Walking with dinosaurs (and humans) ?

First appearing approximately 230 million years ago colossal creatures known as ‘dinosaurs’ ruled the earth. For millions of years, no other animal species legitimately threatened the existence of dinosaurs. Nonetheless, on one unlucky day, approximately 65 million years ago, the dinosaurs seemingly disappeared from the face of the earth or so the story goes…On occasion throughout history, there have been sightings from remote regions of the world of enormous creatures that resemble various dinosaur species. In particular, a creature known by native Congo pygmies as mokele-mbembe or “one that stops the flow of rivers” supposedly dwells in the central African countries of Congo, Cameron, and Gabon. According to witness testimony, the mokele-mbembe is known for its long neck and tail, small head, and large body. All of which are common characteristics associated with a sauropod dinosaur. To further fuel the excitement, according to researcher William Gibbons, at least two pygmies were directly involved in the slaying of a mokele-mbembe. One of the earliest stories that may be relevant to the existence of the mokele-mbembe comes from the 1776 book of former Congo missionary Abbe Lievain Bonaventure.

According to Bonaventure’s book, he bared witness to unusual footprints of enormous size. Even though he never directly witnessed the creature, he certainly realized that tracks he discovered must have been from a monstrous animal as he was able to depict claws which outlined a footprint nearly three feet in circumference. In addition, Bonaventure never made any reference of the mokele-mbembe in his book since he had no previous knowledge of its alleged existence, which certainly strengthens the testimony of the witness. However, in this case, he may have been a victim of his own imagination as he could have simply misidentified a large footprint such as an elephants. The true discovery of a living prehistoric dinosaur such as the mokele-mbembe would certainly rewrite everything we know about our evolution as a species.