Robert Avent wrote:
 
>      (snip) And of course we might ask whether
>      the Yeti and Nessie has gone extinct before being found.
 
Many years ago, there was a British television show where a naturalist
(sadly, I don't remember his name) who lived by Loch Ness came up with
an elegant solution to the Loch Ness Monster problem. He had the
various photographs of Nessie pinned on his bedroom wall so he would
see them before he went to sleep, and when he rose in the morning.
 
One day he woke with the answer -- Nessie was otters! The famous
picture showing the head and neck of the monster was actually the tail
of an otter caught momentarily before the animal performed a barrel
roll in the water. The animal flips the very end of his tail over
before rolling over. The naturalist had seen this dozens of times but
had never made the connection before.
 
The reported size of Nessie had been taken for granted, but there is
no way to tell the size of any object on open water, as there is no
scale to compare. Reports on land have Nessie much smaller and he has
been sighted at dusk taking a few small steps to the bank and then
sliding in the water -- as otters are wont to do. The lighting
conditions at dusk magnify the apparent size of objects while also
making them unclear.
 
This explanation, however, did become extinct as it competed with the
much stronger "wishful thinking" of the monster fans, not to mention
the PR men in the Scottish tourist board. I find it wonderful on so
many levels!
 
Cheers,
 
John Hooker
writer2001.com