Nessie photo cash prize and extinct tortoise may still be around.

Published: 10/01/2012

Cash prize offered for best Nessie sighting - voted by you

BOOKMAKER William Hill is preparing to shell out a £1000 reward following a bumper year for Nessie sightings.It follows several lean years for close encounters with Loch Ness’s most famous resident — leading to speculation about whether she was still alive, or had disappeared.But with three “good” sightings reported to the Official Loch Ness Monster Fan Club during 2011, the bookmaker is to present the Best Nessie Sighting of the Year Award for the first time in several years.Inverness Courier readers have the chance to vote on here for the winner who will receive £1000, plus a free £500 bet.In addition, a £100 bet will be placed on the Natural History Museum confirming the existence of Nessie by the end of the year — odds are currently 100/1.

Read rest here and see pics : http://www.inverness-courier.co.uk/News/Cash-prize-offered-for-best-Nessie-sighting-voted-by-you-09012012.htm

Extinct' Galapagos tortoise may still exist

Richard Black By Richard Black Environment correspondent, BBC News

A giant Galapagos tortoise believed extinct for 150 years probably still exists, say scientists.

Chelonoidis elephantopus lived on the island of Floreana, and was heavily hunted, especially by whalers who visited the Galapagos to re-stock.A Yale University team found hybrid tortoises on another island, Isabela, that appear to have C. elephantopus as one of their parents.Some hybrids are only 15 years old, so their parents are likely to be alive.The different shapes of the giant tortoises on the various Galapagos islands was one of the findings that led Charles Darwin to develop the theory of evolution through natural selection.The animals are thought to have colonised the archipelago through floating from the shores of South America.Colonies on each island remained relatively isolated from each other, and so evolved in subtly different directions.C. elephantopus is especially notable for its saddleback-shaped shell, whereas species on neighbouring islands sported a dome-like carapace.Three years ago, the Yale team reported finding some evidence of hybrids around Volcano Wolf at the northern end of Isabela Island, in amongst the native population of Chelonoidis becki.
Read rest here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16467397

sightings of orang minyak reported

The Legendary 'Oily Man' Monster Terrorizes Malaysia

Benjamin Radford, Life's Little Mysteries Contributor

Date: 06 January 2012

Around Christmas, something unusual was seen in Malaysia, and it wasn't Santa Claus. Residents of the Kampung district of Melaka were alarmed over reports of the orang minyak (Malay for "oily man"), a bizarre monster said to abduct young women by night throughout Malaysia. The creature has been occasionally sighted for decades, but never captured.
According to a report in Malaysiannewspaper The Star, there were multiple sightings over the Christmas holidays. One eyewitness saw it "crawling up the stairs of the house, just like Spider-man. When it reached the top it suddenly jumped onto the roof. I don't think a human could do that. It then just disappeared... We can laugh and joke about it, but this is serious. All the families here have young girls."

Read rest here: http://www.livescience.com/17781-orang-minyak-malaysia.html

When did prehistoric marine reptiles die out?

German marine reptile find rewrites fossil record

German experts have found a new species of prehistoric marine giant from a time when most of that family of reptiles were thought to have died out.The rare ichthyosaur find from the Braunschweig area, northern Germany, is 130 million years old, dating from the Lower Cretaceous era.Most ichthyosaur fossils date from the Jurassic era, millions of years before. The Braunschweig fossil revelations were reported in the science journal Plos One on Tuesday. The new type of ichthyosaur, discovered during roadworks in 2005, has been called Acamptonectes densus - "Stiff Swimmer"

Read rest here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16432364

virgin shark birth mystery

Zebra shark at centre of 'virgin birth' mystery

A lone zebra shark in a Dubai aquarium has prompted scientific interest after laying eggs for the fourth year in a row which hatch into healthy offspring.Zebedee, who lives in the Burj aAl Arab hotel's aquarium, has never had access to a male shark but that has not stopped her producing numerous live offspring.
Philip Hampsheir reports from Dubai.

See video here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16420848

Which begs the question :Does there have to be a breeding family of lake creatures in order for lake creatures to exist as some claim? Maybe in isolation, a female is all that is needed.

new ocean species discovered

Researchers: 'Lost World' Discovered Around Antarctic Vents

by Underwatertimes.com News Service - January 4, 2012

OXFORD, United Kingdom -- Communities of species previously unknown to science have been discovered on the seafloor near Antarctica, clustered in the hot, dark environment surrounding hydrothermal vents.The discoveries, made by teams led by the University of Oxford, University of Southampton and British Antarctic Survey, include new species of yeti crab, starfish, barnacles, sea anemones, and potentially an octopus.

Read rest see pics here: http://www.underwatertimes.com/news.php?article_id=98613504271

'The Hoff' crab is new ocean find

Jonathan Amos By Jonathan Amos Science correspondent, BBC News

UK scientists have found prodigious numbers of a new crab species on the Southern Ocean floor that they have dubbed "The Hoff" because of its hairy chest. The animal was discovered living around volcanic vents off South Georgia. Great piles of the crabs were seen to come together. The creature has still to be formally classified, hence the humorous nickname that honours the often bare-chested US actor David Hasselhoff. It is, however, a type of yeti crab, said Professor Alex Rogers who led the research cruise that found the animal, and it will be given a formal scientific name in due course. Yeti crabs were first identified in the southern Pacific and are recognised for their hairs, or setae, along their claws and limbs that they use to cultivate the bacteria which they then eat.But the new species found around the vents that populate the East Scotia Ridge are slightly different in that they exhibit long setae on their ventral surface - on their undersides.

Read rest see pics here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16394430

Is here a lake creature in Lake Vattern?

The Creature in Lake Vattern

Lake Vattern is in Sweden. It is said to be at least three-hundred and fifty feet (115 metres) deep and is Sweden’s largest freshwater lake. The lake contains both phytoplankton and zooplankton and several species of fish including the Vättern char (Salvelinus alpinus). There have been stories of a lake creature/ monster living there since the late 1800’s. It is reported that when in the water it has an upside-down boat shape( sounds like nessie). It is not so well known as other lake monsters in Sweden.Sightings include:

In 1897, an ugly creature walked out of the lake, onto the shore and terrified local swimmers. It had two short legs and later returned into the water.

In 1947 a Captain Egon Johansson of the tugboat “Hebe 3” was in the southern end of the lake on August 26. He reported that he saw two humps on the surface of the water. They were about forty-fifty feet ( 13- 16 metres)long and were about two feet( 0.6 metre) high. Then an airplane flew past and the humps vanished into the water.

In 1975, fishermen complained that “something large and unknown had ripped holes in their nets.”

On July 25, 2001, two people were watching the lake, when about one-hundred and fifty feet ( approx 45 metres) away, three humps appeared.

The two feet sighting is interesting and sounds more like a large seal of some sort, the feet being front flippers. The other sightings though are more typical of lake creature sightings.There was an investigation by GUST I believe but I have been unable to find any results. If anyone knows more please post.