Living In A World Of Poop

(images via: WIRED.com, Jacob Berkowitz and UCMP Berkeley)

If one considers the number of living creatures who have walked, trod, swam and flown through Life’s billion-year reign, it’s a wonder we’re not up to our eyes in excrement today! Or maybe we are and just don’t know it. When excrement fossilizes, minerals replace the organic matter and to the casual observer the result (a coprolite) is indistinguishable from a rock, stone or pebble. Paleontologists and the rather more specialized Paleoscatologists, however, know turds from treasure when they see them. Sometimes, in fact, the former can be the latter!

(images via: SuperStock and Amazon.com)

Meet Karen Chin, one of the world’s most well-known paleoscatologists – she’ll understand if you don’t want to shake hands. Chin is the curator of paleontology at the University of Colorado Museum in Boulder – no pun intended – and her work with dinosaur coprolites has enlightened us to some important aspects of dinosaur behavior and lifestyles.

(images via: Denver Post, Hanscom Family and Tea Cozy)

For example, Chin noted worm tracks in coprolites that indicated the big beasts were afflicted by worms and other intestinal parasites. She also discovered bones – both whole and crushed – in T Rex’s fossil dung that indicate the dainty-fingered dino wasn’t a dilettante when it came to downing its dinner.

Ex-Stinkers From The Extinct

(images via: NHM and Wyoming Dinosaurs)

Coprolites have been found to have come from all manner of creatures, great and small, fish or fowl, but dinosaur coprolites seem to have inspired the most interest and fascination. Perhaps seeing their poop brings these large, fearsome creatures down to size, so to speak. Maybe it’s just that for most of us excreta is a passing thing – yet these dino dumps appear pretty much “as left” even though they first saw the light of day tens of millions of years ago.

(images via: Fossils For Sale, It’s A Hard Rock Life and Science A2Z)

Paleoscatologists state that coprolites from carnivores are more easily preserved than those from herbivores – a somewhat surprising fact given that some of said plant-eaters were the largest creatures to have ever walked the Earth. Cretaceous carnivores were no lightweights however, and that goes for their dung as well.

(images via: RSM, Prehistoric CSI and Oak Park Journal)

The monster loaf above was thought to have been pinched by a Tyrannosaurus Rex some 65 million years ago, presumably during a commercial break. Discovered in 1995 by Wendy Sloboda of the Royal Saskatchewan Museum, the dino dropping measures 17.6 by 6.4 by 5.2 inches (44 x 16 x 13 cm) and weighs over 15.5 pounds (7 kg).

Mammoth Dung: A BIG Problem

(images via: PPSC, SEAC and Discovery.com)

Mammoths and Mastodons were big, they ate during the bulk of their waking hours – and they ate in bulk, period. What goes in, must come out as the old saying goes, and it’s likely these extinct shaggy pachyderms had a significant impact on their environment. Images of several fossilized “impacts” are shown above.

(image via: Green Diary)

It doesn’t take long (on a geologic scale) for dung to fossilize and in some cases the process is over and done with in just a few hundred years. Not so in the earth’s frozen tundra where generations of Woolly Mammoths roamed for hundreds of thousands of years, doing what Woolly Mammoths do… and doodoo. Some scientists speculate that as global warming heats up the Arctic, dormant microbes in the dung could wake up and go back to work, in the process spewing forth significant amounts of methane. Kinda like letting your dog do his business in the yard all winter and next spring when the snow melts… uh oh.

Regurgitalites: Jurassic Barf

(images via: WordSpy and Karen Carr)

Closely related to coprolites are Regurgitalites, or mineralized vomitus. If that’s not plain enough for you, we’ll call a spade a spade: fossilized vomit. One of the most, er, exciting regurgitalite finds occurred in 2002 when Peter Doyle of the University of Greenwich described a conglomeration of belemnite skeletons believed to have been coughed up by a marine reptile called Ichthyosaurus approximately 160 million years ago.

(images via: New Scientist, Prehistoric World and Tonmo.com)

Belemnites are ancient relatives of squid that had hard, calcified skeletal structures. It’s thought that once a certain number of these shells had accumulated within an ichthyosaur’s stomach, it would vomit them up much the way owls do with indigestible rodent bones. As for the British regurgitalite, Doyle stated that “We believe this is the first time the existence of fossil vomit on a grand scale has been proven beyond reasonable doubt.”

Pseudocoprolites: If It Ain’t Crap, It’s Crap

(images via: WAMS and Wikipedia Japan)

Sometimes what looks like a coprolite is really just a crappy rock. Various geological processes can conspire to create these so-called pseudocoprolites, most involve water and a variety of chemical reactions. Paleontologists and paleoscatologists can determine if a coprolite is the real deal by examining it under a microscope and by treating it with chemical agents. Coprolites of carnivores will have a high calcium phosphate content due to their high bone content.

Ground Sloths: Paleofeces Of The Pleistocene

(images via: NMNH and NHM)

Giant Ground Sloths were once relatively common in North and South America, and were the poster kids of the megafauna. Some species weighed up to 5 tons and stood up to 20 feet tall. Though most giant ground sloths died out thousands of years ago, a few may have survived in Cuba and on some Caribbean islands up until the mid 16th century. These massive creatures liked to make their dens in sheltered caves – those in dry or desert regions contain remarkably preserved samples of their dung.

(images via: Cryptomundo)

These massive creatures died out too recently for their dung to become completely fossilized as coprolites. Instead, what friable droppings remain are described as “paleofeces”. Samples found in Arizona caves have been extremely well preserved, and a cave in Chile was found to contain not only paleofeces but surprisingly fresh-looking sloth skin and hair. The photo above shows the interior of one of the best-known Arizona “sloth caves” with piles of dung scattered across the cave floor – not a candidate for a Good Housekeeping profile. No recent, color photos of the cave exist because a careless human smoker accidentally started a fire in the cave which consumed most of the flammable dung.

Dung Deposit Leaves Ancient Viking Thor

(images via: Guardian UK and York Daily Photo)

Human coprolites? In my bank? It’s not the deposit one normally expects to find but workers digging a new bank vault for Lloyds Bank in York, England back in 1972, found exactly that. At first, the 9-inch (23cm) long object was thought to be a chunk of old refinery slag but upon further investigation it was determined to be a rather large mineralized human excrement over 1,000 years old. According to paleoscatologist Andrew Jones, “This is the most exciting piece of excrement I’ve ever seen. In its own way, it’s as valuable as the Crown Jewels.” No shi-, er, no kidding!

(images via: Jorvik Viking Centre, BBC and Sports Illustrated)

The area of northeastern England including the town of York was under Viking occupation in the 10th century so it’s reasonable to assume the originator was a Viking. The Lloyds Bank Coprolite‘s impressive length and girth led student conservator Gill Snape to comment “Whoever passed it probably hadn’t performed for a few days, shall we say.” This makes sense, what with all the rape, pillage and games against the Packers that kept the Vikings busy. The coprolite is currently on display at the Jorvik Viking Centre in York, which invites you to come face to feces with the Vikings.

Who’s Laughing Now?

(images via: Personal Money Store, Gawker, Odd News Articles and Earth Magazine)

A remarkable discovery in Gladysvale Cave near Johannesburg, South Africa, has extended the age of the oldest found human hair from 9,000 years to over 200,000 years – thanks to the caveman’s ancient nemesis, the hyena. The hairs – about 40 of them – were discovered when coprolites of prehistoric Brown Hyenas were dissolved and analyzed. As the only human (hominid, to be exact) species known to inhabit the area 200,000 years ago was Homo Heidelbergensis, thought to be ancestral to Neanderthal Man, it’s extremely likely the hairs were ingested by a hyena that either killed one of our ancestors or scavenged a predeceased carcass.

When Poop Mines Were Goldmines

(images via: Welcome To Boyton, Factoidz and One Suffolk)

Not the most prestigious address perhaps, but the sign above marks a curious chapter in British history: the Great Coprolite Rush of 1849! It seems that in the early 1840s, coprolites aplenty were discovered in the hills of Suffolk, England. Processing with sulfuric acid released copious amounts of phosphates which were used for fertilizer. Most of the refining took place in the city of Ipswich, where the above street sign is located.

(image via: Suffolk Booklover)

The coprolite industry declined in the 1880s when other, less expensive methods of producing phosphates were discovered but Ipswich holds dear to its unusual claim to fame – and woe be it that anyone call the town a dump.

Polishing A Turd

(images via: Witless Wanderer, Bellerustique, Ken Grant Jewelry and Contrariwise Ramblings)

Who says you can’t polish a turd? Some may be familiar with jewelry made from polished dinosaur bones but coprolite jewelry is also available from the same manufacturers – and is often quite beautiful. Thank the natural process of mineralization for providing the coprolites with such a wide range of contrasting and complementary colors… and thank the dinosaurs for taking time out to produce those gaudy baubles in the first place.

(images via: FOX News and Telegraph UK)

As long as we’re co-opting old expressions, how about “I don’t know whether to sh*t or wind my watch”? Now you can do both… well, sort of, courtesy of the Dinosaur Dung watch from Artya. The Swiss-made timepiece features a polished coprolite face sourced from a herbivorous dinosaur’s dung dropped 100 million years ago. A bronze casing chosen to match the “warm and matchless tints” of dinosaur dung and a strap made from American Cane Toad skin completes this piece of… art? All for only $11,900.

(images via: BoingBoing and EW.com)

Whew, I need a break, and not that kind of break if you know what I mean. Writing about poop can leave one feeling flushed, pooped even, but it does stimulate some speculation such as: how appropriate it is that remains… remain? Coprolites offer us a unique way to get down & dirty with the daily details of ancient life – without all the actual down & dirtyness working with fresh pre-coprolites entrails. I mean entails. That’s it, I’m outta here.

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Island life isn’t all sandy beaches and coconuts. Sometimes, it’s rough, with very little food or freshwater available, and if you can’t get off the island, you’d better adapt. That’s exactly what these 12 miniature species did over thousands of years due to scarcity of resources, eventually becoming smaller versions of their mainland relatives. They’re not all insanely adorable tiny animals that melt us into big piles of fawning goo, but they are fascinating, rare, and all too often endangered or extinct.

Little People of Flores

(images via: wikipedia, science daily)

Could a tiny sub-species of in the genus Homo have co-existed in Indonesia with humans as recent as 12,000 years ago? First dubbed a “hobbit-like human ancestor”, it was soon discovered that Homo floresiensis was in fact its own species, standing just three feet tall, about the height of a modern human toddler. Nine skeletons were found in Flores, Indonesia in 2003 and have been studied extensively since then, with some scientists still arguing that they are actually deformed Homo sapiens. The team that discovered H. floresiensis believe the species is an example of insular dwarfism, with their growth restricted by a limited choice of food on the island.

Pygmy Three-Toed Sloth

(image via: bbc news)

When it comes to sloths, opinions tend to be radically divided: some people think they’re adorable, while others find them absolutely terrifying. But the critically endangered pygmy three-toed sloth, found only on the tiny island of Isla Escudo de Veraguas near Panama, is a miniature version of its mainland relatives, and is especially cute when swimming – it almost looks like a fuzzy turtle!

Channel Islands Pygmy Mammoth

(image via: wikipedia)

When you hear the word “mammoth”, you think of something epically huge. Not that the Channel Islands Pygmy Mammoth was a dainty little creature at 2,000 pounds, but it would still have been easily dwarfed by its 20,000-pound ancestor, the Columbian Mammoth. Remains of this species, which evolved to fit within the ecosystem of the now mostly-submerged Santa Rosae island off the coast of California, were first discovered in 1856.

Dwarf Elephants

(images via: wikipedia)

Unlike today’s pygmy elephants, which are subspecies of their own, prehistoric dwarf elephants evolved to be much smaller than modern elephants due to their insularity on islands around the world including Crete, Cyprus, Timor and the same island of Flores, Indonesia where pygmy human relatives were found. And unlike prehistoric dwarf mammoths, dwarf elephants really were small: the Cyprus dwarf elephant likely weighed around 440 pounds.

Channel Islands Fox

(image via: just chaos)

Aww, isn’t that a cute little kitten… oh… wait. It’s not a kitten at all. The Channel Islands Fox first evolved from the Gray Fox when they “rafted” over to the islands off the coast of California over 10,000 years ago and were faced with limited resources. They’re easy prey for eagles, being smaller than domestic house cats, and also highly susceptible to parasites and diseases brought over from the mainland.

Pygmy Hippo

(image via: soham pablo)

Pygmy hippos are about the same size as pigs – though technically, hippos are more closely related to whales and dolphins than to any of their fellow land animals. Semi-aquatic vegetarians, these miniature mammals are difficult to study because they’re nocturnal and very shy. Only about 3,000 remain in the wild, mostly in Liberia.

Bali Tiger

(image via: wikipedia)

The Bali Tiger may have been more comparable in size to leopards than to other tiger subspecies, but they were no less fierce. Sadly, these animals disappeared by the middle of the 20th century, though scientists believe there were never very many of them in the first place. These dwarf tigers were found exclusively on the island of Bali where they were hunted to extinction due to perceived threats and also the desire for jewelry made from their teeth and claws.

Cozumel Island Raccoon

(image via: animalesextincion.es)

Weighing just about 8-9 pounds, Cozumel Island racoons look exactly like their mainland relatives except for their diminutive size, the black bands on their throats and their golden yellow tails. They live on Cozumel Island off the coast of the Yucutan Peninsula in Mexico, and less than 300 remain. The Dwarf Coati, a relative of the raccoon, and a species of dwarf gray fox are also found on the island.

Balearic Island Cave Goat

(image via: mongabay)

The extinct Balearic Island Cave Goat wasn’t just a shorty at only 19.5” tall – its isolation on the rocky, nutrient-poor islands in the Mediterranean caused it to develop some even more unusual characteristics. Like crocodiles, this goat was able to grow at flexible rates, halting the growth process when food was unavailable. As far as scientists know, this goat was the only mammal ever to adapt in this way, and it probably helped the goat survive for five million years before being driven into extinction by human hunters.

Mindoro Dwarf Buffalo

(image via: edmond valerio)

There are so few Mindoro Dwarf Buffalo left, it’s rare for anyone to spot more than a solitary individual. Originally found all over the island of Mindoro in the Philippines, its range has been dramatically reduced by human civilization, hunting and logging. In fact, sightings of this mini water buffalo are so unusual that scientists know very little about its ecology. After being declared a critically endangered species, the Mindoro buffalo population has experienced a slight but very encouraging uptick.

Bernissartia – Tiny Crocodiles

(image via: wikimedia commons)

Imagine a cute “baby” crocodile that never grows up. That’s basically what Bernissartia, a prehistoric reptile from the Early Cretacious period around 130 million years ago, would seem like to us. Smaller than a house cat, Bernissartia looked just like modern-day crocodiles but had jaws more suited to catching fish than dragging a full-grown man underwater. It would have stood at sharp contrast to the nightmarishly enormous crocs of the day, like Sarcosuchus.

Key Deer

(image via: wikimedia commons)

Key Deer may not be around too much longer. Native only to the Florida Keys, this offshoot of white-tailed deer tops out at about 75 pounds and the antlers of males bear a signature white, velvety coating. Because of human encroachment, their habitat has been shrunken to a handful of lesser populated keys, and they swim from one island to another in search of fresh water.

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While they might not be terrorizing, fire-breathing monsters the size of skyscrapers, gigantic animals in the vein of Godzilla really do exist. So why are some creatures so huge compared to similar species? It’s a phenomenon known as “insular gigantism”, and usually occurs on islands or deep under the sea. These 13 examples have evolved to unusually, sometimes frighteningly large proportions – especially compared to their equally mis-sized dwarf counterparts (more on that next week.)

Madagascar Hissing Cockroach

(image via: scragz)

Most of us scream at the sight of a single normal-sized cockroach, but imagine if you woke up to find one of these babies crawling across your body. The Madagascar Hissing Cockroach is only found in its namesake nation, an island that is an ideal place for gigantism, dwarfism and other ecological anomalies to occur. They can reach up to 3 inches long, and the males have scary-looking horns.

Giant Isopod

(images via: Driftline, Marki’s Block and ScienceBlogs)

Thought the hissing cockroach was impressive? It would take a teeming pile of them to make up one nightmarish giant isopod, a bug-like crustacean from the dark depths of the sea that can reach over a foot in length. Far larger than almost any other shellfish, the giant isopod has creepy claws, huge eyes and a pair of antennae.

Haast’s Eagle

(image via: eku.edu)

With a wingspan measuring as large as 8.5 feet, if Haast’s Eagle were any larger, it wouldn’t have been able to fly. A fierce predator from New Zealand, Haast’s Eagle fed on 300-pound (now-extinct, also gigantic) flightless birds called moa and scientists now believe that the legends of it killing and eating men could very well be true. It died out about 500 years ago, probably due to human hunting and habitat encroachment.

Japanese Spider Crab

(images via: wikimedia commons)

Imagine scuba diving in the beautiful waters off Japan, marveling over some pretty fish, when suddenly you feel a presence behind you and turn around to face a movie monster from hell. The Japanese Spider Crab is is the biggest arthropod in the world with an impressive leg span that reaches up to 12.5 feet. While adults can be found as deep as 2,000 feet below the surface, it’s not unusual for them to come into much more shallow waters.

Elephant Bird

(image via: wikipedia, bone clones)

The Elephant Bird truly lived up to its name, standing an astonishing 10 feet tall and weighing up to 880 pounds. Formerly found on the island of Madagascar, this species has been extinct since at least the 17th century. It’s not known exactly what killed them, but archaeologists have found pieces of their egg shells in the remnants of human fires. At three feet long, one egg could have fed an entire family.

Saint Helena Earwig

(image via: rogue taxidermy)

As if earwigs weren’t disgusting enough, with their wiggly bodies and those threatening-looking pinchers on their rear ends, the Saint Helena Earwig takes them well past “ick” into “Oh-God-why” territory. They’re only found on the isolated island of Saint Helena, located in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean between Africa and South America.

Seven-Arm Octopus

(image via: wikipedia)

What make the Seven-Arm Octopus unusual is not just the fact that, with its specially modified “arm” used in egg fertilization kept coiled under its eye, it looks more like a septopus. Rather, this sea creature is the largest known octopus in the world at up to 12 feet in total length – or at least, some scientists say it is. Others believe there may be even larger octopi in the sea.

Minorcan Giant Lagomorph

(image via: spiegel.de)

No, this photo above is not a Minorcan Giant Lagomorph (but it is a real 3-foot, 22-lb rabbit bred to feed poor North Koreans – no kidding). However, we don’t have any images of the extinct Minorcan rabbit, because it died out way back in dino days. Fossils discovered on the island indicate that these plus-size critters were no cute fuzzy bunnies, outweighing the rabbit above by up to 28 pounds.

Galapagos Giant Tortoise

(image via: sly 06 & michael r. perry)

The ultimate symbol for the Galapagos Islands, these tortoises aren’t just incredibly large at up to 660 pounds and 4 feet long – they also live far longer than the average human with a lifespan of 100-150 years. They were just recently removed from the endangered species list after many years of conservation efforts, and are among the most famous gigantic species in the world.

Giant Squid

(images via: wikipedia)

The star of many a myth since ancient times, the Giant Squid was technically a cryptid until the late 19th century when a 35-foot specimen washed ashore in Newfoundland. In 2004, a specimen called “Archie” was captured and sent to the Natural History Museum in London to be studied and preserved. A video of a live adult in the wild was finally filmed in 2004, with the 26-foot male stuck on a lure for five hours until it finally broke free, leaving an 18-foot tentacle behind.

East Timor Giant Rat

(image via: post chronicle)

The largest rat known to have existed on earth was discovered just days ago in cave excavations on the island of East Timor in Southeast Asia. Extinct for at least 1,000 to 2,000 years, the biggest specimen weighed 13.2 pounds, making it larger than many domesticated cats. Other giant rats still exist today, but top out around 4.4 pounds.

Giant Weta

(image via: kiwi mikex)

In prehistoric times, humans had it rough indeed, especially when so many bugs were as large as the Giant Weta, which is still found creeping people out in New Zealand. Despite what their size may seem to indicate, these 4-inch-long insects are passive, gentle creatures. One captive female reached 2.5 ounces in weight, giving Giant Weta the reputation as some of the heaviest insects on the planet.

Komodo Dragon

(image via: national geographic)

Like Giant Squid, Komodo Dragons were long thought to be mythological. It just didn’t seem possible that insanely oversized lizards still roamed at least one small island, long after the extinction of dinosaurs. But this 9.8-foot, 150-pound monitor is real indeed and is known to be quite dangerous and have attacked humans on quite a few occasions.

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Tempe Town Lake, Arizona, USA

(images via: DesertUSA, ASU and GWilmore)

Tempe Town Lake is a 2-mile long artificial lake that runs through the center of Tempe, Arizona, USA. The lake sits within the bed of the Salt River, which is almost always dry due to diversion of the river’s water for agricultural use at various points upstream.

(image via: KAM-AZ)

The lake is only about 13 feet deep on average and is held in place by innovative inflatable dams at either end. The Dams allow the Salt River to flow along its natural course at times when storms and flooding create an unusually high level of water in the river bed.

On July 20, 2010, the west side of Tempe Town Lake’s outflow dam suffered (for want of a better term) a blowout that allowed most of the lake’s water to quickly drain into the Salt River. Most of the approximately 10,000 fish living in the lake were swept downstream and an alligator named Tuesday was released into the remaining pools of water to eat what fish remained.

Lake Delhi, Iowa, USA

(images via: CBS News and Vacation Rentals)

The Delhi Dam, on the Maquoketa River south of Delhi, Iowa, was built over a 7-year period from 1922 to 1929. Lake Delhi was created behind the dam and over the succeeding decades proved to be a much-desired location for recreational boating, fishing, and lakeside summer housing.

(images via: Washington Times, Des Moines Register and FOX News)

Call it a dammed shame, but many say the failure of the Delhi Dam was an accident waiting to happen. Flooding in 2008 had caused a half-million dollars worth of damage to the dam and exceptionally heavy rains (approximately 10 inches in 12 hours) caused the swollen lake to overtop its southern embankment on July 24, 2010.

(image via: Des Moines Register)

Rapid erosion of the embankment sped up the outflow and by the next day, Lake Delhi was no more. As the lake and the Delhi Dam were owned by the Lake Delhi Recreation Association, it’s uncertain whether state or federal funds will be used to help rebuild the dam and restore the lake. If not, those who invested in former lakefront property will be out of luck AND lake.

Lake Delton, Wisconsin, USA

(images via: FlyHighWi, RV.net and Wunderground)

If residents of Lake Delhi are searching for some hope, they may find it in Wisconsin’s Lake Delton. Like Lake Delhi, Lake Delton is a man-made lake created in the 1920s as a way to attract visitors to the Wisconsin Dells tourist and vacation area. The lake – more of a reservoir, actually – is only about 10 feet deep and has a surface area of around 260 acres… at least it did, until June 9th of 2008.

(images via: Howder Family)

Heavy rains had raised the level of Lake Delton and put tremendous pressure on the dikes that separated the lake from the Wisconsin River 800 feet away. The sudden collapse of a 400-ft section of County Highway A that ran on top of the containment dike caused a deluge that completely drained Lake Delton in a matter of hours. Several lakefront homes also collapsed though there was no loss of life. Here’s a short video showing the state of the former Lake Delton 2 weeks after the water drained out:

Empty Lake Delton, via TFHowder

(image via: Wikimedia)

Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle quickly announced the state would be repairing the lake and indeed, by Memorial Day of 2009 Lake Delton was re-opened with great fanfair.

Iceberg Lake, Alaska, USA

(images via: Far North Science and Stelia’s Guides)

Iceberg Lake, a glacial lake in the Wrangell-St. Elias Mountains area of Alaska, leads a precarious existence by regularly filing and draining, sometimes catastrophically as it did in 1999. The lake is also remarkably responsive to weather conditions as it is pinned between two glaciers whose level of annual advancement and melting decide the fate of the lake.

(image via: National Park Photo Tour)

Scientists exploring the exposed bottom of Iceberg Lake discovered that distinct layers of sediment deposited on after another provided them with a detailed record of the area’s climate that could be traced back to the year 442 AD. Among other findings, the researchers were able to discern the Iceberg Lake did not drain at all during the Medieval Warm Period, a several centuries long warm interlude that existed up until the advent of the Little Ice Age, which lasted from approximately 1600 to 1850 AD.

Lake Haramaya, Ethiopia

(images via: Road To Ethiopia and Adis Ababa University)

Lake Haramaya was a freshwater lake in Ethiopia that was around 30 feet deep and whose shoreline stretched for about 10 miles – not an especially large lake but one that provided residents of the city of Harar with drinking water and farmers & fisherman with livelihoods. The keyword is “was”… overuse by residents, farmers and commercial enterprises caused the lake to drain completely in roughly a decade.

(images via: Gadaa.com, Road To Ethiopia and The CLP)

Lake Haramaya is not the only lake in Africa’s volcanic Rift Valley to run dry, and human use (and abuse) is not the only factor involved. Climatologists have noted an increased frequency of droughts over the past several decades and it’s thought that increasing human exploitation of the lake in recent years was enough to tip the balance.

Scott Lake, Florida, USA

(image via: The Ledger and Democratic Underground)

Scott Lake is a 291-acre natural lake in Lakeland, Florida, 30 miles east of Tampa. Like Lake Delhi, Scott Lake is owned by the surrounding homeowners who are once again asking state authorities to refill the lake and preserve their property values. Yes, “once again” – Scott Lake has drained before, in the early 1970s, caused by sinkholes opening up in the porous limestone bedrock that lies beneath the lake.

(images via: Democratic Underground, Thomas.net and Death By 1000 Papercuts)

In June of 2006, as many as 4 sinkholes suddenly opened in the lakebed and before you could say “Great Scott!”, Scott Lake was drained. Since then a heated controversy has arisen over demands from wealthy owners of lakeside property that water from Florida’s freshwater aquifer be used to refill the lake. This wasn’t a problem in 1974 but today, water is in short supply as Florida’s population puts increasing strain on the state’s fresh water supplies.

White Lake, Russia

(images via: Above Top Secret, Free Republic and BBC)

In May of 2005, residents of the village of Bolotnikovo near Nizhni Novgorod, Russia, were shocked to find that most of the water in White Lake had mysteriously vanished. No explanation could be offered for the sudden and silent loss of roughly a million cubic meters of water. “It looks like somebody has pulled the plug out of a gigantic bath,” said a correspondent fr Russia’s NTV. Though an official from a nearby village speculated that the lake’s water flowed into an underground river, others had their own suspicions, believing that “outside forces” were responsible. One man was quoted as stating “I think that America got us here.” It seems that in rural Russia at least, the Cold War never really ended.

Lake Peigneur, Louisiana, USA

(images via: Troy McClure, Damn Interesting and WayMarking)

Lake located above a salt mine? Scary. Oil drilling in and around said lake? Crazy! But then, we all know that the right hands at big oil companies (we’re looking at you, BP) sometimes don’t know what their left hands are up to… or down to, and in the case of Texaco’s drilling rig in Louisiana’s Lake Peigneur, that would be down to 1,300-odd feet below the bottom of a 10-ft deep lake. When the 14-inch wide drill bit broke through the roof of the mine, the results were predictable yet still spectacular.

(images via: Circa71 and Ticklebooth)

Thirty years before the BP disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, carelessness on an oil rig created a chain reaction of events that saw the 1,125 square acre lake (plus several barges, trees and 65 acres of shoreline land) quickly drain into the underlying Jefferson Island salt mine.

This video from The History Channel shows some of the events connected with the catastrophic drainage of Lake Peigneur, filmed by eye-witnesses at the time:

Lake Peigneur – Disappearing Lake, via The History Channel

So, what have we learned from the Lake Peigneur disaster? Considering the salt dome beneath the now saline lake is being used as a storage for pressurized natural gas while oil drilling continues in the area, the answer is “not much”.

Aral Sea, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan

(images via: Elgadfly and New Eurasia)

Once the 4th largest inland body of water in the world, the Aral Sea now ranks at just 10th – and falling. A victim of misguided agricultural policies enacted by a nation (the USSR) that is no more, the Aral Sea itself may soon be no more since its main inlet rivers have been dammed to provide water for cotton farms. As the lake shrinks, its waters become more and more saturated with salt , fertilizer and pesticides to the point that an estimated 75 million tons of toxic dust and salts are blown across Central Asia each year. Images of the Aral Sea’s shocking retreat taken from orbiting satellites and spacecraft are, in a word, tragic.

(image via: Econuz)

Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are the successor states to the USSR in which the toxic Aral Sea now lies, and although no longer bound by decrees from the Kremlin, the 2 states cannot agree on how to preserve or even restore the Aral Sea. In the meantime, the loss of over 90 percent of the sea has caused the entire region’s climate to become more extreme, and exposure to poisonous, windblown dust from the exposed lake bed has created a health crisis of immense scope. The shocking image above dates from the summer of 2009.

(image via: Telegraph UK)

There is, however, new hope for the Aral Sea as the Kazakh government and the World Bank are working to restore the lake to at least a semblance of its former size. As the images above show (2004 on the left, 2010 on the right), the Aral Sea’s surface area has rebounded 30 percent and depths in some areas have grown from 98 feet to over 130 feet.

Lake Missoula, Northwestern USA

(images via: The Resilient Earth and Glacial Lake Missoula)

Picture a lake with a surface area of 3,000 square miles containing 500 square miles of water, blocked by an ice dam that is actually an arm of a retreating glacier. This precarious image once existed, in western Montana, about 13,000 years ago and is known today as Lake Missoula. When the ice dam was breached and the lake began to drain westward towards the Pacific Ocean, a flood of biblical proportions ensued.

(images via: NPS and Summit Realty)

Not only is it estimated that it took only about 48 hours for the lake to drain completely, this nightmarish scenario is thought to have taken place as many as 40 times over a 2,000 year period. The repeated series of cataclysmic floods scoured vast stretches of eastern Oregon and Washington states into the Channeled Scablands. The remains of an enormous waterfall three times the height and width of Niagara Falls can be seen above top.

(images via: Huge Floods and Pics Digger)

Gigantic potholes, gargantuan ripple marks, dry waterfalls and other large-scale geologic features state unequivocally the incalculable power of rushing water – and lots of it. These features show some similarities to features found on the planet Mars and it’s now thought that our neighboring planet was subject to massive flooding events in its younger, wetter days.

(image via: Wikimedia)

Lakes, especially larger lakes, seem to be permanent fixtures of the landscape they occupy. In the geological big picture, however, this isn’t necessarily so and when change comes, it often comes suddenly and strikingly. Water tends to seek its own level under the influence of gravity, that’s just the way nature is… and nature knows no timetable and acts without regard to the works or wishes of Mankind.

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Mongolian Death Worm

(image via: buzztab)

What’s so special about the Mongolian Death Worm that makes cryptozoologists spend their life savings blowing up the desert in search of it? Well, it can supposedly shoot lightening out of its rectum long-distance, for one. The blood-red, acid-spitting cryptid is said to be up to five feet long with spikes protruding from both ends. Mongolian nomads have reported on its existence for centuries, but despite night-vision goggles and camera-equipped ultralight planes, it has never been confirmed as a real creature.

Trunko the Furry Fish

(image via: the cryptozoologist)

What’s big as a whale and furry all over – with an elephant trunk? You might guess ‘mammoth’, except for the fact that this particular cryptid has the tail of a lobster and swims underwater. Trunko is the affectionate nickname given to the “fish like a polar bear” which was reportedly sighted in South Africa in 1924. The strangely bloodless carcass washed up on Margate Beach and despite being there for 10 days, no scientist ever investigated it. One explanation is that the specimen was a whale or shark that appeared furry due to decay.

Yowie the Hairy Hominid

(image via: crikey)

Everybody knows about Bigfoot and Yetis, but have you ever heard of a Yowie? Australia’s furry man-like creature has been a part of Aboriginal legend for centuries and is said to be 7-8 feet tall with bright red eyes and a body odor problem. Is it some undiscovered primate? Nobody knows for sure – one supposed “sighting” turned out to merely be a particularly hairy naked man running across the highway.

Chupacabra

(image via: holamun2)

What’s killing livestock in places like Puerto Rico, Chile and Mexico? Maybe it’s local predators like coyotes – or maybe it’s the Chupacabra, a persistent cryptid that supposedly sucks the blood of animals like goats. The so-called ‘bizarre’ mutilations of these dead animals has never been confirmed and though many a captured specimen has been declared to finally be a real Chupacabra, they’ve inevitably been identified as raccoons, possums and other everyday animals rendered hairless by skin disease.

Kappa – Slimy Japanese River Imp

(image via: pink tentacle)

It looks sort of like a child, but with the glistening skin of a frog and unusually thin, gangly limbs. The Kappa is one of Japan’s most famous cryptids, an amphibious creature that leaves a trail of slime wherever it goes. In 1984, a specimen was supposedly spotted at the edge of a river in Tsushima and the slime taken to a lab for analysis, but the sample was too small to be useful. Another reported encounter involved bizarre footprints in a home that left a gooey mess that even paint thinner couldn’t tackle.

Windigo – Cannibal Night Monster

(image via: bill casselman)

First, it invaded the body of an ill man as a lump of ice in the heart. Soon enough, the man would turn black with frostbite, begin vomiting ice and develop an insatiable craving for human flesh. In some northern Algonquin-speaking Native American tribes, the “windigo” was the unfortunate result of a man gone completely insane. Sometimes, the transformation was said to have been caused by cannabalism. But in nearly all cases, the man was said to turn into a gigantic nocturnal beast all too eager to feed upon the innocent.

Bladenboro Beast

(image via: hubpages)

What sort of creature could kill multiple pit bulls and drain their blood? Why, it could only be a hulking vampire creature resembling a cross between a wolf and a bear, of course. The Bladenboro Beast, named after the area it has reportedly terrorized since the 1950s, was spotted by a number of locals, one of whom described its “round face, shiny eyes and large teeth.” While locals still claim to catch glimpses of it today, some who believe the story think it might actually be a big cat – which are also a sort of cryptid, at least in this area. Reports of panthers in North Carolina have never been confirmed, either.

The Dover Demon

(image via: wikimedia commons)

This sketch of the ‘Dover Demon’ of Massachusetts is so alien-like, it’s easy for skeptics to dismiss reports of its existence as utter hogwash. But believers say this bizarre hairless creature with a watermelon-shaped head and orange eyes might have been some kind of mutant – and some believe that it really was an alien. One witness wrote next to a sketch he created “I, Bill Bartlett, swear on a stack of Bibles that I saw this creature.” Others seeking a scientific explanation wonder if it could have been a newborn moose – do you see any resemblance?

Minhocao

(image via: wikimedia commons)

Could the mythical minhocao of South America’s forests be a gigantic subspecies of caecilians – amphibians that look like earthworms? The minhocao (“big earthworm” in Portuguese), which is said to burrow underground, is believed to be a relic of the dinosaur age. Sightings were mostly reported in Brazil during the 19th century. Some people think that minhocaos are still spotted but accidentally reported as another cryptid, the giant anaconda.

Gnome of Girona

(image via: anomalia)

Is the creature seen in this jar some kind of undiscovered animal, an abnormal fetus or just a hoax? Dubbed the “gnome of girona”, it was captured by campers in Spain and supposedly lived for a few days before it was preserved in formol by parapsychologist Angel Gordon and shown all over Spanish television.  According to Wikipedia, “The connection between the pictures and how they reached the media is obscure, qualifying the whole story as a hoax of dubious authority.” Some experts believe it may be the fetus of a cow.

Tsuchinoko

(image via: pink tentacle)

Perhaps the photos that supposedly show a creature known in Japan as the tsuchinoko are just a case of mistaken identity. Some argue that what you see here is just a snake digesting a huge meal, or an escaped exotic pet. But tsuchinokos have been reported since the 7th century, and considering some of the other bizarre creatures that have been confirmed as real lately, it wouldn’t be too surprising if this were really an undiscovered species. Japanese legend only serves to muddy the issue, however, with claims that the creature talks, with a propensity for lying and a love for alcoholic beverages.

Beast of Gevaudan

(image via: wikimedia commons)

Okay, so the Beast of Gevaudan doesn’t really have bizarre metal scales as portrayed in the movie Brotherhood of the Wolf. But the cryptozoological animal that the movie’s antagonist is based upon is known as a vicious man-eating wolf with huge teeth and longer-than-normal tails. The creature is blamed for attacks in the French village of Gevaudan between 1764 and 1767, with a death toll of over 200 people. Some say it could have been a wolf-dog hybrid, and others believe it was actually a werewolf.

Montauk Monster

(image via: wikimedia commons)

When a frightening-looking corpse washed up on the beach of Montauk, New York in 2008, onlookers joked that maybe it came from Plum Island, where the USDA runs an animal disease center. The corpse was likely bloated from its time in the water, but speculation has deemed it everything from a turtle without its shell to a raccoon to a dog. The current location of the body is unclear, making some people wonder whether the whole thing was a hoax.

Sea Monsters of All Stripes

(image via: wikimedia commons)

What creatures make up the biggest chunk of cryptids? Sea monsters, of course – there are so many of them, we could easily make a list that consisted of nothing but these mysterious underwater creatures that may or may not exist. It’s understandable – the sea is a strange and somewhat frightening place packed full of creatures that seem like they couldn’t possibly be real. Notable maybe-real-or-maybe-not water monsters include the infamous Loch Ness Monster, Chessie, Isshi, Kraken… the list goes on and on.

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