A Jurassic Relic

This is yet another case of the unimaginable again showing up in isolated habitats, particularly unwelcoming to human activity.

I think we need to listen here.  Recall a similar animal was drawn in stone centuries ago at Ankor Wat.  Thus we have two separate reports in two continents.

Explaining the complete disappearance of all the dinosaurs without also having the complete disappearance of their habitat at the same time was always somewhat difficult.  Our own efforts have so far located reports of just about any of the tropical forms scattered about in the rainforests that survived since their age.

What are missing are the highland and open country species whose whole biome converted to a grass fed culture.  This of course is the biome that supports humanity also.  After all, just exactly what do your think wheat and its like is?

So a large stegosaurus tramping about in the forest is plausible and also impossible to easily spot, unless you spend a great deal of time hanging out in dense forest been very quiet while feeding a million mosquitoes.  At the same time, its spoor would naturally be mistaken for elephant.

On the other hand, it is not impossible and needs attention

Muhuru: Jurassic Relic

FRIDAY, APRIL 29, 2011

http://naturalplane.blogspot.com/2011/04/muhuru-jurassic-relic.html

The Muhuru is said to be an armor plated, club-tailed creature that lives deep within the thick overgrown terrain of East Africa. Some people have suggested that it is a modern example of a living dinosaur.

Photographic or biological evidence is sketchy at best in proving this animal’s existence and the general consensus among cryptozoologists is that the Muhuru is yet another Jurassic relic unlike the Mokele-mbembe. Unlike the Mokele-mbembe, which is known for it's vicious territorial instincts, the Muhuru, which has been spotted primarily in Kenya, is not known to be aggressive.

Eyewitnesses have described the Muhuru as a heavily armored reptilian beast with large, bony plates jutting out of its spine. There is speculation that this creature may well be a surviving species of the plant-eating dinosaur called the Stegosaurus. Believed to have been extinct for 150 million years, the Stegosaurus was a large, herbivorous quadruped from the Late Jurassic period.

Descriptions of the Muhuru’s unique armor plating and intimidating club-like tail would seem to indicate that, unlike the spike tailed and triangle scaled Stegosaurus, this beast may more akin to the squat, armadillo like dinosaur known as the Ankylosaur.

Ankylosaur were bulky, armor plated, quadrupeds with short, powerful limbs with clubbed tales which it used to fend off predators. First known to have appeared in China during the early Jurassic Period, these unique creatures managed to survive at least until the end of the Cretaceous Period.

I received a brief correspondence from a Canadian reader a few months ago where he detailed a conversation he had while on vacation in Kenya in 1988:

Sir - I want to thank you for the daily newsletter. In the Spring of 1988 my father and I vacationed in Africa where we toured several parts of the continent. During the last week of our trip we were able to secure an invitation from an associate to accompany him to Mount Elgon National Park in western Kenya.

It was a bone-jarring 200 mile trek by car from Nairobi to the park then an additional 10+ mile hike through tough terrain. It was the most unusual area we had visited during our trip. I especially enjoyed the caves, known as a gathering place for elephants who would scratch for salt with their tusks.

We stayed the night at the park lodge. That evening we had a conversation with a park guide who mentioned that there had been talk of a strange animal in the rainforest at the foot of the mountain. A group of locals had discovered a fresh killed male elephant who had large lacerations across it's abdomen and neck. The theory was that this was not an attack by another elephant and that a 'mahuru' was the culprit.

The guide explained that a mahuru was said to be a dinosaur-like animal and larger than a fully grown elephant. My father and I were amazed by this story because the guide was very serious while he talked. Another gentleman was listening to the conversation and said that he had seen a drawing of a mahuru and that it looked liked an armored dinosaur with a horned club tail. I later was shown a picture that resembled a stegosaurus dinosaur. Have you heard of this animal? Nevin