The legendary "lake monster" has been a hot topic of discussion, no matter whether the monster is at Loch Ness, Tianchi Lake in Changbai Mountain or Kanas Lake. Every time this "animal" showed itself mysteriously, many curious followers paid quite a bit of attention to it. However, scientists state unequivocally that such "lake monster" cannot exist on earth.

Professor Chen Yifeng from the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Hydrobiology, participating in the Sino-Russian Lake Baikal combined scientific observation, said that the "lake monsters" described in these rumors refer to large mammals unknown to men that reside in lakes. In fact, mammals do in fact live in many rivers and lakes, the better known variety being Yangtze River Dolphin and ringed seal in Russia's Lake Baikal. But, contrasted with land, there are few species of such animals in fresh water systems.

It was learned that mammals that originally lived on land or the ocean adapted to the new environment when they migrated to lakes and have survived since then as a new species over a relatively long period of time. Scientists have done a large amount of research on this type of animal evolution and formed a unified point of view.

In contrast, the legendary "monsters" appear from time to time without any fixed tracks. One can judge from these facts that these "once in a blue moon monsters" must be few in number. According to general biological knowledge, animals in independent habitat that do not form a certain number absolutely cannot survive. The legendary "lake monster" is full of mystery in the eyes of its fans, but for scientists, it has no scientific research value. In fact, for a relatively long period of time, mankind has not discovered any previously unknown large mammals.

(chinanews August 18, 2005)