astronomy

Karl Shuker

Karl Shuker is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Karl Shuker rather than just read about it. In short: Karl Shuker (born 9 December 1959) is a British zoologist, cryptozoologist and author. He lives in the Midlands, England, where he works as a zoological consultant and writer.

Key takeaways

Karl Shuker belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Karl Shuker to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Karl Shuker from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Karl Shuker (born 9 December 1959) is a British zoologist, cryptozoologist and author. He lives in the Midlands, England, where he works as a zoological consultant and writer. A columnist in Fortean Times and contributor to various magazines, Shuker is also the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Cryptozoology, which began in November 2012.

Career Shuker received a BSc (Hons) in zoology from the University of Leeds and a PhD in zoology and comparative physiology from the University of Birmingham. He is a Scientific Fellow of the Zoological Society of London, a Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society, a consultant for the Centre for Fortean Zoology, and a member of the Society of Authors. Some of his larger works include Mystery Cats of the World (1989), The Lost Ark: New and Rediscovered Animals of the 20th Century (1993; expanded in 2002 as The New Zoo), and In Search of Prehistoric Survivors (1995), as well as two worldwide bestsellers – Dragons: A Natural History (1995; reissued in 2006), and The Unexplained (1996; reissued in 2002). Shuker also published Star Steeds and Other Dreams, a book of poetry which appeared in 2009. According to Jonathan Downes, there are a number of little-known cryptids to which Shuker was the first cryptozoologist to bring widespread public attention. These include the Sri Lankan horned jackal and Devil Bird, Gambo the Gambian sea serpent, Goodenough Island mystery bird, New Guinea ropen and devil pig or gazeka, Scottish earth hound, Indonesian veo and horned cat, New Caledonian du, Irish dobhar-chú, Shatt al Arab venomous mystery fish, Zanzibar makalala, Ethiopian death bird, Zululand kondlo, Arctic North American waheela, Kellas cat, Mongolian Death Worm, Hungarian reedwolf, Fujian blue or Maltese tiger as shown on the cover of Mysteries of Planet Earth (1999), Welsh cenaprugwirion, bigfin squid, St Helena sirenian, Timor Sea ground shark, and crowing crested cobra. Shuker pens two cryptozoological columns ("Alien Zoo" and "The Lost Ark") in Fortean Times, and contributes regularly to Strange Magazine, to Fate Magazine, and to Paranormal Magazine. In addition, he is the zoological consultant for Guinness World Records. In a 2012 interview, Shuker stated that three of the most important zoological discoveries of the twentieth century were the okapi, the coelacanth and the saola (or Vu Quang ox). Shuker's 2012 volume, The Encyclopaedia of New and Rediscovered Animals provides a detailed discussion of similar discoveries, including discoveries made as recently as 2011. In November 2012, Shuker launched the Journal of Cryptozoology. As the journal's founding editor-in-chief, Shuker has the stated goal of "providing an outlet for cryptozoological research with a genuinely scientific approach," with the hope of elevating the field's reputation among the scientific community. Upon announcing plans to start the new journal, Shuker had expressed "hope that cryptozoological researchers will submit papers to the journal that are totally worthy of publication in mainstream zoological journals but which may not be accepted by them simply because their subject is cryptozoological." Remarking that many newly discovered or rediscovered species begin as cryptids, Shuker believes that the field of cryptozoology is at a disadvantage, noting "as soon as one of its subjects is confirmed to be real, it is no longer cryptozoological but zoological instead."

Scientific approach Shuker engages in what he describes as the scientific investigation of "animals still awaiting formal zoological detection and description in the 21st century." However, Shuker is critical of investigators who set out to uncritically validate their preconceptions, stating that such activity is not serious cryptozoology. Shuker's approach also sometimes leads to a more reserved position regarding cryptid claims. Having investigated the mystery of the chupacabra, Shuker noted in an interview with Benjamin Radford that the inconsistencies surrounding descriptions and accounts of the creature made it difficult to separate actual reports from folklore. Based on his interpretation of available accounts and evidence of the creature, Shuker hypothesized that the chupacabra itself might be "a nonexistent composite" resulting from accounts of "different entities [...] all being lumped together."

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Karl Shuker

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Karl Shuker claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Karl Shuker before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Karl Shuker ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Karl Shuker

In research: Karl Shuker appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Karl Shuker in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Karl Shuker is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1959 births, Alumni of the University of Birmingham, Alumni of the University of Leeds, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Karl Shuker outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Karl Shuker in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Karl Shuker means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Karl Shuker out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Karl Shuker in simple terms?

Karl Shuker (born 9 December 1959) is a British zoologist, cryptozoologist and author. He lives in the Midlands, England, where he works as a zoological consultant and writer.

Why does Karl Shuker matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Karl Shuker?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Karl Shuker.