MonsterQuest's "Giant Squid Ambush"

In the MonsterQuest episode entitled “Giant Squid Ambush”, the team returns to the Sea of Cortez in search of a giant Humboldt squid. In the 2006 MonsterQuest episode, the expedition was able to capture footage of what may have been a 60 foot monster Humboldt squid. Now the new expedition is outfitted with better equipment and the desire to find more definitive proof of this sea monster. A summary of the first expedition can be found at:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1937344/a_monsterquest_look_at_giant_squid.html?cat=37

The Humboldt squid is an extremely aggressive species of squid that can be found in the Sea of Cortez. Captured specimens have been found to be up to eight feet long and 200 pounds in weight. They have sharp beaks, eight flailing arms and two long tentacles that are lined with sharp serrated suckers. Humboldt squid may be even more dangerous as they could hunt in packs.

MonsterQuest diver Scott Cassell described how he was attacked in 1996 by several Humboldt squid. While diving in the Sea of Cortez, he was attacked by a group of several 6 foot long Humboldt squids. The first squid grabbed his arm and wrenched it out of the socket. Two other squid grabbed his legs and began to drag him down to greater depths. As the squid pulled him down, his eardrums burst. After being dragged down about 70 feet, he was finally able to beat the squid off with his camera and make it safety back to his ship.

There are many stories of giant squid attacking humans. There is the story of an Indian freighter that was sunk in World War II. While the survivors of the sinking were adrift on the ocean, they report that they were attacked by a giant squid. Tentacles grabbed onto one of the men and he was pulled under the water to never be seen again.

Local fishermen in the Sea of Cortez describe their encounters with the Humboldt squid while fishing for them. Jose Raul describes how the tentacles have rows of teeth that act like small handsaws. The teeth grate on the skin and everywhere they touch starts to bleed. There are fishermen that have lost toes to the sharp beaks of the Humboldt. One local story tells of a fishermen being dragged from his boat and killed by a Humboldt.

Anatomy of a Squid Attack

The attack of a Humboldt squid is so swift that it can not be captured on normal film. The striking of the tentacles occurs within one frame of film and it can not be examined in detail. To examine squid attacks a new system was used by Dr. William Kier from the UNC Chapel Hill Department of Biology. Kier utilized the same type of high speed cameras that the military uses to film missile tests.

With this film Kier was able to break down the attack into phases. The attention phase is when the squid becomes aware of the prey. The reorientation phase is when the squid moves into the proper orientation and distance to strike at the prey. The squid needs to move within ½ of its body length in order to strike at the prey. So a giant squid could be well out of visual range and be within striking distance. The next phase is the attack phase. The tentacles strike out rapidly at the prey and draw it in towards the arms. Once controlled by the arms, the prey is bitten and consumed by the beak and mouth. The tentacle strike occurs within an amazing 15 to 30 milliseconds and the prey is brought back to the arms within one second. The whole attack from strike to bite can occur within two seconds.

Questions from the 2006 Expedition

In the 2006 expedition, the MonsterQuest team captured a 6 foot Humboldt that they attached an underwater camera to. This “Trojan squid” was then released to return to the greater depths of the ocean. At a depth of approximately 700 feet, the camera caught footage of what appears to be a giant Humboldt squid. Forensic video expert Peter Schmitz was able to use the footage to make a size estimated. Proportionate size between body parts (i.e. beak and eyes, etc…) remains constant within each species of squid. By using the visible beak and eye proportions from the film along with camera specifications and known species proportion, Schmitz estimated the creature to be 60 feet long if a Humboldt squid and 108 feet long if it is an Architeuthis squid. Either one would be much larger than known specimens.

Zoologist Clyde Roper does not believe that the creature in the video could be a giant Humboldt squid. He states that Humboldt squids do not get to be that big and just like other species there is a limit on their size. Roper also believes that it could not be an Architeuthis (giant squid) as they are not found in the Sea of Cortez. Previously found 60 foot long Architeuthis specimens have been found in New Zealand, Norway and New Foundland. In June of 2008 an Architeuthis carcass was found of the coast of Santa Cruz California just 1300 miles from the entrance to the Sea of Cortez.

Doug Hajicek, the camera expert from the 2006 expedition, agrees that the 2006 raises a lot of questions. The footage could be of an overgrown Humboldt, an Architeuthis or some unknown species. With this in mind, MonsterQuest sends a new expedition to the Sea of Cortez with improved equipment.

The New Expedition

The team plans to use the “Trojan squid” method to get the camera system down to the proper depth to film. Engineering contractor Carl Anderson has worked with the team to develop a new camera system that should provide more accurate measurements. The new system has an improved lighting system and two parallel lasers to aid in object measurement. The lasers are set at 4 ½ inches apart and will remain constant over the visible length. This will allow the team to basically use the lasers as a ruler when figuring out the size of an object.

Dale Pearson will again lead the dive team on the expedition. Joining him will be Robert Arrington who is an underwater cameraman specializing in large aquatic predators. The third team member is Michael Pearson who is a diver and paramedic.

The MonsterQuest team returns to Loreto Bay which was the site of the squid footage from the first expedition. On the first day of the expedition, the team jigs for Humboldt squid in the area and are able to find none. Local fishermen inform the team that there are a lot of Humboldt squid in the Santa Rosalia area. The team moves 110 miles north of Loreto bay to Santa Rosalia for day two of the expedition.

On the second day, the team attaches a small camera to the jig line that they are using to catch Humboldt squid. This camera captures some extreme footage of Humboldt squid aggressiveness. A small squid latches on to the jig and the crew begins to bring it up. As it is being reeled up it is quickly attacked by a larger five to six foot Humboldt. As they continue to reel in the squid, it is attacked once again by another squid and is completely ripped apart.

The dive team goes into the water when a 4 ½ foot long Humboldt is caught on the jig. The divers attach the camera system to the squid. As Pearson goes to release the squid, it turns and attacks him. Pearson gets wrapped up in the arms of the squid but is eventually able to break free. As the squid dives, the crew on the boat is able to watch the footage until it goes black. The crew reels the squid back in to find that the rapid descent of the squid has caused the camera gear to break under the pressure.

On the third day of the expedition, the team is able to retrofit the camera attachment with an older camera system. The team is able to capture a fairly large Humboldt to attach the camera system to. After a struggle, they are able to attach the camera system and the “Trojan squid” begins its rapid dive. When the squid gets down to the lower levels, the team observes no other squid on the video even though the upper levels were full of them. The team theorizes that the laser system may be scaring off the other squid. The team reels the “Trojan squid” back up, turn off the lasers and let it go again. This time the team gets video of several other squid at the lower levels.

The team completes the expedition over the next couple of days but they are unable to capture any additional footage of monster sized squid. One interesting piece of footage that they captured was the large sucker marks on one of the “Trojan squid”. The squid appeared to have been attacked at one point and was covered in one inch diameter suction marks.

The 2006 expedition footage remains the best evidence for the existence of giant Humboldt squid. The question remains of what type of squid was shown on the footage. The only thing that is for certain is that the Sea of Cortez is definitely an area where fishermen and divers must remain aware that they share the sea with dangerous squid.

A MonsterQuest Look at Stalin’s Ape Man

In the MonsterQuest episode entitled “Stalin’s Ape Man”, the team takes a look at the reports of half man, half ape creatures in the former Soviet Union. There are reports that Stalin authorized a project to create an ape-man army in the 1920s. A Russian historian claims to have the remains of a descendent from a Bigfoot type creature known as an Abanu. They look at the possibility that Bigfoot and Abanu sightings are a result of an evolutionary throwback condition known as atavism. The MonsterQuest team takes a look at what is behind these stories.

The Creation of an Ape-Man Soldier

In 2005, an open editorial appeared in the New York Times that was authored by animal psychologist Clive Wynne. This article mentioned “In 1926, a Soviet scientist named Ilya Ivanov decided to breed a humanzee: a human chimpanzee hybrid.” This article was soon followed up by a number articles in Russian newspapers about this humanzee program. A 20 December 2005 article in the Scotsmen Newspaper reported about “Stalin’s Half-man, Half-ape, Super Warriors”.

The story that was forming out of all of these articles was that Stalin had instituted a program to create a super soldier. In 1926, the Politburo had requested that the Russian Academy of Science work to build a new living war machine that was insensitive to pain and indifferent to the quality of food. These programs were to create an invincible ape-man army.

According to historian Alexis Pogorelskin, the 1920s was the golden age of Soviet science. Following World War I, the Soviets were attempting to use science to modernize many aspects of Soviet life. The Soviet army was in great need of additional forces and modernization. Stalin was very aggressive with research and did not have many moral qualms about the use of science or anything else.

The MonsterQuest team went to Russia to find out the truth behind these reports. Russian Academy of Science Historian Kirill Rossiianov has researched the Academy documents for the history of these experiments. Rossiianov found documentation that Stalin approved funding for Ilya Ivanov’s experiment to create an ape-man hybrid.

Ivanov had a record of successful hybridization experiments including the creation of an antelope-cow hybrid, a mouse-rat hybrid, guinea pig-rabbit hybrid and a zebra-donkey hybrid. Ivanov’s ape-man experiment involved the artificial insemination of female chimpanzees with human semen. With DNA research in its infancy, Ivanov had inferred that human and chimpanzee eggs and semen were very similar due to the close match of human and chimpanzee blood. In 1926, the French Pasteur Institute gave Ivanov access to their primate research facility in Conakry, Guinea.

According to modern scientists, Ivanov’s ideas were not without some merit. Some other primate species are able to interbreed and humans and chimpanzees have DNA that is almost 99% identical. Humans and Chimpanzees are believed to have evolved from the same evolutionary branch of the primate family. Other primates like orangutans and gorillas evolved along a different line of the primate family. Human and Chimpanzee ancestors are believed to have diverged about 7.5 million years ago but recent research indicates that the early ancestors may have interbred for another 2 million years. Of all primates, chimpanzees would be the most likely candidate for a hybridization program.

It is unknown if an ape-human hybrid would make a good soldier. According to Esteban Sarmiento of the New York Natural History Museum, chimpanzees are like human in that they will organize in order to fight each other. Bill Fields of the Great Ape Trust says that chimpanzees can be very warlike and are 5 to 10 times stronger than humans. University of Florida animal psychologist Clive Wynne believes that while ape species are much stronger than humans, they would be uncontrollable.

Interbreeding with humans would also face difficulties due to the fact that chimpanzees have 24 chromosomes while humans have 23. Associate Professor of genetics Mike Seamans believes that any offspring would likely be malformed, retarded and not likely to make it much past birth if even that far. If by some chance hybridization was possible, the offspring would possibly be infertile like mules. Clive Wynne states that even if successful the results might not be what you wanted. You have just as good of a chance in getting a hybrid with the strength of a human and the intelligence of a chimpanzee as the other way around.

Ivanov’s experiment in Africa was unsuccessful. He attempted to inseminate three female chimpanzees with no success. At this point, he decided to return to the Soviet Union and take a different approach. He proposed to inseminate a human female with the semen from an orangutan named “Tarzan”. He relocated to Sukhumi, GeorgiaSoviet Union and got his first human volunteer in 1928. in the At this point the experiment came to an abrupt end prior to any attempt at human fertilization. Tarzan died and Ivanov was arrested during Stalin’s purge of Soviet scientists. Ivanov died in 1932 while still in jail.

Kirill Rossiianov’s research indicates that Ivanov was probably not trying to create a super soldier. There is no official documentation showing that the experiment was intended to create super soldiers. The grant that Ivanov received was given at the same time as many other scientific grants for general research. The amount of the grant was only $120,000 in today’s dollars so it was not a major project. Ivanov’s notes indicate that his attempts at creating the ape-man hybrid were to support Darwinism and discredit the Church.

The Russian Bigfoot

Most cryptozoologists do not attribute the numerous Bigfoot type sightings to human-ape hybrids. They believe that these creatures are the result of the evolution of a different branch of the primate family that included the Gigantopithecus species. Gigantopithecus was a species of primates that experts believe went extinct as recently as 300,000 years ago. This giant sized creature was native to Asia and could reach heights of 11 to 15 feet tall. President of Conservation International Russell Mittenmier points out that there have been 38 species of monkeys discovered since 1980 so it is not out of the realm of possibility that some Gigantopithecus descendant could still be around.

One such creature may be the Abanu or Almasty of Russian legend. The Abanu and Almasty are similar to the North American Bigfoot with some distinctions. They are reported to be between 6’ and 7’ tall, bipedal, with reddish hair. Unlike Bigfoot, the Abanu and Almasty are reported to use fire and simple tools.

Russian historian Igor Bourstev tells the story of one particular Abanu named Zana. In the 1860s she was captured by local hunters in the Abkazir region, which is between Georgia and Russia. Zana was sold to a local merchant and placed in a cage. Reportedly, she was almost 7 feet tall, very strong, covered in hair, very wild and preferred raw meat to eat. After years of captivity, she became more domesticated and was allowed to roam the village and work in a local mill. She had several children by several different men. She killed her first child by bathing it in a cold river so the village raised her other children.

Zana’s children appeared to be human and had normal intelligence. One of these children was a male named Khwit. He was reported to have been extremely strong, ill tempered and quick to fight. Zana died in 1890 and was buried in Abkazir. When Khwit died later on he was buried in the same area.

Bourstev went in search of the remains of Zana and was unable to locate them, but he did locate and obtain the remains of Khwit. In 2006, the DNA testing of a tooth belonging to Khwit showed that he was 100% human. Bourstev agreed to give the MonsterQuest team a tooth from Khwit’s remains in order to perform more extensive DNA tests.

The new round of DNA testing was conducted by University of Minnesota microbiologist Kurt Nelson. Nelson felt that the first round of testing may have been tainted by human contamination. To avoid this contamination Nelson thoroughly cleans and bleaches the tooth. A sample is then drilled from inside the tooth and two other samples are obtained by crushing the tooth. The mitochondrial DNA from the samples is to be compared to controls in order to determine if the mother of Khwit was human. Unfortunately, Nelson was not able to extract any viable DNA from the tooth sample so no results were found.

Atavism and Bigfoot

Danny Ramos Gomez is a world famous acrobat that has a condition known as hypertrichosis. This condition causes Gomez to have excessive body hair over his entire body. Many that have worked with him believe that he has strength that is far greater than a regular man. Some people have wondered that if this condition is a symptom from human-ape hybridization. MonsterQuest obtained a hair sample from Gomez and had a DNA test done on it. The test results showed him to be 100% human.

Other people have stated that they believe hypertrichosis is a form of atavism. Atavism is when an evolutionary throwback shows up in a current member of the species. An example of this is when a human is born with a tail. Some believe it is possible that Bigfoot sightings are due to humans with several atavism traits taking to a life of seclusion in the woods. Experts state that a person would be extremely unlikely to show multiple traits of atavism that would be needed to account for a Bigfoot sighting. It would be unlikely for even one to be born much less the number needed to account for sightings around the world.

Head Transplants

One possible way of creating a human-ape hybrid would be placing a human head on the body of an ape. As crazy as this sounds, it might not be as far fetched as you think. MonsterQuest interviewed neurosurgeon Dr. Robert White. Dr. White had done experiments on the possibility of transplanting the heads of paraplegic patients to the bodies of brain dead patients. His experiments involved the use of monkeys due to their genetic similarity to humans.

MonsterQuest showed some real disturbing footage of this experiment from 1970. Dr. White did successfully transplant the head of one monkey to the body of the other. While the monkey did not walk around or anything like that, it did seem to be conscious and able to control some motor functions. The monkey was able to see, taste and bite after the transplant. The experiments were abandoned due to ethical concerns but it does raise some possibilities. Dr. White points out that this procedure would probably never work on transplanting a human head to an ape body due to the huge transplant rejection issues that would arise.

A MonsterQuest Look a Giant Freshwater Fish

In the MonsterQuest episode entitled “Giant Fish”, the team takes a look at reports from around the world of giant freshwater fish. While the species of fish vary, the reports talk of abnormally large fish that will attack humans under the right conditions. Tales from the Amazon report of giant catfish that can swallow a child whole. A Canadian fisherman reports seeing a lake trout the size of his boat. MonsterQuest investigated these fishing tales to find out the truth.

Known Freshwater Killing

Our fear of giant fish lurking in the water is a primal fear that is in all of us to some degree. According to shark expert Ralph Collier, this fear was what inspired the success of the movie Jaws. What a lot of people do not realize is that real life shark attacks inspired this book and movie. Not only were the attacks real, but they occurred in a river 16 miles from the ocean. In July of 1916, three people were attacked in Matawan Creek and unfortunately two were killed including an 11 year old boy. Mattawan Creek is a tidal river that is about 40 feet wide at the point where the attacks took place. Experts believe that the attacking shark(s) were most likely a bull shark or a great white.

Giant Catfish

Different species of catfish are found throughout the world and some of them are giants. Catfish do not have scales and some are covered with bony plates. The whisker-like barbels of some species can deliver a poison powerful enough to hospitalize a human. Many species are indiscriminate eaters that will ingest almost anything they can swallow. The largest known species of catfish is the Mekong giant catfish which are found on the Mekong River in Cambodia. According to Dekila Chungyalpa of the World Wildlife Federation, these catfish can grow to be 9 feet long and weigh 646 pounds.

Another species of catfish has been reported to swallow small children whole. The giant red tail catfish is found in the Amazon River area of South America. The official record size of the giant red tail catfish is 54 inches long and 108 pounds, but the locals say they get much bigger. Local fishing guide Marc Cobos translated the story of a local woman. According to the woman, a giant red tail catfish knocked over a canoe that her young cousin was riding in. The boy disappeared and the villagers were not able to find him. Several days later a giant red tail catfish was found dead with the legs of the unfortunate boy sticking out of its mouth. Apparently, the giant red tail catfish had died while attempting to swallow the boy.

MonsterQuest will attempt to investigate these stories by sending a team of expert fishermen to the Amazon to investigate. Colorado sports fishermen Brian Coe and Mike Knee teamed up with local guide Marc Cobos in search of these giants. They base the expedition out of the Amazon Tours Lodge which is near the area of the reported catfish attack. Using local piranha and barracuda as bait, they attempted to catch a giant red tail catfish.

After several days of attempting to catch a giant fish, they have no luck. The largest red tail catfish that they catch is 20 pounds. According to Marc Cobos, the giant catfish are becoming less common as the area is more heavily fished. Cobos does believe that the giant red tail catfish are still out there.

The “Freshwater Barracuda”

Pike are found throughout the northern hemisphere and their aggressive nature has given them the nickname of the “freshwater barracuda”. Pike have rows of razor sharp teeth and a torpedo shaped body that can move through the water at up to 30 miles per hour. According to aquatic expert Roland Sigurdson, pike are an ambush predator that will eat their own kind and have been known to attack humans on rare occasions. The largest known pike to have been caught was over 60 inches in length and weighed 67 pounds.

An example of pike aggressiveness was experienced by Blaine Johnson. In 2004, Johnson was wading near the shore in Pine River, Minnesota. Suddenly, he was attacked from behind. He rushed out of the water to find blood streaming down his ankle and foot. The teeth marks are still visible today. Experts believe that Johnson was attacked by a pike.

MonsterQuest looked into the possibility that there could be giant pike in America. They examined the remains of what some believe to be the largest pike ever to be found. In 1998, Jack Woehler and his family found the remains of a giant fish in Chippewa Flowage, Wisconsin. There were enough of the remains to identify it as a type of pike known as a musky. The jaws of this pike were kept on display at the Treeland Resorts hotel. Frank Pratt from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources believes that the jaws may have belonged to a giant pike that was bigger than the world record holder.

MonsterQuest enlisted the aid of wildlife forensic reconstructionist Matt Yernatich to determine the size of this creature. According to Yernatich, the size of a pike is proportional to the size of its jaws. Using the jaws as a guide, he created a reconstruction of the creature. The reconstruction showed that the pike in question would have been a little bigger than the current world record. Yernatich estimates the pike would have been about six feet long and weighed around 70 pounds.

Giant Lake Trout

Lake trout are known as fighters with keen eyesight and strong jaws. They can be very big with the known world record at 59 inches long and 120 pounds. According to expert fishing guide Jim Peterson, they can get mush bigger. In July of 1987, he was guiding a fisherman on Point Lake in Canada. While trolling in 50 - 60 feet of water, Peterson said they caught on to a giant lake trout. After struggling with the fish for hours, the fish was brought in close enough that Peterson could estimate it to be as long as his 14 foot boat. Eventually, the line snapped and the fish got away.

Wildlife biologist Dick Sternberg believes that giant lake trout are a definite possibility. Sternberg believes that these giants would be found in lakes similar to Point Lake. This deep clear lake is 70 miles long and has not been over fished by humans.

To catch a giant lake trout, Sternberg believes that oversized lures should be used. He thinks that these giant fish would feed on fish in the 25 inch to 30 inch range and eat on very seldom occasions. Brad Peterson of Waterwork Fishing Accessories develops two specialized lures for Sternberg. The lures are 24 inches long and are able to be mounted with cameras.

MonsterQuest sends Sternberg to join up with Jim Peterson on a giant lake trout expedition on Point Lake. For several days, they troll the waters with numerous lures trying to capture footage of a giant lake trout. While capturing footage of trout in the 20 to 30 pound range, the giant lake trout is not found. Sternberg is not discouraged by their lack of success. He believes that the giant lake trout may be out there. They are hard to find in a lake 70 miles long and up to 300 feet deep.

Giant Alligator Gar

Alligator Gar are a fearsome looking species that is found throughout the southern United States. Their long alligator-like snouts give them their name. The official record for this species is a 7 ½ foot long, 279 pound behemoth. Tales and pictures from the early 20th century illustrate that they may have been much bigger. One famous picture shows an alligator gar that was reportedly 10 feet long. This carnivorous giant lurks in reeds and vegetation in order to ambush its prey.

The MonsterQuest team enlists fishing guide Kirk Kirkland in the quest for a giant alligator gar. Kirkland has been running a fishing guide service in Texas that specializes in alligator gar for fifteen years. He states that it is not uncommon to catch a 7 foot, 100 pound alligator gar. Kirkland is joined by videographer Jared Christie as they fish the Trinity River in Texas for alligator gar. They manage to land an alligator gar that is 79 inches long and 111 pounds. While this is a typical mature alligator gar, it was an extremely impressive fish.

Conclusion

While the MonsterQuest team was able to find extremely large freshwater fish, they did not locate any of the giant man-eating fish of legend. As the world’s freshwater lakes and rivers become more accessible to fishing, the likelihood of native species growing to giant size becomes less and less. But the stories continue to come in about giant fish that may look at humans as a possible food source.

A MonsterQuest Look at “Lions in the Suburbs”

The United States has had numerous sighting of big black cats in the wild. Black Cats from the larger cat species are referred to as black panthers. Eyewitnesses have reported seeing a large black panther that is similar to a mountain lion, about six feet long, and weighing about 250 pounds. While the western United States is the home of many mountain lions, this species does not produce black panthers. MonsterQuest takes a look at what is behind the hundreds of black panther sightings in the United States.

The History

According to biologist Emil McCain from the Borderland Jaguar Detection Project, the United States is home to between 10,000 and 30,000 mountain lions. Encounters between humans and mountain lions have increased as human development continues to encroach on traditional mountain lion territory. Young male mountain lions that are not used to their natural prey find humans that are jogging or riding bicycles to be very enticing prey.

According to Nels Rodefeld of the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, 10% to 20% of all calls reporting mountain lions refer to a black panther yet they have never found one. Feline geneticist Dr. Stephen O’Brien says that black mountain lions do not exist. While it is possible for one to be created through the mutation of one or two genes. This would only occur once every 100 generations. Such odds would make it highly unlikely that one would ever be seen much less hundreds of sightings.

The Director of Big Cat Rescue, Scott Lope, says that it is possible that some of the sightings could be a leopard. Some irresponsible owners of these wild animals may release them when they can no longer take care of them. Leopards are sometimes black with the characteristic darker spots. Leopards are not native to the Americas so it is unlikely that a few escaped specimens could account for all of the sightings.

One interesting possible explanation for the sightings is that jaguars have once again taken up residence in the United States. Biologist Emil McCain and Jack Childs of the Borderland Jaguar Detection Project explain that jaguars were found in the United States up until the 1890s. Jaguars are about twice the size of mountain lions and are the third largest big cat, with only lions and tigers being larger. Unlike mountain lions they can be black with 6% of their population in the Amazon basin being black panthers. They were found in Arizona, Texas, New Mexico and California until they were wiped out by farmers protecting livestock. While no black jaguars were ever found in the United States, McCain and Childs have proven that Jaguars are back. Starting in 1996, the Borderland Jaguar Detection Project has been following the possible migration of Jaguars from Mexico. They have been able to capture conclusive footage from camera traps of three distinct jaguars in Arizona. Two have been identified as male with the third unknown so they are not able to say that there is a breeding population in the United States.

Professor Walter Stephens of John Hopkins University believes that large black cat sightings could be tied to long held traditions. Black cats show up in literature as being associated with demons or the devil as far back as the thirteenth century. Cats are nocturnal creatures that roam around in the darkness and this darkness strikes humans as being black.

In the spring of 2006, Eric Atkison had several goats disappear from his farm in Choctaw, Oklahoma. He said that some of his neighbors lost dogs at the same time. At first, he thought that wild dogs or coyotes were responsible but that changed when he spotted a black panther near his house in March. Later that spring, a 250 pound llama was killed on his farm by what he believes to be the black panther. Nearby rancher, Dale Smith, has had 10 calves killed and dragged of by some animal.

Many black panther sightings occurred in the daylight and some of the witnesses took photos. In 1999, David Johnson of Hugo, Minnesota reports seeing a black panther in a pasture. He took 13 pictures of the cat which he believes to be as long as a German Shepherd dog.

Jon Lutz of the Eastern Puma Research Center has notated numerous black panther sightings throughout the eastern United States. He believes that there is definitely a population of black felines roaming around like the one Pastor George Loar of Frostburg Maryland recorded. On 14 December 1995, Pastor Loar saw a large black cat near his house. He grabbed his camcorder and was able to capture footage of the creature. Unfortunately the video is not clear enough to identify the size or species of the cat.

Another piece of video evidence was captured by Jason Bowers in Franklin, West Virginia. Bowers saw what he thought was a bear walking through a field near his house. He then realized that the creature was some sort of large feline. He took a video of the creature that may prove key in the investigation as it also had trees in the footage that provide a good size reference.

In 2006, a number of residents of Palestine, Texas saw the carcass of a large black cat near a road. Pattie Gray was driving on the road with her husband when she stopped to look at the carcass. She described it as being large with a body of about three feet long. Awhile later, Patrick Walsh heard about the carcass from other locals and wanted to see it for himself. When he arrived at the spot, the carcass appeared to have decayed but he was able to collect vertebrae and rib bones from the site.


The Plan

Dale Smith and Eric Atkison will work together to place camera traps around the areas of their farms. These camera traps are motion activated and should find predators in the area. They will leave the camera traps out for several days and then the photos will be identified

The MonsterQuest team will analyze the existing evidence of the black panther sightings. The Bowers video and the Johnson photos will be sent to wildlife experts for species identification. The Bowers video was the only one that had some objects in the picture for size reference, so it will be sent to forensic video analyst Peter Schmitz for size analysis..

The Palestine Cat remains will also be tested. The samples collected by Patrick Walsh will be sent out to New York University for testing. Results can be compared with known species.

The Results

After several days Smith and Atkison return to gather the photos. No predators are found on any of the film from the camera traps. Smith is able to find some bones from one of the missing calves under a tree. It is unknown what type of animal would have dragged the carcass so far.

David Johnson had taken 13 photos of what he believed to be a black panther. The experts however disagree with his assessment. Director of Big Cat Rescue Scott Lope and biologist Heidi Bailey agree that the creature in the photo is a large domestic cat.

The wildlife experts examine the Bowers video and come to differing conclusions. Scientific Research Director for the Cougar Network, Dr. Clay Nielson, believes that the creature in the film is a large domestic cat. Feline geneticist Dr. Stephen O’Brien disagrees. He believes that the creature is too big to be a domestic cat and is most like a released leopard, a jaguar, or a less likely mountain lion mutation.

The size estimates of the cat in the Bowers video is completed by forensic video analyst Peter Schmitz. He has the MonsterQuest team take on site size measurements of the known objects in the video. They also shoot video of Bowers in the same location using the same camera to get a comparison video. Schmitz is able to obtain the length of the cat in the film by utilizing the specifications of the camera, measurements of known object and the computer alignment of bark patterns in trees from the two videos. Schmitz says the creature’s body, not including the tail, is 25” long. This would be on the large size for a domestic cat but not out of the realm of possibility.

The remains of the Palestine cat were sent to Professor Todd Disotell of New York University for DNA testing. The testing showed that the DNA did not belong to a cat at all. According to Disotell, the DNA matched up with a domestic dog or a wolf.

The MonsterQuest team was unable to find any good evidence for black panthers in the United States. Sightings may increase as humans continue to encroach on historical cat hunting grounds. The future could be made more fascinating by the reintroduction of jaguars to the wildlife of the United States. Black panther sighting may increase in the years to come.

A MonsterQuest Look at “Mutant Canines”

In episode entitled “Mutant Canines”, the MonsterQuest team takes a look at the possibility of large mutant canines in the United States. There have been numerous reports of some unknown canine creature that may be attacking domestic dogs and livestock. Reports state that this mutant canine is not a wolf, coyote or domestic dog. Eyewitnesses report seeing a canine like beast with large hunched shoulders, a flat snout, short mangled ears, bushy tail and weighing around 120 pounds. While reports have come in from across the country, Maine and Minnesota are the center of these mutant canine sightings.

History

Cryptozoologist Loren Coleman, author of Mysterious America, says that tales of this creature go back centuries. Native Americans and early colonists had tales of unknown canine creatures that would hunt in the wilderness. In the 1880s, a Montana rancher claims to have shot and killed one of these creatures and had it mounted. This creature was called Shunka Warak’in which is an Amerindian name meaning “to carry off dogs”. While mounted creature later disappeared, a photo of the creature appears in the 1977 book entitled Trails to Natures Mysteries.
(Note: Since show’s airing the stuffed Shunka Warak’in was found at the Idaho Museum of Natural History
http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/articles/2007/11/15/news/000monster.txt )

A recent sighting of these mutant canine creatures occurred in September of 2006 in Rollag, Minnesota. Wendell Olsen let his Jack Russell terrier out one night and it never returned. When he went out looking for his dog, he heard yelping sounds but was never able to find his dog. About a month later, he found that something had ripped out the throat of a 700 pound colt that belonged to him. A local Department of Natural Resources agent investigated the incident and said that the culprit was most likely a pack of dogs or coyotes. A few weeks after the killing of the colt, Olsen saw a wolf like creature running over a hill near his house. Wolves are not common in the area of Minnesota around Rollag.

Another sighting of the beast that occurred in Turner, Maine has more evidence. On 12 August 2006, Michelle O’Donnell saw a large canine creature crossing her yard. She described it as a large dark dog like creature that looked wild but not a wolf. The creature had large jaws, huge eyes, tasseled ears and was bigger than most dogs. The creature eventually ran away. A couple of days later, she received a call from a neighbor saying that they had found the body of the creature near her house. She took pictures of the creature and kept the carcass as proof of what she had seen. She sent copies of the photos to reporter Mark Laflamme. The photos of what was called the Turner Beast were run in the Lewiston Sun Journal. ( http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14383883/ )

Sightings of this creature in Maine go back to at least 1906. The Lewiston Daily Sun carried an article about a creature lurking in the fields and menacing local pickers. The dark brown creature was dubbed the Injun Devil. Like the photo of the Turner Beast, the Injun Devil was reported to have tasseled ears.

Other sightings of these creatures have occurred recently in Maine. In 2004, Leo Doyon reported seeing what he described as a unknown canine with dark or rust colored fur and reddish eyes in Auburn, Maine. Doyon said the creature’s body was built like a hyena. Leo Michaud tells how his 50 pound Doberman Pinscher was attacked by some sort of creature and had to be put down. A couple of days later, Michaud returned home to find an unknown werewolf looking creature near the steps to his house. Michaud has been a hunter for years and is familiar with local wildlife but he could not identify the creature.

Many people believe that these sightings are of wolves or feral dogs. Wolves can be found in many parts of the country and can weigh over 150 pounds. Feral or wild dogs are harder to recognize as they are often not suited for the wild. According to Peggy Callahan of the Wildlife Science center, frostbite can make them lose part of their ears and mange can totally alter their appearance. Mange is caused by a mite that feeds on the proteins on an animals skin. Mange leads to hair loss that can leave the animal with hairless patches and a bone spike for a tail. The disease makes it harder for them to obtain food and drives them into closer contact with humans. Often an animal with mange will look so strange that people familiar with healthy animals will not recognize a diseased specimen.

Another possibility is that the creatures spotted could be some sort of hybrid dog. According to veterinarian Jay Epping, a hybrid dog can result from the mixing of any two dog species including wolves. Peggy Callahan states that there is no way to define the result of mixing dogs with wolves. The temperament, behavior, and reactions to disease can vary greatly.

Some suggest that a member of the weasel family may be responsible for the sightings. Fishers can make strange sounds like a baby screaming and can be up to four feet long. Wolverines are heavier than fishers and are very aggressive. Wolverines have been known to kill Moose and fight with black bears.

Another theory that some have suggested is that the sightings are of some remnant population of dire wolves. These prehistoric wolves were similar in weight to modern wolves but had broader heads, larger teeth, thicker bodies and shorter legs. Dire wolves are believed to have gone extinct about 10,000 years ago.

The Plan

Wildlife and optics expert Craig Enervold joins up with Wendell Olsen to try to capture some photo evidence of the mutant canine creature. They find the carcass of a deer in the area that appears to have been killed by coyotes. Using the deer carcass and the carcass of a dead horse as bait, Enervold and Olsen set up several motion activated camera traps in the area. Enervold attempts to draw in predatory creatures by playing the recording of a distressed rabbit.

Local animal control officer Wendell Strout joins Mark Laflamme on the search for the Turner Beast. They set up numerous camera traps near the O’Donnell residence in hopes of capturing photo evidence of a live creature. In addition, they set out baited live game traps in the area in hopes of drawing the creature in.

The MonsterQuest team will look at the evidence from the Turner Beast that was collected by Michelle O’Donnell. The photos of the dead animal will be examined by wildlife experts. The collected samples of fur, flesh and bone will be sent to New York University for DNA analysis.

The Results

The teams returned to collect images from the camera traps and review them for evidence of unknown creatures. After seven days, the camera trap set near the Olsen residence showed no pictures of a mutant canine. The camera traps set up near the O’Donnell residence had stranger findings. The bait left out near one of the camera traps was gone but the cameral did not capture the image of what had taken the bait. The camera either malfunctioned or the animal that took the bait was too stealthy for the camera to work properly.

The photos of the Turner Beast were examined by two animal experts. Veterinarian Jay Epping examined the photos and determined that the creature looked like a dog that had been in the wild for a long time. The stunted ears were probably due to frostbite and the hair loss due to body decay or mange. Wolf expert Peggy Callahan believes that the creature in the photo is not a wolf. She believes that the creature is probably a domestic dog or possibly a wolf/dog mix. The bulging eyes of the creature in the photo were probably the result of the normal decay process.

The DNA analysis of the tissue samples from the Turner Beast were conducted by Dr. Todd Disotell of New York University. The extracted DNA sequence matched that of a domestic dong. Dr. Disotell said the creature could have been a wolf/dog mix as the DNA is almost identical. But, it was definitely not an unknown species.

The MonsterQuest team was unable to find any new evidence of mutant canines in their research. The Turner Beast evidence was considered the best evidence for a mutant dog, but research showed that the creature was most likely a domestic dog. With numerous sightings continuing in Maine and Minnesota, new evidence may show up of mutant canines.

A MonsterQuest Look at “Bigfoot”

Bigfoot sightings have been reported throughout the United States but Washington State seems to be the epicenter of the Bigfoot universe with over 800 reported sightings. Bigfoot has commonly been described as a creature that is a cross between a human and an ape that is up to ten feet tall, broad shouldered, hairy and walks upright. In the episode entitled “Bigfoot”, the MonsterQuest team looks at some old evidence of Bigfoot and sends two expeditions into remote Washington areas in search of the creature.

The History

The Bigfoot name comes from a now famous incident that occurred near Bluff Creek in California. In 1958, construction worker Jerry Crew found giant footprints from an unknown creature. Plaster casts of the footprints showed them to be 17 ½ inches long. As the story got media attention, the creature that left the impressions behind was referred to as Bigfoot.

The Bigfoot story died down until the 20 October, 1967 when the controversial Patterson film was shot. Roger Patterson had gone to Bluff Creek to do a documentary on recent Bigfoot prints found in the area. While out on his expedition, he shot 953 frames of 16 mm film that is now the most famous footage of Bigfoot. The film shows what appears to be a large ape like creature walking through an area of broken trees. From the moment the film was released, skeptics have claimed that the film is a fraud consisting of a man in a monkey suit walking through the area. Patterson died in 1972 still claiming that the film was legit.

Bob Gimlin had accompanied Roger Patterson on the day that the film was taken. In a 2004 interview, Gimlin claims that the film was not a fraud. He states that he could see the muscle movement on the creature and that it appeared to be very real muscle. According to Bigfoot researcher, Christopher Murphy, numerous people have studied the film and no one has been able to say definitively that it was a fraud. Cryptozoologist John Kirk states that while many men have claimed to be dressed as Bigfoot in the Patterson film, none of them have been able to offer any proof that they had anything to do with it.

Another big piece of Bigfoot evidence came from what is referred to as the Skookum expedition. In 2000, a team of Bigfoot researchers and wildlife biologist went to the Skookum Meadows area near Mount St. Helens to try to find evidence of Bigfoot. They choose this area due to finding ape signs like the breaking off of branches. The expedition set out apples to entice the creature with nearby mud wallows (muddy areas that easily retain impressions).

They returned to find that the bait was taken with some very large impressions left behind. The impression appeared to be the lower half of the body of a creature including a partial footprint. The impression was so large that it took 200 pound of plaster to cast it. The cast of the impression seemed to show a large humanoid body with long flowing hair. One interesting thing about the impression was that the partial heal print seems to have dermal ridges. These dermal ridges are similar to fingerprints and are found in all primates.

Investigations and Results

Briggs Expedition

MonsterQuest will also follow an expedition led by Dr. Briggs Hall. Hall is a veterinarian with the State of Washington whose curiosity about Bigfoot was raised in August of 2005. While on an expedition to study wildlife near Goat Rocks, Washington, he was awoken at about 1 a.m. by what he believed to be wood knocking sounds. Being an expert on wildlife for Washington, he knew of no known animal in the area that would make those noises. Later research by Hall showed that this is typical primate behavior.

Hall plans to place numerous stealth cameras in the remote Goat Rocks area and leave the cameras running for 30 days in hopes of capturing Bigfoot on film. These stealth cameras are battery powered, motion activated and can be placed almost anywhere. Hall knows that many animals are attracted by shiny objects, so he hangs compact disks from trees near the camera traps. Hall’s team also uses wind chimes and sliced onions to attract Bigfoot to the camera areas. While placing the camera traps, Halls team did find some interesting tracks. These tracks were found at 6,800 feet with no shoe impressions. While the tracks were human size at 9 inches, it was a strange area for someone to be walking barefoot.

Hall’s team completely vacates the area after setting the camera traps. Thirty days later, Hall returns and gathers up the camera traps that now have over 90 images stored on them. Review of the images show only animals that are known to reside in the area.

Walls Expedition

MonsterQuest will field a Bigfoot expedition that is to be led by botanist Kristine Walls to the Skookum Meadows area. Walls’ interest in Bigfoot was piqued in May of 2004 while she camping in the Cascade Mountains. While sleeping in her tent, she heard something moving around and touching the top of her tent. She heard the creature leave the campsite and come back again. While she never saw what was making the sound, she entertains the possibility that it was Bigfoot.

The Walls expedition team is made up of all females. The theory behind this is that Bigfoot may find a team of females as less threatening and more interesting. They compare this theory to the work that Jane Goodall was able to do with large apes. Joining Halls on the expedition will be Melissa Hovey, Archeologist Kathy Strain, and Monica Rawlins.

The team will employ an array of low light cameras including infrared, thermal and starlight technology in an attempt to capture Bigfoot pictures. Wood knocking and ape vocalizations will be used to try to entice a Bigfoot to investigate. Areas near the camera traps will be baited with apples.

After several days of wood knocking and vocalization, the team collects the camera traps and views the images. The camera captured images of several forms of known local wildlife but no signs of Bigfoot. The team did however make two interesting findings. They found what appeared to be a bedding area with broken branches and what appeared to be purposely moved branches. They also found some old tracks near the campsite. The plaster casts of these tracks showed them to be around 15 inches long.

Skookum Cast Analysis

Dr. Daris Swindler, a primatologist from the University of Washington, will examine the body cast that was obtained by the Skookum expedition. Skeptics of the cast believe that it may have been caused by an elk that got into the mud wallow. Elk are known to exhibit this behavior to escape the heat and insects.

Swindler compares the lower leg of an elk to what is believed to be the lower leg of the Skookum cast. His analysis looks at the general shape and muscle formations. At the end of his analysis, he determines that the impression in the cast does not match elk, human or known primate.

Motion Analysis of Patterson Film

Dr. Jurgen Konczak of the University of Minnesota will also be analyzing the Patterson film. Konczak is an expert in the science of human motion and he is hoping to determine if the strange wobbly gait that the creature in the film displays is compatible with the motion range of a human. To complete this analysis, Konczak will use a system which involves attaching numerous lights to a human subject. A specialized camera is used to pick up the lights and a computer to reconstruct the light points in order to make a comparison with the Patterson film. A male athlete with excellent range and muscle control is chosen to attempt the simulation of the creature in the Patterson film. Frame by frame, Konczak will attempt to match the motion of the athlete to the creature. Konczak will be joined by Esteban Sarmiento, who is an expert in large wild apes with the American Museum of Science. Sarmiento will compare the motions of the film with known ape motions.

After numerous attempts to duplicate the motions that were made by the creature on the Patterson film, Konczak determines that the motions could not have been made by a human. Since an athletic man, who is being directed and posed, could not replicate the gait in a controlled environment, it would be impossible to do in the cluttered outdoor setting. Sarmiento’s analysis of the creature’s gait was that it did not match the walk of a human or an ape.


Digital Analysis of Patterson Film

MonsterQuest contacted digital photography expert Owen Caddy to conduct an analysis of the Patterson film. Caddy has been able to acquire the original 16 mm film and he will be using new technology to study the film. Caddy will utilize a high resolution digital microscope to make a digital picture of each frame. He will then be able to use these digital picture to bring out more detail then was previously available.

Once the digital enhancements of the film was completed, Caddy was joined by Dr. Swindler in analyzing the enhanced footage. The enhanced pictures showed no signs of seams or zippers from a costume. Computer analysis was able to show movements of both the eyelids and mouth of the creature. Mouth placement was consistent with that of a primate and not a human. Caddy and Swindler believe that any costume shown in the film would have had to have been extremely well done with face articulation. Caddy found it unlikely that anyone filming a fraud in 1967 would have planned on making a film that would withstand the scrutiny of the undiscovered digital technology of forty years in the future.

Conclusion

While unable to find any good new evidence of the existence of Bigfoot. MonsterQuest did add new credibility to two previously known pieces of evidence. The analysis of the Skookum cast was interesting but the findings on the Patterson film was the really big shocker. The Patterson film remains the best evidence of Bigfoot after more than 40 years.

A MonsterQuest Look at "Birdzilla"

During the 1970s, numerous residents of central Illinois reported seeing giant black birds with wingspans of up to 25 feet. The roots of these sightings can be traced back to Native American stories of the Thunderbird. In the MonsterQuest episode entitled “Birdzilla” , the team takes a look at the possible existence of the huge birds in North America.

The History

The story of the Thunderbird goes way back in Native American folklore. According to Duke Addicks a storyteller from the Mdewakanton Indian community, the two types of Thunderbirds found in legend were either helpful or dangerous. When European explores came to America, they soon learned of the Thunderbirds.

In 1673, when explorers came to the area near the Illinois River, they found 40 to 50 foot petroglyphs of monstrous birds. According to the explorers, the natives of the area would not gaze upon these rock engravings. In 1836, Illinois writer John Russel published the story of flesh eating winged creatures that terrified the native Illini population. These creatures, called the Piasa, reportedly lived in caves along the Illinois River that were littered with human bones.

In the 1970s, a new wave of these Thunderbird stories began to show up in the United States. According to cryptozoologist Ken Gerhard, he has collected over a hundred stories from areas such as Illinois, Texas and Alaska. Most eyewitnesses describe a large dark bird with a hooked beak and a wingspan of 15 to 25 feet.

Scientist say that a creature like the one described by the eyewitnesses once existed. Paleontologist Dr. Kenneth Campbell of the Natural History Museum LA tells how in 1980 a partial skeleton of a large bird known as a teratorn was found near La Pampa, Argentina. This species that was called Argentavis Magnificens and it existed 6 to 8 million years ago. It was the largest flying bird ever found with a wingspan of 20 to 26 feet in length. This bird could weigh up to 165 pounds and would have feathers of up to 5 feet in length.

Another giant flying creature can be found even further back in history. The group of flying reptiles knows as pterosaurs went extinct 65 million years ago. In 1972, the bones of a pterosaur was found in Texas. This species now called Quetzalcoatlus was the largest flying reptile ever found with a wingspan of up to 40 feet.

The MonsterQuest team takes an in depth look at three modern sighting of Thunderbirds. They will use numerous experts to then try to determine the facts behind the case.

The Chief AJ Hunter Film

In 1977, Chief AJ Hunter was working for the local CBS affiliate in Lake Shelbyville, Illinois. He was following up on local reports of giant birds when he spotted two of these birds. He recorded film of the two birds when they took flight. Local TV stations carried the footage and the Department of Conservation claimed that the birds in the film were turkey vultures. The turkey vulture or buzzard is a common scavenger bird in North America with a dark plumage and a wingspan of up to 6 feet. According to Hunter, he was familiar with turkey vultures and he is certain that this bird was much larger than a turkey vulture.

MonsterQuest contacts and interviews three experts to get their impression of the film. Mike Wallace of the Zoological Society of San Diego and eagle biologist David Hancock both examine the film and both state that the bird in question is a turkey vulture. Dr. Patrick Redig from the University of Minnesota Raptor Center also examines the film and has a different conclusion. He states that the bird in the film appears to be larger than a turkey vulture and more in line with a condor. Redig is however very skeptical of the existence of any previously unknown giant bird species in North America. Redig states that the only way to make him believe would be the existence of a live specimen or a carcass that could be examined.

The California condor is an endangered species of bird found in the western United States. They are relatives of the turkey vulture and can have a wingspan of up to nine feet. The largest known flying bird in existence today is the Andean condor which is found in the Andes mountain region of South America. These creatures can have wingspans of up to 10 feet.

According to Wallace, the birds in question could not be condors as the terrain of Illinois would not be good for condors. Condors need mountains or steep canyons in their habitat. In these areas they are able to ride the thermals to aid in flight.

The John Bouker Sighting

On 16 October, 2002, commercial pilot John Bouker was flying over Manakotouk, Alaska. While flying at 600 feet, he spots a very large bronze colored bird with a hooked beak flying near his plane. Bouker estimates that the bird had a wingspan of at least 14 feet. Some experts have said that the bird in question could have been a steller eagle which though native to Russia are sometimes seen in Alaska. Bouker said that he was familiar with steller eagles which can have wingspans of up to eight feet, but the creature he saw was much larger than a steller eagle.

According to Huseyin Boyaci of the University of Minnesota Center for Cognitive studies, size estimates by eyewitnesses such as John Bouker are often very unreliable. Perceived size can vary greatly with the distance of the object and points of reference for the object. To prove this, Boyaci enlists the aid of expert kite make Clifford Quin. Quin designs a flexible frame bird shaped kite with a wing span of 24 feet. They fly the kite at 300 feet and ask people passing by to estimate the size of the kite. Guesses vary from “about the size of an eagle” to 100 feet.

The Marlon Lowe Case

One famous case occurred in Illinois on 25 July, 1977. Marlon Lowe was a ten year old boy that weighed approximately 60 pounds. While playing with friends in his backyard, Lowe states that he was attacked by a giant bird. According to Lowe, the bird grabbed his shirt with its talons and picked him at least a foot of the ground. The bird flies several feet with Lowe and then drops him. Four other witnesses see the bird as it flies off including his mother Ruth Lowe. According to the witnesses, the bird had a wingspan of around 15 feet and looked similar to a condor.

According to Dr. Patrick Redig, condors do not grasp and lift prey. This type of behavior is present only in raptors like eagles. Redig states that a bird usually has to outweigh its prey by a ratio of two to one in order to lift it from the ground. As an example he says that it would take a 16 pound eagle to carry away an eight pound cat. So in order for this bird to lift Lowe, it would have to be around a 100 pound bird.

The next question that MonsterQuest looks at is the likelihood of a bird attacking a human. According to Mike Wallace, a bird would only attack a human if it had been raised in captivity and was comfortable around humans. Anthropologist Scott McGraw has a very different feeling about attacks on humans.

Scott McGraw of Ohio State University spent a year studying primates carcasses that were killed by crowned eagles in 1998. He spent this time in the African Tai Forrest that is located in the Ivory Coast. In this time, McGraw collected over 600 primate bones and skulls from under the nests of crowned eagles. Primates appear to be the prime food source of these raptors which can have wingspans up to 7 feet. His studies showed that the crowned eagles were eating primates as large as 20 pounds. McGraw feels that these eagles are fully capable of attacking and killing small humans. Locals in his research area had several tales of small children being attacked by crowned eagles.

Further evidence of these attacks was found in Taung, South Africa in 1924. The skull of a pre-human known as Australopithecus child was found in a quarry. Originally, scientists believed that this 3 to 4 year old was killed by a leopard but further research showed that it was a bird of prey that killed the child. Unique marking on the skull have led paleontologists to believe that the child was killed with a single blow by a bird with a 14 cm long talon that pierced the brain. Markings on the skull were made by the beak of the bird when the eyes and brain were eaten. This damage is very similar to the damage done to the skulls of modern day primates by the crowned eagle. This leads to the possibility of crowned eagles preying on modern day small children.

The MonsterQuest team next looks at the possibility that a crowned eagle could have made it to the United States. According to meteorologists Joe Soebel, birds are often able to travel great distances especially when the weather conditions are right. Many birds ride the rising currents that move ahead of thunderstorms which may have given rise to the Thunderbird legend. In the 1970s, there was a weather pattern known as El Nino that may have helped a bird make the passage from Africa to the United States but that this possibility is very unlikely. Even if one made it to the U.S. from Africa, this bird would not have been able to lift Marlon Lowe.

According to biologist David Hancock, the possibility of a previously unknown species in North America is extremely unlikely. Birds of prey need to travel over great distances in order to feed. They would need to be exposed to observation and would not be able to hide. Even a genetic mutation resulting in some form of gigantic mutation would be unlikely and difficult to hide.

While giant birds did exist at one time, MonsterQuest was unable to find any evidence of their existence today. Many people believe that they have seen these creatures but they may have been wrong in their perception of the events. While the crowned eagle in Africa may still prey on small children, it is unlikely that one of these creatures ever made it to North America.

A MonsterQuest Look at "Giant Squid Found"

In the Sea of Cortez between the Baja Peninsula and the Mexican mainland, local fishermen fear what is known as Diablo Rojo or the red devil. This creature is the Humboldt squid. This large and aggressive predatory squid may be the source of many of the squid attack stories of legend. While the Humboldt is known to grow to lengths of up to 8 feet, many feel that there may be 50 foot giant Humboldt squids lurking in the depths. In the MonsterQuest episode of “Giant Squid Found”, the MonsterQuest team takes up the search for this monster of the deep.

The Background

In the 12th century, Norwegian sailors first reported a giant squid like sea monster which they referred to as the kraken. These creatures were reported to have tentacles that stretched as high as the tallest of masts and they were able to create whirlpools that would sink a ship. In 1861, French sailors claimed to have been attacked by a 36’ long kraken like creature off of the Canary Islands. Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea contains the famous battle between the crew of the Nautilus and giant squid. Whalers in the 18th and 19th century reported of finding giant squid in the stomachs of sperm whales. Whalers would also find sperm whales with sucker marks around their jaws and mouth like they had been in some epic struggle with a giant squid.

In the 20th century, the existence of creature of the deep was confirmed with the identification of the architeuthis. The architeuthis or giant squid specimens were found in the nets of fishermen and washed up on the shores all over the world from New Zealand to Newfoundland. Some of these specimen were as long as 57 feet which would be larger than many early seagoing vessels. The search for a living specimen continued until 2004, when a team from the National Science Museum of Japan filmed a live 26’ long specimen at a depth of 3,000 feet off the Ogaswara Islands. Scientists now believe these giant squids to inhabit the depths of all of the world’s oceans.

Another type of squid was caught by a New Zealand fishing vessel in February of 2007. While fishing in Antarctica’s Ross sea, the fishermen brought in a 33 foot long, 1,000 pound squid. This species known as the colossal squid is the largest squid species known and is found in the seas around Antarctica. Colossal squid have eyes the size of volleyballs and tentacles lined with sharp hooks.

While giant squid and colossal squid are closer in size to the kraken legends, they do not exhibit the aggressive behavior that is found in the legends. This aggressiveness is found in abundance with the Humboldt squid. The largest known Humboldt squids are eight feet long and weigh around 200 pounds. They have tentacles with suckers that are lined with sharp teeth. They have an extremely sharp beak that divers have described as a pair of two large scissors. The torpedo shaped body of the Humboldt squid is propelled through the water by ejecting water through a muscular funnel at speeds of up to 20 mph.

Dr. Roger Hanlon, senior scientist at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole Massachusetts, gave his view on the Humboldt squid. The squid migrate between the deep depths of the ocean to areas close to the surface in search of food sources. At the deeper depths, the Humboldt squid uses their specialized eye in order to find prey. The aggressive behavior of Humboldt squid lead to the possibility of them attacking and killing a human.

Scott Cassell is a squid researcher with over 11,000 hours of dive time. He described how he was attacked in 1996 by several Humboldt squid. While diving in the Sea of Cortez, he was attacked by a group of several 6 foot long Humboldt squids. The first squid grabbed his arm and wrenched it out of the socket. Two other squid grabbed his legs and began to drag him down to greater depths. As the squid pulled him down, his eardrums burst. After being dragged down about 70 feet, he was finally able to beat the squid off with his camera and make it safety back to his ship.

Another dangerous aspect about the Humboldt is that they may be able to communicate with each other and coordinate attacks on their victims. Cassell describes how the Humboldt uses specialized skin cells known as chromatiphors to rapidly change their skin color from red to white. These chromatiphors are wired directly to the Humboldt’s large brain. Cassell and some other researchers believe that the Humboldt use these color changes as a form of communication. He believes that they are able to communicate in this manner to coordinate attacks and signal danger.

Researcher Doug Hajicek believes that there may be much larger Humboldt squid at the unexplored deeper depths of the Sea of Cortez. He theorizes that the smaller squid must migrate through the levels of the ocean in order to survive while the larger specimen stay at the lower depths and survive by cannibalizing the smaller squid. The MonsterQuest team investigates the possibility of these giant Humboldt squid.

The Plan

The MonsterQuest team is led by lead diver Dale Pearson and Scott Cassell. They plan on using a pseudo morph lure to capture a Humboldt squid. The captured squid will need to be large enough to have specialized camera equipment attached to one of its fins. The squid will then dive with the camera down to the depths where the giant Humboldt may possibly live. In this manner the team hopes to capture footage of the giant Humboldt squid. They refer to the plan as Project Trojan.

The pseudo morph lure is highly specialized and referred to by the team as Sue. The specialized lure is designed by Doug Hajicek and manufactured at Metro Molded in Minneapolis. The lure is meant to attract a Humboldt squid and capture it without the use of barbed hooks.

Due to his frightening experience with Humboldt squid, Cassell seeks to improve the team safety through the use of specialized diving suit armor. Cassell works with marine biologist Jeremiah Sullivan, who previously developed the Nepunic Sharksuit. Together they design a diving suit utilizing titanium composite material that will withstand the bite force of the squid beak.

Cassell plans to use local fishermen in order to help find the pods of squid. This is necessary because the squid to not show up very well of fish finder sonar due to their body composition. To help with this, the Hummingbird company specially modifies sonar equipment to increase the likelihood of detecting the squid.

Every plan has its detractors including this one. Jeff Zernov, the CEO of Nature Vision Incorporated feels very doubtful of the teams chances of success. He does however supply the team with special underwater cameras to use on the project. These cameras will feed video back to the team via a 1500 foot video cable with a Kevlar core.

The Expedition

The team’s expedition to capture video footage of a giant Humboldt squid gets off to a rough start. The area has a very strong tropical storm approaching that makes conditions very difficult. On the first day the team is unable to find a Humboldt squid that is large enough to carry the camera equipment. The seas are very rough due to the approaching seas. Swells and shifting currents are strong enough to make the experienced dive team nauseas. This is extremely dangerous because vomiting while diving can easily lead to death.

On the second day of the expedition, the team is under extreme time constraints as the tropical storm is imminent. The teams luck improves when at around 700 feet deep a Humboldt squid becomes entangled on the lures barbless hooks. The team carefully reels the squid to the surface so as not tire it out. The specimen which is five to six feet long and around 200 pounds is the perfect size for the camera system. The Humboldt lashes out at Pearson and Cassell as they attach the camera and light system to its fin with a breakaway system.

Once released the Humboldt begins to dive. As it descends, other Humboldt squid display some curious behavior. They seem to be biting at the camera but not attacking the camera laden squid. It appears as if they are curious and investigating this unknown object.

The squid descends to over 1000 feet with the camera attached to its fin. Due to the roughness of the sea, the crew is not able to watch any live footage from the camera. The team is running out of time as the tropical storem approaches. They wait until the last possible minute and the crew brings the camera squid back towards the surface. The crew releases the camera squid and quickly heads to shore with their footage.

Back on shore, the crew reviews the squid footage. While down deep below the surface, the camera squid begins rapidly flash color as if warning of approaching danger. Out of the darkness a massive shape of a squid appears on the tape. The team is not sure what kind of squid is on the tape but they are sure it is huge.

The Results

The team sends the footage to Dr. Roger Hanlon. He attempts to identify the species type that is found on the footage. Unfortunately the footage is not quite clear enough to make a proper species classification. Hanlon in unable to say for sure if the captured footage is of a giant squid or a Humboldt squid.

In order to understand the size of the creature that is shown in the footage, it is sent to Peter Schmitz of Motion Engineering. Schmitz is an expert in utilizing film footage to determine sizing. He uses known proportions of beak to eye distances and arm width dimensions for both the Humboldt and Giant Squid to come up with size estimates. Schmitz used Humboldt squid proportions to determine that it would be 60 feet long. That would be about ten times larger than the largest previously known Humboldt squid. When Schmitz used giant squid proportions, he found that the creature would be an amazing 108 feet long. This is as long as the largest creature know to exist, the blue whale.

So while the team was unable to get footage clear enough to definitively identify giant Humboldt squid, they were able to find some intriguing evidence. No matter what type of squid it is, the Sea of Cortez in home to some massive squid creatures. The idea of huge Humboldt squids hunting in packs is truly frightening.