The animal – thought to have mostly died out roughly 4,000 years ago – was apparently filmed wading through a river in the freezing wilds of Siberia.

The jaw-dropping footage was caught by a government-employed engineer last summer in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug region of Siberia, it is claimed.

Video: The ‘woolly mammoth’ alive
ANIMAL previously thought extinct apparently filmed crossing icy river

Mammoth remains are regularly dug up from the permafrost in frozen Russia.

The official was reportedly in the area surveying for a planned road.

Paranormal writer Michael Cohen said: “Rumours of a handful of mammoths still kicking around in the vast wilderness of Siberia have been circulating for decades and occasionally sightings by locals have occurred.

“Siberia is an enormous territory and much of it remains completely unexplored and untouched by humans. ”

Woolly mammoths roamed the Earth 10,000 years ago during the last Ice Age.

A small pocket remained on and around Wrangel Island, off the coast of Siberia, and these did not die out until 3,500 years ago.

Mr Cohen, 41, added: “It is highly possible that a number of species, extinct elsewhere, survive in the area.

“If surviving woolly mammoths were found in Siberia, it could run against Russia’s plans to further develop and exploit the area’s considerable resources.

“It would be potentially one of the greatest discoveries ever.”

But viewers are divided on the nature of the animal seen in the video. Some have dismissed it as a hoax while others reckon it is an elephant lost in the Siberian wilderness. The third theory is the sighting shows a bear eating a huge fish. What do you think?

Author: STAFF REPORTER | Source:thesun [February 9, 2012]

The film was taken by teaching assistant Coryn Memory close to the site of a recent spate of deer killings.

But it was not an isolated sighting. Coryn, 45, says she has seen the animal, described as a “slim, black leopard” in a valley outside Stroud, Gloucs, FIVE TIMES — before finally getting the evidence on film.

She said: “It was around for about 20 minutes and luckily I had my camera. It was probably 300 yards away and I don’t think it was aware I was there.

“It came in and out of the field and at one point seemed to be having a root around, probably for small animals.

“At one stage a fox was in the same shot so you could compare the difference in size.

Coryn added: “I would describe it as a small leopard-like Big Cat and I think it’s been around for a couple of years.

“But I don’t think it’s a danger or threat.”

Wildlife expert Frank Tunbridge, who has spent 25 years investigating Big Cats in the Cotswolds, described the film as “conclusive proof” they exist.

To work out the animal’s size, he was filmed with a cut-out of a Big Cat at the spot where the “Beast Of Stroud” was filmed. That footage was then superimposed over the original.

It showed the Big Cat was even bigger than his estimate — 6ft long and 2ft high to the top of its shoulde

Frank, 65, now believes the animal may be a new species of Big Cat unique to Britain.

He said: “This is the best footage I’ve seen. This is a Big Cat, but a British Big Cat — a type peculiar to Britain, a hybrid between leopard and puma.”

Two deer carcasses were found in Woodchester Park near Stroud on January 4, close to where the Big Cat was filmed. One of the bodies had been ripped open.

Two days later, 12 miles away, three privately-owned wallabies were killed, and stripped to the bone. All had puncture wounds to the neck.

Author:JOHN COLES | Source: thesun [February 7, 2012]

The world is greeted this morning with the first living photograph of one of the world’s newest primates, Rhinopithecus strykeri.

It will be recalled that the October 26, 2010 issue of the American Journal of Primatology announced the discovery of a new primate species, a previously unknown type of snub-nosed monkey, Rhinopithecus strykeri. It was unique in having a nose so upturned that the animals sneeze loudly when it rains. To avoid inhaling water, the monkeys supposedly sit with their heads tucked between their knees on drizzly days, according to local hunters. After interviewing locals, scientists discovered the monkey via those killed for food.

The find was made by biologists from the Myanmar Biodiversity and Nature Conservation Association and primatologists from Fauna and Flora International and the People Resources and Biodiversity Foundation.

Primatologist Ngwe Lwin took a photograph of the Rhinopithecus strykeri, snub-nosed monkey, in early 2010, that had been harvested for food in Myanmar.

Jeremy Holden of the Flora & Fauna International has shared with me, for release on Cryptomundo, the first photographs of the new primate now known as the Myanmar snub-nosed monkey.

Researchers working in Northern Myanmar have recently made the first photographs of the recently discovered Myanmar snub-nosed monkey.

A joint team from Fauna & Flora International (FFI), Biodiversity And Nature Conservation Association (BANCA) and People Resources and Conservation Foundation (PRCF), caught the monkey on camera traps placed in the high, forested mountains of Kachin state bordering China.

“The Myanmar snub-nosed monkey was described by science in 2010 from a dead specimen collected from a local hunter,” said Frank Momberg of FFI, who organized the initial expeditions that lead to the monkey’s discovery. “As yet no scientist has seen a live individual”, he added.

“These images are the first record of the animal in its natural habitat,” said Ngwe Lwin, the Burmese national who first recognized the monkey as a possible new species. “It is great to finally have photographs because they show us something about how and where it actually lives.”

Heavy snows in January and constant rain in April, 2011, made expeditions to set the camera traps difficult.

“We were dealing with very tough conditions in a remote and rugged area that contained perhaps fewer than 200 monkeys,” said photographer Jeremy Holden, who lead the camera trapping team. “We didn’t know exactly where they lived, and had to rely on information gathered from hunters; I didn’t hold out much hope of a short term success with this work.”

But in May 2011, a small group of snub-nosed monkeys walked through one of the cameras and into history.

“We were very surprised to get these pictures,” said Saw Soe Aung, a field biologist who set the cameras. “It was exciting to see that some of the females were carrying babies – a new generation of our rarest primate.”

“The images are poor quality compared to what we are now used to seeing from wildlife photographers, but this somehow examplifies the fact that these monkeys are rare, mysterious, and on the brink,” added Holden.

As with most of Asia’s rare mammals, the snub-nosed monkeys are threatened by habitat loss and hunting. The team are now working together with the Ministry for Environmental Conservation and Forest (MOECAF), local authorities and local communities to help safeguard the future of this species. In February 2012, FFI and MOECAF are planning to hold an international workshop in Yangon aiming to create an conservation action plan for the Myanmar Snub-nosed monkey.

The Fauna & Flora International (FFI) protects threatened species and ecosystems worldwide, choosing solutions that are sustainable, based on sound science and take account of human needs. Operating in more than 40 countries worldwide – mainly in the developing world – FFI saves species from extinction and habitats from destruction, while improving the livelihoods of local people. Founded in 1903, FFI is the world’s longest established international conservation body and a registered charity. (The Fauna & Flora International is the group supporting serious research in pursuit of evidence of Orang Pendek in Sumatra.)

Original article on the discovery:
“A new species of snub-nosed monkey, genus Rhinopithecus Milne-Edwards, 1872 (Primates, Colobinae), from northern Kachin state, northeastern Myanmar” by Thomas Geissmann, Ngwe Lwin, Saw Soe Aung, Thet Naing Aung, Zin Myo Aung, Tony Htin Hla, Mark Grindley, Frank Momberg. Article first published online: 27 OCT 2010; American Journal of Primatology.

The following video is found on YouTube and is incorrected labeled as being of this new monkey.

But this is only a relative of Rhinopithecus strykeri that was posted in news articles in 2010, about the new discovery. Since then an Asian site on YouTube has wrongly posted this as being the new Myanmar monkey. They actually appear to be black snub-nosed monkeys found in the Baima Snow Mountain State Nature Reserve in Weixi, southwest China’s Yunnan Province.

Author: Loren Coleman| Source:Cryptomundo [January 12,2012]