Sea Monsters

Sea Monsters — page 3 — C’mon then his father said He held the boat still for Elliott Let’s get going The boat teetered as Elliott climbed in His dad pushed them off They made their way toward the middle of Loch Ness The water was murky and dark Elliott could see only a few inches deep He shivered remembering his mother’s warnings Who knew what creatures lurked beneath their boat Elliott and his father threw out their fishing lines An eerie quiet settled over the loch Then Elliott heard a splashing sound A few yards to his right a curved object sped through the water The object rose Elliott saw an oval-shaped eye Then he spotted a broad horse-shaped head Father he yelled I see it his father whispered his voice shaking They watched in amazement as the monster’s long neck extended It rose six feet 1 8 m above the water Behind its neck three humps broke the surface Elliott guessed the last hump extended 40 feet 12 m 6

Sea Monsters — page 4 — back from the animal’s neck Its skin was rough and dark Large waves from the creature’s movements reached their boat The waves spun the boat around By the time Elliott and his father were in a position to see it again the monster had disappeared The only remaining evidence were the waves lapping against their boat Nessie The Loch Ness Monster nicknamed Nessie is one of the most famous water creatures The story of Elliott and his father is not true But it closely matches some accounts of Nessie sightings over the years Since the 1930s there have been thousands of recorded sightings of the serpent Loch Ness Loch is the Scottish word for lake Loch Ness is one mile 1 6 km wide and 24 miles 39 km long It is very cold and deep In places the lake is more than 700 feet 213 m deep Loch Ness is one of the largest bodies of fresh water in Europe Peat seeping from the surrounding land makes the loch murky and dark The darkness only adds to the loch’s mystery 7

Sea Monsters — page 5 — colonel robert wilson's 1934 photo drew visitors to the mysterious Loch Ness People hoped to see the monster for themselves Strange creatures had been reported at Loch Ness since the 500s CE But the first modern sighting took place in 1933 In April of that year hotel manager Aldie Mackay reported seeing a huge animal in Loch Ness She thought it looked like a whale In 1934 Colonel Robert Wilson took a strange photograph at Loch Ness The photo appeared to be 8

Sea Monsters — page 6 — of a creature sticking its head and long neck out of the lake The picture fired up the public’s imagination But the photo turned out to be a hoax Wilson had actually photographed a miniature dinosaur attached to a toy submarine However people didn’t stop believing in the monster The Search Continues Legends of creatures living in lakes rivers and oceans have been around since people first began exploring bodies of water As sailors set out on long ocean voyages they caught glimpses of strange animals These creatures were often whales or giant squid But they often looked like The Vast Ocean The sea is enormous It’s no wonder there are so many legends of creatures hiding in its depths Water covers more than 70 percent of the earth’s surface According to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration only 5 percent of the oceans have been explored This means 95 percent of the oceans have not been seen by human eyes Scientists estimate that up to 1 million ocean plant and animal species are yet to be discovered 9

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