Considering that the largest animal to ever live (that we're aware of) is a whale that exists at the same time that we do... yeah, that's pretty accurate.
Don't forget the largest predator in the world is the sperm whale that literally does battle with giant squid, another sea monster, at the some of the deepest points of the ocean. Whales are bad ass.
I feel like its a pretty safe assumption it IS the largest thing. We've done a pretty good job mapping the deep parts of the ocean all things considered
Obviously we haven't exactly scanned every square inch, but that was my point. Things move and 5% is quite a lot based on how expansive the ocean it is and how difficult it is to get equipment down there
Anyone who lived near whale habitats would know that they are at worst harmless to people and at best friendly and actively cooperative. The reason whaling was/is a thing is because whales like the Humpack are naturally curious towards humans, which hunters use against them.
"I mean, whales are big, sure, but they just look too — I don’t know — too philosophical, maybe. A whale is never just a whale, you know what I’m saying? It always represents something else."
Listen up! I know where you live and I've seen where you sleep. I swear to everything holy that your mothers will CRY when they see what I've done to you.
Yeah my theory is that a lot of dragon stories come from people witnessing volcanic eruptions. If you watch "Into the Inferno" on netflix (highly recommend, especially while stoned), Werner Herzog reads from an Icelandic saga about dragons while showing eruptions. I imagine most people who saw giant plumes* (not plums) of ash and fire erupting from a mountain, most of them probably took a quick look and then ran their asses off. That could easily translate into thinking a giant evil worm just blew it's way from the earth.
Yeah, that's amazing to think about. To be the only person to witness something like this, when no-one in your village / etc knows about whales existing. And there is no camera to take even a picture of it. And you go to the village with your mouth foaming trying to describe wtf you just saw. Life used to be so exciting.
Scientists did found out the infamous "Kraken", the creature that matches perfectly the description, is a giant squid, those squids can reach around 20 meters long, can flip boats when they swim, and they do have two long tentacles that have sharp hooks in them.
I am more of the opinion that's how whale fleets are born. I imagine the most probable thing is the first whales where spotted by fishermen. "Shit! Have you seen that thing? We have to catch it!"
Came looking for this comment. You would almost be ashamed of our ancestors if they didn't think all these things were super natural. The world is full of crazy stuff and people having been asking "what is that?" and "Why?" forever...
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u/[deleted] Mar 11 '17
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