Research work "Which of the modern animals are the closest relatives of dinosaurs?" Modern Reptiles - Descendants of Dinosaurs Who is the only living descendant of dinosaurs



Keywords: relatives of dinosaurs.

Introduction

I recently visited a crocodile farm with my parents. There are crocodiles in comfortable enclosures different types, snakes, turtles, monitor lizards. I liked it very much! I was delighted! After this visit, I became interested in the life of these fauna. And I had a question: “Are some of the animals I saw related to dinosaurs?” This question haunted me. After all, many modern animals are similar to dinosaurs. I really wanted to know how dinosaurs lived, what they looked like, why they became extinct and, most importantly, did they have relatives in our world?

Research hypothesis: I assume that in our time there are animals related to dinosaurs. For example, giraffes, rhinoceroses, turtles, chameleons, crocodiles.

Purpose of my research: determine whether relatives of dinosaurs exist in our time; maybe not all dinosaurs went extinct.

Research objectives:

Compare existing animals with various types dinosaurs;

Determine if they have common features in body structure, appearance and behavior;

Identify the closest relatives.

To solve the problems, I used the following methods:

Studying scientific literature;

Conversations with adults;

Introduction to scientific and educational films;

Searching for information on the Internet.

Relevance of my research is that the knowledge gained can help us save those species of animals that are threatened with extinction today. Perhaps dinosaurs will be able to tell us how to save the modern Earth!

Short review literature:

While working on this project, I read a lot of books:

reference literature;

various encyclopedias;

Guinness Book of Records;

There are 7 sources in total.

I conducted my research according to the following plan:

Historical information about dinosaurs.

Lookalikes (comparing dinosaurs with some modern animals).

Comparison of dinosaurs with reptiles.

Comparison of dinosaurs with birds.

1. Historical information about dinosaurs.

The first dinosaurs appeared approximately 240 thousand years BC.

English scientist Richard Owen (1804–1892) found a large number of huge bones. These animals seemed very scary to him, and he called them “dinosaurs” or “terrible lizards.” Since then they have been called that.

However, not all dinosaurs were so terrible, and many of them did not look like lizards at all. Some could fly and looked more like birds. Most of them laid eggs with hard, durable shells.

Some dinosaurs were huge, the size of a tennis court, while others were small, like a chicken. Some had smooth skin, while others were covered with scales, or a horny shell that protected the body. Dinosaurs are reptiles. Reptiles are cold-blooded animals. This means that their body temperature depends on the ambient temperature. But some scientists believe that there were also warm-blooded dinosaurs that were able to independently regulate their body temperature, like mammals.

What distinguished dinosaurs from other reptiles? Their paws were under the body, whereas those of other reptiles were spread apart. Thanks to this, it was easier for dinosaurs to move: they did not have to drag their bodies along the ground, like other reptiles. Some reptiles walked on two legs, others on four; some of them were slow, others moved with great speed, and many lived at sea.

Most dinosaurs ate grass. They are called herbivores. There were dinosaurs - predators, they ate meat. They are called carnivores. Predatory dinosaurs hunted herbivorous dinosaurs.

If herbivorous dinosaurs were unable to escape or did not have a protective shell, they had no chance of salvation.

We know about six hundred species of dinosaurs that went extinct 65 million years ago. There are several hypotheses that explain the reasons for the extinction of dinosaurs. But it is clear that they became extinct as a result of some grandiose catastrophe that swept the entire globe.

2. Lookalikes (comparing dinosaurs with some modern animals)

How can one determine whether a particular modern animal is a relative of a dinosaur? It is not easy. Some animals may look like dinosaurs, but that's not enough. The similarity of the skeleton and general features behavior.

Let's explore three modern animals that either look similar to some dinosaurs or behave in a similar way:

Giraffe thanks to his

long neck can eat

leaves from the treetops,

exactly like diplodocus.

Armadillo protected

bone shell,

exactly like

ankylosaur.

Rhinoceros looks

about the same

How Triceratops.

He also has a big one

overweight body and a horn on the nose.

Are all these animals related to dinosaurs? No. The giraffe, the armadillo, and the rhinoceros are mammals. They are warm-blooded and viviparous. They belong to a completely different class than dinosaurs. After all, dinosaurs were reptiles and laid eggs. Therefore, modern relatives of dinosaurs should be sought among reptiles.

3. Comparison of dinosaurs with reptiles

Reptiles, which once constituted the major group of animals on Earth, are now in great decline. Only representatives of the following main groups survived: turtles, lizards, snakes, crocodiles and one more, almost extinct form - New Zealand tuateria. During all this time, the hatterias have remained virtually unchanged. They are similar to dinosaurs, but differ from them in body structure. Therefore, it seems to me that tuateria cannot be considered the closest relative of dinosaurs.

Turtles- representatives of another group of reptiles. These are the most ancient reptiles that have survived to us. They appeared about 200 million years ago - much earlier than dinosaurs. Moreover, turtles managed to survive the disaster that killed the dinosaurs and survive to this day, almost unchanged. However, they are not closely related to dinosaurs, since they belong to a different branch family tree reptiles.

And from whom did they come? crocodiles? In the course of my work, I learned that about 250 million years ago, a new group reptiles - archosaurs. From these ancient animals came very important groups:

I found out that on the crocodile's skull in front of the eye sockets there are the same depressions as in dinosaurs. The pelvic bones of a crocodile are also similar to the pelvic bones of lizards. Thus, we can conclude that crocodiles are the closest relatives of dinosaurs that have survived to this day. By observing modern crocodiles - how they keep warm, how they catch and eat prey, how they care for their offspring - we get an approximate idea of ​​what kind of life dinosaurs led in the distant past.

4. Comparison of dinosaurs with birds

One of the fossil creatures that combines the characteristics of birds and reptiles is Archeopteryx, or first bird. Archeopteryx's head was covered with scaly skin, like dinosaurs. In the course of evolution, their scales turned into a “fringe”, more and more reminiscent of feathers. Archeopteryx still flew very poorly (gliding from tree to tree), and was approximately the size of a crow. There were free fingers on its wings (of modern birds, only chicks have them hoatzins).

Birds are believed to have evolved from theropods more than 150 million years ago. The structure of the skeletons of ancient birds and small theropods is largely similar. For example, Archeopteryx had a skeleton almost the same as compsognathus.

Birds have retained much in common with reptiles, and they are even called “ feathered warm-blooded reptiles" The legs and fingers of birds still have scales similar to the scales of reptiles.

The first birds had the same teeth as reptiles. But in the course of evolution it is difficult dental system completely disappeared. In addition, the pelvic bones of birds are very similar to the pelvic bones of lizards. And finally, birds lay eggs in hard shells - just like reptiles.

From all of the above, I conclude that birds living today are direct descendants of dinosaurs.

Conclusion

So I believe that in my research work the hypothesis about the existence of relatives of dinosaurs in our time was confirmed.

I compared existing animals and birds with various types of dinosaurs and came to the conclusion that the birds we feed in the parks are the only true descendants of dinosaurs, although according to their current appearance you can't say that.

Crocodiles are also relatives of dinosaurs. They developed in parallel with dinosaurs and are their " cousins" The reason for the survival of all these creatures is that they could regulate their body temperature even in harsh climatic conditions.

Nowadays, many different reptiles live on Earth. True, many of them are threatened with extinction due to the fact that people mercilessly exterminate them for meat, bones and beautiful skins. Thus, the problem discussed in this work not only introduces us to the past, but also gives us the opportunity to think about the future.

Literature:

1. Aksenova M. Encyclopedia for children. Volume 2. Avanta+, M.: 1997
2. Bannikova A. G. Animal life. Volume five. Amphibians and reptiles. Enlightenment, M.: 1985
3. Johnson D., Kay M., Parker S., Animals. 5000 amazing facts. Rosman, M.: 2005
4. Carr A. Reptiles. Mir, M.: 1975
5. McCord A. Prehistoric life. Rosman, M.: 1996
6. Naletova O. V., Zatolokina V. L. Dinosaurs (Children's Information Bureau). Astrel, M.: 2002

Lambert M. Children's Encyclopedia. Publishing house "Slovo". 1994

Keywords: relatives of dinosaurs.

Annotation: The existence of relatives of dinosaurs has been determined.

Everyone loved dinosaurs as a child, and almost everyone simply adored “Park Jurassic" But not many people know that almost everything that tells us about dinosaurs Mass culture- not true. In this collection we have collected the most popular misconceptions about dinosaurs.

Dinosaurs were the largest creatures that ever existed on earth

First: not all dinosaurs were big. Of course, some of them reached quite serious sizes. But these were single species. In addition to them, there were many less impressive dinosaurs, the size of a sheep, a dog or a chicken, for example. The smallest dinosaur known to science weighed about 200 grams. Secondly: you will be surprised, but the largest animal that has ever existed on Earth is our contemporary - the blue whale. So if you were upset that you'd never be able to see a live Megaladon, there's a good chance you'll see a much larger giant alive.

All dinosaurs lived in the tropics

This myth is due to the fact that the climate used to be much warmer than it is now. And based on this, some seriously believe that almost all the land was then covered with thick rainforests. In reality this is, of course, not the case. During the existence of dinosaurs, as well as now, the Earth already had deserts, plains, ordinary forests, and jungles, of course. Moreover, over the millions of years that dinosaurs walked on our planet, the landscape, like the climate, invariably changed. And dinosaurs successfully mastered the entire range of ecosystems.

Dinosaurs were dumb creatures with tiny brains.

Judging the intelligence of creatures that lived 100 million years ago, of which only fossilized remains have survived, is an extremely thankless task. The only thing we can know more or less accurately is the size of their brains. And, naturally, it was different for all dinosaurs, both in absolute value and relative to body size. The same Stegosaurus, often ridiculed for its tiny brain, actually had a brain the size of Walnut and weighing about 70 grams. On the other hand, our favorite four-legged friends, dogs, have brains that are about the same size. But dogs weigh a maximum of 100 kilograms, which is 20 times less than the weight of the stegosaurus. But the brain of a tyrannosaurus, for example, was three times larger than the brain of a dolphin. But relative to body size, it roughly corresponds to the brain of modern reptiles.

The Jurassic period is the "golden age" of dinosaurs

Well, first of all: the greatest diversification of dinosaur species, according to statistical studies, was not in the Jurassic, but in the Late Cretaceous period. And secondly: even this obvious diversity is nothing more than an illusion, since it is precisely the breeds of the late Cretaceous period today are more studied than breeds of other periods Mesozoic era. So it is still impossible to say with complete certainty when there were more dinosaurs.

Tyrannosaurus is the largest predator ever to walk the earth

Once again, a myth to which we are entirely indebted to popular culture. Tyrannosaurus turned out to be so often mentioned that it practically became the personification of the brand for all dinosaurs in general. It’s just that when most people hear the word “dinosaur,” they think of either a Tyrannosaurus rex or a Triceratops. So it is the tyrannosaurus that is often called the largest and most dangerous of all land predators known to science. We will return to its danger later, but for now let’s talk about its size. Today it is absolutely clear that the Tyrannosaurus rex was not the largest land predator in history. The largest skeleton found is 12.3 meters long. While the spinosaurus reached 16 meters in length. But these two giants have never met, since the tyrannosaurus is “younger” than its competitor by more than 30 million years. And, naturally, evolution has not stood still all these years, so in many respects the tyrannosaurus looks like a much more advanced “killing machine” than its more ancient brother.

Dinosaurs were a dead-end branch of evolution

The fact that they did not build cities and did not organize wars for resources does not mean that they were a dead-end branch of evolution. Dinosaurs were perfectly integrated into the then environment. They were the dominant species on the planet and essentially masters of not only the land, but also the air and the sea. Although objectively speaking, neither marine reptiles nor flying lizards can be called dinosaurs, they were still much more related than us and dolphins, for example. And yet. Humans have been evolving for only two million years and are already close to global crises and the threat of total destruction of themselves. While dinosaurs evolved absolutely beautifully over 135 million years, and if not for global cataclysms beyond their control, they might have continued to live to this day.

When dinosaurs lived, all mammals were the size of mice

No, even then there were much larger representatives of the order of mammals. Here, however, it is worth immediately making a reservation: it depends on what you count large size. Of course, if we talk about the size of a mammoth, then, of course, there were no such mammals during the time of dinosaurs. In general, the average size of mammals then did not exceed the size of a modern cat. However, even then, namely about 125-122 million years ago, there were already mammals such as Repenomamus, for example. It was about 1 meter long, weighed 12-14 kg, and judging by the remains found, it even ate some small dinosaurs.

All dinosaurs lived only in the equatorial region of the earth, and the finds of their remains in temperate latitudes explained by the movement of continents

And again no. Yes, over the millions of years of dinosaurs’ existence, not only the climate, but also the landscape of the earth changed. But many modern finds prove that dinosaurs lived even in Antarctica. To be fair, it is worth noting that in those days Australia and New Zealand were connected to Antarctica, forming one polar continent. The climate in those days, naturally, was much warmer than today, but the dinosaurs who lived there still had to adapt to the harsh weather conditions. In summer, the sun shone on this continent around the clock, and for five months of the year the polar night reigned. It is possible that predators and herbivorous dinosaurs were in these areas in the summer, and in the winter they migrated to warmer regions to the north.

Dinosaurs became extinct as a result of a meteorite impact

Contrary to the assurances of many people that this is exactly what happened, this is only one version of what happened. Scientific debate about what caused the death of dinosaurs, whether their extinction was sudden or gradual, continues to this day; there is no single point of view. It is known for certain that the extinction of dinosaurs was only part of the so-called “great extinction” that took place at the same time. They went extinct along with the dinosaurs marine reptiles, flying lizards, many mollusks and a huge amount of small algae. In total, 16% of marine animal families and 18% of land vertebrate families died. According to one of the widespread theories, the death of dinosaurs could have occurred due to a planet relatively close to ours. solar system supernova explosion. Such an event could unleash a deadly shower of gamma rays on the Earth, and the X-rays emitted by the explosion could sweep away some earth's atmosphere, forming a hot layer at an altitude of 20-80 km above the surface of the planet.

Velociraptors could reach speeds of up to 100 km/h

In general, the real image of the Velociraptor, which scientists were able to reconstruct, is extremely far from what was shown to us in the Jurassic Park franchise. This is largely due to the fact that when working on the film, the basis was the reconstruction of another dinosaur - Deinonychus, which was previously classified as a genus of Velociraptor. But even the Deinonychus in the film are doubled in size compared to their size. actual dimensions. As for real velociraptors, evolutionarily they were closer to birds, had plumage, were warm-blooded animals, reached a height of 60-70 cm and weighed about 20 kg. IN this moment there are no scientific justification to think that velociraptors could run very fast, hunted in packs (all their found remains were individual individuals), and even more so, possessed some kind of super-developed intelligence. All this is nothing more than fiction.

Find out if dinosaurs really existed and why they disappeared. Here you will find expert opinions on whether there are dinosaurs on Earth today, whether omnivorous dinosaurs exist in the 21st century.

Answer:

Are there dinosaurs today? Modern scientists were sure that these creatures became extinct at the end of the Jurassic period. However, the latest find says the opposite in this regard.

Not long ago, the remains of the last dinosaur that managed to survive that disaster were found. He was immediately dubbed Leinkupal laticuada, which means “disappearing family.” This type of dinosaur managed to stay alive after its relatives became extinct. His remains were discovered by scientists in a place where nothing like it had ever been found before.

The dinosaur belongs to a species of sauropods, which are considered representatives of giant herbivores. These are some of the largest living creatures to ever inhabit the Earth.

After the mass extinction of dinosaurs, this species was able to evolve in the Cretaceous period and continue its existence.

Scientists managed to discover these remains in South America and Argentina (Patagonia), despite the fact that the previous existence of dinosaurs of this type of sauropod was assumed in areas of North and Central America. This allows us to consider the discovery very interesting, since the information will help to clarify movements after climate change and the extinction of the main part of the dinosaurs.

Did dinosaurs exist and why did they disappear?

Today, when science has made great progress and it is possible to reconstruct the picture of events from the found remains, doubts about whether dinosaurs existed are no longer relevant. News regularly appears about the discovery of a tooth or bone of an animal. And yet, why did they really disappear?

Huge living creatures that inhabited the Earth many millions of years ago became extinct for inexplicable reasons. However, different scientists are putting forward more and more new versions on this matter. Among them are the fact that there were too many males and eating their own eggs. Also more probable hypotheses.

One of the most reliable versions is the change climatic conditions in that era. This led to the fact that many plants began to disappear, thereby depriving the dinosaurs of their main source of food. At the same time, it is still unknown in which direction the climate has changed: whether it was a strong cooling or, on the contrary, warming.

What is the purpose of the existence of such reptiles? Are they supposed to testify to how monstrous the world of dinosaurs was? Or talk about the difficulties of creating BEAUTIFUL, which, contrary to intentions, turns out to be TERRIBLE? I think... It is unlikely that so much ingenuity would have been spent on the colorful outfit of monsters if the actions of Nature had not been determined by the AESTHETIC SEARCH...

Modern reptiles

Ancient reptiles

The largest land animals, the dinosaurs, flourished during the Mesozoic era, when they dominated the land, sea and air. After 160 million years, at the end of the Cretaceous period, most of these became extinct. Modern reptiles- only scattered remnants of the world of monsters: domesticated, used for entertainment, remaining terrible and incomprehensible...

Lizards and turtles

The most large groups from modern. They live among people (and perhaps people among them are multimillion-year-old). People keep turtles at home in boxes and feed them cabbage leaves. At the same time, they do not know or forget about the monstrous and terrifying lizards living on Earth today. But some of them are capable of murder, while others are capable of dismemberment or simply gnawing off a hand. The mere sight of a hard shell or a thin tail should signal danger beyond one's wildest expectations. But no…

Monitor lizards, iguanas

They lead a mainly arboreal lifestyle. They are small in size, have bizarre scales, very brightly colored. People rip them out natural environment and turned into an object to be looked at and photographed. This is an outrage against nature - they are the descendants of ancient dinosaurs!!! But, no, people only think about themselves, what do they care that Nature wanted to leave them with a memory of the planet’s past...

Large animals with a lizard-like body. There are only 23 species, which include true crocodiles, as well as alligators, caimans and gharials. Crocodiles are dangerous to humans - they attack people. Crocodile meat is consumed as food by many people. tropical countries. The skin of crocodiles, especially alligators, is used to make various haberdashery products (briefcases, suitcases, etc.). Predatory extermination of crocodiles led to a sharp reduction in their numbers and the adoption of protective measures. In a number of countries (for example, Thailand) there are special farms for breeding crocodiles.

Habitat of the green mamba

South Africa. Length - up to 150 cm. Mamba is a very beautiful snake. Its scales shimmer in emerald green, with shades of blue and yellow. Can attack for no apparent reason and without warning. Its poison acts so quickly that doctors do not even have time to administer the antidote on the spot, let alone bring it to the nearest hospital. Green mambas love to jump from branches by the collar, from where it is very difficult to get it, and while you are messing around, the mamba will have time to inflict a fatal bite.

Komodo monitor
OR GIANT INDONESIAN MONITOR

Lives in Indonesian woodlands, beaches and plateaus, posing a threat to almost everything living, like prehistoric predator higher order. The lizards, which measure 3 meters in length and weigh more than 136 kilograms, are the largest on Earth, forming a microcosm of a prehistoric world ruled by reptiles.

Komodo dragons

They feed on large prey such as Asian buffalo. There were cases when they attacked, dismembered and absorbed people. When attacking such large prey, they knock it down and then brutally attack, tearing off large pieces of flesh. Toxic saliva and bacteria weaken the victim, who does not die immediately.

Scientists have suggested Komodo dragons evolved in such a way as to feed on the now extinct dwarf elephants that previously lived in the same area as them. I can’t help but express doubts... If monitor lizards survived dwarf elephants, then the purpose of the existence of such reptiles was higher. Were they supposed to testify to how monstrous the world of dinosaurs is? Or talk about the difficulties of creating something that, contrary to intentions, turns out to be HORRIBLE? I think...

It's unlikely that so much ingenuity is worth wasting
on the colorful outfit of monsters, if the actions of Nature
does not define AESTHETIC SEARCH...

We know well to what extent we are human. animal world of our planet? This question will surprise most people. In reality: there are many scientific works, which can fully satisfy curiosity in this area. It seems that in the 21st century there are and cannot be secrets in the animal world. But it is not so. And these days, from time to time there are reports saying that the animal world has not been studied as well as we might think.

They were very popular in the 20th century various kinds research into mysterious animals similar to dragons, or, in scientific terms, dinosaurs, that lived on Earth in prehistoric times.

You shouldn't think that modern man, tired of everyday affairs and worries, suddenly suddenly believed in fairy tales, myths and legends that mention dragons and others mythical creatures. In fact, reports, for example, about plesiosaurs look quite convincing and are within the scope of scientific interests of a number of zoologists.

Are all dinosaurs extinct?

Any modern person knows that prehistoric animals disappeared from the face of the Earth a long time ago, millions of years ago. The question of why this happened is very interesting. After all, dinosaurs became extinct a very long time ago. short period, although they lived on Earth for more than 150 million years. Over such a long period of time, the climate on the planet has repeatedly changed and there have been many other changes to which animals have been able to adapt quite successfully.

The dinosaurs disappeared in about 5 million years, that is, very quickly. There are many hypotheses trying to explain this disappearance. One of the scientists, American geophysicist U. Alvarez, proposed a very original version. In the second half of the 20th century, he studied an underwater canyon in Italy and discovered in a layer of clay that belonged to the end of the Mesozoic era (it was during that era that dinosaurs disappeared) that there was an increased content of iridium - 30 times more than is usually found in the earth's crust.

The fact is that there is not so much iridium in the bowels of the Earth; it is more often found in other cosmic bodies. The scientist suggested that at the end of the Mesozoic era, our planet collided with a large asteroid, the diameter of which was more than 10 km. An asteroid crashed into the Earth at high speed. As a result, the iridium content in the earth's crust increased, which in itself, however, was not dangerous for dinosaurs.

But when the asteroid collided, a huge amount of dust rose into the air. The surface of the planet was covered with a dust curtain from the Sun. Due to shortage sun rays plants began to die. Many dinosaurs were herbivores and ate about 2 quintals of plants per day. They began to die of hunger, which meant that the predators, in turn, began to lack food. As a result, all dinosaurs became extinct. Of course, this is just one hypothesis.

Prehistoric creatures - guests from the Mesozoic era

Meanwhile, cryptozoology assures us that many prehistoric animals have not disappeared, but live in our time. Or, at least, they lived relatively not so long ago.

16th century - S. Herberstein, diplomat, traveler and writer, served as the Austrian ambassador in Russia. In his diary he described people who lived in the forests and kept them as pets big snakes, lizard-like, with four legs and pointed bodies of black color.

In Russian chronicles of the 16th century there is a record of how “crocodiles” came out of a river near Novgorod and ate many people. This entry is dated 1582. Of course, it is possible to suspect the ancient chronicler of a hoax, but at that distant time the chroniclers were precisely chroniclers, and not science fiction writers. And maybe everything was exactly as it was said in the chronicle.

A few years later, in 1589, the Englishman J. Garcia, while in Russia, saw a dead crocodile on the river bank. From the point of view of official science, in Eastern Europe Crocodiles weren't supposed to live. But we're talking about about the 16th century. It can be assumed that these reptiles were found in Russian reservoirs at that time. In the future, they could die both from natural causes and as a result of aggression from people. Now it is no longer possible to find out whether those “crocodiles” were prehistoric lizards.

In Scotland there is one fairly deep lake - Loch Morar. According to eyewitnesses, this lake is home to a creature unknown to science. In the 1970s, scientists conducted special research on this lake, after which they stated that they personally saw a large animal with a head similar to a snake. The size of the strange creature exceeded 13 meters. One of the researchers, Professor G. Vakhrushev, is convinced that the mysterious creatures that are talked about so much are in fact lake plesiosaurs; today they may well live in lakes that originated from freshwater reservoirs of the Mesozoic era.

Unknown monsters can exist not only in water, but also on land. It is very interesting that the Irish mysterious beasts are similar in appearance to the mythological creatures “kelpies”, about which there are many legends in Western Scotland. Ireland and Scotland are very close, so it is not surprising that the legends and myths of these countries are similar.

Meanwhile, there is information about mysterious creatures, which were also observed in Russia. For example, they say that Nessie’s “relatives” live in the lakes of Yakutia, namely prehistoric animals that should have disappeared from the face of the earth a long time ago.

So, in the middle of the 20th century, some people were lucky enough to see a strange creature whose description was very similar to a plesiosaur. One of the eyewitnesses (who also managed to sketch a hitherto unprecedented animal) was an employee of the biological detachment of the Yakut branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences. The fish lizard was also seen by geologists working in Yakutia.

It is curious that the Yakuts have long been sure: monsters live in their lakes, feeding on fish and even birds that settle on the shores of reservoirs. The monsters did not disdain people who went to the lakes to fish. Of course, local legends did not at all pretend to be “scientific”. People only wanted to warn each other about the terrible danger and in no case were chasing sensations.

The stories are quite interesting. Aristotle and Euripides also wrote about them. There is a legend that in the 8th century BC. e. King Sargon II saw a huge sea snake off the coast of Cyprus. An image of this creature was found during archaeological excavations in Assyria on the walls of the Korsadad Palace.

Modern scientists do not deny the possibility that prehistoric animals can survive today. Some accounts from witnesses who personally saw strange creatures, cites the famous popularizer of science V. Mezentsev in one of his books.

1734 - the Danish missionary P. Egende sailed on a ship along the coast of Greenland, and this is what he wrote in the logbook: “We saw a terrible animal, unlike anything we had seen before. It raised its head so high above the waves that it seemed to tower above the tops of our ship. The monster breathed weaker than the whale; his head was narrower than his body, which seemed short and wrinkled. The animal moved with the help of huge fins located under its belly. After some time we saw his tail. The total length of the monster exceeded the length of our ship."

1848 - the captain of the English warship Daedalus wrote in the logbook: “When our attention was attracted by an object that appeared on the surface of the sea, we decided that it was huge snake. We did not notice any limbs that served the animal for movement in the water, and no signs of horizontal movement. It passed quickly on such close range that it could be seen with the naked eye. It was moving at a speed of 12-15 miles per hour...

Behind the head, the diameter of the animal’s body was 40–50 centimeters. During the 20 minutes of observation, the snake's head was constantly above the surface of the water. It was brown on top and light yellow underneath. The animal had no fins, but on its back it had something like a mane or a tuft of algae.”

From this description it doesn't look particularly mysterious. There is nothing mystical about it. But science has not described such a creature. Or rather, sea snakes themselves are well known. They live in tropical seas and are dangerous to people because they are very poisonous. But sea snakes are small, the most large individuals no more than 2 meters. Eyewitnesses report real giants, which, according to descriptions, are similar to prehistoric animals.

Mezentsev cites an extract from the log of the ship “Osborne” for 1877: “The movement of the animal’s flat fins was like that of a turtle, and it looked like a huge seal... The ship was located at the latitude of the island of Sicily, and this is the only observation made in the Mediterranean Sea. Some believed that this animal was an ichthyosaur, others were inclined to see it as a giant turtle.”

1904 - The French Academy of Sciences drew attention to the following message, which was discussed at a special scientific meeting: “On the afternoon of February 25, 1904, heading towards the exit from the bay, the Decide met a mysterious animal at the height of the Nua cliffs... I saw all parts of the animal , successively plunging into the water with vertical wave-like movements. It looked like a flattened snake and, according to my estimate, reached a length of up to 30 meters with a maximum thickness of 4-5 meters.”

20th century - the Belgian scientist B. Euwelmans studied sea monsters, which are similar in description to prehistoric animals.

He is sure that eyewitness accounts are not fiction and such creatures actually live in sea ​​depths. The scientist wrote: “It seems to me that the legend of the sea serpent arose because people had to meet with various (it is not yet known which) very large snake-shaped animals belonging to different classes: fish, reptiles, mammals.”

1915, July 30 - off the coast of Ireland, the British steamer Iberion was blown up by the German submarine I-28. The captain of the German submarine noticed that after the explosion of the steamer, a huge animal floated to the surface of the water. The length of its body was about 20 meters, in appearance it resembled a crocodile with four flippers instead of paws. After about a quarter of a minute, the monster disappeared under the water.

1932 - An earthquake occurred in the Newfoundland area. Many corpses were washed ashore sea ​​creatures. Among them was a sea serpent, a huge creature with a pointed head.

1947 - fisherman D. Zegers near Vancouver Island off the western shores North America I saw an unknown creature. He described the meeting this way: “Suddenly I felt very strange. A shiver ran down my spine, and I began to feel like someone was watching me. I looked around. To the left, about 45 meters from the boat, a head and neck as long as more than a meter, two pitch-black eyes looked intently. They protruded from the head like two buns. I have never seen anything like this before.

The head was 40 centimeters in diameter. Looking at me, the animal turned away, and I saw its back. She had something like a dark brown mane, which consisted more of tufts of warts than hair.”

In the same 1947, in North Carolina, near Cape Lookout, the crew of a Greek ship saw amazing creature with a cylindrical body of dark brown color and a snake head. The creature was wounded, and the water around it was stained with blood. And in the late 40s, a skeleton was discovered off the western coast of North America. Scientists decided that this skeleton belongs to a sea serpent. The length of the creature's spine was 12 meters.

1959 - fishermen in the city of Durban saw a whole herd of sea monsters. There were at least 20 of them, the length of each creature seemed to be about 10 meters.

1963 - also seen off the coast of Iceland. A year later, in Massachusetts Bay, the crew of a fishing boat spotted a sea serpent 15 meters long. Soon we managed to take a few pictures sea ​​monster. Its length, according to eyewitnesses, was about 25 meters. The snake's head was massive and round, the width and length of the head were more than two meters. The animal had uneven skin, without scales. Body color is black with brown rings. But some of the scientists decided that the pictures were either a hoax, or captured, for example, a giant conger eel. Scientists' skepticism is understandable. But it makes no sense to dismiss the numerous evidence of the existence of sea monsters.

1977 - in the area of ​​​​New Zealand, the Japanese trawler Tsuyomaru raised the corpse of an unknown creature from great depths (about 300 meters). The animal had a tail up to 2 m long, a small head, a long neck, the total length of its body was 13 m, and it weighed about 2 tons. Scientists did not fully examine the body of the sea monster because it was already decomposing and the crew did not dare to take on board the rotting carcass. He was thrown into the sea, having previously been photographed and the corresponding entries made in the ship's log. One piece of fin was left and put in the refrigerator. Scientists became interested in the find.

Some Japanese experts said that the creature was a plesiosaur, others believed that it was the corpse of a huge shark or a small whale. The situation was further complicated by the fact that the carcass was half-decomposed, so identifying it was not easy. But after carefully studying the fin, scientists found a protein in it that whales do not have. Sharks have such a protein, and it was also once in the tissues of prehistoric animals, which included plesiosaurs. The fact that the body was a prehistoric lizard is also supported by the fact that its head did not look like a shark (it was too small). But the mystery was never solved.

1998 - A sea monster with a long neck was seen in the sea off the coast of British Columbia. Canadian newspapers wrote about this. The riddle was never solved. In Zambia, local residents are sure that in one of the reservoirs there lives a monster of enormous size that feeds on large animals, in particular hippopotamuses. According to evidence, a dinosaur-like monster also lives in the jungles of the Congo.

In the 1980s, University of Chicago professor R. McKell made a special trip to this country, for a long time was studying loch ness monster. He tried to find out more about the animal that lives in the Congo. The professor collected many eyewitness accounts; their descriptions of the animal coincided. It reached 12 meters in length, had a huge tail and a long neck. The creature's skin was gray-brown, its tracks resembled those of an elephant, but differed in the presence of claws. The description of the creature perfectly matches the characteristics of a dinosaur.

The professor suggested that the dinosaur could well have lived in the local jungle, especially since the climate there has not changed over the past few tens of millions of years. Soon Makell organized another expedition into the jungles of the Congo. He was primarily interested in the little-explored area of ​​Lake Tele.

The lake is located among impenetrable forests. It has long attracted the attention of scientists. So, in 1913 a German expedition visited there. Researchers were able to find traces of an unknown creature in the lake. But the war began, and the expedition was curtailed.

Makkel was also unlucky. His second expedition was prevented by a conflict with local residents. A few years later, in 1983, one of the participants in this expedition, a graduate of the University of Havana M. Añanya, decided to go on a search again. He was from the Congo, so he knew the local beliefs well. The researcher interviewed local residents and wrote down a variety of stories about the monster.

One day he himself saw a dinosaur head on a long neck in Lake Tele. The animal noticed the people and began to dive under water. Using binoculars, the researcher was able to examine the creature in sufficient detail and concluded that it was a prehistoric animal. It was not possible to photograph the monster.

There is evidence that similar creatures live in Zambia and Mozambique. Dinosaurs could well have survived on the African continent, where the climate is so favorable for reptiles. There is a lot of unexplored territory here and in our time.

In prehistoric times, animals, which we can rightfully call “monsters,” lived everywhere - in the depths of the sea and on land. They swam, ran, flew. By the way, our contemporaries also saw such flying monsters. True, flying prehistoric lizards were much less common than sea ​​monsters. This is quite understandable. We humans have been very weak in exploring undersea world, especially deep-sea. But with land the situation is different.

Here humanity has developed vast territories. And yet, the winged monsters remained in some places. Perhaps these are pterodactyls?

1932 - the famous American zoologist A. Sanderson was on an expedition in Cameroon. One day he saw a small dragon flying through the air (at least the creature looked like a dragon). The scientist looked at it carefully and could swear that “dragon” did not refer to known to science species After some time, Sanderson saw the dragon again. The lizard flew so fast that it knocked down one of the expedition members, made several circles, and then flew away.

The expedition had a local guide. He became very agitated at the sight of the little dragon and declared that the monster was a harbinger of death and whoever saw it would soon die. But Sanderson was not so pessimistic. He decided that the flying creature was a prehistoric pterodactyl.

This is not the only “ancient” lizard that supposedly lives in Africa. There is a belief that on the border of Zaire and Angola there is a huge - up to two meters in length - flying lizard with sharp teeth. There it is also believed that seeing her is a bad omen.

In the 1970s, in the USA, in the state of South Carolina, incredible monsters were repeatedly seen in the swamps. They were covered with green scales, their height reached 2 meters. The creatures moved on hind legs. According to the description, they also resembled prehistoric animals.

1976, June - a 16-year-old teenager saw a lizard running across the field straight towards him. The boy barely escaped in the car. Then the police received several more reports of this mysterious animal. But it was not possible to catch him, although traces were found.

Of course, this kind of message can be perceived as a kind of hoax. But we must remember that scientists to this day have not refuted the existence of prehistoric animals. In fact, the mystery of the “modern dinosaurs” has not yet been solved. And it may well be that in the future we will learn a lot of new and interesting things about this.

O. Larina