Nature
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Of course, the jury's still out on the cause of "sightings" of the Loch Ness monster, scientifically speaking. Seals, logs, porpoises and many other explanations have all been proposed, and the truth is probably a mixture of all of them. However, at least with this latest sighting sweeping across newsfeeds, you can maybe see what's helping fuel the thousands of sightings since the now iconic "Surgeon's photograph" hit newspapers in 1934.
The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.This new image was taken by Ian Bremner, a whisky warehouse worker, while out photographing Red Deer in the highlands around the loch, in what sounds like one unbelievably Scottish weekend.
While some are convinced the photograph shows the humps of a long serpentine monster, most are pretty clear the image shows three seals, as evident by the seal's head you can see on the left.
In the past, mis-sightings of seals and otters have often been blamed for the myth of the modern-day Scottish plesiosaur. In a series of articles in 1982, the New Scientist argued sightings of Nessie could be put down to fermenting Scots pine logs rising to the surface of the loch.
Nevertheless, Ian is sticking to his guns.
“I suppose it could be seals, but I’m not so sure,” he told The Scotsman. “The more I think about it, the more I think it could be Nessie.”
However, speaking about the loch, Ian admitted: “If you’re fishing there it’s the sort of place where you can get a tingle up your spine and second guess what you’re seeing. You start seeing things even when you know there’s nothing there.”
