The mystery around the ancient monster, crocodile-like skull found during a fishing trip in the Yamal Peninsula deepens as a new video emerges.
Experts express skepticism that the find was real and say it may be a hoax! No, really!?!
Yamal Peninsula is not only composed of strange craters, but sometimes, fishermen are lucky enough to find a bizarre rock said to be 150 million-year-old fossil. Yes, some fishermen claim to have found remarkably intact remains of an ancient lizard in a Siberian river. And some experts even could identify this skull as a lizard or dinosaur from 150 million years ago, a marine reptile called Dakosaurus-maximus. This new video shows experts inspecting the find closer:
What could be this mystery rock?
Several theories have been put forward for what this crocodile-like rock might be. So far experts have suggested the rock is about 150 million years old. The fisherman originally said that Moscow scientists informed them it was a mesosaur, but if the age is correct that would be impossible, as mesosaurs lived from 299 to 270 million years ago.
According to Komsomolskaya Pravda it may have been a marine reptile called Dakosaurus-maximus, which lived 161 to 100 million years ago, although more proof will be needed. Other experts speaking to Komsomolskaya Pravda agreed that it was likely a sea lizard rather than a dinosaur.
However, several professors and experts in paleontology have expressed their skepticism that the find is genuine, and say it might be a hoax.
Here is what a specialist says:
In this case it does look suspicious, especially in the way it’s poking out of the river bed. It’s strange that it’s so much larger than the surrounding cobbles, which would suggest that it hasn’t been transported by the river. If it is in its original position, then it should have been eroded away to a greater extent by the cobbles. It is also hard to judge the size of it. It does look rather as if somebody has planted it there. Although there is an overall impression of a skull with distinct tooth sockets, some of which have teeth in them, there would seem to be too many tooth positions for it to be Dakosaurus, but that is assuming it is real, and at the moment that is far from certain.
An ancient monster or a hoax? At least this Siberian rocky skull mystifies scientists!
