Legend of Loch Ness is the sixth and last episode of the fifth season of River Monsters.
Episode Description[]
Jeremy Wade is on a mission to track down the famous monster of Loch Ness, but can he succeed where so many have failed? The journey will take him from the depths of Loch Ness to the volcanoes of Iceland, all in pursuit of the mother of all monsters.
Episode Summary[]
Jeremy Wade has spent years searching secluded backwaters and dense jungles for mysterious monsters that the world never imagined could be explained. However, the Legend of the Loch Ness monster looms larger than any of the others previously featured in River Monsters.
Jeremy Wade starts by eliminating unlikely suspects, beginning with the Plesiosaurs. Jeremy finds it hard to believe that a Plesiosaur could live in a lake as secluded as Loch Ness because they were marine reptiles and needed to breathe air. A Plesiosaur living in Loch Ness would have to surface constatly, and would probably be noticed long ago by scientists, considering how highly scrutinized Loch Ness is.
Jeremy continued to eliminate suspects such as the White Sturgeon, based on the fact that the Loch Ness monster of legend was said to be a man hunter. However, Jeremy did learn that most of the people who claim to have seen the monster also claim it looked more like an over turned boat or a "big wave", rather than a long necked Plesiosaur, which Jeremy assumed confirmed his suspicion.
Jeremy then suspected that the animal could have entered the Loch through a river called the Moray firth during times of flood, just as Grey Seals are known to have entered the Loch too. However, despite the fact that many massive predators dwell in the waters just outside the firth, none of them were particularly compelling in Jeremy's opinion. However, Jeremy tracked the fatal attack in the Moray firth to legends from the Pictish people who once lived in Scotland. They were inspired by the Nordic peoples, so Jeremy thought it was possible that the Nordic peoples spread the ideas of the so called "Pictish beast" to Scotland, especially considering that engravings similar to the Pictish beast can be found in Scandinavian regions. Also, most experts on the subject agree that the Pictish beast was some for of aquatic creature.
Once in Iceland, a land that was once occupied by Nordic warriors, Jeremy located more legends, however, none seemed to originate from a creature powerful enough to kill a person. Jeremy did eventually get to see a four hundred year old map, that showed some of the monsters the Nordic peoples claimed to have encountered. One of them was a cold water shark, one of the largest extant species.
Jeremy eventually traveled to the Norwegian Trondheim fjord to fish for a shark that he identified the beast as the Greenland Shark. However, fishing for Sharks on the fjord is considered to be some sort of "coin toss", since the fjord is so large, like a "submerged Grand Canyon". As a winter storm creeped in, Jeremy hooked a shark, however, he was forced to use braided line to reduce the drag. This meant that if the shark's rough skin touched the braid, it would sever the line. Jeremy was able to bring it in. The Greenland shark has a very non-shark like dorsal fin. Rather than being erect, like the popular image of sharks, the Greenland shark has a stubby, flattened fin. In the water, it would look very much like an upturned boat. Jeremy believed the Greenland Shark to be a reasonable explanation for the Loch Ness monster's legend, and perhaps, the creature itself even entered the Loch at some point.
Animals Featured[]
Locations Featured[]
- TBA
Trivia[]
- During this episode, fans can see the preserved head of Wade's Goliath Tiger Fish from Demon Fish while Wade is in his study.
- The "steinbitur" or stone biter fish is actually an Atlantic Wolf Fish, although not being disclosed in the episode itself. However, over eight years later, in the episode Icelandic Giants in Unknown Waters it is confirmed that the stone biter is the wolffish.
- The "river worm" or sea serpent filmed in Iceland is still mostly a mystery.
- Some people say that it is a real animal, one that is known to science but aren't sure what it is exactly.
- Others, including Jeremy said it could be a fishing net floating around.
- In this article a scientist claims to have found out that it is indeed a fishing net.
Gallery[]
