Is the Loch Ness monster a type of plesiosaur?
In 1934, a veterinary student named Arthur Grant saw a strange creature cross the road in front of him near Loch Ness. He described the animal as looking like a plesiosaur. Certainly, Grant's description of something with a small head, long neck, and a heavy body with flippers sounds a lot like this marine dinosaur which is thought to have become extinct millions of years ago.
Loch Ness is not the only body of water allegedly home to a sea monster: Lake Champlain is home to "Champ", Canada's Lake Okanagan has "Ogopogo", "South Bay Bessie" makes her home in Lake Erie, and Illiamna Lake (Alaska) and Alkali Lake (Nebraska) also have their own mysterious residents, to name a few. From time to time, news reports contain stories of strange aquatic creatures washed up on a beach. It would seem that there are many marine animals that are as yet unknown to us. Evidence would seem to indicate that Champ is real - using underwater microphones, researchers for the Discovery Channel were able to pick up sounds similar to those made by dolphins or Beluga whale.
In 1970, the Academy of Applied Science used sonar equipment and an underwater camera in an attempt to prove the existence of Nessie. Photographs were released which clearly showed a flipper, but these were subsequently found to have been enhanced.
Operation Deep Scan took place in 1987. Several boats used sonar to sweep the loch during a one-week period. The results of the scan were interesting: all the targets found, with the exception of three. The mystery continued when researchers from the British Natural History Museum's Project Urchin, who were using sonar to study the ecology of the loch, found large objects moving underneath the water's surface.
Is it possible that an animal thought to be long extinct, like a plesiosaur, could be alive and well in Loch Ness and elsewhere? A coelacanth, thought to be extinct for some 60-80 million years, was caught in 1938. A U.S. Naval vessel caught a megamouth shark in 1976 off the coast of Hawaii. (Thank goodness this shark's three-foot grin is used for filter feeding!) Not all species thought to be extinct really are, it seems.
Having said that, in spite of the fact that there have been many eyewitness sightings of Nessie, there have also been a certain number of hoaxes associated with the Loch's famous resident. The "surgeon's photo" taken in April of 1934 and showing a head and long neck protruding from the water, is now known to be a hoax. The "monster" was constructed of plastic wood placed over the tower of a toy submarine.
In 2003, the discovery of part of a plesiosaur fossil by a senior citizen who slipped and fell into the Loch made the news. While the fossil of four vertebrae, complete with spinal column and blood vessels, is genuine, it is now thought that it was placed there by person or persons unknown.
If you assume that not all eyewitness sightings of the monster can be explained by other means (other animal, boat wake, floating log, or a hoax of some kind), there are still a number of as-yet-unexplained sightings. And what about the mysterious results of the sonar sweep? Given that we now know that not all species thought to be extinct really are, the story of Nessie continues to be a fascinating one.
