Evidence of whale-eating squid monster

An American researcher has presented fossil evidence of the existence of a squid monster believed to be 1.6 km long, which could swallow whales.

Illustration of the legendary squid monster Kraken. Photo: YouTube.

The Kraken is a giant squid monster from Norse mythology that devours whales and ships. Legends describe the sea creature as being 1.6 kilometers (1 mile) long. While the Kraken was first mentioned in the 13th-century Icelandic folktale Örvar-Oddr, one researcher believes there is fossil evidence of the creature, according to Ancient Origins.

Discovered in 2011, fossils of a marine lizard with strange markings that may have been made by a Kraken-like creature have been criticized, but Professor Mark McMenamin, a paleontologist at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts, USA, has provided more evidence to support his conclusion.

Squid tentacle traces on ichthyosaur fossil. Photo: Mark McMenamin.

A fossilized spine of a marine reptile with an unusual arrangement was found in Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park in Nevada, USA. The fossil belongs to an ichthyosaur that lived 200-250 million years ago. The way the bones are arranged suggests that it was attacked by a much larger predator, possibly a giant octopus or squid that dominated the oceans at the time. The creature that defeated the ichthyosaur was estimated to have been about 30 meters long, far surpassing the giant Pacific octopus, the largest octopus species today.

The discovery of a fossilised part of what is believed to be the beak of a giant squid, along with several bones with tentacle marks, seems to support Professor McMenamin’s hypothesis. A pile of bone fragments was also found alongside the ichthyosaur’s body.

Professor McMenamin said the arrangement of the skeleton and the position of the tentacles suggested the ichthyosaur had been drowned or strangled. It was likely dragged back to its lair by a Kraken-like monster and its body dumped there.

However, researchers still believe that more convincing evidence is needed before drawing an accurate conclusion about the existence of the Kraken monster in reality.

According to VNE