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March 11, 2006

Cryptids or Circus Critters?

Mistaken Identity?

Let's take a moment to thank the franciscan friar William of Ockham (c. 1285–1349) for the following six little Latin words:

Numquam ponenda est pluritas sine necessitate.

In English, it's basically means don't include unnecessary stuff in an explanation. In the world, it's known as the principle of Occam's Razor - the simplest explanation is usually the right one.

So when palentologist Neil Clark noted some striking similarities between a swimming elephant and the infamous Surgeon's photography of the Loch Ness Monster, he began to look deeper. Could this lake legacy really be no more than a circus critter taking a dip? Why not, since his theory seems to explain things pretty well to me.

Paleontologist and painter Neil Clark says the monster was perhaps a paddling pachyderm.

Clark noticed similarities in the hump-and-trunk silhouettes of swimming Indian elephants and the serpentine shapes of 1930s Nessie descriptions and photographs...

Why would an elephant be swimming in a chilly Scottish lake? "The reason why we see elephants in Loch Ness is that circuses used to go along the road to Inverness and have a little rest at the side of the loch and allow the animals to go and have a little swim around," Clark told CBS News.

And there's one more wrinkle in this elephantine mystery. In 1933 a circus promoter in the area—acting perhaps on inside information that the monster was really a big top beast—offered a rich reward for Nessie's capture...

Compare Clark's painting and the Famous Loch Ness Photography at: National Geographic News: Loch Ness Monster Was an Elephant?

Wikipedia has a great list of Notable cryptids, broken down by primates, sea creatures, reptiles and those of questionable classification. It even covers the specific regions, like lakes and mountain ranges, where these supposed critters lurk.

And FYI, the picture above isn't even an elephant. It's an elephant seal.

Posted by sorsha at March 11, 2006 6:06 PM