Is this some sort of animal ? Image Credit: Craig McCaa / Bureau of Land Management
Video footage of a strange snake-like creature covered in ice has recently gone viral on social media.
The peculiar spectacle was spotted by Craig McCaa from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) while he was out taking pictures of the Chena River to help chart seasonal landscape changes.
"I don't know what I would have done if I had come by in a canoe or something," he said. "But looking from it above on the University Avenue bridge I didn't feel too threatened."
The 'creature', which was around 15ft long, remained semi-submerged in the freezing river throughout the encounter and appeared to have a surprising amount of ice on its back.
McCaa uploaded the footage on to the bureau's Facebook page on Tuesday and it went viral soon afterwards, clocking up tens of thousands of views within a short space of time.
"I initially thought, and several people thought, it could be some rope that snagged on the bottom of the river with chunks of ice," he said.
"Other people have mentioned everything from sea monster to giant sturgeon."
That's cool. I agree that it has that beautiful swaying motion of a crocodilian or fish or snake in the water. It is a mesmerizing motion. I think that is what appeals to us as a living creature, but I personally think it is ice on debris.
I like to sit on the old wooden bridge by the river and watch the banks of long green water weeds on the bottom move like that in the current . Its very relaxing. Sometimes I will put on snorkel and goggles and lie in the current and hold on to something so my whole body moves like that - if one can relax enough . I probably shouldnt though ... someone might take and post a photo of it one day : " Giant mystery dugong found floating in fresh water river ! "
A lot of discussion about some pieces of drift wood snagged on fishing rig. 1) The object is stationary. Watch the beginning few seconds of the video, this object isn't moving forward (reference the island behind it). The illusion of swimming is caused by the river moving past it when he zooms in. 2) It clearly hasn't snowed too recently (reference the bank of the river) so how does a swimming animal accumulate snow on it's back? Answer: it doesn't I'll grant it's a cool optical illusion after a fashion, but there are no eyes, snout, mouth or mickey mouse ears visible anywhere in this clip... [More]
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