The interwebs have been having a field day with this unfortunate example of the effects of water on dead tissue:
This creature washed up on the shores of Montauk, Long Island, sometime over the last few days. Gawker has been providing hourly updates. And for some reason, the Montauk Monster now has its own column on the HuffPo. The creature has been called a beaked rodent, a government experiment, and a viral marketing campaign for a Cartoon Network show.
*Sigh*
This is clearly some poor dog or racoon that died, ended up in the water, and then washed up on a beach. The hairlessness is a simple result of submersion and decomposition. The apparent beak is a small portion of the skull that has poked through the rotting skin. I feel fairly confident in saying all this, because I witnessed something very similar looking pulled out of Lake Ontario. Water does weird things to dead stuff.
That’s my call. I’ll continue monitoring, in case it does turn out to be an actual monster. And as always, look to Cryptomundo for some quality analysis.
UPDATE: If you’re lucky enough to find a live Montauk Monster, you can win a boatload of nutritionally-dubious energy drink!
First of all…this “alleged” creature “allegedly” washed up on the shore of Montaik, LI…if you believe that, the I’ve got a bridge for sale…
second of all…there’s no way it’s a dog or racoon…the thing has a BEAK for chrissakes!!! look at the upper and lower jaw…it not some deformation…it’s a friggin BEAK!
Third of all, I hope to G-D it’s a hoax, because if not that is some scary MF’er!!!!
Sick Shite. ) just a bum-dog. something similar i have found here http://media-newsblog.com/index.php?q=Unknown-Animal
I don’t know what it is, but it looks exactly like something that my dogs were eating in our back yard in Arizona a couple weeks ago. I remember it, because it looked like it was giving my dogs the “finger.” If this doesn’t prove the existance of life on other planets, and that they are visiting Earth nothing will!
This is just pathetic, it’s obviously some dog that’s got a face like a piranda..
Yeah seriously, look at the body. It’s a form of a dog but the head pfft I am assuming it’s a hoax/mask and someone brutally killed the dog as an experiment.
What are you people, kids? This is obviously a sea turtle that through some uncommon circumstance has been removed from its shell. When animals decompose, even in the water, they don’t lose all their hair before any other decomposition begins. As for the guy from Arizona I can’t imagine what your dogs were eating but a better question may be what were you smoking?
Ipswitch you are brain dead, even more stupid than everyone else that commented on this article (and that is an achievement). Turtles don’t “lose their shell”, not even in “uncommon circumstances”. It is an integral part of their anatomy; you need to literally butcher a turtle to forcefully remove the shell, which exposes vital organs. What, do you think it’s like an effing bathing suit?? You’ve been watching too many cartoons and mistaking it for a biology lesson, dummy.
It is very likely a dog who’s skull (the “beak” haaa) is exposed due predation, exposure to the elements, etc.
This argument could be settled in about 3 minutes if a zoologist took the very simple measure of counting the number and type of teeth the “monster” has. Mammals have a very individually specific number and quantity of teeth (e.g. canines, incisors, bicuspids, pre-molars, and molars) that anyone of reasonable intelligence can use to determine the species.
Thank you Jim (I think)…don’t turtles have really tiny bodies (or at least small) inside their shells?
Still…that beak looks like…well…a beak…again…look at the top and bottom…doesn’t look like some deformation or decay…
A zoologist can’t identify creatures that don’t exist! duh!
I have a question — if this hideous thing is real and was washed up on the beach days ago, why are there no flies or maggots on its body? It alo appears as though the eyes are intact.
I agree with those who do not believe it’s a turtle — when did turtles acquire hair?
This creature, from where ever is the strangest thing I have ever seen.
Where are the X-File folks??
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Thanks jim but wouldn’t butchering a turtle be an uncommon circumstance
It actuall looks pretty similar to the Chupacabra monster they’ve discovered in southern Texas. I recently saw it air on an episode of Monster Quest. The Chupacabra looks like some kind of a deformed, hairless Hyena. The Montauk looks almost identical, only larger, possibly from the water and decomposition. If you do a search for the Chupacabra, you can see what I’m talking about.
It is a pygmy hippopotamus:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pg-photography/216431247/
Ealrier today (8/1), Fox News had Jeff Corwin to comment as to what his thoughts are on what this thing is — he says, “it’s a rare racoon.”
C’mon, Jeff — do you really think the American public is that stupid? And do racoons have canine teeth that look much THAT like a beak?
If this has been “decomposed” by water – why is there so much skin left? Wouldn’t fish eat at it?
Although there is much heresay as to who took this picture and the questionable size of it — you have to to admit that there is much controversy over it.
Guess we’ll see a Monster Quest episode, perhaps??
. . . the saga continues.
There is a fly on its back i dont care what it is its dead
now East Hampton has two monster’s to worry about the first one is the criminal (Bill) that screwed the town of 18 million , the other monster well that might bring some money back into the town good luck with both.
Wow people are still talking about this?
I wrote to CNN the day they showed this on the news, to me it looks like a dead Capybara that has been in the water a few days.
Capybaras are the largest living rodents in the world, basically just really big guinea pigs. They are from South America. If one turned up dead here it was most likely someoneâs lost pet.
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yeah gotta agree it cant be a turtle that fell out of it shell…wtf im pretty sure the shell literally grows out of the turtles body during development…turtles arent hermit crabs. as for the guy who saw a similar creature giving his dogs the finger while being eaten…could i get the number of your dealer? nobody i know sells acid that strong..
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