Creatures, Myths & Legends

Oxford scientist weighs in on Bigfoot, aliens and the Loch Ness Monster

By T.K. Randall
January 26, 2025

Image: AI-generated (Midjourney) While some scientists are still trying to track down answers to some of the world's most controversial enigmas, others remain adamant that such efforts are pretty much a waste of time.

Oxford University biologist Professor Tim Coulson is one such individual.

He maintains that cryptozoological creatures such as Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster are a "scientific impossibility" and that the chances of them existing are "so tiny as to be confidently discounted."

In particular, he cites the necessity of breeding populations and the complete lack of any conclusive physical evidence, as well as the lack of time necessary for something like Bigfoot to evolve.

"I would dearly love for Bigfoot, Yeti, the Loch Ness Monster and other cryptids to exist, but the scientific evidence says otherwise," he wrote recently in an article for The European magazine."The likelihood of such beasts living undetected in forests, mountains and lakes, in great numbers, for thousands of years without leaving a single skeleton, fossil, bone fragment or skin sample is hard enough to swallow."

"But when we also consider the biological and evolutionary factors that determine these species' purported existence and long-term survival, the likelihood reduces to the point where it becomes so tiny as to be confidently discounted as pure fantasy and fun figments of our imagination."

On the topic of aliens, however, Prof Coulson is somewhat more open-mined.

"Because we have only explored a fraction of even our local neighborhood, it is much too early to rule out the existence of aliens, be they simple bacteria-like organisms or little green beasts with long necks and oversized heads," he wrote.

Source: Oxford Mail

Tags: Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot