Are there living dinosaurs in Patagonian lakes? | Chronic

For Dr. Antonio Las Heras
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As it is strange to be traveling the waters of Nahuel Huapi under the surface? Is it a family of plesiosaurs that defies the extinction hypothesis set forth by paleontologists? Those who live in the vicinity of the gigantic lake actually have the existence of the particular animal, to have seen it many times. Why Nahuelito? Have you ever been able to record a video with the movements of the animal and therefore the resemblance to its parent of Loch Ness, the famous Scottish lake where lives Nessie, another strange animal that seems to be a plesiosaur and who makes the For centuries.

The legend about Nahuelito goes back to native stories and the first recorded sight goes back to 1910, when George Garret said that he could see, "At about 400 meters, a creature whose visible portion measured between 5 and 7 meters long and stood out about two meters above the waterThe Canadian newspaper Toronto Globe interviewed Garret, then director of a boat building company who visited Nahuel Huapi, who reported: "We turned to the wind to enter a cove five miles long by one kilometer or as wide as it penetrated the peninsula with unfathomable depth. Just as we were near the rocky coast, before turning back, I looked from the stern and saw about a quarter of a mile leeward, an object that seemed to have a diameter of 15 to 20 feet (+/- 6 meters), maybe it was six feet (almost 2 meters) above the water. After about 15 minutes, the monster disappeared. When I spoke of my experience to my neighbors, they said that the Indians often talked about the huge aquatic animals that they have seen from time to time. ".

I did not exclude anything

It should be remembered that one of the most distinguished American anthropologists and paleontologists, Argentina Florentino Ameghino, he thought that at the beginning of the twentieth century, it was still possible to find copies of animals considered extinct tens of millions of years ago in the valleys of the Patagonian Andes, especially after one of his expeditions where an Indian had sold him the fresh leather of a large animal, much larger than those known in this region. It is not possible to claim that Ameghino was the victim of a hoax because the leather was real, it did not undergo any artificial modifications (it could have been done by scratching, tapping and stretching with ropes, by example) because the scientist I would have discovered immediately. So there was "something" and those who crossed these territories from the first moment knew that it was so and that the people of origin took it for granted.

This is never a unique description, but at least three. The version of the plesiosaur seems to be the most frequent; before, there had been more reports on something that the Aborigines described as "leather", resembling a large leather spread on the beach. But there were also recordings of a monstrous animal that, if these descriptions are analyzed today, could very well be mistaken for a crocodile.

Onelli too

Ameghino was not the only scientist convinced of the existence of allegedly extinct life forms.

In 1897, Clemente OnelliA prestigious Italian zoologist, director of the Buenos Aires Zoo, began receiving information about a strange creature in these Patagonian lakes.

In 1922 he received a letter from the former American sheriff Martin Sheffield, who was in Patagonia in the footsteps of two famous armed men, Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid. In this report, he cited "Huge footprints, crushed shrubs, weeds accumulated on the shores of a lake and strange sounds". And claims to have seen "An animal with a huge swan neck. His movements have made me suppose that the beast has a body similar to that of a crocodile. ", he explained.

Thus, Onelli organized a research expedition, with a lot of journalistic dissemination. And although he did not give positive results regarding the discovery of antediluvian animals, he collected specimens of vegetables and animals previously ignored.

Well-founded doubts

Since the beginning of my research in critpozoology (study on animals that defy current knowledge in the natural sciences), I expressed my strangeness about how a person of prestige Onelli could organize such an expedition without having been very convinced that I would find what I was looking for.

Science historians and zoologists agree that Onelli knew he would never have as much money (he needed a lot of money) he was not sure. Then, in what would be a marketing operation today, he introduced the issue of plesiosaur research, which gathered the public in the desire to make the trip, facilitating while finding no opposition in citizenship or in legislators and government authorities, who had to authorize the necessary funds.

Recurring description

Most of the observations of the supposed Nahuelito describe it in the same way: a length of about 10 to 15 meters, two bumps, a skin of leather and, sometimes, a neck in the shape of a swan.

It seems that the plesiosaur has multiplied, as it is now also seen in lakes Huechulafquen and Mascardi.

"I thought they were huillines, when I saw him spinning in the water, but when he looked, I was surprised. It looks a little like another animal that I saw before and we were afraid of the presence with which it appeared. ", a witness said that he could take pictures in November 2008, but in Lake Mascardi, who is not associated with Nahuel Huapi; At least not to have knowledge, because there could be underwater caves and unknown connections of geologists, considering that very little research has been done and clarified about the characteristics of the depths of these lakes.

In the images taken a few years ago by the photographer santafesino Jorge Salcedo he looks at the surface of Huechulafquen Lake "Three hills that barely stand out from the water and which, according to some experts consulted, could come from a giant viper". The picture was taken on a catamaran, about 150 meters and with the boat in motion. He zoomed in on a 480mm digital camera on a 35mm camera, which prevented a better picture.

In the same area, twenty years earlier, a group of gendarmes was persecuted and fired on some kind of "Big lizard or snake"Who entered the lake and escaped from swimming. The singular entity has not yet spoken … No, at least, with public broadcast.

Disturbing stories

Once confident, residents of Lake Nahuel Huapi report events that most choose not to comment on. They have fishing boats that have turned around, some of their crew missing and others, the less, collected. It is strange that in these cases, the weather was optimal and in broad daylight. In any case, the fishermen were not amateurs, but experts. Some argue that this type of event, although infrequent, occurs every two or three years and, unless it is thought that the "I miss it to be" hit the boat by turning it, there is no other reasonable explanation.

More comments

In one of the observations recorded by the local media, the witnesses were hundreds and extensive sightings. Some came to communicate by telephone with others, asking them to go out and see the phenomenon. The descriptions were consistent with other testimonies and with those collected in 1987 in Playa Bonita, when thirty or so operators of the Atomic Center in Bariloche had visualized them.

From the coast of Bariloche, near the port, workers, doctors, lawyers, the elderly and children have seen the slow pace of things, with plastic movements. It was a rare animal that had something like a giant giba, a long neck and a smaller head: the description of a plesiosaur of course. Of course, it was impossible to photograph or film from the coast, because all witnesses lacked special instruments at that time. Yes, the images were captured after the baptism "Nahuelito". Years ago, a tourist who had visited the lake had witnessed the passage of the Nahuelito with the rest of the crew.

Prolific year

Twice in 1988, there were strange appearances, which the newspaper published Black River.

The first one was produced on January 22nd and was described as an unidentified object that was moving along the area near the lake shore, leaving behind a large wake that was sighted by several people. As in the previous cases, only one was seen "Kind of loin" of a large animal and a singular turbulence in the waters, similar to a great wake of foam in which was moving a dark spot. He went to see with binoculars and at long sight. It was after noon, in front of the Templo Mayor and the Civic Center of Bariloche. The operators of the phone company, a crew of the fire department, an employee of the Forestry Branch and other neighbors saw the strange being who was updating the assumptions on the existence of Nahuelito.

Already on Sunday, February 7, 1988, a renowned Barcelona professional filmed the animal. The scene, filmed with a small VHS camera, was broadcast in the "Drafting 88" program, Channel 6 San Carlos and showed in almost 20 seconds the image of a large animal moving fast. Although the vision does not differ from other known verbal and graphic evidence, it shows the movement and wake of the water it leaves in its path, as well as at least two successive black spots, as if it were was the fin or semi-submerged fins. A certain skepticism engendered the fact that the filmmaker did not want to give his name, especially since the testimony coincided with the dissemination of photos of doubtful veracity. But the newspaper Black River confirmed that it was an accredited and professional neighbor, Bariloche, who had offered to transfer the material in exchange for the non-disclosure of his identity.

He captured a scene similar to that of 1986 by Guillermo Barzi and her daughter Martina while traveling by boat near the peninsula of Quetrihué.