Freeman in Room 101

Over at his Room 101 site at Binnall of America, Richard Thomas interviews resident zoologist at the CFZ, Richard Freeman. Here's part of their exchange:

Richard Thomas: "As a cryptozoologist who has written and lectured widely on the subject, aside from ABCs and the British Bigfoot (which we will discuss later), what are some of the "mystery animals" you are convinced are probably real?"

Richard Freeman: "The thylacine or Tasmanian wolf, a striped, dog like, flesh eating marsupial. The thylacine was supposedly hunted into extinction in the mid 1930s but there have been over 4000 sightings since then, some by zoologists and park ranger. There have also been a couple of film sequences that I have seen analysed frame by frame. I have no doubt this creature is still around.

"The giant anaconda. This snake gives birth to live young rather than laying eggs. Ergo it has severed its last link with land and can spend 99% of its time in water. Thus buoyed up, it can reach huge sizes, perhaps as much as 60 feet!

"Orang-pendek, an upright walking ape from Sumatra. Debbie Martyr, head of the Indonesian Tiger Conservation Group has seen it four times. It is probably related to the orangutan but adapted for a bipedal existence on the forest floor.

"The yeti, possibly a surviving form of the giant ape Gigantopithecus blacki that lived in China and India 500,000 years ago. Hair has been analysed in the UK, USA and China. The results were the same: unknown primate.

"The Almasty, a relic hominid, an ultra primitive kind of man, it has no fire and only ape-like tool use. I know two scientists who have seen this creature and I think I came within 12 feet of one last Summer on a derelict farm in Russia at 2.30 am.

"Dragons, the original uber monster. Found in every culture and dating back at least 25,000 years in cave paintings. Still seen today in parts of Asian and Africa and the worlds oceans. Possibly the descendant of a group of prehistoric seagoing crocodiles. World wide the dragon is more associated with water than it is with fire."

And to read the whole interview, click right here!