A monstruous science

A group of American paleontologists from the University of Ohio led by professor Poiorier, have founded the Society of Cryptozoology, which dedicates itself to the study of prehistoric animals. The aim of this group is to look into the possibility that mysterious creatures still exist on our planet; humanoid and primitive animals thought to be extinct. There are old legends and stories and recent sightings and even photographs of these creatures.

There is a story that the Yeti lices in the mountains of China or in the forests of Shennonjia. It is supposed to be a hairy monster, neither man nor monkey, more than two metres tall which moves clumsily leaving enormous footprints behind it. Many country people claim to have seen it, there is even a sign in the country in the Chinesse province of Sichuan asking people to let others know if they see the Yeti.

Everyone has heard of the Loch Ness monster which terrorizes tourists who visit the Scotish loch. A fishing enthusiast, surgeon Kenneth Wilson, saw it for the first time one day in 1934 and managed to photograph it before it disappeared under water. This photo was published all over the world, and since then thousands of people have sworn they have seen the Loch Ness monster and some have even photographed it.

According to some scholars it is possible that a family of prehistoric plesiosaurs, survivors from a hundred million years ago, live in the lake. Up to now, however, research carried out with the most modern technology on the muddy lake bed had not come up with any proof that the monsters exist. The existence of  the Eigh Uisage ( which in Gaelic means water horse ) or Nessie, as she is affectionally called by some, is still to be demonstrated.

The Coelacanth is a fish which lived 350 million years ago. Fossils of this fish from the Cretaceous era, approximately 70 million years ago, have been found in the strata of the earth's crust. In 1938, it was rumoured that some fishermen off the coast of South East Africa had discovered traces of the Coelacanth. Added to this is the fact that in an antiques shop in Toledo a XVIIth century silver bowl depicting a Coelecanth  has been discovered. The latest reports are that fishermen in Mozambique have been caught a Coelacanth weighhing 100 kilos which is now inn the museum of Mozambique. Is this the final proof that the Coelacanth is not extinct?

The scientists who have formed the group of criptozoologists intend to throw light on these and other mysteries. Does the Tasmanian Tiger, half tiger, half kangaroo, said to live in Australiasia, really exist? And what about the Okapi, a giraffe-like animal sighted in the jungle of the Congo in 1901, and the Kouprey, an enormous bull sighted in Vietnam in 1981? Scientists are investigating the matter!