Oliver, the Humanzee
In 1960, in the African nation of Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo), a peculiar discovery was made. It was a young male chimpanzee with a strikingly humanoid face and the propensity for bipedal locomotion (a trait previously unobserved amongst chimpanzees). This bizarre animal found its way into the care of American animal trainers Frank and Janet Berger who dubbed their new pet Oliver.
Oliver exhibiting his characteristic upright stance. He was rarely seen walking on his knuckles.
Oliver showed a strong desire to adapt as many human affects as possible, including smoking cigars, shunning the company of other chimpanzees, and even making sexual overtures toward Janet. When put on display in the public eye, Oliver became a media sensation, and was widely believed to be some sort of missing link or human-chimpanzee hybrid. Genetic testing did in fact reveal that Oliver possessed forty-eight chromosomes, one more than is common in chimpanzees, and one less than is common in humans. In lieu of any further discussion of Oliver, I have included below the complete documentary produced by the Discovery Channel in 2006 exploring this strange creature and his unique story.
The Montauk Monster
I have hidden this entry from view due to the grotesque nature of some photographs contained within. Click the link below to see the full article.
The Mysterious Bloop
Anyone who has ever gazed at the expanse of the ocean and experienced a mixture of wonderment and terror will feel validated upon learning about the Bloop. This sonic phenomenon, so named due to its distinct sound (“bloop…bloop”), was first picked up via undersea microphones by the United States Navy in the summer of 1997. Instead of tracking Soviet submarines, these Cold War-era microphones detected a sound with an ultra-low frequency that suggests it a) originates from an animal, and b) that this animal is significantly larger than a blue whale (the largest creature ever known to live). Microphone triangulation has placed the origin of the Bloop off the southwestern coast of South America (50 degrees S, 100 degrees W). Listen to the Bloop here.
To give you a sense of scale.
The mysterious Bloop vanished as rapidly as it appeared. The sound has not been detected since 1997, although this does little to hamper the impassioned speculations of cryptozoologists, science fictions enthusiasts, and marine biologists alike. The notion that there may lie at the bottom of the sea a beast that dwarfs, both in size and in sound-making ability, history’s largest known animals is fodder for both daydreams and nightmares. I know that I, for one, will glance compulsively and fearfully downward into the darkened depths if I ever find myself afloat off the southwestern coast of South America.
Some Further Reading:
A thread on Physics Forum that discusses the Bloop
A 2002 article about the Bloop from Cnn.com
BloopWatch.org – A site for H.P. Lovecraft fans that explores the Bloop from a science fiction perspective
Irrational Geographic 