Jonathan Downes spent much of his childhood in Hong Kong surrounded by age-old Chinese superstitions and a dazzlingly diverse range of exotic wildlife. He soon became infected with the twin passions for exotic zoology and the paranormal. He began writing professionally in the late 80s and has written seventeen books. In 1992 he founded The Centre for Fortean Zoology, with the aim of coordinating research into mystery animals, bizarre and aberrant animal behavior and his own particular love of zooform phenomena (paranormal entities which only appear to be animals!). He has searched for Lake Monsters at Loch Ness, pursued sea serpents and birdmen in Cornwall, chased big cats across westcountry moorland, and in 1998 went to Latin America in search of the grotesque vampiric Chupacabra.