| |
|
| In
Search of Living Dinosaurs |
 |
For
over 100 years, explorers have been told tantalizing tales
of living, breathing dinosaurs that still inhabit remote
areas of African rain forest. Could they be true? A new
expedition will try to find out.
In
1997, a group of of Dolgan nomads in Siberia stumbled upon a
huge tusk projecting from the frozen tundra. This chance
discovery led to the recovery in October, 1999 of the body
of a frozen, nearly intact woolly mammoth that died some
20,000 years ago, when pre-civilized man scavenged the land
in packs like animals. The most astounding part of this
story, however, is that scientists believe there may be
enough DNA in the carcass to actually clone the ancient
ancestor of the elephant. If the scientists are successful,
woolly mammoths may once again walk the Earth.
Think of
it. Humans will once again stand in the presence of a
magnificent creature that has been extinct for tens of
thousands of years. According to some cryptozoologists,
however, some modern humans have set eyes on even more
incredible animals with a far older lineage – dinosaurs.
Ever
since dinosaur fossils have been recognized for what they
are (this has been so for only about 150 years), fantasy
writers have enjoyed the possibility that humans could meet
these incredible monsters face to face. In The Lost World,
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle envisioned adventurers finding
surviving species of dinosaurs in unexplored areas of
jungle. And more recently, in Jurassic Park, Michael
Crichton detailed how dinosaurs could be recreated through
cloning, with strands of their DNA extracted from dino-blood-filled
mosquitoes encased in amber.
Crichton’s
vision may take a step toward reality when the experiment
with the mammoth begins sometime in the year 2000. And some
say Doyle’s story might not be entirely fantasy. Living
dinosaurs, they claim, have recently been seen, heard, and
possibly even killed in nearly inaccessible parts of the
African Congo.
Tales
from the Jungle
The evidence for living dinosaurs is almost
exclusively anecdotal. In fact, few people other than
natives have claimed to have actually seen the animals:
- In
1776, Abbe Proyhart wrote of the discovery of clawed
footprints in West Africa that were as large as three
feet in diameter.
- The
first recognized reports of what were described as
dinosaur-like creatures emerged from central Africa
in the late 1800s. Native tribe members told explorers
of a large animal they called jago-nini, which
translates to “giant diver.” Footprints said to be
of this creature were about the size of a Frisbee. Other
tribes who said they were familiar with this creature
had other names for it, including dingonek, ol-umaina,
and chipekwe.
- In
1913, a German explorer named Captain Freiheer von Stein
zu Lausnitz was told stories of an animal that was
“brownish gray with a smooth skin, its size
approximately that of an elephant, at least that of a
hippopotamus.” The native Pygmies called it
mok’ele-mbembe (meaning “stopper of rivers”) and
described it as having a long, flexible neck and a
vegetarian diet, but would kill humans if they came too
close.
- In
1932, cryptozoologist Ivan Sanderson was told by
tribesmen of a strange creature that left oversized
hippo-like footprints, and which they called
mgbulu-em’bembe.
- Cryptozoologist
Roy Mackel and herpetologist James Powell set off on
their own expedition for mok’ele-mbembe in 1980. They
returned only with interviews with natives who had heard
of the long-necked, 30-foot-long creature. They said
that around 1959 one had even been killed by natives
along Lake Tele to stop it from interfering with their
fishing. Their legend stated that whoever ate meat from
the animal, died. When Powell showed pictures of various
local animals to the natives, they correctly identified
them. When he showed them a drawing of a sauropod
dinosaur, they said that was mok’ele-mbembe.
Apart
from these stories, there is no direct evidence for living
dinosaurs. Some expeditions claimed to have photos of some
large, unidentified creature, but the images are quite fuzzy
and the results inconclusive, at best. In 1992, a Japanese
expedition to the area returned with 15 seconds of film
taken from an airplane flying over Lake Tele. The footage
showed a large object moving across the surface of the
water, leaving a V-shaped wake behind it. But the object
could not be positively identified.
Flying
Reptiles
Aside from the apatosaurus-like creatures of
Africa’s jungle swamps, sightings of other long-extinct
monsters have been claimed – in the skies above the dark
continent, and even in the United States!
- A. H.
Melland, a Native Commissioner in Northern Rhodesia, was
told by local natives of a flying lizard with membranous
wings that stretched up to seven feet across. They
called the creature Kongamato, and unhesitatingly
identified it when shown a picture of a pterodactyl.
- Natives
of the Gold Coast knew of an animal they called
Susabonsam that was about the size of a man with large,
bat-like wings. At first it was thought that they were
merely exaggerating the size of a large bat, but the
natives have names for each kind of bat they know.
- While
driving to work one morning in 1976, several school
teachers reported a large flying creature with a 12-foot
wingspan that swooped down on their cars. Some research
at the school library turned up an impossible
identification: a pterosaur.
- In
the early-morning hours of one day in 1976, police
officer Arturo Padilla of San Benito, Texas was
surprised by a the sight of a huge “bird” caught in
his headlights. Minutes later, fellow officer Homer
Galvan saw its huge, black silhouette crossing the sky
without flapping its wings. A few hours later, Alverico
Guajardo, a resident of Brownsville, Texas, claimed to
see the monstrous animal outside his mobile home,
describing it as bird-like, but “not of this world.”
- In
1982, James Thompson was driving near Fresno, Texas when
he saw a dark gray, featherless, hide-covered creature
with a 5- to 6-foot wingspan gliding close to the
ground.
What are
to make of these sightings? Humans are notoriously bad
witnesses, and many could have misidentified known animals
with which they were not familiar. And what of the native
tribespeople who surely knew well the many animals of their
region? It’s been suggested that they simply could have
been pulling the leg of the eager and gullible white
explorers.
The
anecdotal evidence leaves the question open, however. And
the search for living dinosaurs is continuing.
|
|
|
Dinosaurs May Have Survived Giant Meteor Impact
Source: ABC News / By Kenneth Chang
T A L A R N, Spain — Maybe it wasn’t a meteor,
after all, that killed off the dinosaurs.
According to one paleontologist, dinosaurs
continued to live for hundreds of thousands of years after that event, at
least in one part of China.
Many paleontologists considered the case of
the dinosaur extinction closed as of 65 million years ago, when a large
meteor slammed into Earth. Dirt and dust tossed up by the impact blotted
the sun, and the resulting chill shoved the dinosaurs into evolutionary
oblivion.
Geologists had found the equivalent of
gunpowder burns — a layer of the radioactive element iridium, commonly
found in meteors — detected in rocks around the world dated to this
time.
They even found the gunshot wound - a huge
crater off Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula.
Except there were a few nagging details that
didn’t quite fit the picture.
Other Pieces to the Puzzle
Many believe dinosaurs were already in decline for millions of years
before the supposed impact.
There was also another suspect — massive
volcanic eruptions that spewed noxious gases into the air and buried much
of India in lava flows a couple of miles deep over several million years.
Volcanoes can also be a source of iridium.
Next theory: Maybe shock waves from the meteor
impact traveled through the Earth, triggering the Indian eruptions, which
occurred almost exactly at the other side of the planet from the crater
site.
That explanation doesn’t work, either.
Radiometric dating of the lava flows indicate they started long before the
meteor impact. So maybe dinosaurs were just unlucky. The volcanic
eruptions triggered climactic changes that caused their decline, and the
meteor impact was just the coup de grace that finished them off.
Now Zikui Zhao of the Institute of Vertebrate
Paleoanthropology in Beijing suggests the meteor didn’t even do that. At
the First International Symposium of Dinosaur Eggs and Babies in Talarn,
Spain Saturday, Zhao presented evidence of dinosaurs laying eggs long,
long after the meteor impact.
Fossilized Eggs Tell Story
Near the town of Nanxiong in southeastern China, Zhao has uncovered
numerous nests of fossilized dinosaur eggs. Because sediments accumulate
over time, the lower part of a rock is generally older. And in the lower,
older rocks, he found 11 different species of eggs.
The last period of dinosaurs is known as the
Cretaceous, the period that follows is the Tertiary, and the time of mass
extinctions that divide the two is called the K/T boundary.
At the point in the rocks that Zhao believes
corresponds to the K/T boundary, six of the dinosaur species disappear.
Eggs of this period also show a spike in levels of iridium, as well as
other rare elements.
However, “The remaining five species
overstep the boundary and survive,” Zhao says. Indeed, he finds eggs
well above the K/T boundary, suggesting that dinosaurs lived for several
hundred thousand years longer than paleontologists thought.
Questions Arise on Dating
Other scientists attending the symposium questioned his dating. “It is
not the K/T boundary,” says Nieves Lopez-Martinez of Universidad
Complutense in Madrid, Spain. The extinctions and iridium spike, she says,
comes from an earlier period of climactic change and possibly volcanic
eruptions, about 71 million years ago, which she has detected in rocks in
Spain, “not only here, but many other places in the world.”
“He definitely has an anomaly,” says
University of Colorado researcher Emily Bray, but she adds, “I think his
boundary is too low.”
Others were also skeptical, because the rocks
surrounding the Nanxiong eggs did not show a rise in iridium amounts.
Zhao counters that his data also shows the
earlier, smaller iridium spike and that rivers and rainfall dispersed the
iridium over millions of years.
The data also argues against the
meteor-killed-all-the-dinosaurs scenario, Zhao says. Iridium levels jumped
up in three separate spikes near the K/T boundary, something that could
not be caused by a single meteor impact.
Almost half of the eggs near the boundary show
defects in their microscopic structure, which Zhao attributes to the high
levels of the iridium and other trace elements. And those may be the true
dinosaur killers.
“The cause may have been environmental
poisoning and adverse changes in climate,” Zhao says, and he points to
the massive volcanic eruptions in India as the probable source.
If Zhao’s dating of his eggs proves correct,
paleontologists will have to reopen their investigations into what killed
the dinosaurs.
|
|
|
Ghost of a Dinosaur
Loch Morar, Scotland -- We are hunting the ghosts of
dinosaurs.
That's one theory on the monster or monsters
rumored to inhabit Loch Morar, Britain's deepest lake. Folks here call the
creature the Morag or the Mhorag, and describe it much like witnesses
describe the Loch Ness monster: a humped body with four large flippers, a
long neck and a snake-like head -- a critter roughly matching the Mesozoic
plesiosaur.
The locals have many sightings to go by. Two lads
from Newcastle came fishing here two years ago. Out on the loch they
circumvented a rock. Then what they'd thought was a rock raised its long
neck and dived, disappearing into the black depths. The two young
Englishmen immediately returned to shore and turned in their rented boat,
though they'd paid for a full day's use.
"It's bloody dangerous out there," one
said.
Sightings date back to the 1800s. Old-timers used
to call the eerie humps they saw sliding across the water "funeral
boats," dark omens of death.
Among the more recent witnesses was a woman who
saw the creature flopping through shallow water on its flippers. Someone
else saw two long necks cruising down the loch, side by side, thrust from
the water like fence posts. A boater docking his craft saw the monster on
the bottom below, before it silently slipped off the shelf and plunged
into the deep. A diver seeking a lost anchor found diamond-shaped prints
in the shallows; he followed them through the mud to where they dropped
off into the dark.
The loch's exact depth is undetermined, but it's
definitely more than a thousand feet, deeper than Loch Ness, but not
nearly as famous. Unlike the towns along Loch Ness, Loch Morar's more
remote communities make nothing of their monster. They've no visitor
center, no gift shop. Were this America, some eager merchandiser long ago
would have put a Moragarama upon one of the loch's lovely islands and
charged visitors 20 bucks apiece, which under the current exchange rate
would in Scotland be about two quid, five drams and a kipper, I think.
Over time, that means mucho dinero.
Yet the Morarans decline this Jurassic perk.
They've no "I Saw Morag" T-shirts, no rubber Morag-head hats.
Loch Morar malt whisky doesn't call itself "The Monster Mash."
Why? "We don't want some tacky tourist center here," said a
resident.
That leaves Loch Morar a scenic, rugged,
undeveloped lake on Scotland's west coast, with a rocky trail running
along its northern flank. That's the path we took to look for the monster,
but we haven't seen the thing.
Some maintain there's nothing to see.
"That's rubbish," scoffed one local when asked about the monster
matter. The more whisky a witness drinks, the bigger that monster gets, he
said. "Put more water in your whisky" is a common retort to
anyone claiming to have seen the Morag.
Maybe there's no Morag to see. Maybe what people
see is merely a reflection of the monsters that used to be -- "the
ghosts of dinosaurs," surmised one resident.
If the ghosts of dinosaurs still drift through
the depths of Loch Morar, they don't surface for the amusement of American
tourists.
Perhaps that's just as well. Two inquisitive
American tourists may be all the locals can tolerate.
|
|
|
|
| Did
Pterosaurs Survive Extinction? |
|
Dozens
of eyewitness accounts and a few intriguing photographs
suggest that this flying monster, thought to have died with
the dinosaurs, might still exist.
They
were the largest creatures to ever attain flight. With
wingspans reaching nearly 40 feet, pterosaurs ruled the
prehistoric skies for over 100 million years, until they
died out with the dinosaurs about 65 million years ago.
Or did
they?
There
have been many modern-day sightings of creatures that by
eyewitness description sound like pterosaurs. There are also
intriguing rock carvings and even photographs that suggest
that this species of amazing flying monsters could have
survived extinction, could have soared through the skies of
the southwestern United States until very recently, and
might still exist in small numbers in remote parts of the
world.
Pterosaurs
were not dinosaurs, but a family of large flying reptiles
("pterosaur" means "winged lizard") that
includes the pterodactyl and pteranodon. The pterosaur stood
on two rather spindly legs and had wings composed of a
leathery membrane that stretched from the animal's extremely
long fourth finger to its body. Despite their appearance,
they were not related to birds (as dinosaurs are theorized
to be), and were highly successful flyers that might have
dined on fish and insects.
Modern
Sightings
Although
there seems to be no hard evidence that pterosaurs did not
die out millions of years ago - no pterosaurs have ever been
captured and no bodies have ever been found - sightings have
persisted. Stories of flying reptiles have been recorded for
many hundreds of years. Some think that tales of the
"mythical" dragons in the lore of many cultures
around the would could be attributed to the sighting of
pterosaurs. Here are some more modern accounts:
May,
1961, New York State - A businessman flying his private
plane over the Hudson River Valley claimed that he was
"buzzed" by a large flying creature that he said
"looked more like a pterodactyl out of the prehistoric
ages."
Early
1960s, California - A couple driving through Trinity
National Forest reported seeing the silhouette of a giant
"bird" that they estimated to have a wingspan of
14 feet. They later described it as resembling a
pterodactyl.
January,
1976, Harlingen, Texas - Jackie Davis (14) and Tracey
Lawson (11) reported seeing a "bird" on the ground
that stood five feet tall, was dark in color with a bald
head and a face like a gorilla's with a sharp, six-inch-long
beak. A subsequent investigation by their parents uncovered
tracks that had three toes and were eight inches across.
February,
1976, San Antonio, Texas - Three elementary school
teachers saw what they described as a pterodactyl swooping
low over their cars as they drove. They said its wingspan
was between 15 and 20 feet. One of the teachers commented
that it glided through the air on huge, bony wings - like a
bat's.
September,
1982, Los Fresnos, Texas - An ambulance driver named
James Thompson was stopped while driving on Highway 100 by
his sighting of a "large birdlike object" flying
low over the area. He described it as black or grayish with
a rough texture, but no feathers. It had a five- to six-foot
wingspan, a hump on the back of its head, and almost no neck
at all. After consulting some books to identify the
creature, he decided it most looked like a pterosaur.
Africa's
Kongamato
While
other reports of pterosaur-like creatures have come out of
Arizona, Mexico and Crete, it is out of central Africa that
some of the most interesting anecdotes have come. While
traveling though Zambia in 1923, Frank H. Melland collected
reports from natives of an aggressive flying reptile they
called kongamoto, which means "overwhelmer of
boats." The natives, who were occasionally tormented by
these creatures, described them as being featherless with
smooth skin, having a beak full of teeth and a wingspan of
between four and seven feet. When shown illustrations of
pterosaurs, Melland reported, "every native present
immediately and unhesitatingly picked out and identified it
as a kongamato."
In 1925,
a native man was allegedly attacked by a creature that he
identified as a pterosaur. This occurred near a swamp in
Rhodesia (now Zambia) where the man suffered a large wound
in his chest that he said was caused by the monster's long
beak.
In the
late 1980s, noted cryptozoologist Roy Mackal led an
expedition into Namibia from which he had heard reports of a
prehistoric-looking creature with a wingspan of up to 30
feet.
|
|
|
|
