3 Dino Cryptids - Are ancient creatures still alive today?

I think the thing I am most drawn to about the natural world is the endless discovery that seems possible. The more I research for videos, the more new species I come across. But sometimes I'm jealous of the explorers who lived hundreds of years ago and got to go out and experience the thrill of seeing whole ecosystems that they had only ever read about in books. Or perhaps they I think this is why cryptozoology is so fascinating to so many. Is it possible that the excitement of discovery is still waiting for us? Could it be that huge and rare animals are hiding in unexplored corners of our earth? If you're unfamiliar with cryptozoology, it's a pseudoscience and subculture that searches for and studies unknown legendary or extinct animals whose present existence is disputed or unsubstantiated, particularly those popular in folklore. In today's video, I'm going to take a look at three supposed dinosaur species that people have claimed to have seen within the past century. Welcome to All About Nature. On my channel, I try to bring nature-related content that's entertaining and educational. If you like this kind of content, then please consider liking the video, leaving a comment, and even subscribing to the channel. I really appreciate your support. The Arica monster is a cryptid dinosaur reported from Chile's Atacama Desert, particularly near the city of Arica. Several descriptions of the creature have been made, ranging from looking like a velociraptor to looking like a dog-faced kangaroo. Several descriptions have claimed that the Arica monster is covered in feathers, much like many dinosaur species are now believed to have actually been, while others described it as scaly or even hairy. Reports claim that it is about six feet tall, with sharp teeth, and that it runs extremely fast, leaving behind three-toed footprints, similar to those left by kangaroos or emus. It was first spotted in 1980 along the remote road that links the cities of Iquique and Arica, about 2,000 kilometers north of Santiago. Witnesses described a run-in with a huge kangaroo-like bipedal monster in the desert. Later, a military officer named Hernan Cuevas claimed that while he was traveling with four other people in his car, he spotted two huge beasts, much like two-legged dinosaurs, with huge thighs. Reports as recently as 2004 have been made by several eyewitnesses, all who claim to have seen the monster, often more than one at a time, as they traveled by car through the desert. So what could it be? The most likely explanation is that the Arica monster is actually a species of bird that many are not aware lives in South America, the Rhea. Rheas are large flightless birds that are distantly related to ostriches and emus. One subspecies of the Lesser Rhea, known as the Puna Rhea, has a range close to the area of desert where the sightings occurred. I found one commentator on Quora who claims that a doctor at the University of Chile keeps a small population of mutated Rheas near a reservoir in the area, and that the Arica monster is actually these birds that have been cruelly genetically modified. But others online disagree. Due to the comparison to dogs and kangaroos, some believe that the monster is in fact a strange mammal species that is yet to be described by science, while others believe that the monsters are simply dinosaurs that survived into modern times. While the sightings are most likely explained away as being Rheas, it could be that some unknown beast is roaming the vast expanses of the Atacama Desert today. The barunjor is a cryptid that has allegedly been sighted on multiple occasions in the northern parts of the Australian outback. It's described as being huge, with estimates putting it between six and eight meters long, from the tip of its snout to the tip of its tail. It's primarily compared to a Tyrannosaurus rex due to its large size, long tail, and huge mouth. And though there are sightings of the creature from truckers driving the Stuart Highway at night, and by farmers in the 1950s, it's primarily believed to exist not because it is regularly seen, but because of the evidence it leaves behind. Aboriginal farmers reported that the creatures used to kill and eat their livestock. Cows, camels, and kangaroos have all been reported to be found bitten in half by some giant creature. And alongside the animal remains, huge three-toed tracks are reportedly present. So what could this creature be? The main explanation is that the stories of attacked animals and footprints are hoaxes, and that any sighting that may have occurred may have actually been a species of monitor lizard. The perentie is tied as the fourth largest species of lizard on earth, and measures up to 2.5 meters in length. It could be that the truckers encountered this species at night, and due to the shock of its size, the stories ended up getting exaggerated. Another species of lizard that used to roam the Australian outback was the megalania. This massive monitor measured up to seven meters in length, and is believed to have gone extinct at the end of the last ice age. But it could be that stories of the species have endured within the aboriginal populations, leading to the modern-day livestock deaths being attributed to the species. Though recent searches for the creature in 2007 and 2015 have failed to turn up any evidence, the only other explanation is that a massive t-rex-like creature is still out there, leaving footprints in riverbeds and along dirt roads, while magically evading detection. In the Likawala swamp of the Republic of Congo, there are tales of a monster that kills elephants. Emela Ntuka literally means elephant killer. It gets its name as it's said to pierce elephants in the stomach, disemboweling them with its long horn, and leaving them for dead. This cryptid is described as being larger than a buffalo, mostly aquatic, and having a large single horn on the front of its head. It's similar to a rhinoceros, but has been described as having a long thick tail. For those who claim to have seen it, it seemed to be similar to herbivorous ceratopsian dinosaurs, with some believing that it could be a living centrosaurus. The interesting thing about this creature is that reports started to come out of Africa as far back as 1919. Through November and December of that year, newspapers across the world claimed to have heard news of dinosaur sightings throughout the Congo, as Europeans were there building a railway through the jungles. A railway engineer named Lepage sent a report to South Africa's Port Elizabeth Museum that he had been charged by a large horned animal with scales and a thick tail measuring 22 feet in length. Later, a Belgian prospector and big game hunter named Gapel claimed to have seen a very similar animal in the swamps of the Belgian Congo, with large scales, a thick kangaroo-like tail, a humped back, a single horn, red spots, and yellow stripes. Newspapers across the world reported these as brontosaurus, though clearly what was being described was some sort of ceratopsian dinosaur. Then, in 1924, author and explorer John G. Millais published a book called Far Away Up the Nile, in which he claimed that he met a hunter named Dennis Lyell, who was familiar with the amela ntuka. Lyell claimed that the creature was already a rare sight in the Congo, but it was still present in the waterways. This report was further corroborated by J.E. Hughes in 1933, in his book 18 Years on Lake Bangweolu. He claimed that the Wa'ushi tribe killed this creature along the Luapula River. This creature was described as having smooth, hairless skin, being armed with rhino-like horns, but that its horns were white and smooth like elephant tusks. The creature appeared in an article in the journal Mamalia in 1954, in which the author of the article, Lucien Blancou, reported that animals that sometimes kill elephants have been reported from several areas across the Congo, but that they had all been killed in the 1930s. Several more expeditions for the amela ntuka have occurred over the past century, but no real evidence of its existence has ever come to light. There are four main theories about this cryptid. 1. The whole thing is a hoax, with stories perpetuated by people who just wanted their 15 minutes of fame. 2. The witnesses simply saw rhinos. Black rhinos had a historical range in the Congo, but have since gone extinct in the country. 3. Some unknown species of rhino lived in the region, or perhaps still does, with the Pleistocene species Elasmotherium being proposed by some. 4. Some strange dinosaur-like creature really did live in the jungles of the Congo, and perhaps has since been wiped out. And that's it for today's video. What do you think? Do you think any of these are plausibly real? Personally, I'm a skeptic about most of these, and I tend to lean towards natural explanations, but maybe you're a little more hopeful than I am. I also need to say a huge thank you to my patrons, Kasha, Lael, and my newest patron, April. Thank you all so much for supporting the channel. And if you want to become a patron, check out the link in the video description below. Soon, it will only be my patrons that will get a say in what video I make next. I also just passed 1,000 subscribers this week, which feels like a huge milestone, so thank you very much to all of you who subscribed, and welcome to the channel. That's it for today. Thank you for watching, and I'll see you next time.