The Mantauk Monster

NEVERBACKZ · #1 ● 05-01-2011, 04:27 PM

This thing was washed up on a beach in Mantauk and has baffled experts as to what it really is...

What has caused widespread confusion and speculation is that, while the lower jaw appears to have had a jagged row of pointy teeth, the upper jaw sports a hooked bony beak. This structure has led to the carcass being termed a 'rodent-like creature with a dinosaur beak', as an 'eagle-dog', and to suggestions that it might be the carcass of a turtle that had lost its shell. Because these suggestions are all, to put it mildly, a tad unlikely, there have also been murmurings of a hoax or viral ad campaign. A 'graphics expert' at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service noted that, if it is a fake, it's a very good Photoshop job, and the fact that the carcass became involved in a sort of marketing campaign for a soft drink hasn't really helped in the credibility stakes (it is, however, pretty obvious that this was a case of opportunistic advertising). Rather more realistic (given the presence of fur and small, clawed hand digits) is the suggestion that it's a dog.

The body is stocky and robust and the limbs are slender and gracile. The digits on the hands are slim, elongate and with small, relatively straight, pale-coloured claws. The slim tail is about equal in length to the head and neck combined. The face is short and it looks like the postorbital part of the skull is long and bulky. While no teeth at all are visible in the upper jaw, the lower jaw clearly contains a large pointed canine and four post-canines with tall, conical cusps. These teeth increase in size posteriorly.