EDINBURGH, Scotland - After years of wild speculations and unconfirmed sightings, one of the country's leading paleontologists has said that the Loch Ness monster is nothing but an elephant. Neil Clark, the curator of paleontology at Hunterian Museum of the Glasgow University claimed that after studying the sightings and fuzzy photographs, he has reached the conclusion that the myth of the Loch Ness monster was “largely a product of the 20th century”.
Romantics have always been lured by the Loch Ness legend. In fact, it happens to be one of the most enduring mysteries of our times. However Clark claims that it is the product of a fertile imagination of circus owner Bertram Mills, who even offered £20,000 back in 1933 to anyone who captured the beast for his circus.
Clark says the creation of the Loch legend was a “magnificent piece of marketing.” Mills probably got the idea after he accidentally spied one on his elephants bathing in the water. “Most sightings occurred after 1933, when the A82 trunk road was completed along the west of Loch Ness. All we have are eyewitness accounts, fuzzy photographs, distant video footage and proven hoaxes," Clark, who gained fame when he came upon a dinosaur footprint in the Isle of Skye in 2004.
It was estimated that the footprint was 165 million years old. Clark has spent about two years investigating the Loch Ness monster. “My research suggests that these were elephants belonging to circuses. Circus fairs visiting Inverness stopped on the banks of Loch Ness to allow their animals to rest," Clark said. “When their elephants were allowed to swim in the loch, only the trunk and two humps could be seen: the first hump being the top of the head and the second being the back of the animal."
Clark feels that the resulting impression could be scary especially in the foggy conditions, "It is not surprising Bertram Mills offered a £20,000 reward to anyone who could capture the monster for his circus. He already had the Loch Ness monster in his circus," he said. His findings are detailed in the March issue of the Open University Geological Society journal.
