1. I didn’t realise I knew a heap about this famous puddle until I came to write about it. It is the second largest loch (lake) in Scotland with depths reaching over 750 feet. Omissions? By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. Loch Ness Facts. In 1933 the Loch Ness monster’s legend began to grow. But it seems to be intrinsic to human nature to believe in supernatural entities, a vast category that encompasses gods, angels, demons, the Easter Bunny, and, yes, our dear friend Nessie. This legend is especially galling to paleontologists, who are constantly being told by people who should know better (and by overeager reality-TV producers) that Nessie is a long-extinct dinosaur or marine reptile. Loch Ness is something of a celeb, thanks to the tales of its resident monster. These people had stone tablets wherein different animal pictures were illustrated. Bob Strauss is a science writer and the author of several books, including "The Big Book of What, How and Why" and "A Field Guide to the Dinosaurs of North America.". Its outlet is the River Ness, which flows into the Moray Firth at Inverness. Other locations and cultures have different legends such as Champ or Ogopogo. Corrections? This isn't very likely, either. After Robert Kenneth Wilson's famous photograph was published, the resemblance of Nessie's head and neck to that of a sauropod dinosaur did not go unnoticed. It is also sometimes called Water Horse or Beastie. The lake is 36.2 kilometers (22.5 miles) long and 2.7 kilometers (1.7 miles) wide at its widest point. With a depth of 788 feet (240 metres) and a length of about 23 miles (36 km), Loch Ness has the largest volume of fresh water in Great Britain. It can, therefore, be said to be the largest lake in the United Kingdom. The problem with this identification is that sauropods were terrestrial, air-breathing dinosaurs. 46. A year after the eyewitness testimony of Spicer and Grant, a doctor named Robert Kenneth Wilson took the most famous "photograph" of the Loch Ness Monster: a dappled, undulating, black-and-white image showing the long neck and small head of a placid-looking sea monster. The sharp rise and fall of the level of the loch is one reason for the scanty flora of the waters; another … Which Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals Lived in Iowa? Top 10 Facts - Loch Ness Monster // Top FactsThese and other interesting Top Facts you can know in this channel.1. The sharp rise and fall of the level of the loch is one reason for the scanty flora of the waters; another reason is the great depths of the loch near the shoreline. Devoted to Understanding the Loch Ness Monster Mystery. 10 Interesting Facts About The Loch Ness Monster. Random Loch Ness Facts Loch Ness is situated at the North Eastern end of the Great Glen, a large “side-slip” (and active) fault line that splits the north of Scotland down … Tales of leviathans lurking beneath the water’s surface are as ancient as any. For over 80 years – as sightings proliferated – Nessie became a world-famous cryptid, or creature whose existence has not been proven. Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals of England. The Loch Ness monster is a mysterious creature that is said to live in Loch Ness Scotland. Why, despite all the indisputable facts detailed above, do so many people around the world continue to believe in the Loch Ness Monster? Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands is the country’s second-largest loch by surface area at 22 square miles, with a depth of 230 metres. It lies in the Highland council area of Scotland. Since the monster is a part of myth, there are no facts related to the real appearance of Loch Ness. By Benjamin Radford - Live Science Contributor 22 April 2015. The surface of Loch Ness is measured at 16 meter or 52 feet above the sea elevation. The Painted People The legend of the Loch Ness monster began in Northern Scotland from the painted people also known as the Picts. Ad Meskens / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 3.0. Loch Ness is known throughout the world, and has been a favourite destination for visitors to Scotland for many years. It lies in the Glen Mor—or Great Glen, which bisects the Highlands—and forms part of the system of waterways across Scotland that civil engineer Thomas Telford linked by means of the Caledonian Canal (opened 1822). Have you ever visited this deep and large lake located in Scottish Highlands before? What is the Loch Ness Monster? Loch Ness is located in the Highlands of Scotland, a few miles southwest of Inverness. October 2018: Inverness & River Ness Facts Inverness means “mouth of the river Ness” and is the most northerly city in Scotland! 10 fascinating facts about the Loch Ness Monster Looking for the Loch Ness Monster is on the bucket list The Loch Ness Monster has been a source of mystery and fascination for over a thousand years. The trouble here is, even the learned monks of the early Dark Ages believed in monsters and demons, and it's not uncommon for the lives of the saints to be sprinkled with supernatural encounters. Its surface is 16 metres (52 feet) above sea level. Plus, there are multiple versions of the Loch Ness monster depending on where you look. The hotels, motels, and souvenir stores in the vicinity of Loch Ness would go out of business, and well-meaning enthusiasts would have to find another way to spend their time and money, rather than walking around the rim of the lake with high-powered binoculars and gesticulating at suspicious ripples. See the fact file below for more information on the Loch Ness or alternatively, you can download our 23-page Loch Ness worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment. Animal Planet, National Geographic, and The Discovery Channel all derive a good slice of their ratings from "what if?" Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree.... Loch Ness, in the Highlands of Scotland. Like some other very deep lochs in Scotland and Scandinavia, Loch Ness is said to be inhabited by an aquatic monster. But the Loch Ness Monster is far and away the most famous "cryptid" — that is, a creature whose existence has been attested to by various "eyewitnesses" and which is widely believed in by the general public, but is still not recognized by establishment science. Remember that TV is all about money, not science. The Loch Ness is a murky 22-square-mile loch (Scottish Gaelic for “lake”) with an official maximum depth of 754 feet in the remote Scottish Highlands. It sits just 8 miles North of our famous Loch Ness, and is known as “the capital of the Highlands”. The only deeper loch is Loch Morar in Lochaber, West Highlands, at just over 1,000ft (310m). Seiches (surface oscillations), caused by differential heating, are common on the loch. Charles R. Knight / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain. On your coach trip to Loch Ness, you’ll pass through spectacular highland scenery and many points of interest which your driver/guide will show you. All of the other reported sightings are completely unreliable. It contains more fresh water than all the lakes of England and Wales combined which is perhaps why the legend of its mythical creature lives on to this day. When you think about a legend in Scottish Highlands, you always remember Loch Ness. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Why does the Nessie myth persist? Hoax: A History of Deception: 5,000 Years of Fakes, Forgeries, and Fallacies. You can bet that if the Nessie myth were on the brink of extinction, some enterprising TV producer, somewhere, would find a way to whip it up again. Its outlet is the River Ness, which flows into the Moray Firth at Inverness. The location of Loch Ness is around 37 kilometer 23 mi of Inverness. While swimming, Nessie would have to poke her head out of the water once every few seconds. Just like Loch Ness it is believed to have its own mythical creature, Nessie’s cousin Morag! It is scientifically impossible to prove a negative. Discover surprising insights and little-known facts about politics, literature, science, and the marvels of the natural world. The loch contains more fresh water than all the lakes in England and Wales combined. It's unknown if Spicer and his wife had partaken of a wee bit o' the creature that day (European slang for drinking alcohol), but his account was echoed a month later by a motorcyclist named Arthur Grant, who claimed that he narrowly avoided striking the beastie while out on a midnight drive. For another thing, marine reptiles weren't equipped with gills, so even if Nessie were a plesiosaur, she'd still have to surface for air numerous times every hour. In April a couple saw an enormous animal—which they compared to a “dragon or prehistoric monster”—and after it crossed their car’s path, it … It’s our most popular day tour from Edinburgh. What Do We Know About the Mosasaurus of the Late Cretaceous Period? The giveaway is the size of the lake's surface ripples, which don't match the presumed scale of Nessie's anatomy. As a general rule, you shouldn't trust any TV show that touts the Loch Ness Monster as reality. Despite the best efforts of modern science, absolutely no physical trace of the Loch Ness Monster has ever been found. Loch Ness- by Riccardo Speziari- Wikimedia Commons. Loch Ness is a large, deep, freshwater loch in the Scottish Highlands extending for approximately 37 kilometres (23 miles) southwest of Inverness. Here are five other facts about the monster of Loch Ness… 1 The Loch Ness Monster, or Nessie ( Scottish Gaelic: Uilebheist Loch Nis ), is a cryptid in cryptozoology and Scottish folklore that is said to inhabit Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands. The Loch Ness’ water volume is larger than all the England and Wales’ lakes put together. The Nessie-as-sauropod myth may have drawn on the 19th-century theory that Brachiosaurus spent most of its time in the water, which would help to support its massive weight. In 2006, she topped a survey of the most famous Scots. The freshwater loch associated with Loch Ness Monster is explained on Facts about Loch Ness. Dive into our 80 fascinating facts here... 1) The Loch Ness Monster is known by the nickname “Nessie”. Pictures. There will always be the slightest outside chance that Nessie really exists and the skeptics will be proved wrong. Loch Ness is a loch in the Scottish Highlands.It is also on the Great Glen Fault and part of the Caledonian Canal.. Geography. 2) She was first spotted in 565AD by St Columba … Sure, Sasquatch, the Chupacabra, and Mokele-mbembe all have their devotees. 10 Rumors about the Loch Ness Monster are more than a thousand years old It is, however, surrounded by hills which provide an amazing scenery. Scotland, most northerly of the four parts of the United Kingdom, occupying about...…. Loch Ness Information Website. Updates? Test the depth of your knowledge with this quiz. The pesky thing about cryptids is that it's logically impossible to prove a negative, so no matter how much huffing and puffing the experts do, they can't state with 100 percent certainty that the Loch Ness Monster doesn't exist. For one thing, Loch Ness is only about 10,000 years old, and plesiosaurs went extinct 65 million years ago. Urquhart Castle overlooking Loch Ness, Scotland. Titanosaur Dinosaur Pictures and Profiles. At the time, a road adjacent to Loch Ness was finished, offering an unobstructed view of the lake. For one thing, Loch Ness is only about 10,000 years old, and plesiosaurs went extinct 65 million years ago. It is the second largest Scottish loch by surface area at 56.4 km 2 (21.8 sq mi), after Loch Lomond.Because of its great depth, it is the largest by volume. Loch Ness. Cool Facts about Loch Ness. It is 23 … • There have been reports of a lake monster existing in Scotland since 565 AD. Loch Ness is a large, deep, freshwater lake in the Scottish Highlands. The watershed of Loch Ness covers more than 700 square miles (1,800 square km) and comprises several rivers, including the Oich and the Enrick. That's when a man named George Spicer claimed to have seen a huge, long-necked, "most extraordinary form of animal" slowly crossing the road in front of his car, on its way back into Loch Ness. The Loch Ness Investigation web-site boldly takes its name from the expeditions which ran from 1962 to 1972, and were organised by the late David James.The parent organisation was the "Loch Ness Phenomena Investigation Bureau" or "LNPIB", which later shortened it's name to "Loch Ness Investigation Bureau" or "LNIB".I was a volunteer observer & camera operator from 1967, when I … At the head of the loch is the monastery at Fort Augustus. documentaries about cryptids like the Loch Ness Monster, though some are more responsible with the facts than others (remember Megalodon?). Way back in the 7th century CE, a Scottish monk wrote a book about St. Columba, who (a century before) had supposedly stumbled upon the burial of a man who had been attacked and killed by a "water beast" in the vicinity of Loch Ness. Loch Ness Monster: Facts About Nessie. All of these animals can be recognize, except for one strange beast which … The abyssal fauna is also sparse. Interesting facts about Loch Ness. 1. Loch Ness in the north of Scotland holds more freshwater than all rivers and lakes in England and Wales put together, reaching insane depths … Loch Ness is 22.5 miles long and between one and 1.5 miles wide. August 8, 2015, cherran, Leave a comment. At this point, the Loch Ness Monster is so intimately tied up with the Scottish tourist industry that it's in no one's best interest to pry into the facts too closely. Whilst there are a lot of interesting facts about Loch Ness, there is a lot more to a holiday in the highlands than just the famous loch. Famous for the stories of sightings of the Loch Ness Monster, the Loch Ness in Scotland is one of the most visited places in the country. If you want Nessie's real story - this is the only place you will find it. Could it possibly be a type of marine reptile known as a plesiosaur? The Loch is 22 miles long (36k), 1.7 miles (2.7k) wide at the widest point and over 260 meters deep. Loch Ness is the second largest Scottish lake by surface area at 56 square kilometers (22 square miles) after Loch Lomond. When you look at some of the stats for Loch Ness, it’s easy to imagine that it could hold a Monster, maybe even a family of them. Seiches (surface oscillations), caused by differential heating, are common on the loch. Loch Ness Facts. It is, however, surrounded by hills which provide an amazing scenery. It is often described as large, long-necked, and with one or more humps protruding from the water. For another thing, marine reptiles weren't equipped with gills, so even if Nessie were a plesiosaur, she'd still have to surface for air numerous times every hour. Tattersall, Ian and Peter Névraumont. The Loch Ness Monster is also called Nessie. Black Dog & Leventhal, March 20, 2018. This means that the volume of water is greater than all the lake in the whole of England. Yet none is more well-known than Scotland’s mysterious Loch Ness Monster. Loch Ness is not just about its famous prehistoric resident, There are many interesting facts about Loch Ness. This isn't very likely, either. There is tons of backstory and lore on Nessie, here are ten facts you might not know. The surrounding scenery is epic, and the area has seen more than its fair share of drama throughout history. There are plenty of exaggerations, myths, and outright lies circulating about the so-called Loch Ness Monster. The watershed of Loch Ness covers more than 700 square miles (1,800 square km) and comprises several rivers, including the Oich and the Enrick. Loch Ness, lake, lying in the Highland council area, Scotland. The Loch Ness Monster, also referred to as Nessie, is a supposed animal, said to live in the Scottish loch of Loch Ness, the second biggest loch in the country. Lastly, there simply isn't enough food in Loch Ness to support the metabolic demands of a ten-ton descendant of elasmosaurus! The people believe that Loch Ness monster has a long neck and large size. • Loch Ness is a freshwater lake (or ‘loch’ in Scottish Gaelic) located in the Highlands of Scotland, near to Inverness. The Loch Ness Monster story was big … What is the lowest body of water on Earth? Sergey Krasovskiy / Stocktrek Images / Getty Images. You can see where we're going with this. The First Reported Sighting Was During the Dark Ages, It's Also Unlikely That Nessie Is a Marine Reptile, Plesiosaurs and Pliosaurs - The Sea Serpents, Plesiosaur and Pliosaur Pictures and Profiles, Learn About the Different Dinosaur Periods, The 20 Biggest Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Reptiles. Monsters aside, Loch Ness is awesome. • The Loch Ness Monster is also known by its nickname, ‘Nessie’. It really is big and very deep. Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. This monster is an aquatic being called Loch Ness Monster or Nessie in folklore. The primary "evidence" we have for the Loch Ness Monster's existence consists of a pre-medieval manuscript, the eyewitness testimony of two Scottish motorists who may well have been drunk at the time (or lying to divert attention from their own reckless behavior), and a forged photograph. Our followers love a Loch Ness fact and I keep getting told that I’m good at providing this useless and interesting information so here she blows, 8 fun facts about Loch Ness and The Loch Ness Monster. From its earlier reported sighting to the modern day, the waters of Britain’s largest body of fresh water have intrigued the world. Though this photo is often used as incontrovertible evidence of Nessie's existence, it was proven to be a fake in 1975, and then again in 1993. This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/place/Loch-Ness-lake-Scotland-United-Kingdom, Visit Inverness Loch Ness - Loch Ness Monster Myths and Legends. The Loch Ness is the largest lake in the United Kingdom. If you haven’t heard of Loch Ness, you’ve clearly been hiding under the same rock as Nessie! One of the most remarkable facts about Loch Ness is that its surface is just 16 meters (52 feet) above sea level. John M Lund Photography Inc / Getty Images. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. Many sightings of the so-called Loch Ness monster have been reported, and the possibility of its existence—perhaps in the form of a solitary survivor of the long-extinct plesiosaurs—continues to intrigue many. Okay, so the Loch Ness Monster isn't a dinosaur. Take a look at some Loch Ness facts: Length of Loch: 37km Circumference: 110km Depth: 226m Area: 56.4km2 . Shares. Where would you travel to reach the world’s second deepest lake? 2. Let's fast-forward 13 centuries, to the year 1933. Loch Ness is 36 kilometres long and only 1.5 kilometres wide.