Behemoth

How many of you believe the idea of dinosaurs living today to be preposterous, absurd, and unbelievable?”  Nearly every hand in the room shot up.  “Let me give you some real-life examples of preposterous, absurd, and unbelievable animal stories.” 
Dr. Gregory loaded a set of slides and clicked to the first one.  “Example number one.  Who knows what this is?  Over two hundred years ago, the first specimen of this species was examined by scientists and declared to be a hoax.  The creature was so laughable, that it couldn’t possibly be taken seriously!  What was it supposed to be?  A hairy duck, or a beaver with a duck’s bill that laid eggs?  It was like nothing ever seen before.  However, after four years of studying, it was determined not to be a hoax created by sewing various animal’s body parts together, but a living, breathing, albeit rare animal—the duck-billed platypus.”
Dr. Gregory clicked to the next slide.  “This next animal was considered to be just as absurd as the platypus when stories out of Africa reached the ears of Western scientists in the early 1900s.  These accounts were full of rumors about an animal that was half-giraffe and half-zebra, which was well-known to the African natives as a delicacy.  Not until a scientist was shown a tanned hide by a native did he realize this was a living, breathing animal still undiscovered by the Western world.  He set out on an exhibition, and finally discovered the elusive okapi, which can now be seen in zoos around the world.”
Next slide.  “You have all no doubt heard of the giant squid, probably due to either Moby Dick or 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, but how many of you know that when those books were written, the giant squid was a yet undiscovered creature, existing only in myth!  Even today the giant squid remains one of the world’s most elusive creatures.  The first live specimen was captured in a commercial fishing net only ten years ago.  In fact, most of the bits and pieces of the specimens scientists possessed came out of the stomachs of sperm whales.  Even more interesting is that as far as we can tell, the giant squid is not an endangered species, nor is it even rare—it is simply an elusive animal that lives in a habitat not easily accessible by humans.”
Dr. Gregory stopped the slide show for a moment as he said, “I am sure most of you would consider a fire-breathing dragon to be one of the most popular animal myths of all time, yet, at the same time, some serious questions arise.  For example, how is it that two very different cultures—one in Great Britain, and one in China—have ancient stories concerning the same fire-breathing creature, even though at the time these stories originated, there was no direct or indirect contact between the two?  Is it possible that such a creature actually existed?  The question becomes even more intriguing when we find mention in the Old Testament of a fire-breathing creature whose description closely resembles that of our modern idea of a dragon!  All of a sudden, the idea of such a creature ever existing becomes a little less preposterous.
“With that in mind,” Dr. Gregory said as he resumed the slide show, “let’s take a look at our next creature.  In 1912, a group of pearl hunters landed on a remote South Pacific island chain.  When they returned to civilization, they told stories of giant lizards that the natives feared and worshipped, horrible-smelling creatures that could chase and kill a water buffalo, creatures from whom even an insignificant bite would cause death within three days.
“An international hunting expedition was assembled, and using carcasses of dead animals for bait, the hunters lured into the open a strange and fearsome creature that few had ever seen—a large reptilian beast that was almost ten feet in length and weighed over six hundred pounds—the Komodo dragon.  Eventually scientists discovered that it was the toxic saliva that induced a quick death, but even today, the Komodo dragon is an animal for which it is wise to maintain a healthy respect.”
Dr. Gregory clicked to another slide and said, “Our final example in this set is not an exotic creature, but a simple fish—a fish, however, that was considered to be extinct much like dinosaurs for over 65 million years, until a ship captain pulled up the strange-looking fish while trolling for sharks off the coast of South Africa in 1938.  When the Western scientific community received word of this supposed “living fossil,” it caused quite a stir.  For years, the coelacanth had been considered a “missing link,” since the coelacanth has an extra set of fins than most fish, leading scientists to postulate that it used these extra fins to crawl along the ocean floor, in possibly the first stage of leg development.  Here, now, was an unheard-of chance to verify an evolutionary hypothesis, and show conclusive evidence of an animal in transition from water-dwelling to land-dwelling!  Unfortunately, someone forgot to tell the fish that.  Not only were these specimens unchanged from their fossilized relatives, but it turns out that the coelacanth does not crawl along the ocean floor with its extra set of fins, but merely uses them to turn in a tighter circle in the water.  Adding insult to injury, it was revealed that the “extinct” coelacanth was well-known to the local fishermen, who had been feasting on it for years.”
Dr. Gregory stopped the slide show again and said, “Perhaps you’ve noticed that many of these animals have been well-known by their indigent peoples long before the Western scientific community has “confirmed” their existence, and that they tend to live in areas not easily accessible by “civilized” folk.  I stress this point, because I want to share with you now the story of Mokele-Mbembe, the creature well-known to the peoples of central Africa, but scoffed at by the Western world.  Mokele-Mbembe, whose name means literally “one who stops the river’s flow,” is described as being larger than an elephant with a long, flexible neck, and a long, very powerful tail, with which it has been known to capsize the native’s boats.  Mokele-Mbembe prefers feeding on the various fruits of the plants along riverbanks, and can stay submerged for long periods of time.  When Western missionaries heard about this creature, they drew a picture for the natives, who immediately identified the picture as representing Mokele-Mbembe.  The picture they drew was that of an Apatosaurus, more commonly called Brontosaurus.”
Dr. Gregory looked around the assembly hall at the audience, which had become fully captivated by every word he said.  “I’m sure you are all wondering why there haven’t been expeditions to search for this mysterious creature, and my answer is that such a quest isn’t as easy as it may seem.  The Congo Basin, the area in which Mokele-Mbembe is said to reside, is roughly the size of the United States west of the Mississippi River, and is an impassible swampy jungle filled with subterranean passages, disease-bearing insects, snakes, and guerrilla soldiers.  Alas, it is the last of these impediments which has proven to be the greatest hindrance to a full-scale expedition.  The political climate in the region is so unstable that there is no realistic chance in the foreseeable future of mounting a search for the elusive Mokele-Mbembe.