the mexican tongue monster? strange squid monster? real or no? you decide

reply to post by defcon5


First off, interesting post OP

Defcon, I've never seen an anteater like that! What sort of size comparison are we talking with a domestic animal? Cool looking animal either way.

I wouldn't have thought a beached octopus could slither back to the water though? Surely once its on land its stuck

Originally posted by ItsallCrazy
I wouldn't have thought a beached octopus could slither back to the water though? Surely once its on land its stuck

The real question is how can a live octopus arrive on a beach except under extraordinary circumstances.

However, if you've never seen an octopus out of water, you're missing one of the freakiest sights you'll ever see... The goddamned things can maneuver very well out of water; in fact, they look like a CGI special effect, they're so weird out of water.

I mean, although they are of the mollusc family, octopuses are not limp, slow blobs of tissue... They are very energetic, as are their cousins, the squids and the cuddlefish (for those who don't know, cuddlefish are some of the freakiest animals you've ever seen). Come to think of it, the entire phylum of Mollusca is like an alien life form deposited on Earth. It is SO bizarre.

— Doc Velocity

Originally posted by defcon5
I have never seen one when I was in the water there, but I have seen the silhouettes of some pretty big ones cruising between the beachgoers playing in the water oblivious to the shark that was feet away from them.

Hoo boy... The stories I could tell you about sharks mingling with humans in the surf. Nobody wants to think about it. For Godsake, I could walk out on any tourist-filled beach, cast a shark rig, and drag those bastards in by the hundreds.

Not that I would ever actually bait a recreation area. I don't do that. It's bad. But I've seen it done.

— Doc Velocity

reply to post by ItsallCrazy

Hey ItsallCrazy, Giant Anteaters can get as large as 8 feet long and can stand on their rear feet like a bear, while attacking with their digging claws. When on all fours they stand around four foot, like mentioned in the OP.

Here are some vids of Octos and squids…
Octopus on Land:


A video showing one protruding its eye stocks

Here is one squeezing through a very small hole:

The mimic Octopus:

Shark eating sharks:

Attacking a diver:

The Humboldt Squid:


First video may not work, here is the link:
www.youtube.com...


[edit on 3/19/2010 by defcon5]

reply to post by defcon5


8 foot!? I had no idea they grew to that sort of length.

Some of those videos are awesome too, especially like the octopus squeezing through that hole. Reminds of a vid I saw of a cat going under a doorframe.

Doc I knew they were limber but I had no idea they were so energetic when they are out of water, I've seen them moving like rockets underwater when we were on vacation and that totally put me off going in the water in most foreign places. You can see sharks coming a mile off usually if you're keeping an eye out but I don't like something that can move so fast and looks like a god damn face hugger from Alien.

The worst we get in the Uk is a few jellyfish cruising around and the odd hermit crab, you'll be hard pushed get a shark so close to our coastline that you could bait them in

Well after all the searching I have done this evening, what I have found is that to meet the criteria of having both tentacles (Cephalopod Arms) and Eye Stalks (ommatophore), it has to be something from the phylum Mollusca. I can find no other types of creatures that fit both those criteria. There are of course crustaceans and insects that have Eye Stalks, but I don’t think there are any that have Cephalopod arms. Other then an Octopus, the only other things I can think of are various Nudibranch or something like a queen conch that has been removed from its shell, though I do not think either of these can get as large as a basketball.

Here is a site for Nudibranch Identification
Queen Conch

Other then that you got me. I’ll be interested to see what others come up with…

reply to post by defcon5


I'd just like to point out that it has to be a mollusc if it's an already known sort of animal Of course, the chances of it being something else are incredibly slim, but... If eel we ought to acknowledge them.

well this is turning out to be an interesting conversation but why would an anteater kill a pig and how? i mean in the story it stuck its tongue out and that's all it took to kill the pig it's crazy.

what do you guys think?

[edit on 19-3-2010 by ashanu90]

reply to post by ashanu90


Again, we don't know for sure that it killed the pig; only that whatever it did with its tongue caused the pig to collapse. It may have just been shocked that this thing was licking the ants off of it -- stunned by surprise.

reply to post by Doc Velocity

Thanks for posting this video. It really makes you wonder what else is in the ocean.

Also the two accounts that were posted in the original post are very intesting. Thanks for posting.

Originally posted by Solasis
reply to post by ashanu90

 

Again, we don't know for sure that it killed the pig; only that whatever it did with its tongue caused the pig to collapse. It may have just been shocked that this thing was licking the ants off of it -- stunned by surprise.

you have a good point but i'm not sure.
i mean the animal was clearly stalking the pigs. why didn't it just walk up and ask the pig if he could have his ants? lol but seriously why did it have to sneak up on the pigs if it wasn't on the prowl?

[edit on 19-3-2010 by ashanu90]

reply to post by ashanu90


Well, perhaps anteaters and pigs cannot communicate so easily. Maybe it's like English and Chinese -- you need lots of time and possibly courses in communication to make an effort at discussion while knowing only one of the languages! Maybe anteaters are smarter than we think -- like Octopi -- and the anteater was just messing with the pig's head!

Seriously, though, it does remain a mysterious action -- it just wasn't necessarily an attack.

reply to post by Solasis


i see bizzare behavior none the less.

i guess the taxi driver may have just been superstitious and not known what an ant eater was

but there is one thing bugging me, if it was an anteater why did the writer describe it as having an 'anteaer like head' if it was indeed an anteater his parents almost certainly would know it for what it is, right?

i don't know the story is a little bit strange i think

Originally posted by Doc Velocity

Originally posted by ItsallCrazy
can maneuver very well out of water; in fact, they look like a CGI special effect, they're so weird out of water.
— Doc Velocity

tha must be what the writer was talking about when he said it was ''cartoonish''.interesting