The Internet is abuzz over the possibility that the kraken, one of Hollywood’s favorite mythical monsters, might be real.
Paleontologist Mark McMenamin announced his theory after seeing a bizarre arrangement of ancient marine reptile bones in Nevada. The pile of ichthyosaur bones seemed to mimic the debris that the modern day octopus uses to camouflage its den.
There is no direct evidence of a kraken-like creature, but McMenamin says that’s because the soft tissue of the kraken would not last long enough to fossilize.
The kraken, which terrorized the Pirates of the Caribbean and was featured in Clash of the Titans, is imagined as a 100-foot long predator that would kill its prey, including school-bus sized ichthyosaurs, by breaking their necks.
Fellow paleontologists are skeptical about McMenamin’s conjecture, but the Mount Holyoke researcher isn’t phazed, saying, “We have a good case.”
