The Cryptozoologist > articles
The Press and Journal Aberdeen
| Scotland | July 12, 1999
Expert suggests Nessie
could be species of seal
Experts who gathered on the shores of Loch Ness at the weekend admitted science will
play little part in fresh bids to detect the legendary monster.
They even suggested it could turn out to be a new kind of long-necked seal.
A group of 30 cryptozoologists from Japan, Belgium and the US attended the two-day
conference in Drumnadrochit Hotel organised by the Official Loch Ness Monster Fan
Club.
Professor Henry Bauer, of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, insisted
scientists had to be more open-minded about Nessie but he admitted cryptozoology
was not an exact science.
He said: "This is not like carrying out experiments in science, which has been
seen as a professional activity. If you are doing science you have got to produce
results.
"But we do not know how to produce these results about Nessie as science is
about having things ready to be solved and I do not think Nessie is ready to be solved
yet; you need a stroke of luck.
"People take science to be a great authority in our day and age and I do not
believe that is always the case; science has been greatly oversold in that respect
and that is a shame.
"We must not forget that when what we call science began it was just people
drawing and making notes of what they saw. The issue of Nessie is the same."
US author Loren Colman, who has previously written a volume called Bigfoot and chose
the seminar for the launch of his new book on cryptozoology, said: "I have
said it before but I think Loch Ness is the epicentre of cryptozoology in the world,
so even though you have all the jokes about Loch Ness and other things, several scientists
have been interested enough to be here over the weekend to see what is going on in
this loch.
"Nobody will pay any attention to us until such time as we get a body or a sample
of DNA. We must not forget that over the next 20 years there are expected to be 47
new types of aquatic mammals found.
"There have been various sightings which have been found to have been seals
in the loch and this may be a long-necked seal unique to Loch Ness.
"That is less exciting than having a monster but it may be more realistic."
In a separate move, Inverness-based Gary Campbell, founder of the Loch Ness Monster
Fan Club, who organised the seminar, said there have been two sightings of the monster
over the past week and another one earlier in the year when an American tourist described
what he said was a creature which rested on a beach on the south side of the loch
between Dores and Foyers. |
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