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enthusiast
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I'm watching on National Geographic about the Loch-Ness monster (aka Nessy or Ogopogo). They mentioned a couple of times, that if this creature exist, it is believed to be an aquatic dinosaur that has survived to our age. They have, in fact, mentioned the name of that particular dinosaur; but as some of you may know, long words have a way to elude me. I would like to read more about that dinosaur (or what is known about it), does anyone know its name?
And while we're on the issue, are you a Nessy-skeptic or Nessy-believer? while the show isn't over yet, so far they represented so many sane-looking eyewitnesses that it's hard to be sure of anything. Judging from what I've seen so far, I'm still leaning towards Nessy-skeptic... but maybe by the end of the show I'll be coaxed otherwise...
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Carpal Tunnel
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I think plesiosaur is the word you couldn't quite remember, Logwood. Where do *I stand on this issue? Quote:
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
--From Hamlet (I, v, 166-167)
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O LORD, how manifold are your works!
in wisdom you have made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
Yonder is the great and wide sea
with its living things too many to number,
creatures both small and great.
There move the ships,
and there is that Leviathan,
which you have made for the sport of it.
~Psalm 104:25-27, 1979 BCP
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I have no doubt that are extraordinary things science has yet to discover, just like there are also a lot things people blow out of proportions. I'm just talking about this particular thing, just in case you've heard or know about it. No need to get all philosophical on me!  Nice quotes though. Yes, plesiosaur, that's it! thanks. Curiosity speaking- did you knew the answer or did you had to search for it?
Last edited by Logwood; 12/24/2005 5:50 PM.
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I just realized Nessy is actually spelled Nessie, just wanted to point it out.
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But then, one can believe that there are many animals out there that we have not yet discovered and still purely disbelieve in Nessie.
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Yes, I googled it since I couldn't remember the word either. I'll just say that it wouldn't surprise me much if it really was an actual plesiosaur or a hoax. [on the stile-ish, leaning forward and swinging my legs]
Last edited by consuelo; 12/24/2005 6:35 PM.
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Nessie
Surely, if pleiosaurs they be in Loch Ness, there would have to be more than one. The most famous (and first_ picture of Nessie has been established to be a hoax.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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From the NOVA site I linked to above:
In 1987, an expedition called Operation Deep Scan used a flotilla of 20 sonar-equipped boats to sweep the loch with a curtain of sound; the operation yielded three underwater targets that could not be explained. In the early 1990s, the BBC's Nicholas Witchell helped organize Project Urquhart, the first extensive study of the loch's biology and geology. Although they weren't looking for monsters, the expedition's sonar operators detected a large, moving underwater target and followed it for several minutes before losing it. And during the 1997 expedition featured in NOVA's Loch Ness film, Rines and his longtime colleague Charles Wyckoff detected yet another puzzling underwater target. According to the expedition's sonar expert, marine biologist Arne Carr, it was a moving target, appeared to be biological in nature, and was about 15 feet long—the size of a small whale.
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Quote:
But then, one can believe that there are many animals out there that we have not yet discovered and still purely disbelieve in Nessie.
Just last month (Dec. 2005), a new mammal (probably some sort of civet) was found in Kalimantan. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4501152.stm.
As to a colony (school?) of plesiosaurs inhabiting Loch Ness, how many would you need to ensure a sustainable breeding population?
Bingley
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WOW. Thanks for that link Bingley. This is so interesting. I'm always torn when it comes to finding new animals though. Usually it means that we've penetrated their environment and they will now face extermination.
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Pooh-Bah
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How big do sturgeons get? On the other hand didn't they recently find a living fish that had been extinct for eons?
I just like the fact that science DOESN'T have all the answers. Just think how boring we would be if there were no mysteries left.
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> sturgeon from the World Book: Quote:
One of the best-known sturgeon is the common sturgeon, which lives in European waters. A related species, the Atlantic sturgeon, lives along the North American coast from Labrador to the Gulf of Mexico. The white sturgeon of the American Pacific Coast is the largest American fish of this group. It grows to 20 feet (6 meters) long and may weigh more than 1,000 pounds (448 kilograms). The lake sturgeon lives in the Great Lakes and the Mississippi Valley waters.
Scientists consider the beluga to be the largest freshwater fish. It lives in the Black and Caspian seas. The largest known beluga measured 28 feet (8.5 meters) in length and weighed 2,860 pounds (1,297 kilograms). The beluga produces most European caviar. North American sturgeons were abundant once, but overfishing, dams, and pollution have greatly reduced their number.
you may be thinking of the (more World Book) Quote:
Coelacanth, pronounced SEE luh kanth, is a primitive type of fish found in the Indian Ocean. Some coelacanth fossils date from more than 300 million years ago. Scientists believed these fish had been extinct for 80 million years until a coelacanth was caught off the coast of South Africa in 1938. Since then, many more coelacanths have been caught. Coelacanths are members of an ancient group of fishes known as sarcopterygians.
I like it, too. 
formerly known as etaoin...
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Pooh-Bah
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That's it, them's the ones. Thanks for doing my homework eta.
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Does anybody read National Geographic? I seem to recall reading an article saying that the Coelacanth was being fished to extinction because they were a novelty and people would catch them specifically because they bring in lots of money. I'm just not sure if it is in NG that I read it.
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I just heard recently that there is some concern, not because the coelacanth was being fished, but that they were being caught in trawler's nets. I can't find mention of the article now, but here's a great picture: CoelacanthI did see some footage once of people diving with coelacanths. way cool.
Last edited by etaoin; 01/18/2006 1:49 AM.
formerly known as etaoin...
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Huh. I like that picture. You know, when you just read the articles and see pictures of something without a reference point, you don't really get the scope of an item. Beside the person like that, it seems so imposingly present, so concretely big.
Last edited by belMarduk; 01/18/2006 1:51 AM.
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THE FILM: "Monster On the Campus" (American, 1958)
THE PREMISE: A prehistoric fish, a coelacanth, arrives at Dunsfield University for study. A student's (Troy Donahue) dog laps up some of the fish's blood on the floor and turns into a savage prehistoric wolf which attacks a woman on campus. The professor sticks his hand in the fish's mouth and is cut by its sharp teeth, thereby infecting him with the curse. Some creature commits murder on campus. Students observe a common dragonfly suck the blood of the coelacanth and turn into a ptderodactyl. Mayhem follows.
BEST LINE IN THE WHOLE FILM: "Watch closely, and you'll see evolution in reverse!"
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> evolution in reverse! Should be Hollywood's motto... 
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