In the Scottish Highlands lies a mystery that has persisted for nearly a century. Since 1933, many people believe they have seen a creature swimming in the waters of Loch Ness.
On August 26, 200 experts from around the world were mobilized to search for the Loch Ness monster.
The silhouette of the Loch Ness monster stands out against the sunset. (Photo: Science et vie).
Many have heard of this creature, commonly known as Nessie. It has even inspired several blockbuster films around the world.
So what are these creatures said to be lurking in the depths of Scotland’s lake? Are they survivors from the age of dinosaurs? A giant eel, or simply a human hoax?
Loch Ness is the second-largest lake in Scotland, measuring 3 km in length and between 1.2 to 3 km in width, with the deepest part reaching 272 meters.
In 565, an Irish monk named Saint Columba was reportedly able to chase away a “water monster” that was attacking one of his pilgrim friends.
It is within this context that people began to speak of a haunting creature of this body of water.
An image believed to be of the Loch Ness monster. (Photo: Marmaduke Wetherell).
“This is a legend similar to the tale of a saint battling a dragon. It prominently appears in ancient books across Europe,” recalls paleontologist Eric Buffetaut, honorary research director at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS).
However, it was not until a millennium later that evidence of the monster as we know it today emerged.
According to Aldie MacKay, a hotel owner in the northern part of Loch Ness, at that time she saw a massive creature resembling a whale bobbing in the dark waters while driving with her husband.
Three months later, Scottish newspapers published the testimony of George and Spicer, two English tourists who visited Loch Ness, claiming they had seen a gigantic creature over 8 meters long.
Additionally, it had a neck measuring 3-4 meters resembling an elephant’s trunk. They reported that it crossed the road before crawling into the bushes and eventually submerged into the lake.
But the real turning point came in 1934 when a photo of Nessie taken by a doctor in London was revealed in the press. Since then, many scientists have organized searches for this creature, but none have been successful.
French author Sonja Delzongle, known for her detective novels, took some time to conduct her own investigation at Loch Ness.
She believes that the monster may still exist in the surrounding area of the lake.
In December 1975, English ornithologist Peter Scott (1909-1989) even assigned a scientific name to this mysterious creature: Nessiteras rhombopteryx (translated as: Ness monster with diamond fins).
He named it based on a blurry underwater photo that was believed to show diamond-shaped fins.
Nessie – A Lizard with a Snake’s Head or an Eel?
Over the years, countless hypotheses have emerged regarding the true nature of Nessie.
Some scientists believe Nessie belongs to the extinct species of plesiosaurs, a family of marine reptiles that existed in ancient times.
However, this is merely a theory; whether these animals, believed to have gone extinct 66 million years ago, could still be alive in Loch Ness remains a mystery.
An artistic representation believed to be the Loch Ness monster. (Photo: Getty).
From a scientific perspective, they could not have survived there for more than 10,000 years, and prior to that, Loch Ness did not exist, as Scotland was covered by a thick layer of ice.
Thus, this surviving creature could have originated from the North Sea upstream of the river flowing into the lake, with some species adapting to freshwater.
The fact is that no animals resembling or closely related to the Loch Ness creature have ever been observed in the North Sea. Notably, if it were a reptile, it would need to surface regularly to breathe.
Therefore, the hypothesis that it could be a plesiosaur has been dismissed. In another case, could it be a shark, a catfish, or even a sturgeon?
According to Sonja Delzongle, food sources would run out.
“The peat beneath the lake slows down the process of photosynthesis, leading to insufficient production of living matter. Hence, Loch Ness water cannot serve as a food reserve for animals weighing over 300 kg,” Delzongle explains.
A 2019 analysis of the environmental DNA of the Scottish lake conducted by New Zealand geneticist Neil Gemmell from the University of Otago found no evidence of sharks, catfish, or sturgeons.
On the other hand, it showed a high density of eels (scientific name: Anguilla anguilla). Another hypothesis was raised: could Nessie simply be a large eel?
Scientists estimate the probability of observing large eels nearly 6 meters long, based on data collected from Loch Ness and various lakes across Europe, to be 1 in 50,000, enough to assert that Nessie cannot be one of these fish.
A Hoax That Sparked a Legend?
What if this entire story is just a fabrication? Perhaps humans created this monster from the outset in their imagination.
Especially since the earliest discoveries of this creature coincided with a period when people were particularly fascinated by dinosaurs.
Eric Buffetaut suggests that this era was fueled by an incredible imagination about extinct animals inspired by the 1933 film King Kong.
In 1993, Christopher Spurling, who took the alleged photo of the Loch Ness monster, admitted that the image was created as a trick using a miniature submarine.
He took this picture along with his brother-in-law Wilson, who used his name to publish the photo for credibility.
But what about the testimonies and “evidence” related to Nessie?
“They could be optical illusions or misinterpretations of actual animals such as otters or flocks of aquatic birds,” Eric Buffetaut asserts.
The legend of the monster is not limited to Scotland. There are numerous stories related to this phenomenon worldwide, appearing from Scandinavia to Canada, the United States, and Patagonia. Certainly, whether Nessie exists or not, this creature is not isolated.
