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Have scientists finally killed off the Loch Ness Monster? - Printable Version

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Have scientists finally killed off the Loch Ness Monster? - C C - Sep 7, 2019

https://theconversation.com/have-scientists-finally-killed-off-the-loch-ness-monster-123075

EXCERPT: Scientists claim to have finally found a “plausible theory” for sightings of the Loch Ness Monster. She’s not an aquatic reptile left over from the Jurassic era or a circus elephant that got in the water to bathe with her trunk aloft. If Nessie ever existed at all, she was most likely a giant eel, according to a new scientific survey of the loch.

[...] a new technique allows scientists to sample all the life contained within Loch Ness by gathering environmental DNA, or e-DNA as it’s known. This is genetic material that’s present in the cells of organisms and shed into their surrounding environment. Finding and identifying e-DNA can tell scientists what organisms are living in a habitat without them having to observe or capture them. [...] The most likely candidate for Nessie that has surfaced in media reporting of the research is a giant eel. This appears to be based simply on the fact that eel DNA was detected at “pretty much every location sampled” in Loch Ness.

Plenty of eel DNA doesn’t confirm that Nessie is a giant eel – only that there are lots of eels. Scientists don’t have monster DNA to compare with anything they found in the loch and so no one can say for sure if there is or isn’t a monster there. But the absence of anything unusual in the DNA record of Loch Ness suggests there’s nothing to get excited about - and that includes a giant eel... (MORE - details)