May 14, 2009

Montauk Monster Returns

Some of you will recall how sometime in early August of last year a mysterious corpse washed up on the shore near Plum Island, MA, USA. After much debate, most scientifically-minded people came to the consensus that it wast most likely a raccoon corpse.

Well, Kitty, who was the first to bring us the original Montauk Monster, has stayed on the beat, and she brings us the next mystery corpse.

Like I said in my first post, I make it a point not to post photos of most vertebrate corpses. But this one is of scientific (and sensational) interest. This new monster was found in Southold, NY, USA, very close to the original monster.



















Nicky Papers, the owner and operator of the Montauk Monster website, is looking for buyers of his original photographs, since, as the default expert on this particular monster, he was called to the site on the eve of the monster's discovery and took the photos himself. He even has access to the carcass, and would like to sell it to an independent lab to confirm is monstrous origins. He would like you to purchase his monster-related merchandise. He's looking for legitimate media coverage, and he's looking for theories. He seems particularly to like ideas that lean toward conspiracy, government cover-ups, genetic mishaps from Plum Island, or perhaps something that will tap into the recent swine flu craze.

Anyone care to take a stab at this? Is it another raccoon? Dog, pig, bear, alien, demon, secret government experiment?

I tend to apply Occam's Razor to mysteries like this. Most likely it is a simple animal corpse. But I love good conspiracy theories.

UPDATE: Tetrapod Zoology has confirmed that this is yet another raccoon. Thanks for the heads-up, anon3.

Thanks, Kitty.

8 comments:

  1. AnonymousMay 14, 2009

    Poor Snoopy.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonTroisMay 14, 2009

    Pretty sure it's just another raccoon. The skull in the video looks an awful lot like my raccoon skull, and the dentition looks about right. It also looks about the right size, shape, etc.

    97% sure it's a raccoon.

    ReplyDelete
  3. anon3, you're one of the most qualified here, so I'm leaning in that direction too.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonThreeMay 14, 2009

    Weeelll... I'm not particularly knowledgeable when it comes to decomposing mammals (and their skulls), I'm a lot more confident about the catfish and the frog.

    However, I'm betting that Darren Naish (from tetrapod zoology) will identify this as a raccoon. I follow his blog, so I'll link to his post when he (hopefully anyway!) blogs about this.

    ReplyDelete
  5. He's the guy who gave me the original ID. Let us know!

    ReplyDelete
  6. AnonTerzoMay 15, 2009

    Ha ha ha... I knew he wouldn't disappoint! He posted this while I was asleep: http://scienceblogs.com/tetrapodzoology/2009/05/montauk_monster_take_2_sigh.php

    And what do you know, it is a raccoon :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. i think its a dead pig

    ReplyDelete
  8. Dead pig or a dead raccoon, it is still gross!!

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.