Mokele Posted December 1, 2004 Author Posted December 1, 2004 Let's revisit this in the new year, when my schedule will be a little clearer to me Sounds like a plan, especially since over Xmas break I'll likely be scarce. And let me add to the others' comments - good posts. Thanks very much, I'm glad my tendency to gibber incessantly about my favorite subjects isn't too off-putting. Mokele
JohnB Posted December 5, 2004 Posted December 5, 2004 Excellent and informative posts Mokele. However, modern monitor lizards are plentiful. You call them goannas, I believe. Depends where you are, I've called them "tucker" on occasion. Not too bad, but I prefer beef. The monitors are all right, but for pure "cute" factor I prefer the Eastern Water Dragon, Physignathus lesueurii. Very aware of their surroundings, they seem quite intelligent (but look so bloody prehistoric). I had to go the Main Roads dept. (your DMV?) to pay a fine last week and there is a colony living in the courtyard fountain. They sun themselves on the footpath, so you may have to step over one to get inside. Where I last worked, they lived in the creek next door. They got so used to us at lunchtime that they'd run up for food when they saw us sit down to eat. Good turn of speed too. While I haven't studied the anatomy, I find them interesting. Great swimmers (using only the tail), walk like a monitor lizard but if they need to move, it's up on the back legs and run.
Mokele Posted December 5, 2004 Author Posted December 5, 2004 They sound like a really cool species, and a few places in the US have actually begun breeding them (and other members of the genus) recently. Still, there something about the intelligence behind the eyes of most monitors that makes them enthralling.
boxhead Posted December 11, 2004 Posted December 11, 2004 Title Says All About What Is There In Side... When I Was Kid I First Read The Story About This Monster And Still Its A Fairytale For Me Eversince. It Cannot Be From Know Or Unknown Species Coz The Minimum Number Necessary For The Survival Is Not So Small. And If It Is Big Than We Can Catch Atleast Few Of Them. But What We Have Is Just Few Images And That Too Not Very Clear. This Is Just A Science-fiction Movie Thing.
Mokele Posted December 11, 2004 Author Posted December 11, 2004 You missed the point. The point was as a "What if" exercise. As in "It probably doesn't exist, but *if* it did, what would it be?" It's a hypothetical question.
Hellbender Posted January 24, 2005 Posted January 24, 2005 Response to original post I can start my tell you what Nessie isn't I used to get a lot of heat from people of scottish ancestry (it is a sort of national pride thing for them) for saying this, but I strongly doubt it is a plesiosaur. Or a reptile of any kind. Plesiosaurs are reptiles. Now I know all reptiles are not cold-blooded, but if plesiosaurs were, I doubt they wouldn't freeze to death in a lake that is reputed to have "cold, icy water" as soon as fall rolled around. Scientists think that unlike ichthyosaurs, which were ovivivoparous, plesiosaurs were oviparous, and so had to lay essgs on land. If nessie were a plesiosaur, they would be predictably sighted, clear photos would be taken, they would be capture or killed for study and we wouldn't be talking about this. Plesiosaurs breathed air, like all reptiles. Even if they could hold their breath for a long time, they would have to surface for air sometime. Imagine a population of big animals surfacing all the time. That lake is heavily traversed and even if it was a small population, there would certainly be a clear sighting sometime. Too many people seeing too many different types of thing when they say they saw nessie. One way to decide if a cryptid is at all plausible is if they is good uniformit yof sightings. Not everyone who claims to have seen nessie has described a cryptocleidus. There are accounts of "giant frogs", "crocodiles", "eels" and "huge salamanders" (read the Nessie section of "Unexplained!") The power of suggestion goes a long way. It wasn't really until after the 1930's(have to check that one) that everyone started claiming to see a plesiosaur like animal.
Hellbender Posted January 25, 2005 Posted January 25, 2005 ...extremely large aquatic dinosaurs... FYI there were no aquatic dinosaurs or flying ones either. You are thinking of plesiosaurs, which were certainly not dinosaurs, but lived at the same time as them.
atinymonkey Posted January 26, 2005 Posted January 26, 2005 I used to get a lot of heat from people of Scottish ancestry (it is a sort of national pride thing for them) for saying this' date=' but I strongly doubt it is a plesiosaur. [/quote'] Speaking as a person with 'Scottish ancestry' surrounded as we are here with similar persons with Scottish ancestry I can happily say I've never known Nessie confused with Scottish pride. The most I've seen is a Scot arguing with a tourist just to mess with his head, like the old 'Wild Hairy Haggis' stories. Are you referring to those Americans who 8 generations ago had Scottish blood in the family tree? If so, they can stuff those opinions into that fake sporran and shove the whole lot up their ass. Plesiosaurs are reptiles. Now I know all reptiles are not cold-blooded, but if plesiosaurs were. This has been covered in the thread. It's the 'if' that makes the rest of your statement a house of cards. Sorry. FYI there were no aquatic dinosaurs or flying ones either. You are thinking of plesiosaurs' date=' which were certainly not dinosaurs, but lived at the same time as them.[/quote'] Er, I'm not quite sure where to start with this one.
Ophiolite Posted January 26, 2005 Posted January 26, 2005 Speaking as a person with 'Scottish ancestry' surrounded as we are here with similar persons with Scottish ancestry I can happily say I've never known Nessie confused with Scottish pride. That saved me the bother. Thanks. Living about a hundred miles from the loch I felt I should respond. Hellbender, the attitude of most Scots, in Scotland, is that this is a splendid way of easing a few more tourist dollars out of the pockets of the gullible. We like the idea that there is a monster, but few really believe in it.
Hellbender Posted January 29, 2005 Posted January 29, 2005 "Are you referring to those Americans who 8 generations ago had Scottish blood in the family tree? If so, they can stuff those opinions into that fake sporran and shove the whole lot up their ass." yes. It has come up in an argument before on a cryptozoo thread. We were talking about how they (nessies) could be giant gastropods(!) and one guy who claimed to have scottish blood said he didn't want to think of it as anything but the famous plesiosaur image out of pride in his heritage. "FYI there were no aquatic dinosaurs or flying ones either. You are thinking of plesiosaurs, which were certainly not dinosaurs, but lived at the same time as them." what I meant was plesiosaurs are not dinosaurs, and pterosaurs are not either. But I made a simple mistake, there were and are lots of flying dinosaurs. "....It's the 'if'..." you are right, it is the if, along with the oviparous thing. But if you toss those "ifs" aside there are too many "definites" that rule out it being a plesiosaur. I'm willing to accept that maybe some strange animals live in that loch, but the facts are against them being plesiosaurs.
Newtonian Posted February 27, 2005 Posted February 27, 2005 That saved me the bother. Thanks. Living about a hundred miles from the loch I felt I should respond.Hellbender' date=' the attitude of most Scots, in Scotland, is that this is a splendid way of easing a few more tourist dollars out of the pockets of the gullible. We like the [i']idea [/i]that there is a monster, but few really believe in it. Perculiar then that the scottish,are up in arms to stop an american shooting a creature that doesnt exist. Heres what the Invernes courier says about it. http://www.inverness-courier.co.uk/article.tvt?_ticket=R1ASKE29CHVR6JL1HONDNOVI9LLDNVP5TRRIVQNAFNVGILPBILWFURUQC609ANWRCKLAFSM3GQRFL1MAAUTDALSFBHSMWQRFO0MAAT2DALRDBHSJ5K8T&_scope=Flow/Inverness%20Courier/News&id=24798&ARTICLECAT=News
Hellbender Posted February 27, 2005 Posted February 27, 2005 Peculiar then that the scottish, are up in arms to stop an american shooting a creature that doesnt exist. i was once a lukewarm believer in the loch ness monster, but not as a plesiosaur. Recent sonar tests (I will try hard to find where I read about it) that scoured the entire lake found nothing out of the ordinary, but they did gather a lot of information of the loch's bottom. A little bit around the same time, a diver walked the entire bottom of the loch wearing an old navy-style diving suit, as part of a cancer fundraiser. He saw nothing out of the ordinary either. Although many people will still be unsure, thats enough evidence for me to snap my notebook shut on nessie. I don't think monsters like nessie and other water monsters (google "ogopogo", "champ", "chessie") are impossible, but a carcass would be nice.
Hellbender Posted February 27, 2005 Posted February 27, 2005 I found the link about the Diver. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/10/09/world/main577386.shtml Its interesting, i couldn't imagine how lonely it could have been down there. If it were me, I would have brought a game boy.
J.C.MacSwell Posted February 27, 2005 Posted February 27, 2005 the Loch was once a forrest area' date=' eventualy it got filled with water. water so deep that it`s well below freezing at the bottom but still liquid.these logs from the forrest rot down VERY slowly making pockets of methane gas inside them. when the boyancy is enough, they rise to the surface in an arc, release gasses due to the pressure difference, and dive back under again. sorry to spoil your fun [/quote'] Seriously though, has 100% of this gas been accounted for? The obvious conclusion is that these monsters get there kicks hiding in the rotting logs and vegetation and passing gas.
Hellbender Posted February 28, 2005 Posted February 28, 2005 The obvious conclusion is that these monsters get there kicks hiding in the rotting logs and vegetation and passing gas. no, the conclusion is that this is what the monsters are.
Newtonian Posted February 28, 2005 Posted February 28, 2005 what? your not seriously suggesting that logs are farting monsters.
Hellbender Posted February 28, 2005 Posted February 28, 2005 what? your not seriously suggesting that logs are farting monsters. Read YT2095's post again. They aren't physically the monsters, but gas and floating logs and other natural phenomena are the explanation for what people seem to be seeing. Also read my post above. Extensive sonar scans and a diver walking on the bottom of the loch for 12 days revealed nothing out of the ordinary in Loch Ness.
J.C.MacSwell Posted February 28, 2005 Posted February 28, 2005 Has anyone done any analysis of the gas and drawn any conclusions about the monsters diet?
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