Many people believe the Loch Ness Monster, commonly referred to as “Nessie”, is an evolved Plesiosaur. These dinosaurs were carnivorous aquatic reptiles with long necks and the body in the shape of a turtle, but without shell. They were first found in England, so it is possible that one or more survived through the ages; however, the plesiosaur’s neck wasn’t designed to bend upward to the degree that they could left their heads above the water as most Nessie pictures show. Even if they could, gravity would have tipped their body forward which would keep most of their neck in the water. It is possible for their head to reach the surface, but not in the typical “Nessie pose”. Nessie has also been thought to be some sort of long necked seal, an eel, an unknown amphibian species, or some sort of invertebrate.

Loch Ness is the largest body of fresh water in Britain. It’s 22.5 miles long, 1-1.5 miles wide, and 754 feet deep. It is said that the loch never freezes, which could account for how the dinosaur survived through the ages. Below 100 feet, the temperature of the water never varies from 44 degrees Fahrenheit due to a thermocline.

The Loch Ness Monster has been a popular myth since at least 1933, but there have been reported sitings since as early as 565 by Saint Columbia, who wrote that a beast rose from the loch and attacked a man swimming out to retrieve a boat.

Over the past 4 years, people have debated the monster’s existence on a picture I took of a statue at Eccles Dinosaur part of a Plesiosaur. On this page, I ask the question, could this dinosaur be the ancestor of the Loch Ness Monster? People have misinterpreted my question as “Is this the real Nessie?” and hundreds of people have commented.

The picture recently reached 100,000 views and is the first image on The Lens Flare to do so largely due to the fact that it often shows up on the first page of Google’s image search for phrases like “Loch Ness Monster” and other variations, and the number of visits to this picture per week has dramatically increased since the show “The Water Horse” hit the big screen putting Nessie back in the spotlight. I invite you to take part in the conversation of Nessie on my picture The Loch Ness Monster’s Great Great Granddad.

Tags: loch ness monster, myth, nessie, Photography

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 31st, 2008 at 11:02 am and is filed under Photography, Wildlife Photography. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.