LONDON, March 7 - So maybe the Loch Ness monster was actually a circus elephant.

Neil Clark, curator of paleontology at the Hunterian Museum in Glasgow, sees striking similarities between descriptions of Nessie and what an Indian elephant looks like while swimming. And perhaps not coincidentally a traveling circus featuring elephants passed by the misty lake in the 1930s at the height of the monster sightings.

"It is quite possible that people not used to seeing a swimming elephant -- the vast bulk of the animal is submerged, with only a thick trunk and a couple of humps visible," thought they saw a monster, Clark said in an interview Tuesday.

By publishing his theory in the current issue of a British scientific journal, Clark has reignited passionate discussion here about the great Scottish mystery.

Clark noted that in 1933, impresario Bertram Mills promised anyone who could capture the monster for his circus a 20,000-pound reward, which Clark reckoned would be equivalent to nearly $1.8 million today. Perhaps Mills dared offer such a huge sum because he knew it would never be claimed, Clark speculated.

As early as the 6th century, a "monster" was reported in Loch Ness in northern Scotland; Saint Columba is said to have saved a man who had been attacked by a monster in 565. Since then, and as recently as last year, there have been hundreds of reported sightings.

Clark acknowledged that those before and after the 1930s cannot be explained by the elephant theory. But he said the vast majority of sightings occurred not long after 1933, the first year of the A82, a road that runs alongside the lake. Around that time, Mills's traveling circus was visiting nearby Inverness and "would have stopped on the banks of Loch Ness to allow their animals to rest."

‘Bloody dismissive’
At Loch Ness, where scientists have used everything from submarines to sonar to try to explain the mysterious sightings, news that the monster might be a circus owner's marketing ploy didn't go down well. Nessie is, after all, at the core of the lake's lucrative tourist industry.

"Ah! Bloody dismissive, that's what people are," said George Edwards, skipper of the Nessie Hunter, a tour boat on Loch Ness.

Reached by phone, Edwards said he didn't think much of the pachyderm hypothesis. For one thing, he said, "How does it account for more recent sightings? Yes, it's possible -- you can never say never, but I think its very, very unlikely."

Edwards, 54, said that more than once in his 20 years of navigating the lake he has seen something he couldn't explain. He described it as "dark humps in the water," but "not the media monster" with the long neck. He said his personal theory is that an unidentified species lives in Loch Ness.

Adrian Shine, leader of the Loch Ness Project, a research effort, also dismissed Clark's theory. He said it struck him as the kind of thing he might expect on April Fool's Day.

People who live close to Loch Ness are polarized about Nessie. Those who believe they have seen a monster -- or know someone who has -- find her as real as Scotland's bitter winter winds. Others are equally sure that Nessie is hot air. Asked which group he fell into, Shine said: "I am not a believer. I am an investigator. . . . I am still investigating."

On Tuesday, many people across Britain found themselves confronted by television and newspaper photos and artist renderings of Nessie and a swimming elephant, and many agreed there were similarities.

A ‘loved monster’
"Elephants do swim, and they love it," said Olivia Walter, program coordinator for the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums, which has found itself fielding lots of questions about the water habits of elephants.

They do indeed submerge their bodies, leaving their trunks above water. Whether they would find Loch Ness refreshing en route to a performance, she said, "is another question."

Clark chuckled when asked about the fallout of his article in the Open University Geological Society Journal. Nessie is a "loved monster," he said. Some people find his explanation persuasive and say they can't believe they didn't think of it before, he said. But he said others have scolded him, saying, "You naughty man. You shouldn't be carrying on with this nonsense."

© 2006 The Washington Post Company

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Interesting theory. What you all think?

it does look like an elephant trunk. why hasnt anyone suggested that all those years baffles me too.

I suppose it could explain one sighting but there have been many sightings since, personally I don't agree with the elephant theory.

There's already a thread open on the subject :
http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/forum...showtopic=63516

Yeah, I agree. It would explain a couple of photos, but you'd think people would notice a strange man with a team of elephants running around the lake for years.
It's like those guys who claimed to be the ones createing crop cricles; they could have made some, but it is impossible for them to have made all of them.

I personally believe that it is unlikely for a creature the size of Nessie to have a neck like the one often reported. Pleisiosaurs' necks can't bend into an upright position, if they tried to they'd break their necks and commit suicide. They developed long necks as to not disturb the water as they approached their prey. That way they could sneak in easyily and catch fish without them knowing. Most experts believe that pleisiosaurs were actually slow swimmers, and since the couldn't "sprint" after prey, they would have to be more stealthy.

What a load of crap!! its a well known fact that some of the pictures are of elephants because it was a common occurance for travelling fairs to water the elephants at the loch. There have been a few photos proven to be elephants because the theory has been discussed before when somebody took a photo of the elephants and said , WAIT A MINUTE THIS ACTUALLY LOOKS LIKE THE MONSTER back in the 50s and a number of pictures are EXACTLY THAT!!! and have been passed of by some tit as new pictures that their dear old grandma took in the 50s.

To suggest that most of the pictures taken after that period could be explained in the same way is absolutley ridicolous, for a start a fair hasnt watered elephants there since the 60s anyway. Its a pointless fact that most poeple know anyway and to debunc the whole nessie theory is stupid.

Did the guy who came up with the theory realise that the people taking the pictures would have noticed a fair of even a master of the elephants, i mean you wouldnt just let an elephant go nuts in a lochwould you? if most pics were elephants youd have an angry bloke in frame waving a stick.

The idiot who said these photos are elephants is exactly right! Those photos were presented as photos of elephants to further the arguament that that is whats most photos are of. The pics he showed on tv have been presented before as ellies so hes correct. WHY ARE SOME PEOPLE SO DAMN DUMB

Well, if that's the case what about the lasts video that was taped of the Loch Ness monster. I mean it wasn't the best video shot in the world but you know it wasn’t a fish and it couldn't be an elephant. Its tail was so close to the boat you could have reached down and tugged on it (if you had the balls to do it).

May I suggest some anger management classes?


Perhaps you could provide a link to the video so we can decide for ourselves.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20060307/sc_...terspottedagain

The story^^^

I couldn't find the video, I'm sorry

Now I'm a skeptic of all supernatural activity...but this is just dumb...who lets elephants swim around a giant lake...I mean what if they don't come back. Seems like this story would have surfaced long before now.

an elephant!, who'd a guessed? but don't nessie sightings go back centuries?

Absolutely.. they good back centuries right up until modern day. You could possibly dismiss one sighting to an escaped circus elephant but on all of my visits to the Loch, I never saw a herd of wild elephants roaming the hills or swimming the Loch.

Clutching at straws type of theory and I bet these individuals get paid to come up with this stuff?

There's always people writting books every year, claiming that they've solved mysteries where many others have failed. Usually, they provide a little new information, but no big "This is it!" evidence.

Yes, Nessy is real, realy i tell you!!

If it was an elephant how come know one ever sighted it on land or found elephant footprints or its dung.

No offence, but I'v lived in Scotland all my life and havt found any elephants randomly roaming our highlands, and i doubt they ever have, (except during the warm periods of the ice age, maybe?)

A wooly mammoth that managed to live million of years maybe????????

The video i was reffering to was one i saw on tv the mornng i made the post. The video showed elephants swimming in the loch after a circus had stopped there to water the ellies. The guy then presented pictures of ellies in the loch from the same time and was suggesting that all sightings could be of elephants!! What a goon!!!! like i said before there are many pics of elephants in the loch and they were never claimed to be of nessie, the people who took them presented them as pics of elephants in loch ness and this guy saw similarities with older nessie pics and ran his mouth off. It was common in the 50s and 60s to water the elephants there but thats about all the truth there is in his theory. A travelling circus hasnt been around those parts for 40 or so years probably due to there not being much call for a circus in a area so sparsely populated as loch ness so you can instantly dismiss his claims on photos dated after the late 60s.