Dr KARL SHUKER

Zoologist, media consultant, and science writer, Dr Karl Shuker is also one of the best known cryptozoologists in the world. He is the author of such seminal works as Mystery Cats of the World (1989), The Lost Ark: New and Rediscovered Animals of the 20th Century (1993; greatly expanded in 2012 as The Encyclopaedia of New and Rediscovered Animals), Dragons: A Natural History (1995), In Search of Prehistoric Survivors (1995), The Unexplained (1996), From Flying Toads To Snakes With Wings (1997), Mysteries of Planet Earth (1999), The Hidden Powers of Animals (2001), The Beasts That Hide From Man (2003), Extraordinary Animals Revisited (2007), Dr Shuker's Casebook (2008), Karl Shuker's Alien Zoo: From the Pages of Fortean Times (2010), Cats of Magic, Mythology, and Mystery (2012), Mirabilis: A Carnival of Cryptozoology and Unnatural History (2013), Dragons in Zoology, Cryptozoology, and Culture (2013), The Menagerie of Marvels (2014), A Manifestation of Monsters (2015), Here's Nessie! (2016), and what is widely considered to be his cryptozoological magnum opus, Still In Search Of Prehistoric Survivors (2016) - plus, very excitingly, his four long-awaited, much-requested ShukerNature blog books (2019-2024).

Dr Karl Shuker's Official Website - http://www.karlshuker.com/index.htm

IMPORTANT: To view a complete, regularly-updated listing of my ShukerNature blog's articles (each one instantly clickable), please click HERE!

IMPORTANT: To view a complete, regularly-updated listing of my published books (each one instantly clickable), please click HERE!

IMPORTANT: To view a complete, regularly-updated listing of my Eclectarium blog's articles (each one instantly clickable), please click HERE!

IMPORTANT: To view a complete, regularly-updated listing of my Starsteeds blog's poetry and other lyrical writings (each one instantly clickable), please click HERE!

IMPORTANT: To view a complete, regularly-updated listing of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's articles (each one instantly clickable), please click HERE!

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Thursday 22 October 2009

A PERFECT PICTURE OF MYSTERY - A POSITIVE OUTLOOK?




Following the query in my previous blog about what the enigmatic Canzanella mystery beasts painting, which looks very like a photo-negative with black background and ghostly white-furred animals, might look like if it were converted to a photo-positive version by colour-inverting it to yield a white background and colour-furred animals, I have duly done this. So here is the original version (top pic). And here's the very thought-provoking colour-inverted version (bottom pic). What do you think? Curiouser and curiouser, as Alice may well have said!

Monday 12 October 2009

A PERFECT PICTURE OF MYSTERY


As I've often noted, mystery animals can turn up in the most unlikely places - and back in 2002 one of these just so happened to be the American version of ebay, the online auction house.

From 16 to 26 September 2002, a most extraordinary painting was offered there, as Item #907237942, by a seller from Old Town, Florida, using the name ectopistes@webtv.net and requiring an undisclosed reserve price. According to the seller's description of this painting, it was an original unframed water-colour, measuring 22" by 30", bearing the signature Canzanella, and it depicted a pair of very odd-looking mammals - see above photo.

The one in the foreground was described by the seller as white with a very slight pinkish hue (as the seller's video-camera photo of the painting had made it seem yellow). The seller had owned the painting for roughly 28 years after paying a thousand dollars for it, but had no information as to what the animals in it were. Emphasising their curious appearance, he/she had entitled the item 'Strange Cryptozoology Animal Painting'.

Certainly, the creatures depicted are decidedly unusual, even sinister, and I cannot readily identify them with any known species. There are certain similarities to badgers (though the portrayed animals' legs seem too long for all but perhaps the Asian hog badger Arctonyx collaris), and others to various viverrids. The pink-hued white fur of the foreground specimen may indicate albinism.

In any event, the painting is reproduced here, and I'd welcome any opinions or information concerning the mystifying animals depicted, and the equally mysterious artist responsible for depicting them.