating morsel.

Fiji Petrel is classified as Critically Endangered, with its perilous status confirmed by this expedition: “We observed only a few Fiji Petrels”, said Shirihai. “This was despite choosing what we considered to be the optimum month, and a method that would attract all petrels in the vicinity’’ and Pym added, “The present evidence is that very few Fiji Petrels survive, that immediate efforts to find the nest sites are needed, and prompt, effective protection is urgently required before it is too late.”

“More surveys to locate the breeding area of Fiji Petrel are planned for 2010”, said Dick Watling of NatureFiji-MareqetiViti. “Once we know the location, we can assess what needs to be done to turn around the fortunes of this species.”

“Fiji Petrel is one of 192 bird species which are Critically Endangered,” said Jez Bird, Global Species Officer at BirdLife International. “Because Fiji Petrel is exceptionally rare and extremely poorly known any new data concerning range and abundance are vital to its conservation.”

The expedition also gathered valuable distributional information on many other seabird species, including the Endangered Phoenix Petrel Pterodroma alba and the Vulnerable Gould’s Pterodroma leucoptera and Parkinson’s Petrels Procellaria parkinsoni.

http://www.birdlife.org/news/news/2009/09/fiji_petrel_discovery.html

See also: http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8250000/8250215.stm

World's smallest parrot filmed

Tuesday, 8 September 2009 02:15 UK

By Matt Walker
Editor, Earth News

The world's smallest parrot has been filmed in the wild for the first time.

The tiny bird, which is not much bigger than an adult person's thumb, is smaller than some of the insects with which it shares the forest.

An expedition team filming in Papua New Guinea for the BBC programme Lost Land of the Volcano caught two of the buff-faced pygmy parrots on camera.

Another adult, which weighs less than half an ounce, was also trapped by the expedition team's bird expert.

On average, buff-faced pygmy parrots (Micropsitta pusio) stand less than 9cm tall and weigh 11.5g (0.41oz).

They are found across the northern lowlands of the island of New Guinea from the west to the southeastern tip, up to an altitude of around 800m.

Males and females look similar, but females have less prominent markings on the head.

The birds have green feathers with yellowish plumage on their underparts; while their cheeks, face, and crown are more buff-coloured, hence their name.

BBC wildlife cameraman Gordon Buchanan first discovered a tiny nest belonging to two parrots deep within pristine rainforest.

The birds nest in termite mounds, using their beaks and claws to dig their way in before laying eggs in the hole created.

Buchanan staked out the nest from within a camouflaged hide, and was rewarded after a long wait when two birds returned.

He filmed the pair at their nest entrance, as the male and female reinforced their bond by rubbing against one another.

Later, another parrot was trapped unharmed by Dr Jack Dumbacher, an ornithologist from the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, US, who had accompanied the BBC expedition team.

Buff-faced pygmy parrots do not eat fruit and nuts but lichen and fungi.

However, so little is still known about their dietary habits that it has proved difficult to rear the birds in captivity.

During the expedition, the team also managed to sight a rare Salvadore's duck (Salvadorina waigiuensis), a bird that is adapted to living in fast jungle streams.

The Salvadore's duck, or Salvadore's teal as it is also known, is the only duck species endemic to the island of New Guinea.

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature lists the bird as Vulnerable, and its total population may be slowly declining.

Other birds sighted included fruit doves that were completely naive to people, suggesting they had never been hunted in the past, and a king bird of paradise, with its crimson feathers, violet-coloured feet and a pair of tail streamers each ending with an emerald disc.

Broadcast of The Lost Land of the Volcano series will begin on BBC One on Tuesday 8 September at 2100 BST.

See video footage at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8236000/8236410.stm

Arctic researcher flees after wolves gorge on bacon

By Elise Stolte, Edmonton Journal
September 5, 2009

EDMONTON — A University of Alberta researcher was surrounded by wolves, had to cancel her research season and be evacuated from the high Arctic earlier this summer after a pilot with an ecotourism agency left cardboard boxes of bacon and sausage on the tundra near their camp.

The wolves ripped open the boxes of meat and gorged themselves.

Catherine La Farge, who studies the colonies of moss exposed by retreating glaciers, was not attacked during the incident on Ellesmere Island, but she and her field assistant spent three hours cleaning up food and debris strewn across the landscape. Then they were confined to their kitchen tent to guard the leftovers and garbage.

Even banging pots and pans didn’t frighten the wolves off.

“They kept circling,” said La Farge. “It was just so unlike their previous behaviour.

“They were basically having diarrhea all over the place. I was just really shocked,” she added. “The food is a hazard to the animals, that’s my primary concern. We’re just seasonal visitors.

“All they had to do was buy a $50 bear barrel.”

La Farge had to be evacuated several days early, and had to leave equipment behind near the glacier three kilometres away because she feared the wolves get into the tent the minute they walked away.

La Farge complained to conservation officers with the Nunavut government. A conservation officer said the department is investigating and reviewing the permits required for tourist groups in the high Arctic.

The group, Whitney & Smith Legendary Expeditions, normally hikes through Sverdrup Pass, the main east-west corridor on Ellesmere Island and was scheduled to pass near La Farge’s camp more than a week after their food was dropped off.

“It’s obviously very unfortunate. It’s certainly not something we’re happy with,” said Dave Weir, a guide on the trip. The owner is currently on a trip in B.C.’s Great Bear Rainforest.

Weir said the food was supposed to be placed in an underground cache. The organizers were hoping to do it themselves, but their travel plans changed at the last minute and the task was left to the Twin Otter pilot who landed and left the food on the ground.

“In terms of remedying the situation, we can’t rely on the pilots to do what isn’t really their job,” said Weir.

He said the organizers will be flying in a bear barrel to leave on location in case they ever have to ask another pilot to drop off food for them.

La Farge and her field assistant, master’s degree student David Wilkie, were flown into the pass on June 28 for 18-day season. For the next 14 days, they saw three wolves pass through their camp periodically, sometimes with the remains of an Arctic hare in their mouths and often heading to a freshly killed muskox nearby. But they never stayed long or seemed to pay any attention to their tents, said La Farge.

On July 11, a Twin Otter showed up, and the pilot left two cardboard boxes of food and three plastic bags of stove fuel beside two fuel drums about 100 metres from the research camp.

Three days later, La Farge woke up at 4 a.m. to a wolf howling. Outside her tent, the three wolves had torn into the boxes and strewn food and debris across the tundra. She and Wilkie scared them off, and spent an hour and half picking up the mess and storing the garbage bags in their kitchen tent — but by 8 a.m. the wolves were back.

Again they scared the wolves away, but they hunkered down within sight of the camp. By 11:30 a.m. the wolves returned to the campsite and came within 10 metres of the kitchen tent where both the researchers were standing.

One walked between the kitchen tent and a sleeping tent, then laid down in the sun. The two others kept searching the ground for food scraps, finding a bag of sausage.

La Farge called emergency operators at the Polar Continental Shelf Program, packed up quickly and was gone by 4 p.m.

“The danger of course is for everyone else who follows,” said La Farge, wondering if she will ever be able to go back to the spot with only a two-person team. “If you feed the wolves you will destroy them.”

http://www.canada.com/news/Arctic+researcher+flees+after+wolves+gorge+bacon/1964535/story.html

Mt Bosavi team find giant rats and grunting fish

September 07, 2009 12:41pm

SCIENTISTS have found a lost world of new species on an island in Papua New Guinea, including a giant rat, a frog with fangs and a fish that grunts.

A BBC Natural History Unit found the rat trapped in an extinct volcano - Mt Bosavi - along with up to 40 undiscovered species.

The team were filming a series on Mt Bosavi called Lost Land of the Volcano, due to be screened this week in the UK.

At up to a metre in length, the rat has been named the Bosavi woolly rat and is said to be “as big as a cat”.

The specimen trapped by the team weighed almost 1.5kg.

Living almost a kilometre down in the volcano, the rat has thick fur and teeth which suggest a vegetarian diet.

'This is one of the world's largest rats,” biologist Dr Kristofer Helgen told the Daily Mail.

"It is a true rat, related to the same kind you find in the city sewers, but a heck of a lot bigger."

The fish has been named the henamo grunter, due to the distinctive noise it makes with its swim bladder.

Among the other finds, scientist also list an “extremely hairy” caterpillar, at least 16 new species of frog – including the fanged example – 20 new varieties of insects and spiders and possibly a new species of bat.

The team from London Zoo and Oxford University claim the volcano and the surrounding land is virtually as it was since the volcano erupted 200,000 years ago.

"It was mind-blowing to be there,” expedition leader Dr George McGavin told The Sun.

“It is time we pulled our fingers out and decided these habitats are worth saving."

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,26037522-23109,00.html

See also: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/sep/07/discovery-species-papua-new-guinea

Deathworm discovered? Documentary definite

Left: Artist Rob Farrier's death worm illustration

Mon 31 August 2009

There may not actually be solid evidence of an acid-spitting, lightning-throwing Mongolian deathworm living in the Gobi Desert but there will definitely be a documentary about it.

Journalist David Farrier and cameraman Christie Douglas have returned from Mongolia, where they spent about two weeks trying to verify the deathworm's existence.

Some Mongolians say the Allghoi Khorkhoi, or "intestine worm", resembles a 1.5m-long creature that jumps out of the sand and kills people by spitting concentrated acid or shooting lightning from its rectum over long distances.

Farrier would not say if the pair discovered evidence of the fantastical creature as they were not revealing too much until the documentary was complete.

People were welcome to assume they didn't find anything, he said, however: "As far as telling the story about the deathworm I'd say we were pretty successful in what we came back with and we have definitely got a doco on our hands."

They recorded about 30 hours of footage and spoke to people who said they had seen the worm.

"Because the sightings peaked during the 1950s a lot of these witnesses won't be around for much longer, so I felt pretty lucky to get to some of them before they are actually dead.

"The story of creature hasn't been told yet in any kind of factual way. It's always been crazy people out with flashlights on their heads looking for it, no one has got any facts down about it and that's what this is going to do."

Farrier is hoping to produce a 90 minute documentary by the middle of next year, which could be shown at film festivals.

He would try to get it shown in Mongolia because the locals there were keen to see the results of the trip.

In the Mongolian capital Ulan Bator no one had even heard of the deathworm. However, as they headed south towards the Gobi Desert more and more locals were aware of it.

Farrier said the whole expedition was a fantastic experience, despite experiencing increasingly unpleasant conditions in the Gobi Desert.

They didn't wash for two weeks, and at one stage it was so dry they blew their noses and blood would come out, Farrier said.

Farrier said he believed the deathworm did exist and another trip to Mongolia isn't out of the question.

"There are more leads that can be chased up as far as the deathworm goes, and there is also the Almas, which is their version of the Yeti, which comes down from Russia occasionally, and other creatures are calling from Mongolia."

http://www.odt.co.nz/entertainment/film/72038/deathworm-discovered-documentary-definite

David Farrier to embark on hunt for Mongolian death worm

Left: Artist Rob Farrier's death worm illustration

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 3:22p.m.

Two New Zealanders will leave for Mongolia's Gobi Desert next week on an ambitious expedition to find the fabled acid-spitting and lightning-throwing Mongolian death worm.

The worm has never been documented but some Mongolians are convinced it exists. They call it Allghoi Khorkhoi, or "intestine worm" because it resembles a cow's intestine and is about 1.5m long.

They say it jumps out of the sand and kills people by spitting concentrated acid or shooting lightning from its rectum over long distances.

Auckland-based journalist David Farrier, who is organising the expedition, and Motueka-based cameraman Christie Douglas, leave on Tuesday to spend two weeks in the Gobi, trying to verify the worm's existence and making a documentary about it.

They will hire local Mongolians to help them; a guide, translator and cook.

Farrier, who works for TV3, told NZPA he had always been fascinated by cryptozoology, or the search for hidden creatures.

The expedition and documentary, which would cost him between $15,000 and $20,000, would take a serious look at the worm and what it was, Farrier said.

He said he was interested in the death worm because it was one of the most outrageous creatures that were rumoured to exist.

However, it was also one of the mythical creatures that had a better chance of being real.

Rumours could inflate the reputation of things such as the Loch Ness monster and Bigfoot, but sparsely populated Mongolia was not a place where rumours were going to propagate, Farrier said.

"If a Mongolian says they have seen a big worm-like creature out in the desert they haven't really got any reason to lie."

A number of experts have dismissed the worm's existence, putting it down as a rumour, but Farrier was not put off.

"I think it won't be a worm, obviously a worm can't survive in a desert. I'd say it would be some sort of snake that's not meant to be there. It's very out of place and a bit new."

Farrier said there been up to four unsuccessful expeditions searching for the death worm in the last 100 years, the last two in 2003 and 2005, which had used night vision goggles to look for the worm.

However, the New Zealand team planned to bring the worm to the surface with explosives, as it is said to be attracted to tremors.

Farrier put his chances of finding the worm at between 5 and 15 percent.

"They are high for a ridiculous creature like the death worm but the area I am going to is a very specific place in the southern Gobi where all the sightings have been."

He only plans to capture the worm on film.

"I have no intention of grabbing it, capturing it, stuffing it, or anything like that. I just want to prove its existence and if I can get it on film, that's all I need to do."

NZPA

http://www.3news.co.nz/David-Farrier-to-embark-on-hunt-for-Mongolian-death-worm/tabid/418/articleID/114087/cat/55/Default.aspx

The Truth Behind the Mongolian Death Worm

Tue, Jul 21, 2009

Braving violent sandstorms akin to fog with an attitude problem, tent-shredding twisters that blast men off their feet, and an ice river that caves in as their vehicles are crossing, the four men continue on their journey. Their thoughts are haunted by the creature they are tracking, a legendary beast said to be capable of spitting lethal corrosive venom, or killing from a distance with an electrical discharge. This was the quest to find the truth about the Mongolian Death Worm.

The intense experiences just described were critical moments for leading cryptozoologist, author and zoological journalist Richard Freeman, in the expedition he led in 2005. The mission: to track one of the world’s most fearsome cryptids, an animal that strikes terror into the hearts of many Mongolian people with its abhorrent appearance and deadly demeanour – and not just for those who have seen it.

The Death Worm’s existence has been reported in these columns, but it was time to set the record straight and get the lowdown from Freeman himself. So what prompted him to embark on the expedition in the first place?

Says Freeman: “The Mongolian Death Worm is legendary. I had heard talk of the creature for quite a few years before we left for the expedition. The Death Worm was first mentioned in the West by American adventurer Professor Roy Chapman Andrews, who was the inspiration behind Indiana Jones.”

Full story with photos at: http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/featured/truth-behind-mongolian-death-worm

Conservationists hunt elusive US earthworm

US conservationists have begun hunting a giant worm that spits at predators, lives in 15ft-deep burrows and has been spotted only a handful of times in the past 30 years.

By Tom Leonard in New York
Published: 6:49PM BST 27 Jul 2009

Armed with high voltage electric shockers to draw the giant Palouse earthworm from its lair, the team from the University of Idaho has begun scouring the American northwest.

However, the scientists, who have asked the Obama administration to give the species endangered status, admit that they know little about the elusive creatures.

The Palouse earthworm is reputed to smell of lilies when handled and grows up to three feet long. It is thought to inhabit rich soils of the Palouse - two million acres of rolling wheat fields near the Idaho-Washington border - but there have been only a handful of sightings.

The worms - known locally as GPE and, unlike the common earthworm, native to America - were said to be common in the 1890s but much of their natural prairie habitat of steep, silty dunes has since been turned into agricultural land, apparently causing their numbers to dwindle.

Documented discoveries of the worm have occurred only in 1978, 1988, 1990 and 2005. They were considered extinct four years ago but then one was accidentally dug up by an Idaho university student using a shovel to collect a soil sample.

That fat, milky white specimen, which is only six inches long, is the only example of the species in human hands.

The worm hunters, led by Prof Jodi Johnson-Maynard, will use three techniques to lure the animals out from their deep lairs.

One is simply to dig holes and sift the soil; another is to pour a solution of mustard and vinegar on to the ground, irritating the worms until they come to the surface; and the third involves using an "electro shocker" that can send up to 480 volts into the ground.

In a technique similar to that used to summon the gigantic sand worms in the science fiction film Dune, a series of three feet long metal rods are pushed into the earth in a small circle and then connected to batteries, hopefully drawing the worms to the surface.

Care is needed as the scientists admit that the voltage is sufficiently high to fry any specimens.

Farmers have reportedly never seen the worms but it may not be in their interests to report sightings if they are declared an endangered species.

Gary Budd, a grain elevator manager in Uniontown, compared the creatures to Elvis Presley. "He gets spotted once in a while, too," he said.

But another local man, Lee Matthews, has claimed to have seen odd worms occasionally on his property over the years. In 2007, he saw up to 16 inches of what he took to be a white snake sticking out of a clay bank he was widening.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/5918317/Conservationists-hunt-elusive-US-earthworm.html

Local explorer returns to Papua New Guinea

John Lane hopes to discover more new species

By Meredith J. Cooper

John Lane doesn’t take trips, he plans expeditions. His latest obsession: the island of New Britain in Papua New Guinea. He’s been there four times since 2006, the last one just six months ago, with his wife. This time she’ll stay behind with the kids while Lane ventures once again to the remote island, with the company of a few people from Chico State and a geologist friend from Colorado.

“John puts together some great expeditions, partly because of the unique ability that he has to be able to deal with adversity,” said Jim Reed, by phone from his home in Golden, Colo. “At the last minute there’s always some real big showstopper. But he’ll just jump right over them.”

Lane, principal scientist at Chico Environmental Science & Planning, is a little more modest, but it’s clear from the direct tone of his voice and the passion in his eyes that this is more than just a hobby—it’s a way of life. During this newest trip, which leaves June 29 and will last three weeks, Lane’s biggest goal is to find and trap a tree kangaroo. Sounds a little silly, but it could have a huge payoff.

Back in 2007, when he led a six-week expedition in the area, the team noted the existence of tree kangaroos on the island, along with new species of butterfly, frog, snake and fish. All their findings were compiled into a report submitted to the Nature Conservancy, among other groups. Recently, Lane said, he was told that not only was that tree kangaroo a surprising find, despite the island’s proximity to Australia, but it was likely a new species.

“Finding a new species of mammal—that’s where the publicity comes from,” Lane said. “And it makes you wonder—what else could we find out here? We could even make first contact with other people in those forests.”

If his team is able to capture a tree kangaroo and gather DNA, his project to help preserve the area from loggers and palm-oil encroachment could reach epic proportions. His previous ventures, to Borneo and Sumatra, have yielded everything from getting the areas preserved to creating national-park status. He works primarily with the Nature Conservancy and the United Nations Development Programme.

He’s received some grants, including one from the International Foundation, but has also gotten funding locally from Ken Grossman of Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. and Fred Hargesheimer of Nevada City, the man who sparked Lane’s interest in the area back in 2006.

Hargesheimer’s plane had gone down on New Britain decades before and he hoped to locate it. The region Lane and his crew have studied—including a lake and a volcano crater—have been named “Hargy” after the man who lived with the indigenous people until he was well enough to return home.

Beyond finding a tree kangaroo, Lane has two other objectives for this short trip: to discover more species of butterflies, as “butterflies really indicate the health and diversity of an ecosystem,” he said; and to delve deeper into the untouched wilderness and explore more caves—one of his main passions.

Reed explained exploring New Britain as an opportunity to “go back in time.” He related it to the city of Guilin, China, with its unique mountains jutting from the landscape, as both cities are built on a bed of limestone. New Britain also has countless volcanoes, which have formed coral beds surrounding their mouths.

“This is Guilin 2 to 10 million years ago,” Reed said.

Lane suggested that local myths pointed to the possibility of modern-day pterodactyls living in the rainforests. While he’s not optimistic, he’s not quick to rule the possibility out. These regions have never been studied before.

One of the touchy subjects Lane and his cohorts—among his companions Chico State professors Don Miller, a butterfly specialist, and Randy Senock, who will study forest density—are faced with is the implications of their findings. On the one hand, exploring this area will likely lead to future expeditions by other groups. The tradeoff, Reed said, is the preservation of the area from logging and other ecological hazards.

In January, Lane described for the CN&R what it’s like to go where no man has gone before: “People say it’s like walking on the moon—but people have done that. So, it’s not like walking on the moon.”

Reed, whose main objective on this trip is to figure out the geology of the island—how it came to be and what it will become—described the feeling similarly.

“In 2007, we hiked up to a volcano and we got up to the rim,” described Reed. “We were standing there with one of the tribal chiefs and I asked him, ‘Did you ever hear any stories from your grandfather of anyone ever going into this caldera [volcano cave]?’ He said, ‘No.’ How many places can you say that about on this planet?

“Of course there’s the whole Star Trek thing. But until you’re actually there, realizing that you are the first person to ever be in this place—I was surprised at my emotional response. I thought: This is worth dying for.”

http://www.newsreview.com/chico/content?oid=1004993