The mystery of the Loch Ness monster has been… solved!

It is one of the greatest mysteries of the deep, and its legend has outfoxed score of investigators over the generations.

Stories, pictures and rumors about a monster living below the surface of Scotland’s deepest loch go back for decades.

But it is now hoped this grainy image of a long ‘serpent-like creature’ may finally unlock the mystery of the Loch Ness Monster.

Image produced when his vessel was in the Loch’s Urquhart Bay showed a long moving object that had followed the boat for more than two minutes.

The consistent marks on Mr Atkinson’s sonar create a horizontal mass, which is not an indicator of length.

But excited Loch Ness monster experts have ruled out the ‘sighting’ being any other fish, seal or wood debris and believe it is proof of an unknown creature in the Loch.

The picture taken on Mr Atkinson’s mobile phone of his sonar screen, has won him first prize in the Best Nessie Sighting of The Year Award run by bookmakers William Hill.

Mr Atkinson, 43, from Fort Augustus in the Scottish Highlands, said: ‘I was dropping customers at Urquhart Castle and then got my boat out of the way of the other tour companies.

‘I moved out into the water and looked at the sonar and saw this image had appeared.

‘The device takes a reading of the depth and what is below the boat every quarter of a second and gradually builds up a picture, so it covered a time of about five minutes.

‘The object got bigger and bigger and I thought “bloody hell” and took a picture with my mobile phone.

‘There is nothing that big in the Loch. I was in shock as it looked like a big serpent, it’s amazing. You can’t fake a sonar image. I have never seen anything returned like this on the fish finder.

‘It is a bizarre shape to me. I have shown it to other experienced skippers and none of us know what it was.

‘I have seen a lot of pictures in 21 years of being here but this is the most clearest image yet. Undoubtedly, there is something in the loch.’

‘It’s also totally unexplained and can’t possibly be fish because in water 75ft down you just wouldn’t find them.

‘It’s very exciting and the best evidence we have had in donkey’s years. There is usually a mundane explanation yet no one has come up with one for this.

‘It’s images like this that will keep me going with my hunt for the next 20 years.’

But other marine experts claim the mystery object may well have been algae in the water.

Dr Simon Boxall, from the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton, said: ‘The picture is built up slowly as the boat moves.

‘So it’s not a snap shot and thus the image is not an image of a single object unless it is very still.

‘The image shows a bloom of algae and zooplankton that would exist on what would be a thermocline.

‘Zooplankton live off this algae and reflect sound signals from echo sounders and fish finders very well.

‘They will appear as a linear “blob” on the screen, just like this.

‘This is a monster made of millions of tiny animals and plants and represents the bulk of life in the Loch.’

Lawrence Conway
Daily Mail 

A short film by first time writer/director Sean Tyler was recently released.  It centers around the infamous Devil Girl of Devonshire and is a real thriller!  The writing, preproduction, and principle shooting took place over three weeks in Fall 2011.

WWN reviewers saw an advance screening of the film and gave it two big ears up.  WWN has long been considered THE worldwide authority on all things “mutant” and this Devil Girl certainly meets our “mutant” standards.  Devil Girl is quite talented with her devil tail.  Best to keep your distance.

Though it seems that Devil Girl is a fan of Bat Boy, and she has sufficiently terrorized the people around her, we advise her to keep her distance from Bat Boy… he does not like to share the limelight.

Check out the film below.  Let us know what YOU think!

Meet the “hitman” of insects.  This insect kills ants and then carries them around on his back!

Some scientists believe that the insect is carrying the ants on his back as a way to protect himself from predators like  like jumping spiders.

These scientists believe the aptly named assassin bug uses the dead bodies, as a defense mechanism to fend off enemies.  But other scientists believe that the insect is just a vicious killer, who likes to show off his “kills.”

Photographer Hock Ping Guek, from Malaysia, decided to document the amazing camouflage strategy using macro photography.

He said: ‘These assassin bugs are quite small, less than 1 cm, so the camera I used really comes in handy here as it allows me to go beyond the 1:1 maximum limit of the usual macro lenses without the need for any add-on tubes.

 ’The behavior is indeed absolutely fascinating. They prey on ants, inject enzyme into the ant preys and suck the ants dry, then put the dead bodies on their back for camouflage, most likely as a form of defense against other predator like jumping spiders.

‘I spent about 30 minutes photographing these assassin bugs every time I find one.

‘I try to shoot as many shots as I could from many different angles, and pick only a few that I like best in terms of angle, moment, composition etc.’

Assassin bugs kill in a rather gruesome way by injecting them with an enzyme and then sucking out their insides.

Despite their fearsome reputation the insects are actually quite small measuring just 1cm in length.

Beware the assassin bugs!

According to sources close to the Romney camp,  Bat Boy could get the nod as soon as next week.  Campaign insiders say that Mitt Romney has looked at Marco Rubio, Condoleezza Rice, Rob Portman and Chris Christie as possible running mates, but he feels that Bat Boy will give him the “sizzle” his campaign sorely needs.

“Bat Boy is from West Virginia and really understands the struggles that the middle class is going through,” said a Romney advisor.  ”With Bat Boy on the ticket, the Republicans should be able to carry the south, the midwest and all the Hollywood who all love mutants.

Some inside the Republican party are not happy with Bat Boy as the VP choice.  Karl Rove is said to be working overtime on a smear campaign to destroy Bat Boy’s credibility.

“Since that college professor pulled him out of a cave in West Virginia in 1992, he’s never fully acclimated to human culture, and he has a reputation for doing what the hell he wants to do regardless of the consequences,” said Rove.

But the Romney camp is not worried about Rove.  ”Bat Boy’s past is unusual, anyway, so there’s no doubt Rove and his minions, can make some hay with it,” said a campaign insider. “But we think we are making a great choice.  He’s certainly a much better choice than Sarah Palin.”

The Obama campaign has no comment on  Bat Boy as the VP nominee, but clearly they are worried.  ”Except for Richard Nixon, there’s never really been a mutant running for office.  So, we will have to rethink our strategy.”

As for the legality of Bat Boy running for vice president, Republicans have determined that because the famed imp was born in the United States, he is a citizen despite the fact that he’s not entirely human.

He is thought to be just 16 or 17 years old, adds the Republican source, “but if you measure his age in bat years, he’s more like 179, plenty old enough to qualify for the No. 2 spot.”

Romney plans on making his announcement about Bat Boy in a cave in West Virginia.   99% of bats have already pledged their support.

The northward migration of grizzlies has led to more sightings of “grolar” bears in the Arctic.

Hunters from the village of Ulukhaktok, N.W.T., knew there was something different about the polar bear they were stalking but couldn’t put their finger on it.

It was far more aggressive than anything they were used to. They even called off the dog for fear the large white mammal would kill it.

On closer inspection after it was shot and killed, it turned out not to be an ordinary polar bear but one that was a cross between a polar bear and a grizzly, unofficially known as a “grolar bear” and “pizzly.”

“The first hybrid we had ever seen around here a few years ago was pretty nasty. They (hunters) usually stalk the polar bear using a dog, but this bear was so aggressive they couldn’t use a dog on them. It was too dangerous,” Robert Kuptana, who lives in the western Arctic hamlet of about 400 people on Victoria Island, told the Toronto Star Friday.

Over the years, as grizzly bears wandered further north following the caribou herd, the hybrid variety became more common, said the 69-year-old Kuptana. He added that a hunter from the village, Pat Ekpakohak, and his two grandchildren killed three of them just 10 days ago.

“One is pure white, one is partly dark and the other is fairly dark brown and the top part is white,” said Kuptana, who took a picture of the skins.

Polar bear and grizzly habitats overlap in the western Canadian Arctic around the Beaufort Sea. Grizzlies are known to occasionally to go out on the ice in the spring to feed on seals killed by polar bears, according to the Canadian Wildlife Service.

A DNA test conducted by the Wildlife Genetics International in British Columbia on a bear shot and killed by an American hunter in 2006 confirmed it was a hybrid, making it the first documented case in the wild.

Ian Stirling, a research scientist and polar bear expert with the Canadian Wildlife Service in Edmonton, said in an interview with National Geographic that the hybrid was “definitely not” a sign of climate change.

Andrew Derocher, a professor of biological sciences at the University of Alberta, is in Ulukhaktok, where he is doing polar bear research and saw the skins from the three hybrids.

“It seems to me they are getting a lot more common, at least in this part of the Arctic,” he told the Star.

“I think the story here . . . is that the number of grizzly bears on Victoria Island has increased quite markedly over the last 20 years. And part of that might be related to changing environmental conditions up here. It’s a bit warmer and it’s quite clear the grizzly bears are well-established here now and, of course, there is a healthy population of polar bears around,” he said.

David Paetkau, president of Wildlife Genetics International, based in Nelson. B.C., told the Star it was a “quirky” development that can’t be totally explained.

Be prepared when the undead arrive!

When they come, there will be lots of them and they have appetites incapable of being spoiled. Worse, we remaining humans will find ourselves bereft of all reliable resources for our survival. You’ll need all the help you can get. Luckily, a forward-thinking fellow named Jeff at doejo.com has got you covered and put together a zombie survival map with locations of all the necessities you need to survive on a zombified planet.

Using Google Maps API, Map of the Dead displays a color-coded key of all of the necessary locations you need to know about in order to survive in a world of zombies. Everything from military resources and cemeteries to pharmacies and liquor stores are included in the map so you’ll be able to find the closest supplier for your needs whenever you run out of something.

The map identifies danger zones, which are described as areas having a high risk of zombie infestation due to the presence of man-made structures. If you’re to go by what the map tells you, zombies are a cosmopolitan class of monsters who only want to hang out in well-developed cities. As you can see below, if you cross the river over into that charcoal-colored area of wilderness on the map you’ll be safely beyond the reach of the zombies’ clutches. However, all of the resources you need are still on the zombie side of the river, so… pack up before you go, I guess?

Cleverly, you can also download a copy to print off and store away in a safe place because, really, if the zombie uprising jumps off, do you think they’re going to provide very reliable IT support? No, but at least you’ll have your trusty map.

As things go, it appears that Central and South America as well as most of Asia and Africa will be largely unaffected by the zombie populations, so in lieu of risking your life and fighting off the legions of undead, you could always just put some money aside and jet down there at the first sign of trouble. Canada, oddly enough, seems to be of no regard to zombies as the country appears to be zombie-free. Cuba, however, seems to have a zombie problem, which figures – will there ever be a time when it’s okay for Americans to safely travel to Cuba again?

Here’s the handy “Map of the Dead” site, plug-in your coordinates, and let it show you a color-coded key of all of the locations you’ll need to know about in order to survive the next several days.

A monstrous sight: a 48-foot-long, 2,500-pound titanoboa snake is headed for Grand Central! 

The good news: It’s not alive. Anymore. But the full-scale replica of the reptile — which will make its first appearance at the commuter hub on March 22 — is intended, as Smithsonan spokesperson Randall Kremer happily admitted, to “scare the daylights out of people” — actually has a higher calling: to “communicate science to a lot of people.” The scientifically scary-accurate model will go a long way toward that: If this snake slithered by you, it would be waist-high and measure the length of a school bus. Think of it as the T-Rex of snakes.

This newly discovered species, known as titanoboa  (yes, the words “titan” and “boa” are in there), which lived 65 million years ago, is about to have its close-up. The New York City appearance is promoting an exhibit at the Smithsonian Institute’s National Museum of Natural History in D.C. opening on March 30, which ties in to a TV special on the Smithsonian Channel called, what else,  ”Titanoboa:  Monster Snake.”   The two-hour program airs April 1.

Remains of the titanoboa were first discovered in a Colombian coal mine in 2005. One of the researchers specializing in the  Palocene era, the time after the death of the dinosaurs, was Jonathan Bloch. A vertebrate paleontologist from University of Florida’s Museum of Natural History, the scientist led multiple expeditions, along with Carlos Jaramillo of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. The team collected remains from the mine, which resulted in the find. Together with ancient-snake expert Jason Head of the University of Nebraska, they named the world’s largest snake Titanoboa.

An extra-large coyote (half-wolf) is terrorizing the Eastern seaboard of Canada.

The story of the 82-pound coyote not only has this province and the Internet buzzing, but wildlife watchers across the country are talking about it, too.  And there have been hundreds of other sightings of beasts like this across Eastern Canada.

Memorial University is doing the DNA testing one of the brutes, shot this week by Joe Fleming on the Bonavista Peninsula.

Environment and Conservation Minister Jack English announced that the creature was  a wolf  coyote-wolf crossbreed.

Ralph Mumm of the biology department at McGill University said further genetic investigation is required will reveal more information about this new breed.

Biologists feel that the new coyote is the result male coyotes mating with a female wolves.  But why?

“I think it’s due to global warming,” said English.  ”Coyotes are not acting like themselves and are now attracted to other species.

The biggest ones spotted are about 90 pounds and they can be extremely aggressive, said a biologists studying the new breed.  Residents are advised to keep their distance.

“Ninety pounds is way out there …  and we think they are getting bigger,” said Hank Simpson,  co-founder of Coyote Watch Canada, a group that tracks coyotes.  The group is not in favor of killing the animals – even thought the beasts have attacked twenty-seven Canadians already.

Hank Sampson really loves the new breed.

This surprised a lot of experts because coyotes are afraid of humans.  Some are afraid that the new breed of coyotes are heading for the cities.

“I think they’re headed for Boston in the United States.  I can’t confirm it, but it’s my sense based on their migration patterns,” said English.

Boston is preparing for their arrival.  ”We’re locked and loaded,” Senator Scott Brown reportedly said.

Scientists examining the skulls of Midwest beavers found that they loved to eat flowers – and humans.

The killer beavers probably lived in the Midwest in the 1800s.  Some skulls were found at the site of the battle of Little Big Horn and scientists believe that the killer beavers were used to defeat Custer’s troops.

The beavers, which adapted to eating flowering plants, flourished for a hundred years, but then, suddenly went extinct.

For some reason, once the industrial revolution began, the beavers… couldn’t eat flowers anymore and they evolved into a more docile beaver.

Scientists examined teeth from the multituberculates (beavers). Computed tomography (CT) scanning similar to that used in hospitals was used to create high resolution 3D images which were then analysed.

The researchers found the multituberculates had a complex array of teeth. Those at the front were sharp and blade-like, while the back teeth developed numerous bumps and cusps ideal for crushing plant material.

“These mammals were able to radiate in terms of numbers of species, body size and shapes of their teeth, which influenced what they ate,” said Dr Gregory Wilson, from the University of Washington, who led the research published online in the journal Nature.

“If you look at the complexity of teeth, it will tell you information about the diet. Multituberculates seem to be developing more cusps on their back teeth, and the blade like tooth at the front is becoming less important as they develop these bumps to break down plant material.”

Scientists say that the teeth could also “morph” and become blade-like, “sharper than most switchblades”, and so the beavers would eat flowers and kill mammals.  ”They seemed to like to attach humans.”

The narrow shape of their pelvis suggests that, like marsupials, multituberculates gave birth to tiny, undeveloped pups that were dependent on their mother for a long time before they matured.