Hunt for Kraken Ends, But Many Mysteries Wait
New York (United States):
The human instinct to observe nature has always been mixed with a tendency to embroider upon it. So it is that, over the ages, societies have lived alongside not only real animals, but also a shadow bestiary of fantastic ones - mermaids, griffins, unicorns and the like. None loomed larger than the giant squid, the kraken, a great, malevolent devil of the deep. "One of these Sea-Monsters," Olaus Magnus wrote in 1555, "will drown easily many great ships."
Science, of course, is in the business of shattering myths with facts, which it did again last week when Japanese scientists reported that they had hooked a giant squid - a relatively small one, estimated at 26 feet, or 8 meters, long - about 3,000 feet down and photographed it before it escaped.
It was the first peek humanity has ever had of such animals in their native habitat. Almost inevitably, it seemed far less terrifying than its ancient image. Scientists celebrated the find not as an end, but as the beginning of a new chapter in understanding the shy creature.
"There're always more questions, more parts to the mystery than we'll ever be able to solve," said Clyde Roper, a squid expert at the National Museum of Natural History of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington.
Monster lovers, take heart. Scientists argue that so much of the planet remains unexplored that new surprises are sure to show up - if not legendary beasts like the Loch Ness monster, then animals that in their own way may be even stranger.
A forthcoming book by the noted naturalist Richard Ellis, "Singing Whales, Flying Squid and Swimming Cucumbers," reinforces that notion by cataloguing recent discoveries of previously unknown creatures.
"The sea being so deep and so large, I'm sure other mysteries lurk out there, unseen and unsolved," Ellis said.
Many unknown creatures have come to light purely by accident. In 1938, for example, a fisherman pulled up an odd, ancient-looking fish with stubby fins. It turned out to be a coelacanth, a beast thought to have gone extinct 70 million years ago.
Land, too, occasionally gives up a secret. Around 1900, acting on tips from the local population, Sir Harry Johnston, an English explorer, hunted through the forests of Congo, then known as the Belgian Congo, and found a giraffelike animal known as the okapi. It was hailed as a living fossil.
In 1982, a group of animal enthusiasts founded the International Society of Cryptozoology - literally, the study of hidden creatures - and adopted the okapi as its symbol.
At the Web site for the group, www.internationalsocietyofcryptozoology.org, there is a list of 15 classes of unresolved claims about unusual beasts, including big cats, giant crocodiles, huge snakes, large octopuses, mammoths, and biped primates like the yeti in the Himalayas.
Lake Champlain, on the border between Vermont and New York State, is known as the alleged home of Champ, a beast said to be similar to a plesiosaur, an extinct marine reptile with a small head, long neck and flippers.
Psychologists say raw nature is simply a blank slate for the expression of our subconscious fears and insecurities, revealing more about the viewer than the viewed.
But the giant squid is real, and scientists are now gearing up to discover its remaining secrets.
"Wouldn't it be fabulous to see a giant squid capturing its prey?" asked Roper of the Smithsonian. "Or a battle between a sperm whale and a giant?"
Oct 03, 2005
William J. Broad The New York Times
International Herald Tribune, France
New York (United States):
The human instinct to observe nature has always been mixed with a tendency to embroider upon it. So it is that, over the ages, societies have lived alongside not only real animals, but also a shadow bestiary of fantastic ones - mermaids, griffins, unicorns and the like. None loomed larger than the giant squid, the kraken, a great, malevolent devil of the deep. "One of these Sea-Monsters," Olaus Magnus wrote in 1555, "will drown easily many great ships."
Science, of course, is in the business of shattering myths with facts, which it did again last week when Japanese scientists reported that they had hooked a giant squid - a relatively small one, estimated at 26 feet, or 8 meters, long - about 3,000 feet down and photographed it before it escaped.
It was the first peek humanity has ever had of such animals in their native habitat. Almost inevitably, it seemed far less terrifying than its ancient image. Scientists celebrated the find not as an end, but as the beginning of a new chapter in understanding the shy creature.
"There're always more questions, more parts to the mystery than we'll ever be able to solve," said Clyde Roper, a squid expert at the National Museum of Natural History of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington.
Monster lovers, take heart. Scientists argue that so much of the planet remains unexplored that new surprises are sure to show up - if not legendary beasts like the Loch Ness monster, then animals that in their own way may be even stranger.
A forthcoming book by the noted naturalist Richard Ellis, "Singing Whales, Flying Squid and Swimming Cucumbers," reinforces that notion by cataloguing recent discoveries of previously unknown creatures.
"The sea being so deep and so large, I'm sure other mysteries lurk out there, unseen and unsolved," Ellis said.
Many unknown creatures have come to light purely by accident. In 1938, for example, a fisherman pulled up an odd, ancient-looking fish with stubby fins. It turned out to be a coelacanth, a beast thought to have gone extinct 70 million years ago.
Land, too, occasionally gives up a secret. Around 1900, acting on tips from the local population, Sir Harry Johnston, an English explorer, hunted through the forests of Congo, then known as the Belgian Congo, and found a giraffelike animal known as the okapi. It was hailed as a living fossil.
In 1982, a group of animal enthusiasts founded the International Society of Cryptozoology - literally, the study of hidden creatures - and adopted the okapi as its symbol.
At the Web site for the group, www.internationalsocietyofcryptozoology.org, there is a list of 15 classes of unresolved claims about unusual beasts, including big cats, giant crocodiles, huge snakes, large octopuses, mammoths, and biped primates like the yeti in the Himalayas.
Lake Champlain, on the border between Vermont and New York State, is known as the alleged home of Champ, a beast said to be similar to a plesiosaur, an extinct marine reptile with a small head, long neck and flippers.
Psychologists say raw nature is simply a blank slate for the expression of our subconscious fears and insecurities, revealing more about the viewer than the viewed.
But the giant squid is real, and scientists are now gearing up to discover its remaining secrets.
"Wouldn't it be fabulous to see a giant squid capturing its prey?" asked Roper of the Smithsonian. "Or a battle between a sperm whale and a giant?"
Oct 03, 2005
William J. Broad The New York Times
International Herald Tribune, France
