31 May 2011

Cold on the trail of cryptids

| canberra_skeptics
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Dustin will be speaking on what he calls the ‘crypto continuum’, and the evidence, or lack of evidence for unlikely organisms. His talk will range from unusual animal behaviour on one end of the continuum, – behaviour or traits that haven’t really been observed scientifically but often claimed i.e. snakes chasing people – through to the seemingly evolutionarily implausible i.e. such “beasts” as the chupacabra, Pegasus, and some crypto-botanical examples.

Dustin is completing a Masters in Science Communication through the ANU, and expects to begin a PhD on invasive organisms at ADFA this year. He is director of the Canberra Reptile Sanctuary.

Dinner will follow the lecture (venue tbc). To RSVP for dinner please contact mail@canberraskeptics.org.au
For further information, please visit the Canberra Skeptics website:
http://www.canberraskeptics.org.au

A Canberra Skeptics Lecture
Speaker: Dustin Welbourne
Date: Wednesday 13th of July 2011
Time: 6:00 – 7:30 p.m.
Place: Lecture theatre, Innovations Building, Eggleston Rd, ANU
Free Admission

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canberra_skeptics5:53 pm 07 Jun 11

Due to circumstance beyond our control, the Innovations is no longer available as a venue at the specified time.

Please check the Canberra Skeptics website for further details – http://www.canberraskeptics.org.au

😀 Damn that sounds good! I’ll be there if I can!

colourful sydney racing identity said :

I would have thought with the proliferation of mobile phones with cameras that someone would have been able to snap a pic of one by now – given that there have been ‘sightings’ previously – same thing goes for UFO’s.

With the ever increasing range of technologies, surely someone would have gone into the Blue Mountains, Coffs Harbour, Batemans Bay area or even Tidbinbilla with infra red, night vision and/or motion detection cameras to get a shot or other evidence of Yowie’s or California etc. in the US for Bigfoot – would have thought the yanks would have filmed, caught and exploited a sasquatch by now.

Have also been chansed by snakes on two occasions, once, when I was KidKaos, in the Hunter Valley by a red-bellied black and once near Townsville by a taipan. You can run quicker than you think if you need to. Be careful, not all advice of standing still when you encounter a snake is good if you are standing right next to the snakes eggs or young.

colourful sydney racing identity2:51 pm 31 May 11

PBO said :

What are peoples thoughts on the possibility of large cats/panthers in Australia?

I would have thought with the proliferation of mobile phones with cameras that someone would have been able to snap a pic of one by now – given that there have been ‘sightings’ previously – same thing goes for UFO’s.

What are peoples thoughts on the possibility of large cats/panthers in Australia?

Credible. ANPWS all had files on reports of large cats in the Australia bush, at least, they did when I worked for the now defunct organisation..

Were there main areas that the sightings were reported? I recall the Blue Mountains area being mentioned but other than that……………

Facinating stuff though.

ConanOfCooma said :

Stevian said :

And I’m happy you are wrong! The name “Chupacabra” comes from the manner in which the beast was first hinted at, when goats were found drained of their blood. Hence the name “To Suck Goat”. It wasn’t for several months after the drained goats were found that people claimed to have seen a bipedal lizard alien performing the attacks, and as such, most people attach the name “Chupacabra” to the animal responsible for the attacks, and not the “bipedal lizard alien” that had been “seen”.

As the MO of the creature seemed to be that of attacking weak or injured animals, and feeding off them in a manner that suggests the attacker may not be all that athletically inclined, it was posited that the animal resonsible was either injured or ill.

Fast forward 16 years, there’s video footage of the creatures, dental comparisons to prove they are indeed the Goatsuckers, evidence that they are diseased, and even first hand reports on how these attacks had been occuring in the United States since the 60’s – It’s just that the southern farmers knew what the problem was, diseased coyotes. It’s not a mystery. But it’s crackpots like you that give skeptics a valid foothold in our community!

So just for clarification – The bipedal aliens were seen AFTER the first Goat Sucker attacks. AFTER.

.

You’re really insecure aren’t you? I’m right you’re wrong, That’s the way it is and the way it will always be. The Chupacabra is most likely a product of imagination. Your insistence that a creature that has a separate existance, if only in the imaginal landscape of folklore, is identical to your prosaic explanation. Is a symptom of a rigid mindset indicative of a high degree of sociopathic or even psychopathy

ConanOfCooma1:22 pm 31 May 11

Stevian said :

I’m afraid you are wrong. While mange ridden coyotes have indeed been mistaken for the Chupacabra. The Chupucabra as descibed by the original witness was a much more outlandish creature. Current scholarship favours the theory that it is based on the Sil creature from the movie “Species” which was showing in Pueto Rico immediatley prior to the initial sighting. What, if anything, that first witness saw, is open to debate but nothing is proven.

And I’m happy you are wrong! The name “Chupacabra” comes from the manner in which the beast was first hinted at, when goats were found drained of their blood. Hence the name “To Suck Goat”. It wasn’t for several months after the drained goats were found that people claimed to have seen a bipedal lizard alien performing the attacks, and as such, most people attach the name “Chupacabra” to the animal responsible for the attacks, and not the “bipedal lizard alien” that had been “seen”.

As the MO of the creature seemed to be that of attacking weak or injured animals, and feeding off them in a manner that suggests the attacker may not be all that athletically inclined, it was posited that the animal resonsible was either injured or ill.

Fast forward 16 years, there’s video footage of the creatures, dental comparisons to prove they are indeed the Goatsuckers, evidence that they are diseased, and even first hand reports on how these attacks had been occuring in the United States since the 60’s – It’s just that the southern farmers knew what the problem was, diseased coyotes. It’s not a mystery. But it’s crackpots like you that give skeptics a valid foothold in our community!

So just for clarification – The bipedal aliens were seen AFTER the first Goat Sucker attacks. AFTER.

As for the big cats, sure, they’re around. I shot a 35kg black cat in the hills around Numeralla around 97. Nothing special or worth writing home about, but there’s bigger ones out there, for sure. Panthers is extremely unlikely, as they would need a viable and diverse genetic population if they were to survive efficiently. If you want to see one, I reccommend driving the Cann River road. Seen several down that way.

What, no mention of Unicorns – while Pegasus gets a mention????

PBO said :

What are peoples thoughts on the possibility of large cats/panthers in Australia?

I find it pretty unlikely that there is a breeding population anywhere in Aust. That isn’t to say they aren’t there, just very unlikely.

Kinda like there could well be a population on Tassie Tigers somewhere in a remote corner of the bush. I don’t think there is, but no evidence isn’t the same as evidence of nothing.

Gungahlin Al12:30 pm 31 May 11

Captain RAAF said :

advanced quickly in the direction of away

LOL!

PBO said :

What are peoples thoughts on the possibility of large cats/panthers in Australia?

I suspect – though I cannot prove!

What are peoples thoughts on the possibility of large cats/panthers in Australia?

ConanOfCooma said :

b) Chupacabra is proven to be real. Just because they are very ill, mange ridden coyotes means diddly. The beasts, the reports, the evidence. It was all correct. Except the bipedal lizard sightings.

.

I’m afraid you are wrong. While mange ridden coyotes have indeed been mistaken for the Chupacabra. The Chupucabra as descibed by the original witness was a much more outlandish creature. Current scholarship favours the theory that it is based on the Sil creature from the movie “Species” which was showing in Pueto Rico immediatley prior to the initial sighting. What, if anything, that first witness saw, is open to debate but nothing is proven.

Captain RAAF11:11 am 31 May 11

Was in a forward OP with another bloke, on a rocky sh/thole in northern QLD, Fierce snake decided we were on his turf and proceeded to attack the pair of us. We were not in a position to move and had to remain lying down and fighting said snake off with boots, rifle butts etc.

This went on for about 10 minutes before tactical considerations went out the window and self preservation won out as we upped stumps and advanced quickly in the direction of away, over the hill and outta there.

Snakes, they be bastards!

ConanOfCooma11:02 am 31 May 11

Far out, they’ve managed to make a reasonably sounding group of skeptics sound like the same extremists they oppose on the other end of the crypto debate.

a) Snakes can chase you. And they do. Anyone who has spent a good amount of time in the Aussie bush can confirm that.

b) Chupacabra is proven to be real. Just because they are very ill, mange ridden coyotes means diddly. The beasts, the reports, the evidence. It was all correct. Except the bipedal lizard sightings.

c) Pegasus is a mythological creature, not a cryptid. No one has maintained that it was real in a serious or scientific manner. The addition of this to the list makes Dustin look a bit silly.

I’m all for nay-saying and being a negative nancy, but skeptics are the kind of people that post “PICS OR IT DIDN’T HAPPEN” in forums on the internet. Many, many species of animal have been found in the last 200 years that have gob-smacked humans, and with the exploration of the deep ocean, the sky is no longer the limit.

Every skeptics meet I have attended involved a lot of discussion like “Interesting, too bad none of us are qualified to comment or disseminate. However, someone equally unqualified to do so, already has, and we have the report, so let’s read that, shall we?”.

Gungahlin Al10:15 am 31 May 11

traits that haven’t really been observed scientifically but often claimed i.e. snakes chasing people

Scientists might not have seen it, but I have. Mate and I as teenagers sitting next to a small waterway had a swamp tiger spot us from the other side and immediately swim straight at us across the water. Turns out these are a harmless species, but being of very similar appearance to a couple of venomous species, it scared the willies out of us.

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