A supposed Nessie Picture may just be three seals

a reply to: Phage

I would agree if these are otters he had to be in South America where the Giant River Otters live, they can get up to almost 2 meters long.

This South American otter is the world's largest, at some 6 feet (1.8 meters) long. It lives only in the rivers and creeks of the Amazon, Orinoco, and La Plata river systems.

These huge members of the weasel family swim by propelling themselves with their powerful tails and flexing their long bodies. They also have webbed feet, water-repellent fur to keep them dry and warm, and nostrils and ears that close in the water.

animals.nationalgeographic.com...

a reply to: ChesterJohn
Or they could be grey seals.

look i'm not going to deny that i'm really into the idea of a seal-headed serpent carving up the icy waters but what really has my attention right now is this thread.... everyone really getting into the weekend spirits eh?

a reply to: Phage

the waves seem pretty small for an ocean, could be a harbor or a river connecting to the ocean, but let's take the photog's word. Let's say it is at the Loch. There are places like this there. so we would need to go to the place via google earth and see if we could locate the place where he claims he took the photo.

Let me see if I have google earth on here and take a look.

Phage, his claim was it was between the Villages of Dores and Inverfarigaig which is about 8.3 miles apart. the only place that would match the look of the picture showing a shallow area near and what looks like a sand bar or a shallow just out side the creature is in Inverfarigaig. He would have been across form a delta formed by an entering river or stream and the water color looks right.

I watched a rerun of river monsters when Jeremy Wade was at the Loch. If I am not mistaken he mentioned they saw seals in the Loch. At times when there is a lot of rain and high tides some seals have made there way up river and even into the Loch. Seals in California have made there way way up fresh water rivers in Sacramento and in recently in Los Angeles, so it would not be unheard of. But I tend to think they are otters playing there and he got some photo's of them and one of them looked Nessie like. and he created his fifteen minutes of fame from it.

Like I said I would like to the see the series of photo's taken that day.

a reply to: ChesterJohn

I love about 15 miles away from Loch Ness and it's known for seals. So in my opinion it's just 3 seals. Nessie is nothing more than a idea to make tourists part with their cash.

a reply to: NeekoBoo

I tend to lean toward seals but we all in our heart want a Nessie, one we can see and feel.

I watched a doc one time with jeremy wade an english fisherman he set out to solve the myth and came up with the theory of it being a greenland shark he even caught one too was really cool so im going with him on the nessie storey

Not saying that this pic is the greenland shark it dooes look like seals, was just pointing to the possibility that most people see something large near surface and assume monster when like I say jeremy wade kinda proved it could be a greenland shark

a reply to: btattersley

Jeremy also spoke of Seals being able to get into the Loch.

Well I did say "not a lot of seals."

The data presented prove that a Common or Harbour Seal lived in Loch Ness during seven months of 1984-85, indicate that Loch Ness is entered by a seal about once every two years, and prove that a seal can live for many months in Loch Ness. The route of entry of a seal must be from the sea up the River Ness. These data suggest that past reports of seals in Loch Ness were true and that seals have probably been visiting Loch Ness for thousands of years.

www.lochnessinvestigation.com...

a reply to: ChesterJohn

Isn't the entire Loch Ness monster already proven to be a mixture of a few hoaxed pictures along with peoples imaginations running wild?

It was a nice fable, but thats all it ever was. And some ppl earned a few bucks on it.

Talk has been circulating for ages about seals, including long-necked seals (scienceblogs.com...), being in the loch and being an explanation for the whole Nessie thing.

The image obviously shows a seal of some sort. Not an otter, it's definitely a seal. Whether long-necked seals or real or simply convenient positionings of other species of seals (see biologicalmarginalia.wordpress.com...) is up for debate. No long-necked seal specimen has been identified... that doesn't mean it doesn't exist, of course.

In regard to the freshwater/brackish/don't seals live in saltwater question, it really varies. We've seen manatees and belugas going way, way, way up rivers. When looking at other marine mammals, there are species of dolphin found only in rivers.

*AND* lest we not forget that we just had a new river dolphin discovery in Brazil in the past couple of years (doubtfulnews.com...). Marine mammals found in rivers tend to be found only in very specific localities, so it's not totally unreasonable to believe that somewhere there are undescribed seals found in unexpected places.

So, it's a seal/seals, but whether it's a gray seal (does look like one) or some cryptic species is difficult to tell, especially without seeing the full body (and obviously without a specimen).

Nessie is my favorite but alas, these are but seals. Which to my knowledge do not inhabit Loch Ness. I say the photographer is telling a lie about where this photo was taken.

a reply to: PorteurDeMort

See above, there are various types of corroborated reports of seals in Loch Ness. It wouldn't be very surprising or unusual (although may not be public knowledge for people who aren't locals or extremely interested in the topic)

originally posted by: ravenshadow13
a reply to: PorteurDeMort

See above, there are various types of corroborated reports of seals in Loch Ness. It wouldn't be very surprising or unusual (although may not be public knowledge for people who aren't locals or extremely interested in the topic)

Thanks for the info. I was honestly unaware there were freshwater seals in Loch Ness. In that case, the photo quite possibly could have been taken on the Loch. I learn something new everyday.

a reply to: PorteurDeMort

They aren't freshwater seals. They are transients.
One or two show up every few years.
www.abovetopsecret.com...

I agree, 3 sea lions