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The Loch Ness Monster

MorningAngel said:
This all replies on it being a elasmosaurus. What if it isn’t? It could be anything (or nothing).
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feen5 said:
It also relies on them being right about what an Elasmosaurus ate. At the moment they think it may have dredged the sea floor for clams but that's not to say it won't change in a few years. ...
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Oh, I agree with both of you ...

My point was that even if the elasmosaurus attribution and the latest hypothesis on that creature's dining habits were true, it couldn't feed off the loch's lakebed - i.e., either something's amiss with the elasmosaurus attribution / analysis or Nessie can't be an elasmosaurus (as currently known / described).
 
The idea that it's a long extinct or otherwise unexpected animal has no good evidence to support it. While people do seem to see things that they interpret as a large creature, it's absurd to consider that it could be a plesiosaur for many more reasons besides neck flexibility- but that's in the public consciousness and it keeps getting repeated.
 
Plesiosaur, Elasmosaurus, Mososaur all ridiculously unlikely. However, there is covergent evolution, where species that are totally unrelated end up looking very similar because that "design" is most fitted for the job, alligators and crocodiles last common ancestor was about 80 million years ago but they end up looking the same. Not saying that this has happened here, what is interesting is that lake monster sightings happen at about the same latitude around the Northern Hemisphere, that I do find curious.
 
Bullseye said:
what is interesting is that lake monster sightings happen at about the same latitude around the Northern Hemisphere, that I do find curious.
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is it the level that the last glaciers made lakes?

has anyone worked out what the monster ratio of glacial: non glacial body-of-water is? @Sharon Hill ?
 
Frideswide said:
is it the level that the last glaciers made lakes?

has anyone worked out what the monster ratio of glacial: non glacial body-of-water is? @Sharon Hill ?
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Every body of water above "pond" size seems to have a monster legend.
As always, I recommend Lake Monster Traditions by Meurger - the hands-down best book about lake monsters.
 
Bullseye said:
Plesiosaur, Elasmosaurus, Mososaur all ridiculously unlikely. However, there is covergent evolution, where species that are totally unrelated end up looking very similar because that "design" is most fitted for the job, alligators and crocodiles last common ancestor was about 80 million years ago but they end up looking the same. Not saying that this has happened here, what is interesting is that lake monster sightings happen at about the same latitude around the Northern Hemisphere, that I do find curious.
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A good point.

This strengthens the argument that lake monsters are overly-large eels - perhaps mature non-migratory sterile eels - as eels migrate to the northern North American and European latitudes you have described from the Sargasso Sea:

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2081008-how-are-baby-eels-made-we-still-dont-know/

Interesting that we still know so little about the lifecycle of these eels
 
Kondoru said:
Its not an interesting place. Though being on the canal you may see boats tooing and frooing.
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I quite like watching the people who are nessie-watching.

That and listening to the sound of the tourist coin filling up the vaults :twothumbs:
 
Frideswide said:
I quite like watching the people who are nessie-watching.

That and listening to the sound of the tourist coin filling up the vaults :twothumbs:
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I often drop in to the Nessie watch online, and like watching either the Lady, sometimes the Man, wrapped up warmly going out to feed the two, or so Sheep they keep in the field of view down by the Lochside.
In fact had a look only yesterday, and it was pretty much a bit of a very damp looking white-out on the Loch ~
except you couldn't actually see the Loch at all!
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Kondoru said:
I have been, several times.

Its not an interesting place. Though being on the canal you may see boats tooing and frooing.

No wonder the locals cooked up such a story.
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I've only been there once .. when I was a little kid and my Dad drove us through there to Stranraer area on our summer holidays. My Mum told me afterwards but I was asleep so missed it all. :( ..
 
Swifty said:
I've only been there once .. when I was a little kid and my Dad drove us through there to Stranraer area on our summer holidays. My Mum told me afterwards but I was asleep so missed it all. :( ..
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That was one very long drive. Poor man must've been shattered.
 
jessica_ said:
Is it the same thrill watching it live online? Would love to be there in person, with my own watch club and all. I have seen the Nessie photos, some of which are said to be photos of other animals.
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Well, as to regards of what you see, then of course it isn't the same - but when you view the same scene, then it becomes very interesting to note the things that come into view from time to time. I did camp at loch-side when I was a younger man, nothing happened except it rained all the time, but it was still a bit of an adventure just being there ~ with the remote possibility of actually seeing something which is thought to be there.
 
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You didnt miss much.

It goes on...and on...and on.

Its about the least Fortean place in the world.
 
I'm always watching the live webcam at Loch Ness, I used to keep it on all day on my computer at work. Actually caught a few things floating by on the screen here and there, but always put it down to logs, debris and such. Quite a few boats sail past as well. But it's actually fun watching the sheep!!
 
"Nessie" appears on Sonar

Tourist captures 'Loch Ness Monster' on sonar 400ft below surface​

Tom Ingram, from Portsmouth, was on a tourist cruise boat on the famous loch when he suddenly spotted something "big" on the boat's sonar.

The second official Nessie sighting of the year has been made after a tourist claimed to have captured what he believes is the Loch Ness Monster on sonar - lurking more than 400 feet below the surface.
Tom Ingram couldn't believe his eyes when he spotted something "big" appearing on the boat's sonar.
Part of the tour, passengers are allowed to watch the screens but 36-year-old IT Infrastructure Engineer for South Western Railway assumed at first it was simply the crew having a bit of fun with the group until he realised it was indeed real.
The sighting, which occurred on Monday (April 4), has now been accepted by the Official Loch Ness Monster Sightings Register as the second of the year.

The moving object was around 125 metres (410 feet) down and about 30 feet long and screen grabbed by Mr Ingram.
Tom said: "We decided to take one of the regular cruises from Fort Augustus to get some scenic photos of the loch whilst we are here. At around the half way point, just off Invermoriston, we were alerted to a strange shape forming on the sonar.
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https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/scotland-now/tourist-captures-loch-ness-monster-26657574
 
The hypothesis that some historical sea monster sightings might have involved erect whale penises isn't new. A UK researcher who mentioned this general hypothesis was mistakenly reported to have suggest Nessie may have represented a whale penis. He's now clarified that he wasn't referring specifically to Nessie, and he doesn't think any Nessie sightings have been whale penises.
No, the Loch Ness Monster was not a whale's penis

One of the more bizarre theories about the origins of the Loch Ness Monster has been debunked by the researcher who helped to start the wild rumor: that long-necked "Nessie" might actually have been a whale's penis.

The new theory surfaced April 8 on Twitter when Michael Sweet, a molecular ecologist at the University of Derby in the U.K., posted pictures of erect blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) penises, which can reach a maximum length of 10 feet (3 meters), alongside an alleged image of Nessie. The photos highlighted the remarkable similarity between their subjects. Sweet captioned the images by explaining that in the past, sailors might have mistaken erect whale penises at the sea surface for mythical sea creatures. ...

By April 14, the tweet accumulated more than 93,000 likes, and it was quickly picked up by a number of tabloid news outlets, primarily in the U.K., that claimed the Loch Ness Monster could have been an erect whale penis after all. However, the pictures had been shared out of context, and many people missed the original intention behind the tweet. ...

"I used the image of Nessie just as an example of what people used to describe sea monsters looking like," Sweet told Live Science in an email. "There are no whales whatsoever in Loch Ness, so Nessie was a poor choice to use in this instance." ...
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FULL STORY: https://www.livescience.com/loch-ness-monster-not-a-whale-penis
 
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