Jonathan Downes CFZ Director

NEAR Paranormal Skeptics/Believers

Jonathan Downes (born Portsmouth, England, in 1959) is a Cryptozoologist, Author, film-maker, journalist, composer and singer-songwriter, with a background in radical politics and mental health care. He is Director of the Centre of Fortean Zoology.His father, the explorer and Colonial Service Officer J. T. Downes (1925–2006), authored several books on wide range of subjects, such as African history, Theology and Devonshire dialect. His mother Mary Downes (née Rawlins) (1922–2002) was a broadcaster and author who published several collections of Nigerian folklore under the pen-name `Yar Kunama` He is currently the editor of Animals & Men; the journal of the Centre of fortean Zoology, the editor of The Amateur Naturalist (formerly `Exotic Pets`) - a magazine published by CFZ Press, the editor of the online magazine blog `Cryptozoology:Online`, and from January 2003 until August 2007 was the Deputy Editor of Tropical World magazine, a tropical fish magazine published in the UK. He has also edited and contributed to several other publications over the years