Animal Talk with Pecker: The Mokele-mbembe (Cryptozoology Edition)

Reports of a mysterious, dinosaur-like creature in the jungles of Congo have existed for centuries. Tales of expeditions to find the river monster have been recorded in numerous books such as Drums Along the Congo: On the Trail of Mokele-Mbembe, The Last Living Dinosaur. You’re probably wondering where you would find such a book. The obvious answer is Amazon. The not-so-obvious answer is in my library. That’s right. Since 2007 your boy Pecker has owned a copy of this classic tome. This mysterious and majestic creature has captured my imagination for many years, and now I’d like to share this gift of exploration with you. Come with me as we go on a quest to discover the last living sauropod!





Deep in the heart of Congo lies Lake Tele and the surrounding Likouala swamp forests. "It's the end of the world. It gives you a feeling of a surviving prehistoric time,” says Dr. Roy Mackal, a retired biologist from the University of Chicago. In the 1980s, Dr Mackal led two expedition teams to the vast swamp and rainforest area of the Congo which is inhabited by pygmies, on the hunt for this mystery creature - Africa's version of Scotland's Loch Ness Monster – the Mokele-mbembe.





The Mokele-mbembe (meaning "one who stops the flow of rivers") has been described as an elephant-sized creature with smooth, brownish-gray skin, a long, flexible neck, a very long tail as powerful as a crocodile’s, and three-clawed feet the size of frying pans. After a recent expedition there, two American researchers concluded that these stories refer to a real animal, not a myth. Fantastic as it seems, Roy Mackal and James Powell believe that this creature, called ‘Mokele Mbembe’ by the natives, may actually be a dinosaur, perhaps one resembling brontosaurus, which is thought to have died out 70 million years ago.




As of 1980, the Lake Tele region was little explored and largely unmapped, and most expeditions were unable to reach Lake Tele. Mackal interviewed several people who claimed to have seen the beast, and the descriptions of the creature were strikingly similar: animals 15 to 30 feet (5 to 9 m) long (most of that a snakelike head and neck, plus long thin tail). The body was reminiscent of a hippo's, only more bulbous. Again, informants invariably pointed to a picture of a sauropod when shown pictures of various animals to which mokele-mbembe might be compared.




The field of cryptozoology - the search for large, unproven species - extends well beyond the realms of mainstream science. But those who believe Mokele-mbembe exists point out that some animals once dismissed by science have turned out to be real. And this is the kind of place that it is easy to imagine containing hidden mysteries. The Congolese government officials say 80% of its 66,000 sq km is uncharted. Much of it is dense, often flooded forest, forming part of the second largest rainforest in the world.





To date, there have been more than 50 expeditions to the region, but have resulted in little to no scientific evidence.

There is, however, no shortage of eyewitness reports. "I was in a boat on the river when I saw Mokele-mbembe. He began to chase us. Mokele-mbembe rose out of the water," one man told the BBC News. "We ran, or he would have killed us."

Reverend Eugene Thomas from Ohio told James Powell and Roy P. Mackal in 1979 a story that involved the purported killing of a Mokele-Mbembe near Lake Tele in 1959. Thomas was a missionary who had served in the Congo since 1955, gathering much of the earliest evidence and reports, and claiming to have had two close-encounters himself. Natives of the Bangombe tribe who lived near Lake Tele were said to have constructed a large spiked fence in a tributary of Tele to keep Mokèlé-mbèmbé from interfering with their fishing. The spiked fence resulted in the injuring and eventual death of a Mokele-Mbembe, which was then cooked and eaten by the pygmy tribe.





I don't know if this magnificent beast exists, bros. What I do know is that it has captured the imaginations of people for centuries, and that many of the locals believe it to be lurking their dark and mysterious jungles.

The possibility of discovering this cryptic creature is exciting. But maybe there’s more to it than that. Maybe the excitement of the unknown and the possibilities of what could be out there give us an amazing opportunity to let our imaginations run wild. "I think there is a basic need or drive to entertain possibilities just outside of our reach," says psychology professor Jacqueline Woolley of the University of Texas. Maybe we’ll see this amazing creature someday. Until then, maybe it’s the mystery and excitement of what these magical beasts might be that we really enjoy.

Gather your friends and family and tell them what you've seen here. And never forget where you were when you discovered the mystery of this magnificent beast.

Join me in celebrating the Mokele-mbembe.