Author: Hui Jiaming
Edit: Yuki
"The mountain is not high, there are immortals with names." The water is not deep, there are dragons and spirits. This old Chinese saying applies equally to Loch Ness in Scotland, England. Although it is not the largest and deepest lake here, the name loch Ness has long been known all over the world due to the long-standing local legend of the "water monster".
Located in the north of Scotland, Loch Ness is home to not only water monster legends, but also historic sites on the shores of the lake| Wikimedia Commons - Sam Fentress
In order to find the real body of the Loch Ness Monster, countless scholars and tourists have come to look for traces in the past hundred years. A variety of photos of water monsters have also become popular, making many people believe that water monsters do exist. However, the latest research results made by the University of Otago in New Zealand may disappoint the "water monster fans". They examined the DNA in the lake and found that there were probably no monsters in Loch Ness, and that the so-called monsters might just be large "eels" [1].
Picture | "Doraemon"
A brief history of water monsters
In various popular science programs and books, the story of the "Loch Ness Monster" has been highly featured in recent years. However, it did not become an internet celebrity in modern times. As early as nearly 1500 years ago, the "water monster" has become a legend of Loch Ness.
The story of the Loch Ness Monster first appears in the 7th century AD biography Life of St. Columba. It is written that the famous monk St. Coulomb heard that there were ferocious beasts attacking humans in the River Ness (a small river that originated from Loch Ness), and he wanted to restore peace to the inhabitants. So he sent his men to swim in the Nice River. Sure enough, the monster suddenly surfaced and prepared to commit the crime. At this time, St. Coulomb drew a cross with his finger, scolded the water monster and said, "Mo approach, don't hurt people, go back quickly!" ”。 Unexpectedly, as soon as the water monster heard this, he was immediately dragged away by an invisible force [2].
St Coulomb is a Scottish regional legend who was once a prominent Catholic monk | Wikimedia Commons - J. R. Skelton
The story of St. Coulomb is certainly not credible. In that era, stories of such water monsters were probably written only to promote divine power and personal charm. Moreover, it does not describe what the Loch Ness Monster looks like. But after the 19th century, all kinds of eyewitness reports and even photographic photos gradually enriched, and the appearance of the water monster was portrayed vividly, which had to make people wonder: Is there really an unknown mysterious monster in Loch Ness?
These sightings were located in almost all corners of Loch Ness, and the forms of water monsters depicted varied. However, the image of the water monster in their mouths has some commonalities. Take the most representative photo as an example, the water monster in the picture has a small head, a slender neck, a huge body... When I say this, do you have an image of an ancient creature in your mind?
One of the most classic photographs of the Loch Ness Monster, taken in 1934| Wikimedia Commons - Robert Kenneth Wilson
That's right! People depict water monsters that resemble plesiosaurs. It was a giant marine reptile that lived during the Jurassic era. As a result, many people began to suspect that the Loch Ness Monster was actually a "living fossil" left over from the dinosaur era. In related film and television works, the Loch Ness Monster is also commonly the image of a dinosaur or plesiosaur. In addition, a few people have speculated that the water monster is some unknown invertebrate or amphibian based on other eyewitness reports.[4] In any case, the public no longer perceives the water monster as a supernatural, religiously related mythical beast, as it was in St. Coulomb's time, but rather as some undiscovered species.
A model of the Loch Ness monster made by locals based on eyewitness descriptions, highly similar to plesiosaurs| Wikimedia Commons - A Obeidat
Is the fish weird? Speak with DNA evidence
Since the "water monster" is considered a creature, it must also have flesh and blood, and perhaps its life habits will be like that of a giraffe, which needs to often surface to breathe, forage, and see the scenery (mistakenly). In short, people believe that if the water monster really exists, then it must be observed by humans. As a result, hundreds of tourists and water monster enthusiasts are guarding the lake with long guns and short cannons, and many research institutions have even used sonar technology to search for water monster tracks. But for nearly a century, all the search activities have not made substantial progress. Except for a few photos that are difficult to distinguish between authenticity and falsity, we did not even catch the hair of the water monster.
In contrast, the team of Neil Gemmell, a professor at the University of Otago in New Zealand, is a bit of a "sword-and-sword". Instead of searching for the monster's real body like everyone else, they drove a boat around the lake to fish for water. But what exactly are they doing?
Professor Germmel stood |www.otago.ac.nz lake Ness
It turned out that the University of Otago team was collecting "environmental DNA." The principle is that if the water monster really exists, it will definitely eat and drink Lasa, and live and die of old age and illness. As a result, the monster's corpses, secretions, excrement, and dander or scales on the surface of the body are left in the water of this lake and release DNA from the environment. If the water monster is a giant beast as large as a plesiosaur, the size of the biological sample left behind will be very large. In other words, if the monster really existed, the whole of Loch Ness would be like a huge DNA library floating with samples of the monster's creatures.
From this line of thinking, even if we have not been able to find the real body of the monster over the years, if its DNA can be detected in the lake water, can't it be proved that the monster exists in the world?
To this end, the researchers took 250 water samples from various areas of Loch Ness and sequenced the DNA samples in them. Statistics show that there are at least 3,000 species of gene fragments in the lake. Among them, there are not only all kinds of fish and insects, plants, but also some DNA from cattle and sheep, pet dogs, birds that inhabit the lake. ... This shows that the researchers' sampling work is very perfect, the samples are very representative, and all the biological DNA that is related to loch Ness has almost been detected. Supposedly, if the monster were also alive in Loch Ness, its genetic fragments should also appear in the water sample.
However, there was no DNA from an unknown mysterious creature in the sample, nor did it contain any DNA samples left by marine reptiles such as plesiosaurs. At this point, we can only regret to say that the so-called Loch Ness Monster should not exist.
Loch Ness, where the grass and trees are all soldiers, looks like a water monster
Seeing such research results, many people must not be convinced. If there really isn't any Loch Ness monster, then where did the previous sighting reports and photos come from? Is it a fabrication?
Yes, much of the evidence in the past was forged. Take, for example, the most classic photo of the Loch Ness monster, which was taken in black and white in 1934, which was actually posed. Before his death, the photographer admitted that the so-called water monster was just a man-made model, but he did not expect to fool people around the world for decades.
In eyewitness reports, the most common forms of loch Ness monsters when exposed to the water | Wikimedia Commons
In addition, there are many photos and eyewitness reports that the person concerned just admitted to being wrong. In Loch Ness, where "grass and trees are soldiers", some driftwood, stones, and artifacts may be forcibly misidentified as water monsters by passers-by who are staring at the lake in the shaking waves. However, such still lifes do not explain the origin of all eyewitness reports. There are also some of the "water monsters" in the report that swim as fast as snakes, what kind of animals are they?
The research team at Otag University said that these so-called water monsters have eight achievements in eels. Eels are abundant in Loch Ness, and their DNA is extremely abundant in the water samples tested. Eels can grow very large, and the largest monognathus is more than 4 meters long, which can basically meet the size standards of the Loch Ness Monster. More importantly, the eel has a slender body, which is comparable to the "slender neck" and "small head" reported by the witness.
Of course, eels aren't the only answer. Some people say that the water monster is the nose of an elephant, because there used to be a circus on the lakeside to raise elephants and let them swim in the lake. Others think that the monster is just an otter, and the long neck and back ridge we see are actually the butt and tail of the otter.
All in all, there are no water monsters in Loch Ness. The "mysterious creatures" that people see in Loch Ness are nothing more than apparitions amplified by the imagination of some people, and the vanity of others who hope to be famous by falsification.
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Typography: Condensed
Source: Wikimedia Commons
bibliography:
[1] https://www.otago.ac.nz/news/news/otago717609.html
[2] J. A Carruth Loch Ness and its Monster, (1950) Abbey Press, Fort Augustus, cited by Tim Dinsdale (1961) Loch Ness Monsterpp. 33–35
[3] R. J. Binns (1983) The Loch Ness Mystery Solved, page 22
[4] R. P. Mackal (1976) The Monsters of Loch Ness pages 141–142, chapter XIV
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