Mokele-Mbembe
Location: Swamps and lakes in the Congo Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo and Cameroon.
Time: First described from tribal mythology in 1916, possible footprints as early as mid eighteenth century. Significant sightings in 1932, 1935, 1959 and onwards. Expeditions mounted in 1980s resulted in more potential sightings.
The reputation of certain locations as mysterious and little-explored seems to endure even into the modern age, when very little of the earth is unexplored. “Darkest Africa” was certainly a frontier for explorers, missionaries and slave-drivers in past centuries, yet it retains a mythos today that contradicts its long history of exploration.
Reports of dinosaur-shaped creatures from Congolese mythology have fueled this false belief for most of the 20th and 21st centuries. The idea of a living, breathing non-avian dinosaur is appealing as a story, and certainly it has attracted expeditions from credulous biologists and evangelical Christians alike in recent decades. The mokele-mbembe is the most notable example, supposedly resembling an Apatosaurus-like sauropod dinosaur.
Closer scrutiny of the reports and in particular of actual dinosaur skeletons reveals some dinosaur-sized holes in this hypothesis. Sauropod dinosaurs had compact, elephant-like feet, yet the mokele-mbembe supposedly has spreading 3-toed feet, more like a stereotype of a dinosaur, than an actual accurate sauropod. The same goes for its aquatic, swamp dwelling habits; this resembles the out-dated stereotype of a swamp-living “Brontosaurus” from the earlier decades of the 20th century, but is not at all like the fully terrestrial physiology of Apatosaurus and its kin. Other habits appear to be generalized reptilian traits, such as making large, cavern-like burrows in riverbanks (only smaller dinosaurs were capable of burrowing and certainly not multi-ton sauropods). Similarly, the flesh of this creature, according to one report, is poisonous to eat. In truth, the mokele-mbembe seems to be just another mythical creature, as with many different cultures all over the world. Sightings of long-necked swimming beasts of great size may simply be forest elephants crossing large bodies of water, with only the back and raised trunk showing.
There is also an ugly side to the pursuit of this pseudo-dinosaur, many advocates of its existence are Christian creationists who seek to find living dinosaurs, to prove that the earth was created mere thousands of years ago, by God. Supposedly, this would prove that fossils are not millions of years old, and that dinosaurs lived alongside humans in the pre-deluge world. This of course is not science, but popular preaching disguised as science, designed to indoctrinate unwary, uneducated people towards their ministries. The creationist opposition to mainstream science is a dangerous threat to the education of the public, and nurtures distrust of science and advocacy of certain beliefs that can best be described as mass delusion. Christianity can exist alongside accepted science, as Roman Catholicism and many other denominations now incorporate evolutionary theory and modern science into their worldview.
But what of this pseudo-dinosaur? If it were real, we must relegate it to its rightful place, the true reptiles. The Mokele-Mbembe (Mokelevaranus mackali) is the largest lizard currently existing, at 10 meters long and up to 3 tons. To support such a mass, the posture is more upright, the limbs more massive and the number of toes is reduced, resulting in heavy 3 toed footprints. It is a highly specialized descendant of monitor lizards, but warrants its own family and genus. This lizard is amphibious, able to navigate swamps and lakes by sculling its huge tail, holding its neck and head high above water. Food consists of fruit and soft plant growth, but carrion is also taken; it particularly likes to feed near water at the margins of swamps, relishing liana fruits referred to as “malombo” by the local tribes. Besides malombo, it will eat a range of other fruits, with tough-rind fruits being swallowed whole. The teeth are simple large pegs, to crudely rip off mouthfuls of fruits or leaves. Observing their behavior is difficult, as it spends quite a lot of time hiding in the jungle or underwater. Females will dig large cave-like dens in the riverbanks in the dry season (when water levels are lower), where they lay 10 to 15 leathery-shelled eggs as large as those of an ostrich. Despite being mainly herbivorous, they have an aggressive temperament, as do most varanids. They often fight with hippos or elephants in an effort to defend their feeding grounds, and have been known to kill people in boats with devastating blows from its large tail. The local natives refrain from hunting or eating it, as they believe that its meat is poison, more likely as with many reptiles, the flesh carries Salmonella. Their call is a loud belching sound, produced by puffing of the gular sack. mokele-mbembe are most active around dawn and dusk, retreating to water during the heat of the day, and the jungle thickets at night.
Location: Swamps and lakes in the Congo Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo and Cameroon.
Time: First described from tribal mythology in 1916, possible footprints as early as mid eighteenth century. Significant sightings in 1932, 1935, 1959 and onwards. Expeditions mounted in 1980s resulted in more potential sightings.
The reputation of certain locations as mysterious and little-explored seems to endure even into the modern age, when very little of the earth is unexplored. “Darkest Africa” was certainly a frontier for explorers, missionaries and slave-drivers in past centuries, yet it retains a mythos today that contradicts its long history of exploration.
Reports of dinosaur-shaped creatures from Congolese mythology have fueled this false belief for most of the 20th and 21st centuries. The idea of a living, breathing non-avian dinosaur is appealing as a story, and certainly it has attracted expeditions from credulous biologists and evangelical Christians alike in recent decades. The mokele-mbembe is the most notable example, supposedly resembling an Apatosaurus-like sauropod dinosaur.
Closer scrutiny of the reports and in particular of actual dinosaur skeletons reveals some dinosaur-sized holes in this hypothesis. Sauropod dinosaurs had compact, elephant-like feet, yet the mokele-mbembe supposedly has spreading 3-toed feet, more like a stereotype of a dinosaur, than an actual accurate sauropod. The same goes for its aquatic, swamp dwelling habits; this resembles the out-dated stereotype of a swamp-living “Brontosaurus” from the earlier decades of the 20th century, but is not at all like the fully terrestrial physiology of Apatosaurus and its kin. Other habits appear to be generalized reptilian traits, such as making large, cavern-like burrows in riverbanks (only smaller dinosaurs were capable of burrowing and certainly not multi-ton sauropods). Similarly, the flesh of this creature, according to one report, is poisonous to eat. In truth, the mokele-mbembe seems to be just another mythical creature, as with many different cultures all over the world. Sightings of long-necked swimming beasts of great size may simply be forest elephants crossing large bodies of water, with only the back and raised trunk showing.
There is also an ugly side to the pursuit of this pseudo-dinosaur, many advocates of its existence are Christian creationists who seek to find living dinosaurs, to prove that the earth was created mere thousands of years ago, by God. Supposedly, this would prove that fossils are not millions of years old, and that dinosaurs lived alongside humans in the pre-deluge world. This of course is not science, but popular preaching disguised as science, designed to indoctrinate unwary, uneducated people towards their ministries. The creationist opposition to mainstream science is a dangerous threat to the education of the public, and nurtures distrust of science and advocacy of certain beliefs that can best be described as mass delusion. Christianity can exist alongside accepted science, as Roman Catholicism and many other denominations now incorporate evolutionary theory and modern science into their worldview.
But what of this pseudo-dinosaur? If it were real, we must relegate it to its rightful place, the true reptiles. The Mokele-Mbembe (Mokelevaranus mackali) is the largest lizard currently existing, at 10 meters long and up to 3 tons. To support such a mass, the posture is more upright, the limbs more massive and the number of toes is reduced, resulting in heavy 3 toed footprints. It is a highly specialized descendant of monitor lizards, but warrants its own family and genus. This lizard is amphibious, able to navigate swamps and lakes by sculling its huge tail, holding its neck and head high above water. Food consists of fruit and soft plant growth, but carrion is also taken; it particularly likes to feed near water at the margins of swamps, relishing liana fruits referred to as “malombo” by the local tribes. Besides malombo, it will eat a range of other fruits, with tough-rind fruits being swallowed whole. The teeth are simple large pegs, to crudely rip off mouthfuls of fruits or leaves. Observing their behavior is difficult, as it spends quite a lot of time hiding in the jungle or underwater. Females will dig large cave-like dens in the riverbanks in the dry season (when water levels are lower), where they lay 10 to 15 leathery-shelled eggs as large as those of an ostrich. Despite being mainly herbivorous, they have an aggressive temperament, as do most varanids. They often fight with hippos or elephants in an effort to defend their feeding grounds, and have been known to kill people in boats with devastating blows from its large tail. The local natives refrain from hunting or eating it, as they believe that its meat is poison, more likely as with many reptiles, the flesh carries Salmonella. Their call is a loud belching sound, produced by puffing of the gular sack. mokele-mbembe are most active around dawn and dusk, retreating to water during the heat of the day, and the jungle thickets at night.