The Loch Ness Monster and Yeti: Do they exist?

The Loch Ness Monster, Yeti, Chupacabras, Bigfoot, Kraken… we’ve all heard about them once and we even doubted their (in)existence. What is the truth about these creatures? Are they real? If not, what answers gives science to refute it? Find out in this article.

CRYPTOZOOLOGY

Cryptozoology is a pseudoscience, uses scientific terms but is based on beliefs rather than evidence and does not use the scientific method. It tries to find animals that have not been confirmed by science, called cryptids. Usually are beings appeared in myths and legends, but also extinct species that it ensures they have been seen at present, as the thylacine or dinosaurs (non-avian ones). You just have to do a search in internet to find fake photos that won’t mislead the most gullible person, but when the stories are installed in the collective memory, supporters of cryptozoology increase.

The siren of Maracaibo, an internet viral cryptid. Despite being a sculpture of Juan Cabana, some people still believe in these fake beings. Photo: unknown

Cryptozoology usually tries to add features of real animals to cryptids to make them more credible, and even appropriates of the species discovered by biology (zoology), like when they say the Kraken is actually a giant squid.

THE LOCH NESS MONSTER

Nessie it is the most famous cryptid, a gigantic aquatic animal which is supposed to live in Loch Ness in Inverness, Scotland. As with all cryptozoological beings, evidence of their existence are fuzzy pictures and testimonies of sightings. Surely you’ve ever seen the most famous photo of the Monster:

The first photo of Nessie, shot in 1934, was considered (and is considered) an evidence of their existence. 60 years after, Chris Spurling confessed that it was a fraud. Photo: Marmaduke Wheterell

This one, like all photos of the monster, have been proved to have been farces and frauds. However, they continue to fuel the myth: the annual profit in this part of Scotland are of several million euros. It is  not surprising that many lakes around the world have their own monster like Nahuelito, Caddy, Champ, Manipogo, Ponik …

WHY THE LOCH NESS MONSTER CAN’T EXIST ?

• Its age: the first reference of a being in this lake dates back to 565. So today it would be… 1451 years old, much more than the oldest known animal: Ming the clam (507 years old). Or even more, as some cryptozoologists argue that it could be a plesiosaur or a similar animal (extinct over 65 million years ago) about 20 meters long and 10-20 tons.

  

  Or maybe it was just an otter… Photo: Jonathan Wills

• Origins: if it was an animal from the Age of Dinosaurs, or their descendants, it is impossible to have always lived in the lake, which was frozen since the last Ice Age until about 12,000 years ago. There are no ways of connection within the lake and the sea, there are no sightings of the montser outside the lake, so ti could never go out to the sea to feed, for example.  Assuming also Nessie was an aquatic reptile, his preference would be subtropical waters, not the cold waters of Inverness (6 ° C on average).

• Family of Nessies: the only possible explanation for the continued existence for thousands or millions of years, is that there are no one, but at least 100 individuals like Nessie to keep a viable population, according to population ecology. The minimum viable population is the smallest isolated population having 99% chance to stay alive for 1000 years (Shaffer, 1981). In addition, the Loch Ness is 56.4 km long and 226 m deep, there is an obvious lack of space for all of them (in addition to that sightings would constant).

• Lack of corpses: in the case that there was a group of plesiosaurs, sooner or later their bodies should appear in the bank and no one single corpse has been found.

  

  Elephant swimming. In 1933, the year with more sighntinghs, a circus toured the area. Its elephant apparently bathed in the lake several times. Photo: Jeremy Tucker

• Insufficient food: the lake is deep, long and narrow (32 km x 1.6 km). As the base of the food chain on Earth are plants, in aquatic areas are phytoplankton, algae and plants that can sustain herbivores and carnivores. Loch Ness has a little surface area exposed to the sun, so do not get enough sunlight to do a massive photosynthesis. In addition, the water is dark because has turf in suspension, preventing the existence of light from a few meters depth. It is so unproductive that it could not survive a predator of more than 300 kilos. Obviously, there are few animals that are totally insufficient  for feeding one or more animals of 20 tonnes.

  

  Food chain of a freshwater environment. The arrows indicate the direction of energy from one link to another. Picture: unknown

• Lack of evidence with the latest technologies: BBC has tracked the lake several times with sonar and satellite navigation technology with negative results. Neither mini-submarines or 24 hours webcams have found no sign of the monster.
  

  THE YETI, THE ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN

  The second most famous cryptid is a giant bipedal ape living in the Himalayas. Or in North America (Bigfoot), Canada (Sasquatch) Almasty (Russia), Hibagon (Japan), Yowy (Australia)… Like Nessie, Bigfoot moves millions of euros/dollars and each country has its own. Also is suggested that could be some kind of extinct hominid, a Neanderthal, a  Homo erectus or a Gigantopithecus .

  

  Photograph which revived the legend of the Yeti (1951). Photo: Eric Shipton

  As with all cryptids, evidences are based on eyewitness sightings, blurry photos or with doubtful origin. But in this case there are hair samples ensuring that belong to the Yeti. What science says ?

  DNA ANALYSIS

  The current understanding of genetics has allowed us to establish a more precise family relationships and identify living beings through analysis of DNA. So Bryan Sykes (Oxford University) led a study that analyzed more than 30 hair samples preserved in Buddhist temples, museums and private collections. Result: horsehair, bison, human, raccoon, cow, wolf, coyote… but none of the Yeti .

  The good news for zoology is that two hair samples match the DNA of a polar bear fossil, which could belong to a bear species unknown until now or a variety of polar bear of another color (golden-brown).

  

  The most famous photo of Bigfoot is a snapshot of a video taken by Patterson-Gimlin

  THE CHUPACABRAS

  The Chupacabras (“goat-sucker”) is supposed to be a creature that kills and sucks the blood of farm animals without spilling a drop. Definitions are multifarious, bright red eyes, scales, bipedal, spikes on the back… also alleged dead Chupacabras are reported:

  

  The alleged chupacabras carcasses are usually canines with scabies who have lost hair, raccoons, or in this case a flying fox. Photo: unknown

  The Chupacabras has the distinction of operating in latin countries: Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Argentina, Spain, Chile… The alleged habitat of chupacabras clashes with biogeography: a branch of science that studies the distribution of living beings on our planet .

  Knowing a basics of biological evolution and climate we can think like biogeographers: species are distributed according to their habitat and have adapted to the different areas and climates. No one would think of a frog living in the Sahara desert, for example. But Chupacabras seems to not care: inhabits a huge variety of landscapes between two continents and several islands, but of course, has a predilection for Spanish-speaking places. Nothing to do with biology: it is the product of a legend of oral tradition.

  ZOOLOGY VS CRYPTOZOOLOGY

  In conclusion, zoology is the branch of biology that to certify that it has discovered a new species must:

  • Submit an holotype (a copy of the animal) to the scientific community ( natural history museums, university…) available to anyone concerned.
    
  • The holotype has to pass a DNA test .
    
  • The discovery must be published in a scientific journal with arbitration or peer review (method to validate the results of the investigation)
  • After validation, the species is classified following the rules of the taxonomy and systematics.

    We don’t need to invent strange creatures and discredit biology: nature is surprising enough to marvel us at new tangible species zoology keeps discovering and describing. Amazing animals like tardigrades, pyrosomida, the giant squid and deep-sea species, platypus and poisonous rats… and many others remaining to be discovered.

    REFERENCES

    • Chordá, Carlos, 2007. El yeti y otros bichos ¡vaya timo! Ed. Laetoli
    • Monstruo del Lago Ness: ¿Qué hay de verdad tras el mito?
    • Photos of the Loch Ness Monster, revisited
    • Is Loch Ness monster dead?
    • El monstruo del lago Ness en Magonia
    • El Yeti, ¿Una leyenda tirada por los pelos?
    • Cover picture: Loch Ness Monster figure in Scotland. Photo by Mireia Querol Rovira

Hands-free in the Pliocene

In the previous post we discovered the anatomical changes associated with bipedalism in early hominids and the relationship of the selection of this feature with climate change. Is bipedalism a trait that makes us human? What are the advantages over other quadruped animals?

WHAT IS THE PLIOCENE?

Since the origin of our planet, geologists have divided time into different divisions of millions of years: the eons (Archean, Proterozoic and Phanerozoic), which in turn are divided into different eras. The Phanerozoic (from 542 Ma to present) is divided into three eras, from oldest to newest: Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic. In this link you can see  the major biological milestones for each epoch.

Cenozoic detail. Full image

The Miocene is the time when the hominoids appear, (Proconsul is the most famous genus) and in the Pliocene appears, among others, Australopithecus. Homo sapiens do not appear until the Holocene, a blink in the planet’s history, as they say.

Usually the climate changes that have been happening throughout the history of Earth, represent extinction, diversification and new species, and so does our evolutionary branch: many authors relate climatic fluctuations with milestones of hominins. If you are interested in this interactive you can investigate this issue.

Position of the continents in the Miocene after the collision between the Eurasian and Indica plates. (Photo by The Burgess Shale)

One of these climatic changes (caused by the collision of the Eurasian and Indica tectonic plates,  giving rise to the Himalayas and changing wind currents) was responsible for the disappearance of large tracts of rainforest, giving way to a landscape shrub or savanna. Hominoids who stayed in the forest, led to the current nonhuman apes, while those who occupied the savanna–trees mosaic led to hominins, our lineage. What are the advantatges of bipedalism in that landscape?

ADVANTATGES OF BIPEDALISM

• Handsfree: the two free limbs can be used to transport food and offspring. You can reach fruit trees without stepping on them and later, will allow the manipulation of tools, hunting and cultural events.
• Less heat: without offering the entire back surface to the sun, and separating the body from the hot ground, it allows cope better with high temperatures and survive with less water.
• More energy: walking on two legs consumes less energy than walking on four. This allow walking longer distances with less food, which is important in an environment where you have to flee or find food constantly. We have a great strength to walk or run many kilometers compared with quadrupeds.
• Best visual field: the eyes have a higher position and can detect potential predators over shrubs or drive them away with stones if necessary. It is also easier to spot food sources.
• Intimidating appearance: upright posture appears to increase body size and can avoid confrontations with certain predators.
• Better communication: the insertion of the skull with the spine, leaving enough space for the vocal cords allow, over time, the appearance of articulate speech. Although other apes had the same brain capacity to talk, morphologically it is impossible because of the structure of their vocal apparatus.

Some advantatges of bipedalism. (Illustration by Karen Carr Studios)

DISADVANTAGES OF BIPEDALISM

• Low speed: for short distances, running on two legs is slower than four, in case of an unexpected attack by a predator, the chance to escape decreases.
• Back pain: the stress that suffers our spine and legs throughout life due to upright posture, is the most likely cause of back pain, knees, hips and feet that suffer a large part of the world population.
• Birth complications: our birth canal is narrower due to the structure of our pelvis, plus the large size of the skull of the young, it causes more pain and complications in human births compared to other mammalian quadrupeds.

Birth canal in a woman (left) and a chimpanzee (right). (Photo taken of Jose Mª Bermúdez de Castro)

Thus, despite the disadvantages, in a warm environment, rather arid and with few trees for shelter from predators, who survived were bipedal hominoids. We consider our bipedalism as a trait that makes us human, as it is unique among animals: only birds are fully bipedal -like some extinguished dinosaurs–, and except the penguin -with clumsy gait–, their spine is not perpendicular to the ground, like ours.

REFERENCES

• Turbón, Daniel. 2006. Ariel. La evolución humana.
• Cela Conde, Camilo José; Ayala, Francisco J. 2001. Alianza Editorial. Senderos de la evolución humana.
• Historia del bipedismo
• El precio de tener un cerebro grande
• Compromiso entre la bipedación y el parto. Implicaciones en el ciclo de vida de la mujer.
• Walking upright
• Front image

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