Strange/Rare Fauna Reports
Strange/Rare Fauna Reports
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Biologist scuttles claim of Ogopogo skull found in Mexico
Brian Jonson
News Staff Reporter
Sep 10 2006
A Penticton man thinks pictures he took of a giant skull in a small-town museum in Mexico may solve a small part of the mystery surrounding Ogopogo.
Warren Linklater retired in 1970 and toured North America with his wife Lorna in a motorhome they called the Happy Bus.
During a trip around the Gulf of Mexico in 1970, the couple was planning to cross a river near Veracruz when they discovered the ferry they hoped to take had sunk in the middle of the river.
This forced the couple to divert to the small town of Tecohitla, about 240 kilometres north of Veracruz. The tiny fishing village had a museum, which contained one very interesting item.
"It had a head of a thing that they didn't know what it was," said Linklater. People at the museum told Linklater that the two-metre high skull had been cut off a 12-metre long body with a chain saw. The body was allowed to drift out to sea.
Linklater said he believes the skull, with eye sockets about half a metre in diameter and a big snout, may have been from an animal that is somehow related to the creature known locally as the Ogopogo.
Ellen Pedersen, chair of biology department at Okanagan College, said the more likely explanation is that the skull is that of a whale, possibly a humpback whale.
Pedersen, who has a master's degree in marine biology from Dalhousie University pointed to the condyle - a large bony bump on the back of the skull - as typical of mammalian skulls. The long snout is also similar to that found in whales.
The lack of any obvious nostril along the front of the skull argue against it being reptilian, she said. While the 12-metre length reported for the body would be on the large side for a whale, it isn't unheard of.
But beyond that - taking into account a fuzzy picture and the fact that large pieces of the skull such as the lower jaw and brain casing are missing, it's difficult to do more than make a guess.
"It's hard to even tell with this what you're looking at," Pedersen said. "But it's not a fossil and there aren't really any other things (besides a whale) that are that big."
http://www.pentictonwesternnews.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=102&cat=23&id=725583&more=
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LAST UPDATE: 1/17/2006 4:38:02 PM
Another strange dog-like creature has been found in the East Texas woods. The animal bares a striking resemblance to so-called Elmendorf Beast (aka Chupacabra).
Over the weekend, two brothers out hunting shot it and killed a mysterious animal with leathery skin, long teeth, and hind legs longer than its front legs.
Kolby Russell told KLTV in Tyler-Longview that this wasn?t his first run in with the creature. "I had chased it a couple times earlier, about a month ago, and my friends didn't believe me, I finally showed them and they did."
"I've seen mange before, and he has a body kind of built like a coyote -- but he's real skinny," says Kolby?s brother Coty told KLTV.
The Russell family sent photos to the county animal control department to see if they want to examine it.
http://www.woai.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=5372682F-C7CB-4B42-A651-7354BD92A0F9
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KLANG, SELANGOR, Wed.
Saturday, January 28 2006
The skeletal remains of an animal found on the coast here has caused a stir among villagers at Kampung Pengkalan Sungai Udang in Telok Gong.
Fishermen looking for worms for bait near Pulau Carey spotted the rotting carcass embedded in mud over a week ago, but parts of the remains were only taken to the village two days ago.
Arbain Salleh, who recovered the remains, said it was not an animal he had ever seen before.
"I've been fishing in these waters for more than 20 years but I never came across an animal like this," he said.
The 45-year-old fisherman said the animal could have been up to seven metres long, although he only managed to bring back bones measuring up to 1.5m.
"The rest is still rotting in the mud, but I will bring it up gradually, so that it can be identified," he said.
Arbain said there was speculation among the villagers that the remains were of a saltwater crocodile, but a pawang (medicine man) who specialised in catching crocodiles had discounted that possibility.
A fisheries officer in Port Klang was called in by villagers, but could not identify the animal.
"It's like nothing I've seen before, but these are partial remains so I don't want to speculate," he said.
The officer said an expert from the Fisheries Research Institute in Terengganu would have a look at the remains, and DNA samples would be taken to determine what it was.
http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/nst/Thursday/National/20060126085443/Article/index_html
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30 Jun 2000 FRANCE:
Chasing roos on les rues.
PARIS - Police in a village in eastern France are hopping mad about two kangaroos that have been on the run since Easter. The pair, nicknamed Bonnie and Clyde, have not broken the law but repeated sightings by stunned motorists have kept the gendarmerie on its toes for months. The marsupials slipped their pen after a power worker carried out repairs and forgot to shut the gate. Numerous sightings later, police were no nearer to tracking them down. According to officers, the female is due to give birth soon and now a local hunting club has taken up the chase.