Cryptoids are animals that are unknown to zoologists, such as Bigfoot, or animals seen in areas they are not native to or animals that are believed to be extinct. These animals have been sighted, heard, photographed or left paw prints or other signs that they exist. Until a specimen is captured alive or killed, the animal is referred to as a cryptoid.
Conflicting Witnesses' Accounts
According to witnesses, it is about the size of a hippopotamus or larger than an elephant. They agree it has a long neck and tail. Its hairless body is reddish brown, gray or brown. Some say it has frills. Others say it does not. There are conflicting reports that the animal is soundless or that it make growling, snorting or howling sounds. It is an underwater dweller, but surfaces to eat or go to another area of the river or lake and it has three claws.
While it is an herbivore, it is said to kill hippos and to kill and eat humans. Hippos are not seen or rarely spotted in the area Mokele-Mbembe dwells and people try to avoid its habitat.
There is an account of natives telling Pastor Thomas, a missionary, about killing a Mokele-Mbembe with spears in the late 1950s. Two witnesses mimicked the beast's cries as it was speared. Later, some cooked and ate parts of the animal, but those who ingested its meat died mysteriously.
The first reports of this cryptoid were in the late 1700s. The sightings continue into this century.
There have been numerous expeditions in quest of gathering hard evidence or sightings of Mokele-Mbembe, also with conflicting results. Several claimed to have had near encounters with the beast and others have offered indirect proof.
Expeditions
Herpetologist James H.Powell made three expeditions in search of Mokele-Mbembe. He showed natives pictures of extinct and non-extinct animals. During all of his excursions, the witnesses agreed that the diplodocus most closely looked like what they had seen. Some natives reported the beast eats plants. It was also said the cryptoids attacked boats that come too close.
In 1981, biologist Roy F. Mackel visited the region and had a near encounter. While he and his team were going around a bend in the Likouala River, they heard a loud splash, then saw a large wake that evidenced a very large animal had jumped into the water. They watched for the animal to surface, but it did not, although they waited for a significant amount of time. The only large animal that can stay submerged for a length of time is the hippo. Mackel was told none were in the area.
The most frequent sightings of the Mokele-Mbembe are in river bends. Herman Regusters led an expedition and claimed some of the team members sighted the cryptoid. He and his wife heard what sounded like a growl, starting low, then increasing in volume. They believe it was the elusive beast.
Other expeditions followed that either received the same information as their predecessors did or found nothing to support claims that Mokele-Mbembe existed.
Could Mokele-Mbembe be A Dinosaur Believed to be Extinct?
There are problems inherent in investigating the existence of cryptoids. One is the reliability of witnesses which is the major problem in any paranormal investigation. People investigating these types of phenomena in foreign countries also have linguistic and cultural obstacles.
With cryptoids, there is another problem, that of mistaken identity. People have identified black cats as panthers and have taken pictures of the sighted animals as proof. Usually, there is no point of reference to judge the animal's size. Cats have longer ears than panthers and their ears are pointed while the big cats' ears are rounded and stubby in comparison. I saw a picture of one in a magazine I subscribe to and the point of reference as to its size was the tall grass. I noticed its ears and they were long and pointed. Shortly after I saw the picture, I got a kitten. I compared his ears to the “panther,” which, along with grass taller than the norm of grass gone wild was enough to convince me the animal was a large black cat.
It is possible that people mistake what they see because they want to believe in the existence of the unknown animal or they are fearful and think they see something that is not really there.
When I was six or seven, I was running down a narrow wooded path to meet friends and looked down. I saw a long skinny lizard with huge legs, so I screamed. Dad came running and I told him what I saw. The cottage was still under construction, so he called one of his workers to see if he could find the lizard. The only four legged crawler native to the area is the red eft, a smallish salamander. One of his men discovered a nest of garter snakes. I was convinced I had seen a lizard until Ilo found the nest and I realized it was a snake.
It is possible that witnesses saw a strange unknown animal in the Congo region. New species of animals are still being discovered, especially in relatively uninhabited regions. The area is a jungle rain forest and sparsely inhabited. In the earlier part of the twentieth century, natives in Africa told foreign visitors about two strange animals. Initially, their existence was doubted, but the okapi and mountain gorilla were “discovered” in the early 1900s. The coelacanth was thought to be extinct until one was caught in tropical waters in the 1930s. This past week I read that another one was caught.
There have been many sightings of dinosaur-like creatures in lakes, rivers and in the oceans. Could it be that some types of dinosaurs have survived or could these cryptoids resemble dinosaurs, but are a different species and are as unknown as the okapi and the mountain gorilla were?
