All About the Plesiosaur: The Loch Ness Monster

Aye, laddie, come sit and have an ale with me. Make yourself at home, while I tell ya about Nessie.

In the great great Loch Ness lake there be a great creature. Some say legend, some say fact. Get enough ale in ya and it won't rightly matter. Hehehe!

Ya see, lad, Nessie (also known as the Loch Ness Monster) is believed to be a plesiosaur: a sea-serpent-like creature as big as the house where they keep the inmates who swear they seen her. Hehehe!

Now scientists believe the plesiosaur is extinct. Kicked the bucket with the rest of the dinosaurs, they say, millions of years ago. But the locals 'round here will swear you can still see Nessie on a cold, dank moonlit night when all is still and quiet.

In fact, years ago back in 1934, one of the most famous photos was taken of Nessie. You can catch a gander of it here, lad.

Turned out to be a hoax, though. Ah me, no matter. It is quite possible that the plesiosaur is not extinct. You see, lad, another creature thought to be extinct, a fish called a coelacanth, was rediscovered in South Africa in 1938.

So ya never know.

Main-stream science argues that the Loch Ness lake is too cold for a plesiosaur, whose habitat was a warm tropical climate. The high peat concentration in the lake doesn't allow enough sunlight in, thereby reducing the amount of algae, plankton and fish for Nessie to feed upon.

Now isn't that a fine how-do-you-do!

However...sea serpents like Nessie are spotted in other parts of the world, and have made news headlines. You can see a video of a serpent for yourself right here, lad.

A man named Peter Costello proposed that Nessie could be some unknown species of long-necked seal rather than a plesiosaur.

The first pleiosaur skeletons were found in the 1800s by Mary Anning. Now here is the interesting part: those skeletons were found in England! Which is near Scotland and the Loch Ness lake! Ah hah!

So you see, lad, all those Nessie sightings may not be so farfetched after all. So keep the dream alive and your camera shutter open.

Sources:

Wikipedia (Loch Ness Monster);

Wikipedia (Plesiosaur);

WPTV.com.