Richard Freeman

Richard Freeman, Zoological Director of the Centre for Fortean Zoology, is one of the few professional cryptozoologists in the world, studying unknown or anomalous animals. A former zookeeper, he has worked with over 400 species of animal. He has taken expeditions across the globe in search of beasts like the orang-pedek, the Tasmanian wolf, the yeti, the giant anaconda, the Mongolian deathworm and the almasty.

Tonight he introduces the science of cryptozoology and looks at some of the unknown animals or “cryptids” with which it is concerned, focussing on his three trips to Tasmania in search of the flesh-eating marsupial known as the thylacine or Tasmanian wolf.