It all began for Karl Shuker when, aged thirteen, he walked into a bookshop near his home in the West Midlands, England, and noticed a copy of the Paladin paperback edition (1972 reprint) of Bernard Heuvelmans’s classic book On the Track of Unknown Animals. Receiving it soon as a birthday gift, he read it from cover to cover many times and was hooked. He began collecting news clippings, articles, and books on cryptozoology. In 1979, during his first year as a zoology undergraduate, Shuker began to lose weight suddenly and was quickly admitted to a hospital. A week later, he reemerged, at the start of a whole new phase of his life, as an insulin-dependent diabetic. He went on to finish his studies in zoology at the University of Leeds and obtained a Ph.D. in zoology and comparative physiology at the University of Birmingham, but he had to forgo the rigors of stressful scientific research. He decided to turn his life-long interest in cryptozoology into a writing career. Soon he was writing articles for minor magazines and sending in proposals for book ideas. Through many years of hard work, he finally was able to see many of his thoroughly researched books come to print. His books include Mystery Cats of the World (1989), Extraordinary Animals Worldwide (1991), The Lost Ark: New and Rediscovered Animals of the 20th Century (1993), From Flying Toad to Snakes with Wings (1997) and, acting jointly as consultant and contributor, Man and Beast (1993), Secrets of the Natural World (1993), and Almanac of the Uncanny (1995).
Shuker now works as a zoological consultant, lecturer, and writer. He appears regularly on television and radio, journeys throughout the world in the course of his researches, and is today widely recognized as one of the leading experts in cryptozoology because of his attention to scientific detail.
SEE ALSO:
SOURCE:
The Encyclopedia of Loch Monsters,Sasquatch, Chupacabras, and Other Authentic Mysteries of Nature
Written by Loren Coleman and Jerome Clark – Copyright 1999 Loren Coleman and Jerome Clark