The blue mountains

 

- What?

Yowie is the Australian "version" of Bigfoot. Or is he? Kind-of-skeptic Darren Naish reviews a book arguing that the Yowie is - wait for it - a hominoid-looking marsupial?! But sure, that *would* be logical (or "logical") since all large native mammals down under are marsupials. No (non-human) apes ever lived in Australia. 

My impression of the Yowie phenomenon is similar to Naish´s. And I base it on exactly one episode of "Finding Bigfoot"! Yowie reports tend to be far more crazy than the average Bigfoot report, the creature is said to be dangerous, attacks humans and livestock and so on. Judging from the second link (an old article by the very same Naish), Yowie reports are also weird and inconsistent. While the creature is often seen as Bigfoot-like, a closer look at the reports make this aspect much less obvious. Reports range from creatures which probably were misidentified humans to beings which may well be deviant marsupials.

It´s probably some kind of ghost story. In the "Finding Bigfoot" episode (reviewed by me elsewhere), there was a clear paranormal streak involved, with the Yowies even "speaking" in some unknown tongue. If the ghost are real is, I suppose, the 10,000 dollar question...  

Yowies and the marsupial hominoid hypothesis

What to make of the Yowie?

Pandas are fake and gay (?!)

 

YouTube´s biggest troll and/or resident kook extraordinaire Hans Wormhat claims that Giant Pandas aren´t real animals, but human actors in fur suits?! The reasons are somewhat unclear. Other fake animals include koalas, anacondas, penguins and the Great White Shark. Zebras are real, but probably painted to look striped. OK, so I haven´t linked to *all* of his fake animal videos. But you get the pic. 

Great Apes are of course also fake, but in this case, the supposed reasons are at least clear enough. Wormhat is a creationist, so obviously the human primates dressing up like apes in zoos and national parks are paid agitators for Darwin´s evolutionary theory! I mean, aint that obvious?

Apparently, Mike Tyson knows the truth - that´s why the legendary boxer offered to fight a gorilla in the ring. He knew that the rilla was really a non-boxing man in a monkey suit. Tyson knows since he is presumably initiated into the Club, and is really a very muscular female?! Yes, Mr Wormhat also believes in conspiracy theories about transgender or intersex people being pretty much everywhere... 

Tinfoil Hat, pardon, Wormhat also claims to believe that the Earth is flat, so naturally the ISS must be a gigantic hoax, too. It´s actually a submersible.

I think I know exactly who is fake around here, but sure, I suppose there is a remote chance that Hans actually believes all of this. Just don´t tell Tyson.      

Cryptid Slovakia

 

The skull of a red-necked wallaby (another one)
Credit: Klaus Rassinger

It´s not a kangoroo, it´s a wallaby! Europe´s only marsupial strikes again...

Slovakia´s unlikely visitor survived the winter, but not the road 

The island of Doctor Moreau

 

This will never happen and is probably just another scam to part rich people and governments with their money. But nice try! 

"Closer than people think": De-extinction 

Thylacines among us

 

A mildly skeptical YouTube video about supposed post-extinction reports of thylacines on New Guinea (from where the thylacine disappeared thousands of years ago). It seems people still se them here and there, often in the hills. While the animal´s existence sounds plausible enough, there are some problems with the idea, too. 

For instance, tribal hunters don´t wear thylacine skins - and they seem to hunt virtually all large mammals on the island. Another problem is that thylacines resemble large dogs, and such a breed actually exists on New Guinea: the so-called "singing dog", a distant relative to the dingo. Feral and wild(?) populations exist in the highlands.

Surviving thylacines on Papua (singing or not) would be fascinating, but misidentification with said doggie can´t be ruled out. The YouTuber suggests that it could also be a kind of cope, since we haven´t been able to find any surviving thylacines on Tasmania, and not for want of trying...

Animalistic

 

 

This is so bizarre that I wonder whether it´s even real, or AI-generated. I mean, dude! But OK, the liger is real. I think. 

Speculation, speculation...

 

A lot of speculation in this one. Or rather in the list the content-creator is commenting, a list of the ten most likely cryptids to be discovered during the 21st century. 

The list sounds like wish-fulfillment. 

From the top of my head (which is considerable - both the top and the head), the thylacine, the giant eel and the giant octopus seem to be the three most likely candidates. Since the other cryptids might not exist at all, their discovery - this century or the next - is *highly* unlikely...

Here´s a more certain prediction: there will still be enthusiasts in 2100 hunting the Gugu, the Megalenia or whatever cryptids will be on the top ten!

Gone forever?

 

Bing AI´s version of a thylacine

Darren Naish (a science blogger) is skeptical of claims about the survival of the thylacine in Tasmania. 

The hunt for persisting thylacines, an interview 

The singing thylacine

The thylacine is a large Australian marsupial believed to be extinct since 1936, but enthusiasts claim (or hope) that it has survived somewhere in the Tasmanian wilderness. The short piece linked to below argues that thylacines may have survived in New Guinea instead. 

Unfortunately, misidentification cannot be ruled out in this case, since there is a similar-looking placental mammal on the island: the New Guinea "singing dog". The animal also seems ecologically impossible, according to some scientists. 

That being said, the eye witness accounts don´t sound entirely far fetched either, so perhaps thylacine-hunters should bribe the proper Indonesian authorities and aim straight for the Jajawijaya Mountains...  

Dobsegna

Thylacines in Indonesian New Guinea?

Crying Wolf in Irian Jaya?

Hunting the thylacine

Or rather modeling. I have no idea how they did it, or whether there's something to it, but these researchers claim that the thylacine (a predatory marsupial believed to be extinct since the 1930's) might have been alive in Tasmania until very recently.

It's always fun when main-stream science takes cryptozoology seriously.

Dog-like predator with kangaroo pouch believed extinct since 1930's possibly lived till 2000s

Australia with a twist

"Tasmania: Weird and Wonderful" is a fascinating nature documentary narrated by David Attenborough. It´s presently available at YouTube. Many of the species on the island are similar to those on the Australian mainland, but their size and behavior often differ markedly. The local platypus is much larger than its mainland form, there is a thriving population of mutant white wallabies, and the Tasmanian giant lobster takes 40 years to grow to a size of one meter. By contrast, the local penguins are diminutive (and nocturnal, to avoid being attacked by hungry gulls). There is also the dangerous "jack jumper ant", a large ant that can jump and the venom of which can on rare occasions kill humans! 

Of course, the main character is the so-called Tasmanian Devil (a marsupial mammal), with its bizarre calls and equally weird habits. For starters, the Devils are scavangers. I´m not even going to comment on their mating rituals! Western Tasmania has a climate almost the exact opposite of Eastern Tasmania. The western part is humid - in fact, it rains most of the year, while the eastern section is extremely dry.

The most fascinating organism mentioned in the documentary is Mountain Ash, really a species of eucalyptus tree (Eucalyptus regnans). The tree reproduces in a curious manner: its seeds are only released during bush fires, which may kill all other plants (including the Mountain Ash itself), but make it possible for the seedlings to sprout and grow without competition. But in western Tasmania, bush fires are rare due to the constant rains. Therefore, the eucalyptus trees simply continue growing - in one area of the island, all trees are 400 years old and reach a hight of 100 meters! In effect, this means that the latest bush fire took place at some point during around the year 1600... 

One species never shown in this production is our very own Homo sapiens. The viewer gets the impression that Tasmania is pure and pristine wilderness. Actually, the island is an Australian state, the home of about half a milliion people, and an economy partially based on mining and logging. And yes, the White settlers completely exterminated the local Aborigines during the 1830´s. Somehow, I feel that needs to pointed out for context.

That being said, "Tasmania: Weird and Wonderful" nevertheless deserves a closer look or two. This really is Australia with a twist.

It's not a kangaroo, it's a wallaby!

This is the fifth volume of “Handbook of the Mammals of the World” (HMW), although logically it should have been the first. It covers the monotremes and the marsupials, most of which are endemic to Australasia. The monotremes are fairly bizarre, being the only egg-laying mammals (the platypus even has a beak!). Marsupials are (perhaps) less bizarre, but at least to people outside Aussie, they look exotic and somehow “primordial”. This volume could therefore be of considerable interest to the general reader, the main barrier to procurement being the extremely high price.

Judging by the preview at the publisher's site, the family and species presentations are relatively understandable (at least compared to the super-heavy scientific text of “Handbook of the Birds of the World” from the same publisher). All photos are fairly large and in color, and the species presentations are complemented with color plates.

There is a special chapter on recently extinct marsupials and monotremes, including the Toolache Wallaby, the Desert Rat-Kangaroo and the famed Thylacine. What makes this topic of interest to the public is, of course, that some of these “extinct” animals may still be around. Since HMW is a so-called serious work, it doesn't contain any information on Yowie and the Bunyip, but I suppose you can't get everything even for $200…

There must be many books out on the market about Australian marsupials in particular, but if you want them all under one cover, I suppose this voluminous work could be an option. Five stars!

Thylacine terror down under

A review of the MonsterQuest episode "Isle of the Lost Tiger"

Geezus. Has that perennial failure of a monster show, "MonsterQuest", better known as "Wild Goose Chase - Washington State edition", FINALLY FIND AY MONSTER???

It's not Bigfoot, Nessie, the Texas mega-hog or the gator in the sewer, however. It is...wait for it...the Thylacine??!!

Of all creepy, lurking creatures that might still be out there (or "out there"), Doug Hajicek and his indefatigable investigators just have to prove the possible existence of *that* one. The Thylacine (a carnivorous Australian mammal) was very real until it was hunted to extinction in the 1930's. It was a vicious killing-machine the size of a wolf, with large and flexible jaws and a penchant for devouring livestock. I'm sure it would have gotten a taste for people, as well, had it lived long enough to be protected by the bleeding-heart UN liberals that currently man our environmental agencies. THE BOUNTY HUNTERS DID US A FAVOUR BY EXTERMINATING IT FOR $ 750 A PIECE!!!

But are we to believe TerrorQuest, pardon, MonsterQuest, the Thylacine (a.k.a. Tasmanian tiger) is still alive, well, kicking and eating somewhere in the Tasmanian rain forests. After the usual boring intro (about 40 minutes long), the producers finally reveal that their little expedition into the god-forsaken backwoods of Australia was successful. Something mysterious was caught on camera, and a footprint matching that of a Thylacine was found nearby.

I can't say I like this sudden turn of events. Suddenly, I like the rest of the series better, where the knights on a quest fail to find, say, the Jersey Devil or the Feejee Mermaid. At the same time, I'm not entirely surprised. I mean, can anything good ever come out of *Tasmania*? Next year, they will probably find evidence for the Bunyip, as well!

:P

The yawn of the Thylacine

"Animal X Natural Mystery Unit" is an American edition of an Australian series dealing with crypto-zoology and the paranormal. In this episode, the "unit" travels home to Australia in search of the Thylacine, a carnivorous marsupial extinct since the 1930's. Yet, people still see them - not just on the island of Tasmania (their former native habitat) but also on the Australian mainland.

As usual, the physical evidence is scanty, but the Tasmanian authorities admit that *some* witness reports sound credible. However, the animal is still officially extinct, and conspiracy theorists claim that the Tasmanian logging industry is behind it all. Logging might be threatened if the "Tasmanian Tiger" is still out there, awaiting legal protection...

The Natural Mystery Unit interviews witnesses, environmental activists, a representative of the logging industry and crypto-zoologists who believe that the spooky creature is still out there. One researcher claims that an "ark" was built at some point during the 1930's by local enthusiasts who saved a few Thylacines and implanted them on the Australian mainland!

Interesting. Unfortunately Daniel and Nathalie (the two unit members) are extremely uncharismatic and even somewhat embarrassing. By contrast, the so-called mission controller Bill Kerr is less "out there" than usually, and actually sounds quite normal in this episode. These guys have a way of making a genuine mystery seem boring! The yawn of the Thylacine? Geezus, can't they send Josh Gates or Bobo to Tasmania?! They'll flush the creature out...or throw a big party, LOL.

Two stars.

Mixed emotions

“Tasmania: Paradise at the End of the World” is a nature documentary about wildlife and conservation in Tasmania, the island-state of Australia. It also deals with colonial history.

I got mixed feelings watching this production, since it literally *never* mention the genocidal war of the settlers against the Aboriginal population. This makes the romantic angle about “preserving nature as it originally was” look more absurd than usual. 19th century loggers and miners are painted as heroes, which is surely unusual in a nature documentary, but the viewer is given the impression that Tasmanian history started with these heroic settler-proletarians, when in reality Tasmania has been inhabited for 40,000 years by the Aboriginals!

That being said, the documentary is nevertheless interesting, with a good overview of the exotic animals and plants of the island. Wallabies, wombats, echidnas, the platypus and Tasmanian devils are featured. So is the extinct Tasmanian tiger or thylacine. The producers take the rumor about the possible survival of the thylacine seriously. So do I. On the plant side, there are tree-ferns, white gum trees and Eucalyptus regnans, said to be the largest flowering plant in the world. Sometimes, “Paradise at the End of the World” comes close to comic relief, as when a group of crow-like currawongs help themselves to the tourists' fast food below a huge sign saying “Don't feed the birds”! Since this is originally an ORF production, there is also an unintentionally comic Austrian angle, with constant mentions of one Gustav Weindorfer, no doubt a brave explorer but hardly a household name.

Had the documentary not tried to hide the darkest chapter in Tasmanian history, I would have given it five stars. As it is, I give it four. It *is* a good documentary with great footage of animals in various situations, and part of me wants to believe the romanticized John Muir-esque atmosphere, but I suppose I'm too cynical to entirely buy this "Whitewash"…