Mokele-mbembe (Dinosaur in africa)

Deep in the congo they have been reports by native people's of a large animal they call "Mokele-mbembe" This literally means "stopper of rivers". it is said to be a herbavore however, the natives claim it will kill hippos and elephants on sight. While no foreigner had ever seen it, there were tracks that were huge belonging to a Sauropod supposedly. When some of the explorers showed the natives a picture of a brachosaur, they were terrified and said "mokele-mbembe". the natives say it is brownish in color and lives deep in the jungle near water. What do you guys think?

any sources,or weblinks to where you got the info?

first guess without reading anything would be doubtfull! sounds like someones read a jurassic park book and put their ideas down.

Would be cool if there was one tho, and if there was one why not more?
nice idea!

There have been lots of sightings of dinosaur like animals.The mokele mbembe is the most popular. There have been expeditions to look for it and all they can find are footprints. But no sign of a sauropod. I believe there could be something out there because the congo jungle is very dense and it can easily hide modern dinosaurs. Plus it hasnt been explored much.

[edit on 18-4-2005 by Alien Infiltrator]

Heres a link i found about it,

for those who are not sure

www.mokelembembe.com...

starting to warm to the idea, had a look at the link and followed the others on the page, wouldntsay conclusive evidencebut would be alot of trouble to go into for a hoax so more inclined to agree an say that its still a massive unexplored jungle that could hide anysort of undiscovered semi inteligent beast.

come on dino safari!!

You can download an entire radio program on Mokele M'Bembe from this site.
www.richardsyrett.com...
Scroll down to the bottom and click on the "Dinosaur Hunter" link. It uses realplayer, just so you know. The yalso have other radio progrmas on other subjects.
Richard Syrrett rules!

Well, first off how can it be a herbivore if it is killing hippos and elephants? Mokele is a were-crocodile. Do I think it's a dinosaur? No, probably not, but I do think it's quite possible that it is an enormous crocodile. I could see how a abnormally large crocodile could leave prints that could be mistaken as dinosaur prints. Afterall, aren't crocodiles one of the closest things we have in modern day to dinosaurs?

I've heard of this beast but forgot all about it until I saw this thread. I wouldn't doubt it exists, there is so much we don't know about Earth and its inhabitants. I'll have to check out the link.

Sorry, I have to explain about it being a herbavore, it kills elephants and hippos but it won't consume them according to the natives who i am inclined to believe. before East Mountain Gorillas were discovered natives had told explorers about them.

[edit on 18-4-2005 by Trustnone]

My problem with MM (and, by expression, every dino-cryptid) is that evolution does not stop. A dinosaur population that survived the 65 millions years to today would not look the same as we think of them as. It would have adapted to its environment.

I'm sorry, are you referring to crocodiles, sharks, or turtles?? The body plans of these animals, minus some variations is size, has remained relatively unchanged for millions of years. This is not to say evolution has not occured, it is merely to say that their body plans are not outdated so to speak and hence have remained visually similar. You cannot assume that a surviving dinosaur would have changed beyond recognition in 65 million years.

Sauropods don't live in rivers, like hippos or anythign like that.

The natives variably reprsent mokele mbembe in a few different ways, one of which is with a big horn on its head, or some such.

As far as sauropod prints, I very much doubt that. Any pics or such would be appreciated.

I think it stretches plausibility, to say the least, that a group of sauropods has survived for 65 million years in central africa and left zero remains and never really been seen. Think of the population size that would be required.

I am surprised that this many people haven't heard of mokele mbembe.


Veerily, a bird is closer.

The documentary I saw showed the natives that lived in the area being shown a book of African animals, and like the previous ATS member, they described this strange creature as having a horn.
The natives pointed to an animal in the book, it was a rhinocerous, it was trapped in the increasing jungle and had become a forest creature. The Okapi, an animal built for the savannah, was also featured.

Rent the movie "Baby, Secret of the Lost Legend"

It was all about this cryptid...

None of those are dinosaurs, who did nothing if not evolve. Into birds, for one.

I was going to even post a pic from that movie!


here are some sauropod foot prints








I saw a paleotology short paper that described a series of 'trace fossils', foot prints tail drags, etc etc. One in particular was....interesting. It was associated with saurpod tracks I think. It was a big cylindrical trace fossil. This that and the other thing lead the researchers to concluce that a sauropod had urinated into some soft mud, and that the trace, the big hol, was the depression caused by it. They even used it to calculate a reasonably sized bladder!

Large herbivores contend for plants do they not? And both Hippos and M'Bembe's (assuming they are real) would need ALOT of sustenance, so the two would most likely fight over a large area of jungle brush, and the dino would obviously win. Large herbivores are incredibly territorial, I mean, everyone knows how dangerous Rhinos, Elephants, and Hippos are. They have poor eyesight and therefore will start fights with everything. And seeing as how everyone refers to Mokele as a large herbivore, I'm guessing it has poor eyesight and a short temper as well (once again, assuming it is real). That is a bad combination with a multi-tonne dino. No doubt about it.

Assuming that world is really that old I would agree with you. Now if the earth is only 10,000 years old then I think its very plausible for a group of dinosaurs to survive for, say, 2,000-3,000 years. Thats my view of things anyway.

Since the world is almost certainly quite a bit older than that.....

But, again, if you could have all the fossils that are had in some remote period (regardless of it being 9,000 years ago or 100 million), then why no fossils ever since then?

Uh, wasn't someone reading Jurrasic Park..... the first account from someone who came from the western world came from a French Dude in the 1700's, before dinosaurs were known......... SO not someone reading Jurrasic Park.

Also, large herbivores are fiercly territorial, and are more dangerous then any lion or tiger or bear, shut up.(can hear the oh my coming) Maybe not as dangerous as a Leopard, but still, they are dangerous. Rhino/Elephant battles have been recorded on camera fighting to the death. Hippos kill more people then crocodiles, lions, and any other creature in Africa.

Second, it may have evolved to a smaller size, making it easier to go through the swamp lands/deep forest. But again, crocodiles, alligators, the Fossil Fish, Virginia Possum, shark, have not evolved as far as fossil records show.

The Mountain Gorilla was a myth. The Mega Mouth Shark was a myth. The Giant Squid was a myth. The Platypus was a myth. The North and South American Continents were a myth......

Again in the 1920's a guy was looking for MM and found footprints, and while on a river the boat nearly tipped over due to something large disturbing the river, ie entering or leaveing it. Something larger then a hippo.

Edit. Thought of why not found. Red Fox were released on Tasmania Island, they are being hunted down. But guess what? Small island, hundreds of people, nada. Nothing. They can't find the little buggers. Or Painted Dogs, live in packs in the Sarengetti of Africa, but hard to find unless you are lucky/in a helicopter.

Or also whatever. In the search for the Loch Ness Monster a NEW LIFE FORM was found. They thought they were a type of sponge or weird orange mushrooms, but no, they were a new type of LIFE! In 2002 a new life form was found in a lake people had searched in for years!(sure weren't looking for them, but Loch Ness Monster, but still)

[edit on 26-4-2005 by James the Lesser]