Hi everyone, it’s Katrina!
Since the release of Google Earth in the early 2000’s, we are now able to access a whole
new world.
From mythical sea monsters to newly discovered species, here are 8 creatures spotted on Google
Earth.
8.
Antarctic Sea Monster
In June 2016, someone posted they had seen an eerie green glow in the depths of the waters
off Antarctica thanks to Google Earth.
At first glance, everything looks normal around Deception Island in the South Shetlands.
But, when you zoom in, there are some dark spots, and then, the green glow coming out
of nowhere.
People started speculating it was actually the Kraken!
When you zoom in, people said they could see a fin, but it was about 88 meters across and
23 meters long making it much bigger than any normal animal.
The legend of the Kraken comes from Nordic tales that told of a monster with many arms
that could drown people and capsize ships.
So did this fearsome creature finally make an appearance?
Other people guessed that this unusually large object in the water could be a UFO, or even
an Antarctic version of the Loch Ness Monster.
Others have suggested a more likely explanation that the picture is of a large mammal, such
as a blue whale.
The scientific explanation?
Those who are familiar with this area know that the water around here is full of tiny
islands and rocks and it turns out that this is Sail Rock.
It’s nearly 30 meters tall (100 ft), and located in the same place as this “creature”
on Google.
The more you know!
7.
Bigfoot
Legends of Bigfoot can be traced back to Native American and European folklore, but there
are versions of a big, hairy, human-like beast all over the world.
Reports of Bigfoot or Sasquatch are prevalent in the Pacific Northwest, particularly British
Columbia, Oregon and Washington.
A small minority of anthropologists have not ruled out this creature’s existence and
in 2013, it seems that one was spotted by Google Earth.
Images of what appeared to be a dark creature lurking in the Canadian woods between the
Trans-Canadian Highway in British Columbia surfaced in the form of a YouTube video.
Despite only being visible from one angle, some YouTube users were convinced beyond a
shadow of a doubt that the object was Bigfoot.
The hairy beast was said to be “lurking” with the trees.
Others pointed out that the alleged thing looked like a burnt tree stump.
It’s very hard to say, what do you think it is?
6.
Merseyside Jaws
In December 2010, 36-year-old Simon Hoban noticed what looked like a gigantic shark
when he looked at the Albert Dock in Merseyside, England using Google Earth.
Albert Dock is a major tourist attraction in the city and is often used for community
events.
If the massive animal was, in fact, a shark, it posed little harm to humans, due to the
freezing cold water temperatures at the time - in other words, nobody in their right mind
was likely to go for a swim.
The large object may have been a basking shark, which grow up to 39 feet long (12 m), according
to marine biology expert Tom Cornwell.
In an interview with the Dailymail, he explained: “Water creatures have been known to cruise
the wrong way up rivers and canals and become stranded,” adding “perhaps it was an old
shark which was looking for a place to die.”
While you might not think Britain is famous for sharks, there are 21 native species of
shark year-round and over 40 species that pass through UK waters.
There are also dolphins, porpoises, and whales so there is a lot of wildlife.
And now for number 5, but first if you are new here, welcome and be sure to subscribe.
Also let me know any requests you have for new videos in the comments with hashtag origins!
5.
New Hominid Species
In 2010, a new species of hominid was revealed via the discovery of two fossil skeletons
in South Africa, providing a valuable evolutionary link between the early hominid genus Australopithecus
and Homo, the one us modern humans belong to.
The remains were discovered at a World Heritage Site near Johannesburg known as “the cradle
of humankind” by a team led by Professor Lee Berger of the University of Witwatersrand.
The two fossils were of an adult female and an adolescent male, who are thought to have
fallen into a deep cave around 1.9 million years ago in Malepa, South Africa.
This deep cave proved to be a “death trap” of sorts, as evidenced by the multiple animal
remains also found there.
After falling into the cave, the hominids and animals remained safely away from scavengers,
which explains why their remains are so remarkably well-preserved.
Berger found the site of the discovery using Google Earth as he was searching for cave
systems within the region.
The program’s ability to look at places with 3D quality enabled Berger to rotate and
see the site from multiple angles, which led to him noticing the cave.
While his search didn’t yield photos of the hominids themselves, it led him to find
the cave when he otherwise may not have and prompted him to explore it in person.
This discovery proves that while Google Earth is a fun tool for searching for the legendary
creatures whose existences have yet to be proven, it’s also invaluable to the field
of science, and for learning about the prehistoric world.
4.
Loch Ness Monster
It’s hardly surprising that Google Earth has been a popular tool used by arm-chair
researchers in their pursuit to find mythical creatures.
In 2014, two novice Loch Ness monster hunters named Peter Thain and Andy Dixon captured
what they believed to be photos of Nessie using Google Earth on their iPhones.
The images came at a time when Nessie devotees were hitting a low point, with not a single
sighting having occurred in the past 18 months, causing people to wonder if the 1,500-year-old
legend had finally come to an end.
Dixon claimed to have stumbled upon the visual anomaly by accident, but he did so right in
the nick of time to renew believers’ hopes.
For some reason, the creature could only be seen on Apple devices.
The Official Loch Ness Monster Fan Club was undeterred, however, and took the matter into
their own hands for further investigation.
There have been 1,065 reported sightings of the Loch Ness monster since the year 565.
2013 was the first year since 1925 that there were no credible sightings.
3.
Crabzilla
In October of 2014, the British newspaper Sunday Express published an aerial image of
a massive crab off the coast of Whitstable, UK.
Thought to be around 50 feet long (15 m), the gigantic creature was dubbed “Crabzilla,”
and the picture went viral.
The photograph first appeared the year before in a blog called Weird Whitstable, which also
posted an image of two gargantuan crab pincers reaching out of the water as children play
on the dock above.
When the blog’s curator, Quinton Winter, first saw the pictures, he was skeptical of
their authenticity, he explained in an interview with the Express Times.
He claimed, however, that he later witnessed the Crabzilla firsthand.
Whether Winter was being truthful or not about this freak encounter, the images ultimately
proved to be fakes.
The largest known crab species in the world, the Japanese spider crab, grows up to 12.1
feet long (3.7 meters) - 37 feet (11.5 meters) less than the Crabzilla’s alleged size.
Do you think Crabzilla could still be out there?
Was it misidentified as something else?
Let me know in the comments below!
2.
New Zealand Sea Creature
In late 2014, an engineer named Pita Witehira spotted a giant mystery sea creature off New
Zealand’s famous Oke Bay, located along the east coast of the North Island, using
Google Earth.
It looked like a long dark line in the water, like a snake following a boat.
Witehira stated in an interview with Dailymail that it might have been a mythical creature,
the Native Maori would call this a ‘Taniwha’ ('Troll') as it was too long and narrow to
be a whale or a shark, and moving too fast.
The engineer also concluded that the strange trail of water wasn’t created by a boat,
since it lacked the white frothiness customarily seen in boat trails.
This sighting came just about a week after the Crabzilla was spotted, during a time when
peoples’ superstitions were already piqued.
Witehira’s assessment of the image as an unknown sea creature turned out to be wrong.
When the low-quality satellite image is zoomed in, the features of a boat at the head of
the dark trail are vaguely detectable - enough so to rule out any mythical or undiscovered
creatures.
The lack of froth accompanying the trail could mean that the boat driver had recently slowed
down to avoid rocks, and the angle of the trail backs up this theory.
I mean, I don’t know about you but I think it’s kind of a relief that there aren’t
huge, monstrous snakes in the bay.
1.
New Species
In the African country of Mozambique, there’s a mountain that was untouched by human and
scientific interference for a very long time - perhaps forever.
It’s called Mount Mabu, and it’s located within the country’s dense, thick rainforest,
which is surrounded by savannah.
Not only did its environment help keep it isolated, but the civil war of Mozambique,
which lasted from 1977 to 1992, contributed to the area’s preservation.
Experts believe Mount Mabu, which stands at 5,600 feet (1,700 meters) tall, is southern
Africa’s largest medium-altitude rainforest.
The scientific community had no knowledge of the mountain until 2005.
They began entertaining the prospect of exploring it around that time, thanks to Google Earth.
Conservation biologist Julian Bayliss noticed it while searching for potential unknown biodiversity
hotspots in Africa.
He further discovered that there were virtually no records of Mount Mabu throughout the entire
world.
In October and November of 2008, an international team of 28 scientists made the first expedition
to Mount Mabu.
The team consisted of staff from various countries, including the UK, Mozambique, Tanzania, Malawi,
Switzerland, and Belgium.
Mount Mabu’s fascinating biodiversity taught the scientists that there are parts of this
world that are full of wildlife yet to be discovered.
Included among the species they observed were over 200 different kinds of butterflies, samango
monkeys, elephant shrews, and blue duiker antelopes - some of which were already recorded,
others that weren’t.
Many rare and endangered birds, including the Swynnerton’s robin, reside on Mount
Mabu, as well.
Some of the new species discovered by the team were the Nadzikambia baylissi, a type
of pygmy chameleon; three new snake species, including a previously unknown bush viper;
as well as a crab and four new butterfly species.
The expedition was successful enough for the Mozambique government to declare in 2009 that
they will take measures to conserve Mount Mabu.
If Dr. Bayliss hadn’t taken to Google Earth out of curiosity of the Earth’s unexplored
wilderness, this environmental gem may have gone unnoticed or unpreserved, and may have
eventually suffered at the hands of poachers.
Thanks for watching!
Do you use Google Earth?
Ever spotted anything strange?
Let us know in the comments below!
Remember to subscribe and I’ll see you next time!