Plesiosaurs Still Swim
If you're like me and know your prehistoric animals, you probably know what a plesiosaur is. The long-necked, four-flippered creatures that swam in the seas when the dinosaurs ruled the lands. They were ancient reptiles, classified as marine reptiles. Today, they are thought to be extinct. I believe otherwise. In this post, I'm going to show you the concrete evidence for modern plesiosaurs. Please share your thoughts on this post in the comments, and share.
#1: Plesiosaur Carcasses
If plesiosaurs are still alive today, then it logically follows that newer, fresher carcasses belonging to them should be found. One of the reasons people assume that "extinct" sea creatures like plesiosaurs and such cannot possibly still live is that the fossil record seems to suggest that they died out. However, scientists have been wrong about the fossil record before. A great example of this is the coelacanth, an ancient fish that people thought had been extinct since about the time of the dinosaurs. Then, in the 1930s, they were rediscovered off the coat of Africa, and today we know they also thrive in waters around India as well. Another example is the frilled shark, a large shark that was thought to be extinct for years, which we now know lives farther into the ocean. In fact, I could probably write an entire post on creatures that were once classified as extinct that we now know are alive.
And I believe that many plesiosaurs that are alive today (at least the giant ones I will talk about later) probably live deeper in the ocean. There's an interesting fact about our scientists, and that is that we actually know more about outer space than we do of the deep ocean. We've really only scratched the surface, in terms of the life-forms that we know about in the ocean. That being said, it is totally possible for a few species of modern plesiosaurs to live around those areas.
Sometimes, their carcasses do wash up on land, or are found by fishermen, other cases. Here are several, somewhat unknown carcasses that I believe belong to plesiosaurs.
#1: Zuiyo-Maru Carcass
In 1977, when a Japanese fishing crew were sailing around the coast of New Zealand, they found something. Something that I believe is a mere few weeks old plesiosaur carcass.
Photo taken of the Zuiyo-Maru carcass:
As I said, it appears to be a few weeks old, given the fact that there is still flesh on it. The body is decaying, but I think it is still recognizable as a modern plesiosaur. And since it is only a few weeks old, it means that there are modern plesiosaurs around that area.
But the question remains: is this an actual plesiosaur?
Well, when the fishermen found it, they took samples of it. They didn't know what it was, and the scientist who analyzed the samples didn't either. They only new it wasn't a fish or mammal. As I said earlier, plesiosaurs are marine reptiles. They belong to a completely different genus and family than fish or whales.
And that is convincing enough even without a photo! Just look at the picture and tell me it doesn't look like a plesiosaur.
The image above shows the skeleton of a plesiosaur from the Mesozoic era. The basic build of a plesiosaur is a long neck and four flippers. Compare this skeleton to the Zuiyo-Maro carcass. Take a look at it and tell me I'm wrong. The Zuiyo-Maro carcass has a long neck. At the end of the neck, there is a head, with eye holes and a snout. The torso of it is decayed, but the four flippers that it undoubtedly has are there.
Today, scientists trying to disprove that the Zuiyo-Maro carcass is a plesiosaur say that it is the decayed remains of a basking shark. And this claim makes me want to burst out laughing.
This is a basking shark:
And this is a plesiosaur:
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Which does the long necked, four flippered Zuiyo-Maro carcass look most like to you? Do you even have to think about that?
The scientists don't even give any real evidence for why they think it's a basking shark. All they say is the carcass has a similar amount of protein in it to basking shark. I guess they forgot that almost all animals have a certain level of protein <sigh>.
#2: Moore Beach Plesiosaur
The Moore beaches of California are a beautiful place. But in 1925, something washed up there that puts yet another hole in the claim that plesiosaurs are extinct.
The image shown above is photo of the Moore beach plesiosaur, a plesiosaur that I believe evolved (I'm talking theistic evolution, not Darwinian evolution) blubber to keep warm. If it has evolved blubber, it might merely make it look like a whale, explaining why the head looks a little like a whale. This would then disprove the claim that the Moore beach plesiosaur is a whale that was twisted up in the ocean.
I actually don't know why people think this, because the neck is 20 feet long! And it also has four flippers of seemingly equal length. It is actually more likely that it's a plesiosaur that just has blubber than it is a whale that somehow conveniently got it's neck pulled over 20 feet, without breaking it, which almost never happens, by the way, and that same carcass, which was flimsy enough to be stretched to that size somehow washed gently up on a shore, as intact as it was? I don't think so.
Oh, and just so you know, scientists actually don't even have concrete evidence for this claim.
If plesiosaurs still live, they would have to adapt to the various oceans of the world. Thus, the ones that live in colder waters would absolutely have blubber. Remember, in the late Eocene period, when whales first appeared, they didn't have blubber. The whales with blubber came later, as the oceans got colder. The same could be true with certain types of modern plesiosaurs.
Frankly, in view of the basic facts and state of the carcass, I don't really see any other explanation other than it's a modern plesiosaur that died and washed in the Moore beaches.
I mean if it isn't, than what is it? You tell me.
#3: Oregon Beach Plesiosaur
Here's another plesiosaur that washed up on a beach. This one was found in 1990, by hikers along a beach in Oregon:
Note again the long neck, seemingly short tail, and four flippers. According to the people who found it, the head was missing. They speculated that it might have been bitten off, rotted away, or cut off by a boat propeller. Whatever the cause, it's unclear as to whether or not the missing head is the cause of death.
The creature isn't a shark, and it doesn't appear to be a whale either. Do you have an answer? You already know mine. I mean, it's build is again, a match to the plesiosaur build and body shape. And the account isn't fake, either. Like the rest of the accounts I've shown you, there is verified proof of the carcass' validity. It is very real, like the others.
So what other answer is there? Share your thoughts in the comments, please. If you disagree, tell me why. I am actually at a loss here as to what else this could be, other that a plesiosaur.
#2: Living Plesiosaurs In Our Lakes and Open Waters
I've now shown you the plesiosaur carcasses and the accounts around them. Now, I'm going to show you accounts, sightings, photos, and legends of living ones, and families of them from lakes and oceans from all around the world.
#1 The Loch-Ness Monster
Here's one you probably already know pretty well. The elusive, strangely plesiosaur-like sea creature that lives in Loch-Ness lake in Scotland. There are some, like me, who believe that due to it's long neck, short tail, and four flippers that Nessie is a plesiosaur, along with her family living in Loch-Ness lake. Due to the hundreds of years that they've been sighted for, and the numbers of them necessary to keep their species going, I believe that there are several Loch-Ness monsters in the lake. It actually makes perfect sense if you think about it, as the accounts and photos range in the sizes and descriptions of them.
The picture above is the "Surgeon's Photograph", a very famous picture claiming to show a Loch-Ness plesiosaur. The head and neck appear to be the right shape, however, most people who see this photo claim that it is fake... why, exactly? Seriously, everyone says it's fake, but where is your evidence? Some people claim that the picture shows a bird or otter diving into the water. Again, this is one of those desperate explanations that makes me want to laugh.
Look at the photo. Does that look even remotely like a bird? Where are the feathers? Where is it's webbed feet? Where is the splash from the water? Why isn't the image blurry? You would literally have to go out of your way to not even accidentally find a hole in this claim. This claim is literally one of the laziest excuses for the photo to be fake ever.
Other people say that the creature is a model, but if you look closely at the photo, you can actually see a series of ripples, leading in a path toward the creature, indicating that it swam up. This shows that the creature is real in the photo and that it is clearly swimming.
Here are other pictures and images of the Loch-Ness plesiosaurs:
This one was taken in Ireland:
In view of the amount of sightings and accounts, I think it's reasonable to believe the Loch-Ness monsters are modern plesiosaurs.
And I could probably write a whole post just on the Loch-Ness plesiosaurs, but this post is long enough already, so I'm going to keep this as compact as possible.
But if you don't agree with me, answer me this: what is it? They clearly exist, partly by scientists own admission (they agree it/they must be something), and if they exist, I again don't see how they could be anything other than modern plesiosaurs.
There are a few people who say that the Loch-Ness monsters exist but are nothing more than fish or whales. Honestly, I don't know what makes those people think that, or what their evidence is, but again, the sonar images of them are real. You can see the long neck and flippers. People claim to see them all the time, and while obviously not all are true, I don't believe all of them are fake either. On the Loch-Ness monster(s) alone there is so much evidence to sift, and that's excluding all of the other pieces of evidence for modern plesiosaurs around the world.
#2: Lake Champlain Plesiosaurs
Another group of modern plesiosaurs that have been sighted in a lake for decades are the Lake Champlain plesiosaurs. Lake Champlain, like Loch Ness Lake, is an extremely large body of water. Odd marine life could potentially be living there. Here is a photograph of yet another creature that eerily resembles a plesiosaur:
#1: Plesiosaur Carcasses
If plesiosaurs are still alive today, then it logically follows that newer, fresher carcasses belonging to them should be found. One of the reasons people assume that "extinct" sea creatures like plesiosaurs and such cannot possibly still live is that the fossil record seems to suggest that they died out. However, scientists have been wrong about the fossil record before. A great example of this is the coelacanth, an ancient fish that people thought had been extinct since about the time of the dinosaurs. Then, in the 1930s, they were rediscovered off the coat of Africa, and today we know they also thrive in waters around India as well. Another example is the frilled shark, a large shark that was thought to be extinct for years, which we now know lives farther into the ocean. In fact, I could probably write an entire post on creatures that were once classified as extinct that we now know are alive.
And I believe that many plesiosaurs that are alive today (at least the giant ones I will talk about later) probably live deeper in the ocean. There's an interesting fact about our scientists, and that is that we actually know more about outer space than we do of the deep ocean. We've really only scratched the surface, in terms of the life-forms that we know about in the ocean. That being said, it is totally possible for a few species of modern plesiosaurs to live around those areas.
Sometimes, their carcasses do wash up on land, or are found by fishermen, other cases. Here are several, somewhat unknown carcasses that I believe belong to plesiosaurs.
#1: Zuiyo-Maru Carcass
In 1977, when a Japanese fishing crew were sailing around the coast of New Zealand, they found something. Something that I believe is a mere few weeks old plesiosaur carcass.
Photo taken of the Zuiyo-Maru carcass:
As I said, it appears to be a few weeks old, given the fact that there is still flesh on it. The body is decaying, but I think it is still recognizable as a modern plesiosaur. And since it is only a few weeks old, it means that there are modern plesiosaurs around that area.
But the question remains: is this an actual plesiosaur?
Well, when the fishermen found it, they took samples of it. They didn't know what it was, and the scientist who analyzed the samples didn't either. They only new it wasn't a fish or mammal. As I said earlier, plesiosaurs are marine reptiles. They belong to a completely different genus and family than fish or whales.
And that is convincing enough even without a photo! Just look at the picture and tell me it doesn't look like a plesiosaur.
The image above shows the skeleton of a plesiosaur from the Mesozoic era. The basic build of a plesiosaur is a long neck and four flippers. Compare this skeleton to the Zuiyo-Maro carcass. Take a look at it and tell me I'm wrong. The Zuiyo-Maro carcass has a long neck. At the end of the neck, there is a head, with eye holes and a snout. The torso of it is decayed, but the four flippers that it undoubtedly has are there.
Today, scientists trying to disprove that the Zuiyo-Maro carcass is a plesiosaur say that it is the decayed remains of a basking shark. And this claim makes me want to burst out laughing.
This is a basking shark:
And this is a plesiosaur:
Which does the long necked, four flippered Zuiyo-Maro carcass look most like to you? Do you even have to think about that?
The scientists don't even give any real evidence for why they think it's a basking shark. All they say is the carcass has a similar amount of protein in it to basking shark. I guess they forgot that almost all animals have a certain level of protein <sigh>.
#2: Moore Beach Plesiosaur
The Moore beaches of California are a beautiful place. But in 1925, something washed up there that puts yet another hole in the claim that plesiosaurs are extinct.
The image shown above is photo of the Moore beach plesiosaur, a plesiosaur that I believe evolved (I'm talking theistic evolution, not Darwinian evolution) blubber to keep warm. If it has evolved blubber, it might merely make it look like a whale, explaining why the head looks a little like a whale. This would then disprove the claim that the Moore beach plesiosaur is a whale that was twisted up in the ocean.
I actually don't know why people think this, because the neck is 20 feet long! And it also has four flippers of seemingly equal length. It is actually more likely that it's a plesiosaur that just has blubber than it is a whale that somehow conveniently got it's neck pulled over 20 feet, without breaking it, which almost never happens, by the way, and that same carcass, which was flimsy enough to be stretched to that size somehow washed gently up on a shore, as intact as it was? I don't think so.
Oh, and just so you know, scientists actually don't even have concrete evidence for this claim.
If plesiosaurs still live, they would have to adapt to the various oceans of the world. Thus, the ones that live in colder waters would absolutely have blubber. Remember, in the late Eocene period, when whales first appeared, they didn't have blubber. The whales with blubber came later, as the oceans got colder. The same could be true with certain types of modern plesiosaurs.
Frankly, in view of the basic facts and state of the carcass, I don't really see any other explanation other than it's a modern plesiosaur that died and washed in the Moore beaches.
I mean if it isn't, than what is it? You tell me.
#3: Oregon Beach Plesiosaur
Here's another plesiosaur that washed up on a beach. This one was found in 1990, by hikers along a beach in Oregon:
Note again the long neck, seemingly short tail, and four flippers. According to the people who found it, the head was missing. They speculated that it might have been bitten off, rotted away, or cut off by a boat propeller. Whatever the cause, it's unclear as to whether or not the missing head is the cause of death.
The creature isn't a shark, and it doesn't appear to be a whale either. Do you have an answer? You already know mine. I mean, it's build is again, a match to the plesiosaur build and body shape. And the account isn't fake, either. Like the rest of the accounts I've shown you, there is verified proof of the carcass' validity. It is very real, like the others.
So what other answer is there? Share your thoughts in the comments, please. If you disagree, tell me why. I am actually at a loss here as to what else this could be, other that a plesiosaur.
#2: Living Plesiosaurs In Our Lakes and Open Waters
I've now shown you the plesiosaur carcasses and the accounts around them. Now, I'm going to show you accounts, sightings, photos, and legends of living ones, and families of them from lakes and oceans from all around the world.
#1 The Loch-Ness Monster
Here's one you probably already know pretty well. The elusive, strangely plesiosaur-like sea creature that lives in Loch-Ness lake in Scotland. There are some, like me, who believe that due to it's long neck, short tail, and four flippers that Nessie is a plesiosaur, along with her family living in Loch-Ness lake. Due to the hundreds of years that they've been sighted for, and the numbers of them necessary to keep their species going, I believe that there are several Loch-Ness monsters in the lake. It actually makes perfect sense if you think about it, as the accounts and photos range in the sizes and descriptions of them.
The picture above is the "Surgeon's Photograph", a very famous picture claiming to show a Loch-Ness plesiosaur. The head and neck appear to be the right shape, however, most people who see this photo claim that it is fake... why, exactly? Seriously, everyone says it's fake, but where is your evidence? Some people claim that the picture shows a bird or otter diving into the water. Again, this is one of those desperate explanations that makes me want to laugh.
Look at the photo. Does that look even remotely like a bird? Where are the feathers? Where is it's webbed feet? Where is the splash from the water? Why isn't the image blurry? You would literally have to go out of your way to not even accidentally find a hole in this claim. This claim is literally one of the laziest excuses for the photo to be fake ever.
Other people say that the creature is a model, but if you look closely at the photo, you can actually see a series of ripples, leading in a path toward the creature, indicating that it swam up. This shows that the creature is real in the photo and that it is clearly swimming.
Here are other pictures and images of the Loch-Ness plesiosaurs:
This one was taken in Ireland:
In view of the amount of sightings and accounts, I think it's reasonable to believe the Loch-Ness monsters are modern plesiosaurs.
And I could probably write a whole post just on the Loch-Ness plesiosaurs, but this post is long enough already, so I'm going to keep this as compact as possible.
But if you don't agree with me, answer me this: what is it? They clearly exist, partly by scientists own admission (they agree it/they must be something), and if they exist, I again don't see how they could be anything other than modern plesiosaurs.
There are a few people who say that the Loch-Ness monsters exist but are nothing more than fish or whales. Honestly, I don't know what makes those people think that, or what their evidence is, but again, the sonar images of them are real. You can see the long neck and flippers. People claim to see them all the time, and while obviously not all are true, I don't believe all of them are fake either. On the Loch-Ness monster(s) alone there is so much evidence to sift, and that's excluding all of the other pieces of evidence for modern plesiosaurs around the world.
#2: Lake Champlain Plesiosaurs
Another group of modern plesiosaurs that have been sighted in a lake for decades are the Lake Champlain plesiosaurs. Lake Champlain, like Loch Ness Lake, is an extremely large body of water. Odd marine life could potentially be living there. Here is a photograph of yet another creature that eerily resembles a plesiosaur:
#3: How They Could Have Survived the Mass Extinction
In order for plesiosaurs to be alive today there would have to be a reason as to how they could have survived the mass extinction. The explanation for this is quite obvious: the mass extinction did not kill off the inhabitants of the sea the way it killed of the creatures on the land.
Modern paleontological data suggests that anything living on the land that was bigger than a rodent would have been killed, while creatures in the sea could certainly have been affected, the extinction itself did not wipe out to the life forms in the ocean. This makes sense when one considers that much of the marine life that existed in the Cretaceous period still exists today, such as sharks, crustaceans, plankton, sea urchins, etc. If all of these life forms survived, it would stand to reason that certain of the marine reptiles could have as well, including plesiosaurs.
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