A veteran Nessie investigator claims the legendary monster is simply a case of mistaken identity, attributing sightings to swans and boat wakes.
An expert who has spent 50 years investigating the Nessie phenomenon has delivered his verdict on the monster – that people are actually seeing swans. Naturalist Adrian Shine said people spotting 'long-necked' creatures on Loch Ness were actually misidentifying waterbirds in calm conditions. While mysterious humps or loops in the water were really just boat wakes , he said, which are the 'largest cause of monster sightings'.
He added that the Nessie of popular imagination was simply the classic sea serpent depicted on old maps in a new inland setting. Mr Shine, a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and founder of the Loch Ness Project, says he is a 'sympathetic sceptic' when it comes to the monster. But he offered few comforts to those who believe Nessie is real. He said: 'Boat wakes are probably the number one cause of monsters sightings, and waterbirds are the long-necked ones.' He continued: 'Of course there are long-necked creatures on Loch Ness – we call them swans. An expert who has spent 50 years probing the Nessie phenomenon has delivered his devastating verdict on the monster – that people are actually seeing swans. Pictured: a composite image of different parts of a swan He said: 'You cannot talk about Nessies as a single phenomenon – it is derived directly from the sea serpents controversy' Sketches by various witnesses of their respective Loch Ness Monster sightings, published by Nessie investigator Rupert Gould in 1934 'And in calm conditions you can lose your ability to judge distance, and if you can't judge distance, you can't judge size.' He's not the only one to notice the resemblance either. Finnish photographer Tommi Vainionpää edited together a convincing likeness of Nessie using images of different parts of a swan, captured in silhouette. Other waterbirds mistaken for the monster included cormorants and mergansers, Mr Shine sai
Loch Ness Monster Nessie Swans Boat Wakes Misidentification
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