Are There Living Dinosaurs In The Congo?
There are stories of a dinosaur like creature living in the waterways of the Congo River basin known as Mokele-mbembe. It is believed that these creatures prefer to nest in the bends of rivers, and there have been numerous sightings reported over the years of the creature. In fact, the first reported sighting by Westerners dates back to 1776.
Mokèlé-mbèmbé is the name given to a creature believed to inhabit the upper reaches of the Congo River basin, i.e. Congo, Zambia and Cameroon, as well as in Lake Tele (in the Republic of Congo) and its surrounding regions.
This name originates from the Lingala language, and is commonly translated to mean ‘one who stops the flow of rivers’, said to be a reference to the creature’s supposed preference for nestling in the bends of rivers. Mokèlé-mbèmbé is also said to be the word for ‘rainbow’, as well as ‘mystery’, according to Paul Ohlin, a missionary who has spent more than a decade living with the Bayaka pygmies of Congo and the Central African Republic.
Description of the Creature
Over the years, numerous physical descriptions regarding the Mokèlé-mbèmbé have been provided. The various accounts generally agree that the creature is enormous in size, and has a long neck with a small head, as well as a long tail.
In some accounts, the Mokèlé-mbèmbé is also said to be an herbivorous creature that lived in caves by the river, where it could find its favorite food - a certain type of liana. Despite its vegetarian diet, it is thought that the Mokèlé-mbèmbé would act aggressively if approached by people. In one account, it is said that the beast has a single horn, perhaps like a rhinoceros, with which it would use to kill elephants. There are even claims that the Mokèlé-mbèmbé is a spiritual, rather than a physical being.
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Yes. All of them.
ReplyDeleteI say no! But some of the people haven't come out of the Stone Age!
ReplyDeletespeaking of stone age... time to change the bong water bro.
Delete^ funny
DeleteI think it's possible,there's an interesting link on the article about a Triceratops horn xx
DeleteThe Congo is a hugely unexplored area and vast in size - although highly unlikely they exist it is possible - unless a person lives there it is useless speculation.
DeleteThe problem with the dinosaur theory is that sauropod dinosaurs were not aquatic animals. The long neck was not holding the head high in the air for feeding (possibly with brachiosaurus though). Most likely, the neck swept the head back and forth to read in a broad swath. If the head were perched high on the neck, the heart wouldn't be able to pump blood efficiently. Also, sauropod trackways show a terrestrial animal that had to cover long distances due to the enormous caloric requiremants for day to day living. If this congo critter exists, it almost certainly be unrelated to dinosaurs.
DeleteHippos spend a lot of time in water. It helps when your body is that big
DeleteMMC
I get what you are saying, but the biomechanics of sauropod size are vastly different. They had lungs with a system of air sacks that would help with bouyancy,and track ways tell us they definitely spent time along coastlines and in water, however at the huge sizes these animals reached, their lungs would collapse at even relatively shallow depths of a few meters. The relatively large number of preserved tracks also tell us these were here animals. With their dietary requirements, and the fact that they moved in groups, the landscape would be stripped, as they kept moving on to fresh food sources. Just because the Congo mystery animal is described as looking like a dinosaur, that doesn't make it one. The description of its habits rule out the possibility.
DeleteI'm impressed LobsterTrouble - you obviously know what you are talking about. Pity some here don't.
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