What do we know about prehistoric monsters lurking?

More than a hundred years of history about the lake monster called "Mokele-mbembe" of concern to researchers deep forests of Africa. What they found since then? In 1981, the message about living in the lake monster have attracted the attention of German Regusters, an aerospace engineer from the jet propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of technology. This creation is called Mokele-mbembe, and it was some prehistoric monster. Perhaps the long-necked dinosaur. Registers the thought that the monster might still lurk in the lake.

He decided to go in a poorly studied part of Africa, now on the territory of the Republic of the Congo, and to find the beast yourself. After unsuccessful attempts to force their employer and the Ministry of defense to pay for the trip, arguing that in this area it is possible to make useful maps, Registers decided to Finance himself, with support from several private investors.

Together with his wife Kia and a team of locals he went to a remote freshwater lake Body. But, like many others before and after him, of the Registers returned with empty hands and brought only entertaining stories, which he recounted in the written notes.

He also said that he made some observations but did not submit a photo or video. In fact, in one case the witnesses was the whole team, "with the exception of the photographer," wrote the Registers at a later date.

The Trip was not easy. The researchers suffered from bees, roamed kilometer marshes, through hot days and uncomfortable cold, wet night, ate monkey meat. Nevertheless, they were determined to find the monster.

In Western literature mentions Mokele-mbembe appeared in the early 20th century. German and French guests in this African region recounted stories of local residents about a giant monster that lived in the forest. The details change from story to story.

In some of them the monster was a giant — elephant-eater, in others not more than Hippo. Some have mentioned the snake's head; others reminisced about a hump.

The Collection of any documentary evidence, it seemed, was doomed to failure. The photographic film was destroyed, the sketches were burned, the audio was full of noise. The reason, probably, is the eternal appeal of Mokele-mbembe. The monster lives in a remote and inhospitable part of the world that some people still believe that it exists. Are they right?

The Answer to this question, according to Paul Barrett, paleontologist at the natural history Museum of London, is a resounding "no." There is no way to make it pauropodidae creature to live, hiding from the people, he said.

"Over the past 66 million years in our paleontological annals have not preserved anything that could be a living sauropod in any part of the world," he says. Even if we set aside the dinosaurs, it is unlikely the really big land or lake animal would be hiding in the African jungle. People didn't meet creatures that weigh more than a ton, for half a century, says Barrett.

"Large animals need large populations in order to stay alive," he says. "Also, they require large geographic ranges to meet their needs feeding."

The Idea that one or two giants hiding in the lake Body is ridiculous.

Paleontologist Darren Naish fully agree with him. Some cryptozoologists who believe in Mokele-mbembe, they say that the prehistoric creature could stay in Africa because she "remained unchanged". But this is a misconception, says Naish. The flora and fauna on the continent has gone through many changes since the time of dinosaurs.

"Even the rain forest has changed over many years," he says. "They are geologically young, so just dismiss the possibility of discovering an ancient relic in Africa."

But can the stories told by local researchers to be associated with another great creature that once lived in this area?

May says Naish. Some believe that near the lake the Body could live an extinct species of rhinoceros. The stories about him passed from mouth to mouth and change over time.

Some of these animals could be mistaken for Mokele-mbembe, or something like that. Hippos, crocodiles, large turtles, floating elephants — even logs of the strange shape can be mistaken for something else.

Perhaps the most intriguing is that this is an unusual story. In addition to the Mokele-mbembe and the Scottish monster from Loch ness, these stories a great many. In lake Erie in North America lives "Bessie" in lake Tahoe — "Tessie" in England — "Bownessie", and in Japan — "Cussi". It seems that every reputable lake needs to live self-respecting big monster.

Barrett suggests that one possible reason may be that parents told their children ancient history, so they do not inadvertently drowned. If the children are to stay away from the lake "monster", in theory, be safer.

Local fossils or traces could be the reason for the myths about their origin, says Martin sander of the University of Bonn in Germany, who wrote several articles about sauropod. He cites a good example: "snake stones".

This is a fossilized Ammonites cut in the snake's head so that it seemed as if they coiled reptiles. They say that they were snakes turned to stone by St. Hilda in the 7th century. In reality it's just the fossils that have been tampered with.

As for stories about Mokele-mbembe, a key factor of their distribution may be the era in which they appeared. In the early 1900's, it was something like "dinosaur fever", he says. The hype was more than around the "Jurassic Park".

Moreover, Zander notes that several signs point to a well-known animal dealer Carl Hagenbeck. In 1909, they could be a mere publicity stunt. Hagenbeck told stories about Mokele-mbembe heard from others. "Could he know about the German paleontological excavations in the region. He was a hunter who ran the Hamburg zoo," says Zander.

In any case, these myths have value, Barrett says. Any expedition in search of the unknown can lead to the discovery of interesting and unexpected things.