DANIELL'S QUAGGA AND WARD'S ZEBRA - ANOTHER TWO STRIPED CURIOSITIES OF THE EQUINE KIND
ShukerNature
by Dr Karl Shuker
1M ago
  Daniell's quagga (left) and Ward's zebra (right) (public domain) Following on from my previous ShukerNature article concerning the beautiful but long-forgotten isabella quagga (click here to access it), here are another two eyecatching but exceedingly obscure striped curiosities of the equine kind, retrieved from the annals of zoological history.   DANIELL'S QUAGGA – THE MOST EXTREME QUAGGA OF ALL? Yes indeed, this particular quagga specimen is so extreme that it makes even the isabella quagga seem positively commonplace by comparison! The specimen in question is a truly remarkable ..read more
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THE ISABELLA QUAGGA - A LONG-LOST, LONG-FORGOTTN ENIGMA
ShukerNature
by Dr Karl Shuker
1M ago
  A beautiful vintage (1800s) full-colour engraving of the unique isabella quagga (public domain) The quagga Equus quagga quagga is nowadays famous for two very different reasons. Firstly: it is – or was – the only semi-striped form of zebra, its striping being confined to its foreparts. Secondly: although once common in its South African veldt habitat, it was hunted into extinction there during the second half of the 19th Century, with the very last captive specimen's death in Amsterdam Zoo on 12 August 1883 marking the tragic disappearance of this highly distinctive equid from the face ..read more
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THE HORN SNAKE AND THE HOOP SNAKE - FIERCE CRITTERS OF THE SERPENTINE KIND
ShukerNature
by Dr Karl Shuker
2M ago
  Hoop snake in hot pursuit! (© Richard Svensson) Following on from my previous ShukerNature blog article chronicling what may well be North America's most familiar folkloric Fierce Critter of any kind, the truly monstrous hodag (click here to access my article), I am now documenting the most (in)famous Fierce Critters of the serpentine kind – namely, the horn snake and the hoop snake. I must not forget, in these random sketches, my old friend and neighbour, Uncle Davy Lane...Nothing could move him out of a slow, horse-mill gait but snakes, of which "creeturs he was monstrous 'fraid." The ..read more
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THE HIDEOUS HODAG - HISTORY OF A HOAX
ShukerNature
by Dr Karl Shuker
2M ago
  Fibre-glass hodag statue in front of the Rhinelander Area Chamber of Commerce (© Gourami Watcher/Wikipedia – CC BY-SA 3.0 licence) Back in the pioneering days of North America, when European settlers were attempting to tame the vast wildernesses full of unfamiliar creatures in what to them was the new and very strange, even somewhat frightening continent of North America, rural workers such as lumberjacks and loggers would often spend appreciable periods of time away from their families and homesteads. Consequently, for company and to keep safe, they would bond together by gathering aro ..read more
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SNEAKING UP ON THE SNAKE CAT
ShukerNature
by Dr Karl Shuker
3M ago
  The snake cat photograph (© unknown to me, despite in-depth searches made by me online; AI-generated, via person(s) unknown to me – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only) During early March 2023, I noticed a certain, very eyecatching photograph doing the rounds on social media and inciting all manner of speculation as to the creature that it portrayed. As seen above, it is a close-up head-and-shoulders image of a very spectacular cat, ornately adorned with vivid black and yellow markings. According to claims accompanying this ph ..read more
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SOME CRYPTOZOOLOGICAL RIDDLES FROM RUWENZORI
ShukerNature
by Dr Karl Shuker
3M ago
  Deep within the green secluded forest kingdom of Ruwenzori (© Diego Tirira/Wikipedia – CC BY-SA 2.0 licence) Ruwenzori (aka Rwenzori and Rwenjura) constitutes an East African mountain range at the border of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire) and Uganda. Below their peaks' snowy caps and alpine meadows, these mountains are covered in lush tropical rainforests and are rightly deemed to be a biodiversity hotspot, with many regions still only sparsely explored scientifically. Not surprisingly, therefore, some interesting potential cryptids have been reported from Ruwenzor ..read more
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DAUNTING DRAGONFLIES OF THE DEMONIC, HORSE-HEADED, AND BROBDINGNAGIAN VARIETIES!
ShukerNature
by Dr Karl Shuker
4M ago
  My very own giant dragonfly, chanced upon in a charity shop recently and now residing in my study (© Dr Karl Shuker) This ShukerNature blog article of mine documents an entomological enigma of the cryptozoological kind that has long fascinated, me but which I've never previously blogged about. Namely, the extraordinary possibility that extra-large dragonflies, veritable giants in some cases, exist unrecognised by science in our modern-day world. Consequently, I have gathered here an exclusive selection of such reports for your perusal. First of all, however, I'd like to set the scene fo ..read more
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'SHUKERNATURE BOOK 3: CRYSTAL PALACE DINOSAURS, JUNGLE WALRUSES, AND OTHER BELATED BLOG BEASTS' - MY BRAND-NEW, 34TH BOOK IS NOW PUBLISHED!
ShukerNature
by Dr Karl Shuker
5M ago
  The full wraparound cover of my brand-new, 34th book ShukerNature Book 3: Crystal Palace Dinosaurs, Jungle Walruses, and Other Belated Blog Beasts (© Dr Karl Shuker/Coachwhip Publishing) I'm very happy to announce today that my 34th book is now officially published, and as you can discern from its title – ShukerNature Book 3: Crystal Palace Dinosaurs, Jungle Walruses, and Other Belated Blog Beasts – it's a third compendium of my most significant ShukerNature blog posts, expanded and updated wherever possible, packed with colour and b/w illustrations, and 404 pages long. If you have purc ..read more
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THE TULLY MONSTER, THE LOCH NESS MONSTER, AND TURKANA'S DANCING WORMS
ShukerNature
by Dr Karl Shuker
6M ago
  Tullimonstrum gregarium – my Tully Monster model, seen from below (© Dr Karl Shuker) Down through the decades since it first attracted notable public and media attention during the early 1930s, Scotland's (in)famous Loch Ness Monster has inspired all manner of suggestions as to its possible zoological identity – always assuming, of course, that it actually exists in the first place! But none, surely, can be any stranger than the little-known example revealed here, a veritable monster in its own right – and which also featured at much the same time, moreover, in one of the most extraordi ..read more
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IS A LARGE NON-AVIAN DINOSAUR ALIVE AND WELL AND LIVING IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA?
ShukerNature
by Dr Karl Shuker
8M ago
  Modern-day reconstruction of what Lufengosaurus may have looked like in life (© Debivort/Wikipedia – CC BY-SA 3.0 licence) On 13 March 2019, I blogged here on ShukerNature about various reports emanating from New Guinea and its smaller neighbouring islands (especially New Britain) concerning large unidentified creatures that have sometimes been likened to living non-avian dinosaurs. In particular, I documented some searches made during this present century for such cryptids by mystery beast investigators Brian Irwin and Todd Jurasek (click here to access this ShukerNature article of min ..read more
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