After years of failed attempts of locating the Loch Ness Monster, a professor has suggested this could be because Nessie is actually a whale's penis.
UK professor Michael Sweet has said people who have previously claimed to see the mysterious sea creature have mistaken it for a whale's penis during mating sessions. He shared the reasoning behind the bizarre mistake explaining artistic travellers used to draw what they believed to have witnessed while exploring at sea - but their drawings may have not been completely accurate, reports the Daily Star.
Professor Sweet shared the outlandish theory on Twitter on April 8 and told his thousands of followers: "Back in [ the] day, travellers/explorers would draw what they saw.
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"This is where many sea monster stories come from ie. tentacled and alienesque appendages emerging from the water - giving belief to something more sinister lurking beneath....however, many cases it was just whale d**ks."
In a thread shared on the social media platform, the researcher and lecturer in Molecular Ecology explained his theory by referring to whale mating behaviours. He added: "Whales often mate in groups so while one male is busy with the female the other male just pops his d**k out of the water while swimming around waiting his turn. Everyone’s gotta have a bit of fun, right?
"One female whale is typically paired with a primary escort (male) and a group of males will try to fight for their right to overthrow the escort and earn mating rights. A competition pod can have just a handful of whales or a larger group of 12-15."
Professor Sweet, who has amassed more than 10,000 followers on Twitter, received mixed feedback about the theory, with some users left howling by the claims.
@RHAVote said: "I am not the same after reading this cursed tweet." @Sirablopp added: "Knowledge is a bliss, and yet I somehow doubt this knowledge was something I needed."
But not everyone agreed with the professor's theory. @jjrrffkk2009 said: "I respectfully disagree. Nearly all depictions/descriptions of "long necks" have been very dark in coloration, and whale penises are very light colored, and pink--no one would confuse that with what these other people have seen."
While @admiral_rami remarked it was an interesting theory, he commented: "I don’t believe a whale could swim from the sea to Beauly Firth, and then up the River Ness to get into Loch Ness…plus the color, I think that cute pink color would’ve been in the description on Nessie, smth like “she was paler then…”"
