For centuries, biologists have argued about how real the fabulous creatures described in medieval bestiaries could be. These original encyclopedias of imaginary flora and fauna were compiled by monks and contained retellings of other books and stories of travelers. So can cryptozoological monsters exist on Earth?
There is a modern hypothesis about several "living fossils" hiding in the secluded corners of our planet. In a cryptobiological version, it sounds like this: not all sparks of life were blown out by the wind of evolution, and amazing creatures could have survived in the most diverse terrestrial biosphere. This is confirmed, for example, by a contemporary of dinosaurs - the cross-finned coelacanth fish, or coelacanth. It was thought to be extinct 65 million years ago, but was discovered in 1938. Nevertheless, few people know about the achievements of ichthyologists, much more idle stories go around such hypothetical creatures as Nesen, Bigfoot and the kraken …
Scottish monster
Legends say that the Roman conquerors of Britain were the first to tell the world about the monster living in Loch Ness. Allegedly about a strange creature, resembling a giant seal with a long neck ending in a small head with a toothed beak, they were told by the Celtic priests - druids. They even promised to show the cave with the altar on which Nessie's skeleton rested. However, then a decree came from Rome on the widespread eradication of the bloody cult of the Druids, which was replete with human sacrifice, and all contacts with the priestly class of the aborigines were interrupted.
Since until now no one has found the mysterious cave of the druids with the bones of Nessie, the appearance of the legendary Scottish monster leaves a lot of room for imagination. Most often, Nessie is considered a marine dinosaur - a plesiosaur, less often - a giant eel, sturgeon or seal.
The version of the plesiosaur became popular after the publication of the "surgeon's snapshot" accompanying the story of the London doctor Kenneth Wilson. However, in 1994 it was precisely established that the photo was a fake.
Paleontologists believe that if Nessie was a plesiosaur, she would often appear on the shore and scientists would have captured her long ago. In addition, all the blurry amateur shots do not correspond to the anatomy of an animal that would simply have to break its neck. In addition, Loch Ness has an extremely meager reserve of biomass to provide food for even one two-ton monster. Meanwhile, the smallest species of marine dinosaurs weighed about ten tons. Moreover, in order to reproduce, the plesiosaur population would have to number at least two dozen individuals.
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The legend of Nessie is amazingly tenacious, and local tour operators play a significant role in this, promoting Scottish myths about fairy creatures in every possible way. At the same time, the local media keep silent about a simple fact: apart from folklore, there is not a single material evidence of the existence of the famous monster.
Snowman
In popularity, only Bigfoot can compare with Nessie. This mythical creature has many names: yeti, almasty, bigfoot, sasquatch, enzhey, avdoshka. There are also many candidates for the role of the snow man-monkey: gigantopithecus, meganthrope, Neanderthal and even Denisovan (inhabitant of the Altai Denisovskaya cave).
In the last century, several thousand accounts of Yeti encounters have been obtained. For example, on October 20, 1967, a Bigfoot was filmed in a California forest by two farmers. The film shows a humanoid figure covered with hair, resembling a large ape, crossing a dry stream. The one-minute video was argued until very recently, when FBI experts found clear signs of falsification.
However, these are far from the only forgeries of evidence of the Yeti's existence. There are hundreds of prints of flat footprints of the yeti, which were left all over the world by a certain Ray Wallis - he made extensive use of huge models of feet carved from wood.
Another famous "confirmation" of the reality of the existence of Bigfoot is a scalp stored in a Tibetan monastery. The monks claim that he belongs to the mechkangmi, which translates as "the foul-smelling man of the snow." Not so long ago, British geneticists from the University of Oxford conducted a DNA analysis of the scalp and found out that it belongs to an ancient mountain bear that lived in the Himalayas more than 40 thousand years ago.
Kraken
Over the centuries, sailors have composed terrifying stories of sea monsters "the size of a floating island" with thousands of tentacles. These giants were able to grab and drag into the depths even the largest ship, and sinking to the bottom, created whirlpools that swallowed all the surrounding ships. It took the sea monsters three months to digest the food they had eaten, during which they excreted enormous amounts of nutritious excrement. Therefore, they were always followed by innumerable schools of fish.
However, at all times, few people took such myth-making seriously. And only in the middle of the 19th century was the existence of the giant squid architeutis proved, which became the prototype of the kraken of the northern seas.
Architeutis, of course, is not comparable even with a small island, but, according to modern data, it can reach a length of almost twenty meters. However, many cryptozoologists believe that marine tales have a certain meaning, and they reflect the impressions of meeting with flocks of giant squids. Perhaps some of the legends about the kraken also arose under the impression of encounters with the Antarctic giant squid, which is also called the "colossal squid". The weight of this giant can reach almost half a ton, and the diameter of the eye is a third of a meter. Usually these sea monsters live at great depths - from hundreds of meters to several kilometers. Nevertheless, whalers may well have met them, since sperm whales often dive hundreds of meters in search of this delicacy. The fight does not always end with the victory of the whales,and then the sperm whale carcass entwined with squid tentacles remains on the surface. And sometimes whalers found the remains of colossal squid while cutting whales.
Dragon tribe
It seems that no other bestiary character has turned out to be so in demand by modern culture as the oldest monster from the legends and myths of many peoples of the world. He is a chimera, like a griffin or a centaur - a creature with a reptile body, bat wings and bird paws, sometimes parts of other animals are attributed to him. So, before us is the indispensable hero of the fantasy genre - the dragon, in Slavic mythology - the Serpent Gorynych. The main characteristics of this fabulous creature are considered: many heads, the ability to fly, fiery breath and some degree of intelligence.
It is curious that the term "dragon" itself became widespread only in the century before last, and before that in church and other literature exclusively "serpent" was used. This is what allows cryptozoologists to believe that giant snakes such as boas, anacondas, or their fossils served as the prototype of the dragon. Another, much bolder version is the existence of living pterodactyls, such as those that cryptozoologists have been looking for unsuccessfully in the Central African swamps. It is possible that once, before the onset of civilization, their habitat was much wider, and they were found even in North Africa.
In this dispute, academic scientists are of the balanced opinion that the dragon legends arose from the finds of dinosaur skeletons, which explains both the vast European geography of legends and the strange appearance of dragon chimeras.
Traces of unknown beasts
Many paleontologists today believe that cryptozoologists are engaged in a senseless search for a material basis for the images of legendary chimeras. In this they are supported by historians, archaeologists and ethnographers, who believe that the same fabulous dragon is just a sacred image of the birds of the so-called upper world and the reptiles of the lower one. Thus, in principle, a real prototype from the animal world cannot exist for a dragon. In fact, he is just a mystical image created by the unbridled fantasy of our distant ancestors.
Cryptozoologists ask a simple question in response to accusations from academic scientists. How can one explain the many evidences for the existence of Nessie, the sea serpent, the Congolese flying devil and other creatures unknown to science? Too many eyewitnesses have observed "something inexplicable" in the earth's flora and fauna. Some enthusiasts were even tested with a polygraph, but they were never able to fix false readings. However, it has long been known, and investigators are taking this into account: a lie detector test only shows that eyewitnesses believe in their testimony, false or true.
Most eyewitnesses of something unusual tend to see only "the fruits of their desires", for them a log can instantly turn into a Loch Ness monster. This happens every day to each of us - for example, after a passionate performance of some "platter" we begin to see UFOs everywhere, and then we are sincerely surprised at the complete lack of evidence. It should also be borne in mind that when we really want to remember something, the brain unconsciously constructs the missing reality. So, African aborigines, after rutting around a fire and smoking coca leaves, see flying devils in the night, and when white cryptozoologists show them images of a pterodactyl, they nod their heads in delight.
Of course, the influence of the media should also be taken into account, otherwise it will turn out like in that joke: an emergency meeting was held at which the Loch Ness monster, Bigfoot and the demigods from the planet Nibiru discussed the complete loss of interest in them, even on the part of narrow-minded Russian housewives. This joke about the well-known "mystical" TV channel has been walking around the Internet for a long time, but something is imperceptible so that the TV people start educating their audience …
Magazine: Secrets of the 20th century №34. Author: Oleg Faig