CFZ Australia talks to UK amateur Archnologist Carl Portman

CFZ Australia caught up with one of our favourite authors, chess demon and spider expert Carl Portman this week.

Carl is the author of A Daintree Diary, which documents his travels through the rainforest of the same name in far north Queensland on the hunt for the elusive Whistling Spider. Carl also wrote Fangs for the Memories: The Search for Tarantulas in Ecuador, which documents his travels in the South American country in 1997 on the trail of giant spiders! A quest not for the faint-hearted or arachnophobic...

How did you first become interested in spiders? What is it you like about them?
I hated spiders with a passion until the summer of 1994 when on holiday in Norwich, England. Whilst trying to kill yet another of the repellent beasts (this time by spraying shaving foam on it) a mental grenade went off in my head and I recall thinking ‘this isn’t logical, this isn’t a fair fight – why am I killing this animal? I resolved from that moment to try to live with spiders. I bought my first tarantula (a Chile rose called Wilma) and it wasn’t long before I found myself in Ecuador studying them. I haven’t looked back.

How many eight-legged friends do you share your home with?
About thirty that I know about. At my zenith I had 1500 and spent six hours a day looking after them all.

What’s your favourite spider?
That’s easy – Selenocosmia honesta otherwise known as the FAK FAK Ochre. I had one once and a taxidermist has preserved the feisty arachnid. They originate from Papua New Guinea.

Spiders elicit a lot of fear and mistrust – are they simply misunderstood?
They certainly are; grossly misunderstood and much maligned. There are many reasons for this but an interesting one is they don’t have a ‘face’ as such for humans to identify with therefore there is less compassion, less of the aaaah factor. Shame considering they have been around for 450 million years. You would think that they might have made more friends by now.

What initiated your trip to Australia?
Steve Irwin! He brought Queensland into my living room in a sleepy English village. From the moment I saw it I knew I had to go. It is a beautiful area not only of Australia but the planet. There’s such a small bit of rainforest left there – and it is the oldest one in the world at that. It is even older than the Amazon. Treasure it Australia, for I always will.

Without giving away any twists, did you find your quarry – the elusive whistling spider?
Well I travelled a round trip of 20,000 miles to find one. That’s dedication above and beyond. Did I find one? Well you’ll just have to read my book ‘A Daintree Diary’ and you’ll find out what happened…

The Night Parrot and Tasmanian Tiger are considered ‘holy grails’ of the cryptozoological world due to their extinct status, occasional sightings and the potential that their rediscovery could tip a comeback for the species. Is there a spider equivalent?
Oh yes. There’s talk of some kind of Hercules Baboon Spider from Africa, a goliath of a species called Hysterocrates hercules that outranks even the great bird eating goliath (Theraphosa blondi) of South America. We know of Hysterocrates gigas which is a large baboon spider and I have kept and indeed bred many but I am yet to see such a monster as H hercules and there’s much debate as to whether or not it really exists. They are obligate burrowers so there must be one ‘down there’ somewhere guarding the underworld. If it is there, part of me hopes we will never find it…

Go black and white for Tassie Devils on May 24

Go Black and White on May 24

Help raise funds for the Tasmanian Devil through Black & White Day!

We are calling on all schools, businesses and community organisations to get involved in Black & White Day - we hope you might be interested in helping the Tassie devils. Through the combined effort of schools & businesses around Australia Black & White Day raised over $20,000! All money raised supported key research and management programs aimed at keeping the Tassie devil alive in the wild.

This year the official date for Black & White Day is Friday 24 May 2013, however you can participate on any day throughout the year – whatever works for you, your students or colleagues.

Black & White Day was created by Nature Nic (Nicholas Bonnitcha) seven years ago. Through Nature Nic’s involvement Black & White Day has raised over $100,000. This is through the ongoing support of schools and businesses around Australia.

What you can do?
• Dress in black & white ... it’s easy – everyone has something black or white in their wardrobe (shoes, socks, shoelaces, ribbons, t-shirt ...)
• Have a morning tea
• Do a talent quest
• Guess how many jelly beans are in the jar
• Incorporate Black & White Day as part of Endangered Species awareness and include it in the learning programme.
Whatever you choose, encourage a gold coin donation.

How the Appeal can help:
• Posters
• Brochures with information about Tasmanian Devils
• Stickers
• Donation boxes
• Teacher’s Kit which has a range of educational material for all ages

If you’d like to register your interest or would like the organisers to send some of the information to your school please contact them on 03 6324 3527 or email Devil.Appeal@utas.edu.au

Tassie Devils halt mining in Tarkine - for now

An environmental group fighting to save Tasmanian devils has secured a temporary halt to construction at a proposed iron ore mine in the Tarkine.

An injunction was granted in the Federal Court on May 10, delaying work by Shree Minerals at the proposed Nelson Bay River mine.

Environmental group Save the Tarkine sought the temporary injunction, arguing that it was inappropriate to start work on the mine while the legality of the project was set to be challenged in court.

Read the story in The Mercury.

Night Parrot stories collected for documentary

Ecologist Julian Reid and filmmaker Rob Nugent from the Australian National University are travelling Outback Australia in search of evidence of the elusive Night Parrot for their documentary.

Only a handful of sightings have been recorded in the last century.

"I like the mystery of the bird, how it lives only an inferred existence," Rob Nugent recently told ABC Radio.

"It's story also speaks to extinctions, the idea that this animal may or may not exist, and we live in an age when loss is accepted."

In 2012 the night parrot was declared one of the world's five most mysterious birds by the Smithsonian Institute in the United States.

The last specimen to be handed in, a decapitated bird, was found in 2006 by a grader driver in the Diamantina Lakes National Park.

You can read about their trip and share your own stories on their Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/NightParrotStories

Thylacines of the New Guinea Highlands

Everyone has heard of the Tasmanian Tiger.

But during the Pleistocene epoch, ending a mere 11,700 years ago, the Thylacine also existed on New Guinea, and mainland Australia.

In a new blog post, Dr Karl Shuker has explored the not so well known modern-day reports of suspiciously thylacine-like beasts in New Guinea, specifically Irian Jaya (New Guinea's less-explored western, Indonesian half), where such creatures are referred to by local people as the dobsegna.

Read more over at Dr Karl Shuker's blog.

Archer: Col Bailey's thylacine sighting credible

Noted zoologist Professor Mike Archer, a former director of the Australian Museum, has said despite his professional scepticism, he respects Tiger Hunter Col Bailey's theory that a population of thylacines still exists in Tasmania.

In a recent interview with ABC Radio, Archer and Bailey talked about Thylacines and Col's new book, Shadow of the Thylacine, and his sighting of a Thylacine in the Weld Valley in Tasmania.

"Of course I want to believe in Col's story...every fibre in me resonates along with the same view that Col has...this is Australia's king of beasts, this is the most magnificent creature Australia has ever produced," Archer said.

"I feel...a sense of intense excitement that maybe somehow it has survived over the years. My scepticism, of course, and I have discussed this with Col, it is the scepticism of a scientist. It's very hard to test sightings, these are personal things...but when I know the man, like I know Col, that's not just a normal sighting, if you like, that's coming from a really credible person whose judgement I would never question. All I can say is I wish I'd been there with him."

Professor Archer is hopeful of one day reviving a project to bring the thylacine back to life by using DNA from museum specimens to clone them.

Listen to the interview here.

Pine Mountain panther on the loose

Is there a black panther on the loose in Pine Mountain, Queensland?

That's the question locals are asking following sightings of a giant black cat after recent stock losses.

Sightings have been reported in Chuwar and Pine Mountain in recent years, and now local resident Raylene has come forward to tell how she saw the big black cat recently:

"It was huge and black. It was as long as the car is wide and it had orange eyes," she told the Queensland Times.

"It was just before dark and my daughter saw it with me when we were coming home. It jumped out of the bushes, so we startled it as much as us being frightened by it.

"I called it a panther right from then...but I haven't seen it since. It stood very high and had a long tail.

"There was a pony farm nearby and they'd had two horses killed. That's what sparked the idea that it was a feral cat.

"We found the footprints in the mud and took multiples cast of them. They were definitely of a cat...and they were very big paw prints.

"I googled it and learned there had been one at Marburg and another that had escaped from a circus."

In 2009 a Chuwar resident, Andy, reported seeing "an enormous black cat in the paddock next door as I stood on my back deck".

"I then went to get the video camera but the cat was gone by the time I returned," he said.

"When I first saw it, it was approx 25m to 30m away from me and I had a great view of it as is slinked down the paddock towards some old animal shelters.

"I estimate the cat was about 1.5m long excluding its equally long tail, and probably stood 700 to 800mm tall. I have seen some big feral cats in my time but this was off the Richter scale. It was no feral cat."

Meet the Cryptozoologist: Neil Frost

How did you first get involved in researching strange and mysterious creatures?
I became acutely interested in studying the dooligahl on Sunday 21st February, 1993 at 11:15 PM after one stood up and ran past me in the bush across from our house.

What were some of the early influences in your life?
An early influence was scouting, as a cub, scout and senior scout. Our troop leader was a very dedicated and knowledgeable man who, having survived Changi POW camp, was determined to pass on his wealth of experience and bush skills. It was during a seven day camp in the remote upper Grose Valley of the Blue Mountains in 1966 that our troop shared a very strange experience over several nights that was with hindsight, most probably a large male dooligahl.

From an early age I wanted to be either an astronomer or archaeologist. Grinding my own telescope mirrors later helped me to design and build game cameras. Archaeology was not offered at university at that time, so I studied anthropology instead. Three lengthy trips to Papua New Guinea between  1975 and 1980 provided some field experience that could be applied to a study of these hominoids.

Have you personally seen one of these creatures?
Many times, together with family and community members. When activity was greatest, we would typically have up to three encounters per night, every night.

What creatures particularly interest you?
Dooligahls, Quinkin and Junjudee because they are three separate hominoid species and they are Australian.

What cryptids are most likely to exist in your opinion?
One thing that I can be certain of is that anything is possible although, some cryptids are more probable than others.

What’s your favourite?
Dooligahl.

Have you developed any theories around where the more unusual animals - i.e. yowies/bigfoot - have come from?
Even though our Australian hominoids appear to be simplistically similar in form and function to other dextrous bipeds from other parts of the world, particularly North America, this does not mean that they are biologically related. However, the contrary appears to be the common assumption. Consequently, basic theories tend to suggest biological links with pongids like Bigfoot, despite the unlikelihood and lack of evidence supporting a viable migratory route.

Theories based on hominin migration to Australia are less troublesome because technology and culture can overcome boundaries otherwise faced by apes. However, if assuming that earlier species of Homo were capable of the journey, the problem here is their incompatibility with the observed evidence. For example, their reflective red eyes and superior night vision abilities are not hominid or, pongid characteristics.

Alternatively, rather than immigrants, it might be more plausible to think of our hominoids as being indigenous. In other words, several species of marsupial hominoids. This theory scares most people but, it solves many issues, including the need to invent convoluted methods of migration. It is also much more compatible with the evidence, including some of the more bizarre behaviours, like foot thumping, which reportedly occurs in 46 of the 50 extant Australian macropodoid species. Similarly, the elongated legs and feet of some, together with their efficient, high speed locomotion, is typically macropodoid.

Since Australia has been moving North in isolation, from a relatively cold and dark environment for the past 40 million years, there has been a considerable amount of biological experimentation. Everyone is familiar with the platypus: an egg laying, fur covered mammal. Some experimentation, like Thylacoleo carnifex, was convergent. This isolationist period is between five to eight times the length of our own hominid evolution. I can't see a problem with this.

Have you written any books/articles?
I have written two boring computer textbooks but, thankfully, I am working on a lengthy case study of our previously resident dooligahl.

How many mystery animal reports would you receive a year?
This varies widely. Sometimes I receive no reports for weeks and then I get several in one day. On average, somewhere between 1 or 2 a week or say, about 75 a year.

What’s the closest you’ve personally come to finding something?
The most productive time was during the initial period after becoming aware of Fatfoot's existence. It was naive and so it was relatively easy to study it. The only problem was that I was naive too. Consequently, we both learnt from each other with things became more difficult for us both, as we tested and determined each others skills and abilities.

In terms of physical proof, it had to be the orange hair samples that we found on the top strand of a barbed wire fence in the swamp. Most probably, yowie pubic hairs. The unfortunate thing was trusting the samples to someone who did microscopic hair analysis and was also a skeptic. The samples were thrown away.

What’s the farthest you’ve traveled to go ‘in search of’ mystery animals?
Sometimes several hundred meters! Typically these days within the local area.

What’s next for you - any trips planned? Books or articles to write? Talks to give?
The book, another documentary film and probably a few more talks.

Could you share some of your favourite cryptozoology book titles with us?
I mainly read science articles and books but "The Yowie: In Search of Australia's Bigfoot" is probably my favourite crypto book.

What advice would you give anyone getting into the field of cryptozoology?
Cryptozoology is a very difficult field of study. No professional scientist will touch it for fear of ridicule, especially if they want to advance, as conservatism and compliance are usually required. Consequently, it is left to "amateurs" with no established reputation to uphold, to do the research. However, it is always rewarding to learn something that very few know.

It is essential to form a local network of people who share your interest and are reliable. Sharing information and sources are crucial. Be scientific and critical but, always open minded.

Avoid skeptics. These are arrogant and very sad individuals who take pleasure from putting people down. They are valueless and a waste of effort.

If your area of specialisation is yowie research, remember that you will not be discovering anything that generations of Australian Koori have already known.

Megalania - Australia's lizard king

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megalania

Megalania (Megalania prisca or Varanus priscus) was a very large goanna or monitor lizard, now extinct. It was part of a megafaunal assemblage that inhabited southern Australia during the Pleistocene.

Megalania is believed to have disappeared around 40,000 years ago, but not before the first Aboriginal settlers of Australia may have encountered them.

Wikipedia recently uploaded some interesting images of Megalania, which we're sharing with you this week.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megalania

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megalania

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megalania

Is Megalania still roaming the Australian outback? Some Australians think so...

Some legends have teeth - meet The Bunyip

Some time ago we told you about the crowdfunded horror movie being shot featuring another iconic cryptid, the Bunyip.

The storyline goes thus: When a team-building hike strays into the territory of an unknown Australian predator, this group of tech-savvy, thrill seeking city folk will discover that some legends have teeth...

Scary!

Well, here is the official trailer for the finished movie. Enjoy!