What a beautiful morning God has given us today! Abundant sunshine, the rich smelling moist soil, a wondrous variety of vegetation and to top it all off, the music of birds singing, dogs barking, horses whining, and the wind whispering through the trees! We have an incredible planet to live on.
There are habitats out there were man has made very little impact, and I mean huge areas! Some examples are the Congo in Africa, the North America deserts, the steeps of Russia, the Amazon in South America, and the Mongolian plains. Not to mention many mountains ranges. There are places in regions like these that I would wager no man has ever set foot since the Noation flood. When I worked as a wildlife biologist for the government I know I went places so remote that this was the case. And that brings us to our question of the week:
Could there be extant(alive today) dinosaurs/dragons?
A whole field of science is dedicated to this question. Cryptozoology is defined as “the science of hidden animals.” There is a methodology in this field for how “the existence of a particular kind of plant or animal can be established on testimonial evidence (sightings), circumstantial evidence (indirect evidence), or even autoptical evidence (which anybody can see).”[1] Over the past century, quite a few animals thought to be extinct “millions of years ago” have now been discovered (and check out the incredible photos!):
- At the turn of last century, the Okapi, confirmed by the Zoological Society of London as a new species, is listed the giraffe’s only living relative. The natives of the area had long told the white explorers of this animal.
- The coelacanth, a species of fish supposed to be extinct for 70 million years was caught in 1939 by a fisherman.
- In 1976 a research vessel off the coast of the Hawaiian Islands caught a 1,653 pound shark which became known as the “megamouth” because of its large, oral cavity filled with teeth.
- A forest dwelling ox was discovered in 1992. This animal is so different than other bovines it was given its own genus.
Then there are those creatures, of which sightings have occurred by many eyewitness and even photographs and sonograms, yet they are still thought of as a legend:
· Plesiosaurs – Sightings such as; the Santa Cruz monster, which was an animal thought to be a plesiosaur that washed up on the beach near Monterey in 1925 (originally it tried to be passed off as a beaked whale, but with a neck 20 feet long scientists changed their minds); Ogopogo, a creature found in Lake Okanagan, British Columbia, is thought to be more of a serpent than a plesiosaur. It has even been given protected status by the government. Nahuelito is a plesiosaur or possibly a serpent found in the lake from which it gets its name in the Patagonia mountains, South America; and of course I have to mention the lock ness monster, seen by many over the years in Scotland’s Loch Ness; and there are other sighting of plesiosaurs in many other places as well.
· Apatosaurus – Mokele-mbembe is believed to be a sauropod type of dinosaur. “The Congolese [Africa] people are very familiar with the aquatic dinosaur living in the Likoula swamp region. They call this Apatosaurus-like creature "Mokele-mbembe" which means: "one who stops the flow of rivers". When shown pictures of several animals, the natives pick out one that looks like a brontosaurus that most closely fits Mokele-mbembe.
N’yamala, (also called Li’kela-bembe), believed to be a Diploducus is found in the southeastern Cameroon (Africa) swamps. In 2001 and expedition was sent to the region where sightings had occurred. “…Brian Sass, discovered an island in the Dja River which contained nesting caves…. They took casts of footprints and photographs of the caves…and actually had a brief encounter with the elusive monster of Cameroon as it swam past their dugout canoe toward its lair.”[2]
I would love to go on and show you more, because there is much, much more! More eyewitness accounts and photos, and recent drawings and sculptures of different animals including pterodactyls and Ceratopsians, the “frilled dinosaurs” like Triceratops. But this blog has already become quite lengthy. May I suggest, go to genesispark.com if you are enthralled with this topic like I am. They have a most wonderful website, a web-park if you will.
Until next time, take care and God Bless!
Willow
Reference:
Dragons, Legends and Lore of Dinosaurs, 2011, Master Books.
http://www.ultimateungulate.com/Artiodactyla/Okapia_johnstoni.html
http://www.angelfire.com/mi/dinosaurs/mokele.html
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