OGOPOGO on the Prowl

BC's Lake Monster, Ogopogo Spotted Again

There have been a number of sightings of Lake Okanagan's resident lake monster since April. A Kelowna Resident, Robyn Holman spotted a wave July 20th in the waters of the lake from Highway 97 near the town of Peachland. She managed to take a picture but is still waiting for the picture to be developed.

There have been 5 known sightings of the animal. It is a serpent which swims with humps and is supposed to be green with a large head. The First Nations people call it the "N'ha-a-itk" and the first recorded sighting by westerners is 1872.

"I don't think a year goes by where there isn't at least one or two sightings," Kelowna Mayor Sharon Shepherd said. "It's something our community embraces as being something kind of unique and mysterious about our area and I think that's always fun."*

What is this critter that people have been spotting in the lake? -- besides a tourist draw to the area much as Nessie is to the Loch Ness area. (image to left -- image from Ogopogo Monster) The image is the 1968 picture taken by Art Folden and located on the Ogopogo Monster** site. (You'll want to go to their photo page!) The lake is deep and long and subject probably to similar sorts of wind and waves ad Loch Ness. Lake Okanagan is a lot more land locked than Loch Ness however. When they did an in depth search with radar and sophisticated video surveillance they came up with sonar phototgraphs of something swimming that was over 15 feet long. I remember the news with video coverage of "something" that they say was over 12 feet long which they said was "just a beaver"...

I figured a 12 foot long beaver would be considered something noteworthy! It made me wonder what the chances were that Ogopogo might actually be some sort of River Otter that was perhaps 12-15 foot or longer? Or perhaps some relative of the beaver. I recall from paleontology texts and books that there were giant beaver and otter 10,000 years ago at a time when men were first in North America. I don't know -- looking at the photos by Ken Chaplin from 1989 (image to left and image to right -- image from Ogopogo Monster) -- to me it looks like it could be a large river otter swimming and raising its tail straight up with its nose in the air?

What if it were over 15 feet long? What would you think if you saw something like this at night? Perhaps its fur might look greenish or even scaly when it is out of the water? What might one be capable of eating if it weren't eating fish?

I sometimes think people get a bit of tunnel vision. When people want to see certain things they can become blind to others. If Ogopogo were not some sort of serpent or pleisiosaur and instead were some giant otter or beaver; giant landlocked seal, walrus, or sea lion; or carnivorous nearly completely aquatic moose, they would not accept it and keep looking for the serpent. I do not think they'd accept a Sasquatch that turned out not to be an ape either.

Later!
~ Darrell

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* "B.C. lake monster spotted five times this year" Maria Cootauco -- Canwest News Service July 24, 2008 (Vancouver Province) -- Canada.com

** "Ogopogo Monster, Canada's Famous Lake Monster" -- Ogopogo Monster

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Crypto Zoology - If You Go Into the Woods Today

If You Go Into the Wood Today, You're in For a Big Surprise.

I like many others am very interested in the strange beasts that people talk about having seen that are near impossible for others to believe in. These creatures include the venerable Yeti and Loch Ness Monster. I am lucky to have a bit more education than most in a number of subjects that help me to interpret what I see, read, and hear about the various sightings and evidence for and against the various beasts and critters.

I've taken a few years of Zoology, and Physical Anthropology and have had a keen interest in Paleontology. That has led me to a lot of recreational reading and research.

I'm not going into a lot of my reading and research or rehash some of the sightings. I am going to pose a question. What if what is being sought is not quite what is being looked for?

A number of years ago there was a major expedition to British Columbia's Lake Okanagan and in the end they had some video taken of "something" that was thought to be Ogopogo the local lake serpent somewhat reminiscent of Nessie. What the experts pointed out was after examining the video was that it was no sea serpent but rather some sort of 12 foot long beaver or otter swimming in the leg. Thus they said it could not be Ogopogo...

Wait-a-minute!? Wouldn't some sort of 12 foot long beaver or otter be something unusual? What if sightings of Ogopogo were of some creature that was a gigantic otter or beaver, perhaps even with a long serpentine neck? I mean it wouldn't be a plesiosaur or sea serpent but wouldn't it be pretty incredible and perhaps solve the mystery? People might not accept what they don't want to see or accept. Scientists looking to disprove a sea serpent might ignore a giant beaver.

I have been looking a bit at another of these legendary creatures - also on the western side of North America. Sasquatch is something being looked for by many. There seems like there might be something, and then nothing. People are looking for a giant North American Ape which walks like a man, but is much bigger. Now there may or may not be Sasquatch and similar creatures around the whole world - but what if Sasquatch were not an Ape?

What if there was another creature which was the size the Sasquatch is supposed to be with feet and footprints something like the Sasquatch should have? What if the Sasquatch were in fact a derivation of the bear? Not a relative of the familiar Grizzly or Black Bear but rather that of a now extinct one. The North American Short Faced Bear - a now extinct bear which would actually be large and powerful enough to hunt and kill Grizzly Bears - has many features that make me think of Sasquatch. One thing noted is that rather than being "pigeon toed" like modern bears the feet of the Short Faced Bear would face straight forward and it seems to have places for muscle attachment that would allow for it to walk further and more easily upright. Bears already are likely to walk on their back legs from time to time. Perhaps those many years ago a branch of the Short Faced Bear found greater success in walking upright and increased its perfection at it? They would stand far taller than any other bear we know. They would be capable of taking on any animal in the North American Wild if not elsewhere. If a hunter came across the body of one, they likely would assume it to be a large bear. The bones too, except to an expert would just look like a bear. An expert would see the differences. But there would be many normal bear found for one of these - and how often do people come across Grizzly Bear carcasses or skeletons? Probably the skeleton would give away more secrets to a passing naturalist? - though I could not be sure.

The more I read about the Short Faced Bear the more I think, it "could" be a Sasquatch candidate. In any case they sure would be evenly matched in many ways. The Shorter muzzle on the bear might make it look more ape-like to a surprised witness. It might frequently walk on its back legs in order to carry food like the carcasses of prey it kills back to its young. I believe the proportion of its legs are a bit different too from the typical modern bear - and tha is with no differentiation.

What if Sasquatch were an unknown relative to the bear rather than an ape? Would we be too disappointed to believe it? Perhaps it might even be smarter than the average bear?

Still if it has continued in existence, it does have many characteristics of the Sasquatch it looks enough like a bear to perhaps go unnoticed and it is from an area that Sasquatch are known from.

You can read up a bit on the North American Short-Faced Bear on the net. The Yukon Beringia Interpretive Centre - North Amercian Short-Faced Bear page is an interesting article to read.

Here are some more pages:

• Short-Faced Bear: nature.ca
• Arctodus simus: Wikipedia Imagine the bears in the images on these links standing on hind legs with their front legs hanging like those of a standing ape... or Sasquatch. Imagine them in the light of being a Sasquatch or Yeti.
  
• Giant short-faced bear: BBC - Science & Nature - Wildfacts
• Return to the Ice Age - The La Brea Exploration Guide

YouTube

short faced bear, irkuikem, criptozoology

Short-Faced Bear vs American Lion

Of course the videos aren't made with any thought to my pet theory.

Had to add this other one too...

Bear Power

Short Faced Bear

Well that is it for now!

Later!
~ Darrell

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