LIVING PLESIOSAURS
Type: Serpentine-Reptilian
Names of Known Representatives: Nessie, Champ, Ogopogo, Chessie, Slimy-Slim, Caddy, Morgawr, Morag, Kussie, Bunyip, Mannie, Memphre, Sicopogo, One-Eye, Manipogo, Tag, Casper, Lizzie, Selma, Tessie, Whitey, Altamaha, Bessie, Claude, Pressie, Hodgee, Haitlik, Hanhuelito, Naitaka, Hodag, Tieholdtsodi, Mashenomak, Wakteexi, Sirrush, Vasuki, Vritra, The Hydra, The Kraken, Jormungard, Nidhogg, Zalyts, Capactli, Yulunjul, Julungul, et al
Typical Length: 50-80 feet
Typical Weight: Indeterminate, probably in excess of 12,000 pounds
Diet: Carnivorous - eating vast amounts of fish, shellfish and assorted marine life
Traits: Not much is known about plesiosaurs but it is assumed that they have characteristic traits in common with salt-water crocodiles. It is believed that they travel in packs dominated by one female following migratory food routes along the coastlines of the world, possibly traveling up rivers into freshwater lakes to lay eggs away from marine predators. This is postulated by the fact so many of these creatures have become trapped in lakes upon growing to adulthood. They tend to swallow stones to grind their food, a quirk which keeps their bodies from rising to the surface after death. They can hold their breath almost indefinitely, rising to the surface to catch a breath. Their flippers are mostly for maneuvering; they can move to speeds up to 80-100 miles an hour by riding ocean currents and steering their weight through the sea. They are pack hunters as well as scavengers, attacking wounded sharks. Contrary to popular ideas, they do not have the strength to lift their necks above the water, mostly floating at water level as they rest or exchange breath. They are far more sensitive to the presence of human beings than crocodiles, allowing them to avoid contact with civilization for several hundred years.
Lifespan: (possibly) 250-300 years
Habitat: Oceanic with isolated families in lakes (lochs) around the world, most sightings along the northern hemisphere along the England-Canada-Upper Asia hemisphere
History: Sea serpent is the tabloid term for a type of marine monster of serpentine form which have been reported on Earth since the dawn of human civilization, originating with fabled accounts of dragons and giant lizards reported in Sumerian hieroglyphics. While it is uncertain if all the creatures are if the same species, it has generally been the belief that they may be the descendants of an order of large saurian reptiles from the Mesozoic period of Earth known as plesiosaurs, characterized by large bodies, flippers, long necks and long tapering tails.
Legends of plesiosaur-like creatures have been appearing long before fossilized remnants of these creatures began appearing. Ideally suited for marine life and classified as apex predators, threatened only by mankind, the fact that these creatures are oceanic could account for the lack of more recent fossilized remains; those remains now being in areas now covered by water. Ancient man have feared sea serpents since ancient times, returning from sea with tales of dragons and monsters such as the Kraken, now believed to be a giant squid. A creature called Tiamat was described by the Ancient Sumerians and slain by their local deities. The Greeks and Romans described serpents which lurked in native bodies of water, such the Hydra, Scylla and Charybdis, but they also believed these were actually transformed goddesses. During Arthurian times, St. Columba in the Sixth Century sighted a creature in Loch Ness when he arrived in Scotland to preach Christianity and warded it off with his beliefs. In the Middle Ages, a hero known as Sir George supposedly did battle with a creature near the lakes of Katzenborg in modern Germany. Although there is no physical evidence of living plesiosaurs, other animals known to be contemporary with them have been discovered, such as the coelacanth and the modern crocodile. It has been shown that other creatures long believed to be legendary have been discovered in remote and inaccessible locations on Earth. More modern animals, such as the gorilla and hippopotamus, have been photographed after once being debated as mythical monsters.
Recent sightings of living plesiosaurs have been made since July 1734 when a Norwegian missionary named Hans Egede on a ship in the Davis Strait sighted a reptilian creature that easily dwarfed his ship. Erik L. Pontoppidan, the Eighteenth century Bishop of Bergen witnessed a creature at sea he believed to be the Kraken. Several sightings were made by the settlers of Gloucester Bay in Massachusetts on a creature seen swimming in the bay in August 1817. In 1834, farmers on Sicily shot upon and believed they killed a large plesiosaur-like creature eating their stock. Whether they killed it or not is a matter of debate, the creature's remains were never discovered. Captain Charles M'Quhae of the HMS Daedalus made a report of another similar creature off the coast of Africa in 1848. When the brigantine Mary Celeste was found floating unmanned and unattended near the Azores on December 4, 1872, one of the theories put forth on the disappearance of her crew and passengers was that she had been attacked by a sea serpent.
Skepticism of these events, however, ascertains that these individuals actually experiencing known creatures such as whales and large fish, but it should be added that these are reputable people with a knowledge of the sea and knowledge of such things; they would not mistake such things with unknown animals. However, the advent of large mechanical ships definitely would cause sea-going animals to steer clear from the sounds and churning propellers of these crafts. In 1966, two paratroopers on leave from the British army were rowing across the Atlantic on a self-imposed survival test when they witnessed an unknown creature twice the length of their open book.
Since the laying of a new highway along Loch Ness in 1933,
increased media exposure of the Loch Ness Monster, or Nessie as she is more
affectionately been known, has made the existence of sea serpents and lake
monsters part of the modern media, often to the success and attraction of
tourism, and bringing notoriety to several towns in the vicinity of these lakes.
The unobstructed view of Loch Ness resulted in many of the first photos and
theories in the existence of such creatures and even excited the popularity of
such creatures around the world. Army surgeon R.K. Wilson took the photo which
has been deemed incontrovertible proof of the existence of modern plesiosaurs.
However, this "best evidence" has since been discredited, a hoax
attributed to game hunter Marmaduke Arundel Wetherell, who was chastised for
trying to fake evidence to the creature's existence. (Whether this photo was
even taken at Loch Ness has yet to be revealed.) Despite this discovery, the
sheer volume of evidence for a creature in Loch Ness stands on its own.
The most credible evidence for the existence of such creatures occurred in 1937 when whalers in Nadon Harbor in the Queen Charlotte Islands of Canada pulled the ten-foot longs remains of a mysterious juvenile creature from the stomach of a sperm whale. The partially digested remains were unknown to the group of men used to pulling all sorts of animal remains from the bodies of whales. Tissue samples were mysteriously lost by the scientists offered to examine them (as if they wanted to forget this creature existed), but photographic evidence of the body exists for a creature later called a cadborosaurus, possibly a recent species of plesiosaurus. A living specimen of "caddy" was caught the 1990s, but this specimen, only sixteen inches in length, was probably a mere infant and released back to the wild. The success of these creatures to survive as juveniles seems to be part of the reason for such sparse sightings of adults across the world.
The popularity and research of a monster at Loch Ness has been advantageous for other lake monsters around the world. A living plesiosaur believed to be existing in Lake Champlain in Vermont has also attracted much public attention. First seen by Samuel de Champlain in the Early Eighteenth Century as he explored modern Vermont, the creature since nick-named Champ has been reported since 1878 when it was sighted by people n a small yacht. Ogopogo in Canada's Lake Okanagan is another famous lake celebrity. However, despite the increased number of sightings around the world, there have been a few misidentifications. The White River Monster in Arkansas was revealed to be a lost elephant seal, and in 1977, a Japanese fishing trawler fishing off New Zealand reeled in from their nets the decomposing carcass of what seemed to be be a dead plesiosaurus. Analyzation of the collected tissue samples, however, revealed it to be the odd decomposition of a basking shark.
That same year, Tony Shiels, a psychic entertainer of less than stellar reputation, produced the most detailed version of the "Surgeon photograph" as yet. His history has been more damaging to the credibility of the photo, especially in light of the original "Surgeon photograph" now being proven as fraudulent. With all the hoaxes and faked evidence damaging the search for living plesiosaurs, sightings still occur with startling regularity. Video footage of these creatures has been taken and individuals living miles apart have oddly described identical animals at common locations.
The best evidence for living plesiosaurs and insuring their survival has always been the video camera. In April 1960, adventurer Tim Dinsdale taped four minutes of a traveling shape at Loch Ness. Several years later, computer enhancement of the Dinsdale photo revealed what seemed to be a plesiosaur shape under the water. A photo of Champ in 1977 by vacationers at Lake Champlain has stood up far more than the since discredited Surgeon photograph of the Loch Ness Monster. In 2001, a photo taken from a row boat showed the most bizarre appearance for the Loch Ness creatures, a long thin neck "like that of the front bumper of a Volkswagen Beetle" poked up from the water and vanished beneath the surface.
Media Appearances: (movies)
(documentary)
(television)
(pop culture)
(comics)
Comments: This profile describes the probable characteristics of an unknown animal; it is meant for entertainment value and does not describe any actual known animals. Actual research culled from the books "Monsters of Loch Ness" by Roy P. Mackal, "Mysteries of the Unknown: Mysterious Creatures" by the Editors of Time/Life books and "The Unexplained" by Jerome Clark.
Cryptozoology is the study of hidden or unrevealed animals,
usually animals associated with animals from the prehistoric past (like sea
serpents), sometimes including mysterious animals of uncertain characteristics
(like the chupacabra and Jersey Devil).
Clarifications: Nessie and her brethren are not to be confused with:
Last updated: 01/16/08