So, there we have it: The Loch Ness monster mystery apparently solved. News services around the globe have been running a story about scientists who carried out DNA testing of the water in the renowned Scottish lake and found clear evidence of – eels.
That’s something of a letdown when you consider that, according to a story in The Washington Post, reports about the “monster” go back as far as 565AD.
With all that’s going on in the world, surely scientists have better things to do with their grant money than pursue a mythical creature.
Well, maybe not. Some believe there is much of value to be gained in pursuit of mythological beasts – that, for example, as reported in Cosmos in 2017, “the search for mythical monsters can help conservation in the real world”.
We’re speaking here of cryptozoology, which National Geographic calls the study of “hidden life or animals”, adding that “it implies a creature that's been recorded through folklore, something that we have reason to suspect exists”.
The Livescience website says cryptozoology is the study of “cryptids”, animals that are “rumoured to exist”, such as Bigfoot and Nessie, which “continue to tempt the hopeful and the adventurous with the possibility of their existence”.
But as an episode of the Discovery Channel’s Animal Planet television series says, “with the advancement of science and technology, not all cryptids have remained in the realm of hearsay”.
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