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Light emitted by a new species of lanternshark, Etmopterus lailae, is camouflage and helps them to hunt, communicate and find partners. But how does it work? Earlier this year a new species of deep water shark, Etmopterus lailae, was discovered in waters surrounding the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands in the Pacific Ocean. Measurements of external features, teeth, vertebrae and intestines, along with specific external markings and patterns confirmed that it was indeed a new species – a member of the lanternshark family. Lanternsharks (Etmopteridae) are one of the most species-rich shark genera, with approximately 38 known species, 11 of which have...

The crest-tailed mulgara was once widely distributed across sandy deserts in inland Australia. Credit: Reece Pedler ===================================================================================== A crest-tailed mulgara, a small carnivorous marsupial known only from fossilised bone fragments and presumed extinct in NSW for more than century, has been discovered in Sturt National Park north-west of Tibooburra. A team from the UNSW Sydney's Wild Deserts project made the unexpected discovery during recent scientific monitoring. UNSW scientist and wild deserts ecologist Dr Rebecca West says it is particularly exciting to find a crest-tailed mulgara alive for the first time in NSW. "The crest-tailed mulgara was once widely distributed...

A SHARK believed to be the oldest living vertebrate has been discovered in the North Atlantic Ocean. Danish scientists found the ancient creature — which is believed to be 512 years old and is 18ft long. The shark is the world's oldest vertebrate – an animal with a backbone – and may have been born in 1505, when King Henry VIII was just 14 years old. According to the journal Science, Greenland sharks grow at just one cm a year. So when they discovered a female shark measuring a whopping 18 feet, they knew this creature had to be...

Hikers in Tibet and the Himalayas need not fear the monstrous yeti—but they’d darn well better carry bear spray. DNA analyses of nine samples purported to be from the “abominable snowman” reveal that eight actually came from various species of bears native to the area. In the folklore of Nepal, the yeti looms large. The creature is often depicted as an immense, shaggy ape-human that roams the Himalayan hinterlands. Purported sightings over the years, as well as scattered “remains” secreted away in monasteries or held by shamans, have hinted to some that the yeti is not merely a mythical boogeyman....

SNIP Lowe tells Entertainment Weekly the encounter took place in the Ozark Mountains, which stretch through Arkansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. Lowe says he and his sons were camping there to investigate a bigfoot-like creature known to locals as a “wood ape” during a shoot for “The Lowe Files” when something began to approach their camp. Lowe says he was lying on the ground thinking he was going to be killed. SNIP

A prehistoric lion cub has been found in permafrost on the bank of Tirekhtykh River of the Abyisky district of Yakutia by local resident Boris Berezhnov. The young beast's head was resting on a paw in frozen ground for up to 50,000 years, as shown in these amazing first pictures. The preservation is so good that it raises hopes of cloning the species back to life, he said. The discovery is seen as better preserved than two tiny cave lion cubs found in the same Siberian region in 2015.

What do you do when you witness your house being broken into by a freakishly huge monitor lizard? Record the whole incident down of course. Attanai Thaiyuanwong was in for a rude surprise on Sunday when he arrived back at his home in Nonthaburi, Thailand, to find an unwelcome visitor trying to get into his house. The intruder was a giant monitor lizard, that looked as tall as an adult human, was standing upright on its hind legs with its mouth around the door knob.

BARROW, Alaska — Most Alaskans and Canadians have a bear story — tales of fearsome grizzlies, even polar bears. But a mix of the two? They’re known as pizzlies or grolars, and they’re a fusion of the Arctic white bear and their brown cousins. It’s a blend that’s been turning up more and more in parts of Alaska and Western Canada. Last week, a strange-looking bear was shot by a hunter in Nunavut, a remote territory that curves around Canada’s Hudson Bay. Its head was large, like a grizzly’s, but its fur was white. The bear’s genetics were not...

It will take around two weeks to a month to finalise the investigations on the carcass of a kid in Kota Tinggi that was said to resemble a human infant (pic). Johor state Agriculture and Agro-based Industry committee chairman Ismail Moha­med said then they would be able to find out the possibility of an offspring produced by a human and an animal. "For now we cannot confirm or deny anything as we have never received such a case before. "We will have to wait for the results and findings to be finalised and that takes somewhere between two weeks and...

Researchers captured images of the short-eared dog in Puno's jungle regions. For the first time in Peru's history, researchers in the jungles of Puno captured images of an animal that they had long thought to be extinct: the short-eared dog. Also known as the small-eared fox, or Atelocynus microtis, the animal was photographed by camera traps in the Bahuaja Sonene National Park in the Puno jungle, Southern Peru, reports El Comercio. The animal's presence had not been detected in the Peruvian Amazon since 1987 and has been on the red list of threatened species of the International Union of Conservation...

....Science, of course, has a habit of turning the fantastic into the prosaic. But 150 years on from Verne’s work, researchers have actually begun a project to drill through the Earth’s crust for the first time, hoping to penetrate more than 5km beneath the sea bed to reach the mantle below. Needless to say, it is most unlikely to reveal monsters living inside the Earth. But if we do look down in search of life, what do we find? The best way to find underground creatures is to travel into the depths of a cave. The first things you’re likely...

Speculation: The mystery sea creature with razor sharp teeth has been confusing people ============================================================================================================= The image has divided social media with some claiming it is a large hairtail, a long, slender fish found in tropical seas, while others suggest it has been photoshopped With the body of a legless crocodile and the head of a dolphin, this strange sea creature looks more like something out of medieval myth than a real animal. It was photographed after washing ashore on the banks of Lake Macquarie in New South Wales in Australia. Ethan Tipper snapped an image of the creature before posting...

A video of a furry figure in Formigal in the Pyrenees has emerged, prompting many to wonder – does this finally prove that the abominable snowman exists?Scared skiers and snowboarders in the resort of Formigal, in the Pyrenees, are keeping their eyes peeled for a large yeti-like monster that has been spotted roaming the slopes of the ski resort in north-eastern Spain. The creature has been caught on camera by a holidaymaker – could this finally be the evidence needed to convince the world that the abominable snowman actually exists? The slightly shaky and grainy footage appears to show a...

After a year-and-a-half long voyage aboard the International Space Station, a group of fungi collected from Antarctica has proven its ability to withstand harsh, Mars-like conditions. More than half of the cells remained intact over the course of the 18-month study, providing new insight for the possibility of life on Mars. These fungal samples, along with lichens from Spain and Austria, have allowed European researchers to assess the survivability and stability of microscopic lifeforms on the red planet. The tiny fungi taken from Antarctica are typically found in the cracks of rocks in this dry, hostile region. Scientists took samples...

A breed of sea snake thought to be extinct for years was recently discovered off the west coast of Australia, another in a string of similar findings among species scientists believed were lost forever. It was the first time the species of snakes was seen in more than 15 years since disappearing from the Timor Sea, according to researchers at Australia's James Cook University who identified the snakes. The discovery of the Short Nose sea snake was confirmed after an Australia Parks and Wildlife officer sent a photo to researchers for identification, the university said. The study's lead author, Blanche...

It's Hallowe'en, and all manner of hideous creatures-including Hillary and the famed Jersey Devil-are roaming the world. Be careful out there !

JERSEY DEVIL 1 Deep in the Jersey Barrens Outside the town of Leeds There lived a lonely widd-errr- No man to tend her needs ! So, one All Hallows Evenin’ When the moon was pale and white She cried, “I’d let ol’ Satan himself Come share my bed tonight !” Chorus Keep to the middle of the trail,friend When the moon is pale an’ white An’ build up the fire in the ol’ campsite- The Devil walks tonight ! 2 Old Satan come a courtin’ Kept her dancin’ till the dawn: One year later to the day The Devil’s Child...

For more than 200 years, people living in or passing through New Jersey's Pinelands have reported seeing a strange, winged creature that has come to be known as the Jersey Devil. There are tons of stories about the monster, and thousands of witnesses who claim they have encountered it. Late Tuesday night, I received an email from a reader who recently became one of those witnesses. Dave Black of Little Egg Harbor Township was driving home from his security guard job in Atlantic City when he saw what he thought was a llama running in and out of the trees...

Cryptozoology is the science and study of unknown creatures not as yet catalogued by conventional science. Even so, that doesn't stop these strange beings from making their appearances all about our world, sometimes intruding into your own neighborhoods. Some may even be watching you as you go into your backyard to sit on your patio. Or perhaps they might be watching you from the bushes as you come home at night. One thing is certain, they like to pop into our world for a visit, but seem aware that they're being hunted, so are quick to vanish as abruptly as...

Scientists from the Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment in Tübingen, and the Senckenberg Research Institute in Frankfurt, analyzed stable carbon isotopes from the tooth enamel of the little-known giant ape Gigantopithecus. "Unfortunately, there are very few fossil finds of Gigantopithecus -- only a few large teeth and bones from the lower mandible are known," Hervé Bocherens of the University of Tubingen said in a press release. Those fossils are from China and Thailand, which had open savannas and wooden landscapes. The new study of carbon isotopes indicates that Gigantopithecus was a vegetarian that lived only in forests. "Relatives...