Dinosaur site no Jurassic lark

From MARK MACASKILL of The Sunday Times

http://www.news.com.au/world/4133941.htm

31may99

THE land that time forgot may have been found. Scientists are to mount a dinosaur hunt in a remote area of central Africa after sightings of a creature said to resemble a small brontosaurus.

The aquatic animal, about 10m long, has been seen by dozens of Africans living in villages around the swamps that dominate much of Congo, Gabon and Cameroon. They call it the mokele-mbembe – "blocker of rivers".

Reports describe a large animal with a squat body and a long neck that enables it to pluck leaves and fruit from plants around the water. Witnesses' drawings show that it resembles nothing known to be still living on Earth, but it does bear a startling likeness to a family of herbivorous dinosaurs that became extinct 65 million years ago, the largest of which was the brontosaurus.

The expedition is being organised by Bill Gibbons, a zoologist who specialises in trying to track down new species. He and other cryptozoologists will set off for Africa in October.

In the past few weeks their hopes have been raised by reports from members of the Kabonga tribe that a mokele-mbembe was caught by hunters, who killed it and tried to eat it. The flesh proved inedible and the carcass was left to rot; its skeleton is said to have been produced by the tribesmen.

Dr Gibbons said: "I am sure this animal exists. The main problem, aside from the inhospitable terrain, is that it mostly lives under water in areas with very few people and in countries which are politically very unstable."

The Likouala swampland is vast and its hazards include venomous snakes, disease and the risk of attack by Africans. Dr Gibbons believes he can overcome these dangers and will be employing Pygmies as guards and to guide his team. When they reach the area where the creatures were sighted, the scientists will use equipment including sonar, infrared detectors and video.

Dinosaurs dominated the world for more than 200 million years and were eliminated when Earth was hit by a meteorite 65 million years ago. Scientists have long speculated that they might have survived in some areas, especially near the Equator which would have been less affected by the fall in temperature after the meteorite.

The inaccessible swamps of central Africa would also have protected them from early man, who hunted thousands of other prehistoric species to extinction. Karl Shuker, a British cryptozoologist, said: "It is unlikely that any natural phenomenon could have wiped out all dinosaurs – after all, crocodiles and snakes survived. Central Africa contains vast areas where prehistoric animals could have survived."