For me, at least. Not ceph-related, but fascinating nevertheless.

Scientists from the Fauna Communications Research Institute were on Lake Champlain this summer, assisting the Discovery Channel by doing underwater audio research for a special on the purported "monster" of Lake Champlain, dubbed "Champ". On three separate occasions, the researchers detected and recorded what they are certain is echolocating sonar from an unknown aquatic animal (or animals). The link is here:

http://www.animalvoice.com/LakeChamplain.htm

As a long-time Loch Ness Monster devotee and cryptozoology fan, this is absolutely riveting news to me. Something is there! Maybe they're freshwater dolphins, maybe they're descendants of zeuglodons, maybe they're something entirely unknown to science. Echolocating reptiles? Who knows? But I want to know! :bugout:

Ah yes, the elusive Basilisaurus!
Much more likely than an aquatic archosaur, if you ask me...fascinating stuff!
Greg

Bald Evil,

Provocative results, indeed. Have Belugas ever been known to come inland via rivers?

I hope the crew wasn't so riveted to their hydrophone equipment that they forgot to go on deck and look around.

:roll:

Clem

"Damnit Jim, I am not a sonar operator!"
:lol:

Yeah, sometimes the cryptozoologist crack me up...you should attend one of the meetings in Tucson sometime...you would have enough entertainment material for a plethora of parties!
Greg

Other crypto fans scare me. :shock: Just because I get enthused about unknown or mysterious animals doesn't mean I want to hear about Bigfoot being a stranded alien colonist, or how the Loch Ness Monster is actually a British military submarine project from World War II. :/ Sometimes a landlocked prehistoric whale is just a landlocked prehistoric whale!

I've been trying to get in contact with any of the researchers who were there to get more info from them, maybe even do an informal interview. Unfortunately, they were only equipped with audio equipment, no cameras at all. The report on their site said some of the signals were generated from within 30 feet of their boat, underwater... man, that would be a thrill. :)

The report on their site said some of the signals were generated from within 30 feet of their boat, underwater... man, that would be a thrill. :)

Bald Evil,

Getting "pinged" by a cryptid would be a thrill. I'd be so thrilled, I'd run out on deck and LOOK AROUND, FOR THE LOVE OF--

:roll:

Clem

Hehe...cryptozoologists are kind of like trekkies sometimes...a little TOO much tunnel-vision! At one meeting, a gentleman was insisting that Pteranodons still exist in Texas...he backed it up with a lot of of half-truths and hooey...of course, anything is possible, but we need to deal with realities, not possibilities.
Fun to think about though...you look out the window of your Cessna and see a 30' reptile gliding through the air next to you!
I'm going to go read some Calvin and Hobbes...lots of dinos in that strip!
Greg

Check this site out: http://www.angelfire.com/falcon/megaraptor/living_dinosaurs_worldwide.htm

Goes to show you...some people are sooooo desperate for anything, they will believe anything!

Digging up another old thread from the archives, this story made me chuckle today:

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/03/12/1078594554726.html

If only it were true! :D

Fortunately down here in NZ we're not totally bereft of impressive beasties (apart from Archi and Messie of course) we have rainforest Nautilus, bush Haggis, Taniwha and the Tuatara (a Real beasty) Sphenodon sp) which is a hold over from the age of dinosaurs....and apparently our bats are very special too :shock:

Added to all these riches we have the Fiordland Moose, the Moa (which some swear still lives in remote areas!) and the elusive Otter. Many of these are only seen/heard after the "researcher" concerned has spent a considerable time at the nearest "watering hole"

But seriously the Lake Champlain report is very exciting! Hope next time they take a camera!

J

Good heavens ! It's true ! AP just put out a photo !

I believed sea badgers lived in New-Zealand too, and also the land living (possibly tree climbing) sea badgers too.

Thats not a dinosaur its giant mutated marine iguana :bonk:

You say tomato, I say toma... That really doesn't work so well when you type it. :?

:?:

Just curious, do you pronounce it tomAto or tomuhto? :tomato:

By the way, Did you know that the direct decendent of the sea badger has been found?

In :canada:, we say tomehto (I say tumehtuh). How's that for :tomato:?

The one that gets my goat is 'ungion' for 'onion'

:bugout:

Ungion :heee: ......

Is it aloominum or aluminium????????? :D

I speak english so of course it's aluminium :D :D :D :D :D :D

And yes Joel both types of Sea Badger have been (rarely) spotted in NZ, but they tend to fall prey to the totally EVIL sandflies (kinda like a mega mosquito) Anyone who's been to the West Coast of the Sth Isl or Fiordland will have chewed on by these. Sea Badgers just can't cope and to protects themselves have totally changed their behaviour. They can sometimes been seen powerdressing and supping on Lattes on Lambton Quay in Wellington and the Viaduct Basin in Auckland :lol:

J

My uncle caught a sea badger once on a whim cast into a strong headwind...his line snarled, wouldn't you know, and the five pound test monofilament he was using couldn't stand the strain of a fighting badger in a rip tide sea...he was somewhat depressed, as he had paid a pretty penny for the hand tied oyster fly he was using that day...
Oh well. He did catch some crabs, though.

I reckon it was the sea badger descendant that he caught, its large size makes it good for sport fishing .

I guess all the swimming in the sea caused a change in their fur, hence their inability to protect themselves from the sandflies.

Sandfly bites feel good when scratched :wink: :)

oh yes...especially if you let them fester for a day or two...always fun when the pus squirts out ! Ahhhh....
Of course, we don't have sea badgers here in Arizona now since the sea has retreated (cthulhu lost that battle), but you can see the fossilized remains in some of the cliff faces near Anisazi dwellings...perhaps the sea badger was a totem of that lost and forgotten race.
Or maybe they ate them all.

:shock: :yuck:

j

Yes, J. , I agree...isn't it sad that an entire race of native americans decided to eat the sea-badger into extinction instead of learning how to live in harmony with them, and how the resulting flatulence ended their entire culture due to the lack of reproduction...
people are funny sometimes.

If the seabadgers could have a symbiotic relationship with the mimic octos, i'm sure they could have done so with the humans. Pity we can't turn back the clock. Well actually we could but it wouldn't make much of a difference now would it?