# Giant squid and other weird creatures **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 4, 2002, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-squid-and-other-weird-creatures/140328 "2002-12-04T01:44:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bensonGemini](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb9ed0/32.png) [@bensonGemini](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bensonGemini)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-squid-and-other-weird-creatures/140328/1 "2002-12-04T01:44:43Z")
I find the giant squid very interesting. Especially how no one has ever seen one alive. But yearly, many dead giant squid end up on the beaches of the world. I can understand the difficulty, though, since the ocean huge. I was wondering if there are any other strange creatures like that. That we KNOW for certain exist, but never have seen one alive. I really want to know there are land creatures like that. Where we’ve only seen the corpses, not the living counterparts. Anybody know? ---
**Author:** ![TheJackOfHearts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheJackOfHearts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheJackOfHearts)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-squid-and-other-weird-creatures/140328/2 "2002-12-04T02:00:27Z")
There are a few species of beaked whales that are known only from skulls found washed ashore on beaches. Not particularly a strange creature, but still one known only from dead specimens. ---
**Author:** ![WSLer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a6a055/32.png) [@WSLer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WSLer)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-squid-and-other-weird-creatures/140328/3 "2002-12-04T02:05:32Z")
I don’t know that I would go so far as to say that **many** dead giant squid wash up on beaches every year. Man has explored less then 2% of the ocean, and keep in mind that the **average** depth of the ocean is a little over 2 miles, which means it’s fairly difficult to get equipment that can survive the pressures at such depths. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-squid-and-other-weird-creatures/140328/4 "2002-12-04T02:17:10Z")
this [site](http://www.amatikulu.com/coelacanths,_living_fossils.htm) might be of interest to you. > [@](#): > > The coelacanth, the 400-million-year-old dinosaur of the deep, is alive and well in South African waters. Not just one coelacanth… but six of the amazing fossil fish were discovered off the coast of St Lucia in KwaZulu Natal at the end of November 2000. Coelacanths, the most famous ‘living fossil fish’, first hit the headlines in 1939 after the discovery of a single dead specimen near East London, South Africa. No other coelacanths have been found in South African waters. Subsequently, however, a number of the prehistoric fish have been found off the Mozambican coast and around the Comores, a group of volcanic islands north of Madagascar. ---
**Author:** ![slipster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@slipster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slipster)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-squid-and-other-weird-creatures/140328/5 "2002-12-04T02:47:20Z")
Back in the 1970s I read that the Tibetan blue bear is so rare that there had yet to be a reliable report of a sighting by a Westerner. After a brief Internet search, I have the impression this may still be the case. I recall seeing a National Geographic special on bears a year or two ago which purported to account for all of the varieties of bear in the world, yet it skipped over the Tibetan blue bear entirely. Some advocates for the existence of the Yeti have suggested that if the blue bear is so difficult to find, then the Yeti, too, might avoid detection by Westerners. Alternatively, it has been suggested that the Yeti might actually be just the Tibetan blue bear. The black and white panda was largely regarded in the West as a myth until the early twentieth century as it too had never been seen by anyone except natives. ---
**Author:** ![partly\_warmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc8723/32.png) [@partly\_warmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/partly_warmer)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-squid-and-other-weird-creatures/140328/6 "2002-12-04T03:07:31Z")
I had no idea the giant squid hadn’t been seen. Is it because there are so few, or is it their their remote environment? They may not be as exciting as the squid, but apparently there are still thousands of uncataloged/undiscovered insects. Speaking of rare life: does anybody remember anything about the ancient species of tree that was discovered some 10 years back by an Australian park ranger? One that was supposed to have been extinct for millions of years? ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-squid-and-other-weird-creatures/140328/7 "2002-12-04T04:10:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by partly\_warmer \* > **I had no idea the giant squid hadn’t been seen. Is it because there are so few, or is it their their remote environment?** Yes. ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-squid-and-other-weird-creatures/140328/8 "2002-12-04T04:23:26Z")
How giant are the giant squid? ---
**Author:** ![bbeaty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c0e974/32.png) [@bbeaty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bbeaty)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-squid-and-other-weird-creatures/140328/9 "2002-12-04T04:32:38Z")
Yeah! Architeuthis! Here’s a great book by a squid expert: [http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0140286764/](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0140286764/) He mentions that there have been numerous squid sightings going back decades, even accounts of squids attacking small boats, but still no photographs yet. That’s if you don’t count baby ones (many of them found by researchers in New Zeland.) Also nobody knows what giant squids eat. They’re predators, so they must be eating some other huge animals down there. He and a research group tried cooking a fairly fresh Giant Squid specimin. They found that it’s horrible, like the meat had been soaked in ammonia. It’s full of ammonium salts which give it some bouyancy. [http://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/squid.html](http://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/squid.html) [http://www.giantsquidcenter.com/](http://www.giantsquidcenter.com/) Did you see the news item about the giant squid species with flapping wings and extremely long trailing tentacles? [http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s445712.htm](http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s445712.htm) ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-squid-and-other-weird-creatures/140328/10 "2002-12-04T04:33:11Z")
This recent case, out of Indonesia, was reported before on Fortean times. This news bit out of Belitung verified it: [http://belitung.port5.com/phpinc/gajah\_mina.php](http://belitung.port5.com/phpinc/gajah_mina.php) It could be a whale, but it was a very peculiar one. ---
**Author:** ![Motog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85e7bf/32.png) [@Motog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motog)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-squid-and-other-weird-creatures/140328/11 "2002-12-04T05:23:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by partly\_warmer \* > \*\*Speaking of rare life: does anybody remember anything about the ancient species of tree that was discovered some 10 years back by an Australian park ranger? One that was supposed to have been extinct for millions of years? \*\* The tree you’re thinking of is the Wollemi Pine, Government agencies are furiously propagating as many of them as possible and planting and distributing as many as they can to ensure their continued existence. [Here’s](http://abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s737265.htm) an article on an even rarer recently discovered Australian tree called the Nightcap Oak that is apparently of more botanic and historic significance. The last 15 Nightcap Oaks were discovered in volcanic crater and a seedling has, with some difficulty, been propagated. According to the article, a lot of care is being taken with the seedling: > [@](#): > > “It’ll be protected in a steel cage, a heavy strong steel cage, and as well as the cage there’ll be security.” ---
**Author:** ![Motog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85e7bf/32.png) [@Motog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motog)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-squid-and-other-weird-creatures/140328/12 "2002-12-04T05:25:43Z")
p.s **partly\_warmer** , if you want to know more about the Wollemi Pine, have a look [here](http://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/html/Wollemi.html) ---
**Author:** ![Motog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85e7bf/32.png) [@Motog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motog)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-squid-and-other-weird-creatures/140328/13 "2002-12-04T05:32:56Z")
I’ll get myself organised in a minute but I forgot to say that the startling thing about both the Wollemi Pine and the Nightcap Oak was that they aren’t small trees: The Wollemi grows to 40m (120 feet) and the Nightcap is a similarly sized rainforest canopy tree. There’s an article on the discovery of the Nightcap Oak [here](http://www.bigvolcano.com.au/stories/kooyman/). It’s actually a proteacea and was first discovered 20 years ago but was mis-classified ---
**Author:** ![Desmostylus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@Desmostylus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desmostylus)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-squid-and-other-weird-creatures/140328/14 "2002-12-04T09:04:07Z")
Here we go. Land mammal known only from dead specimens: [http://www.molgen.gla.ac.uk/level2/2b/vqbov.htm](http://www.molgen.gla.ac.uk/level2/2b/vqbov.htm) And then they found one: [http://coombs.anu.edu.au/~vern/species.html](http://coombs.anu.edu.au/~vern/species.html) Others have been fakes: [http://abcnews.go.com/sections/scitech/DailyNews/bull010214.html](http://abcnews.go.com/sections/scitech/DailyNews/bull010214.html) ---
**Author:** ![Leechlord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19b73/32.png) [@Leechlord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leechlord)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-squid-and-other-weird-creatures/140328/15 "2002-12-04T11:08:28Z")
I watched this discovery show thing on TV about the search for giant squid. They found giant beak in whale’s stomach & it’s indigestable. They predicted that giant squid live deep in the ocean & these whales dive every time to feed themselves giant squids… ---
**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-squid-and-other-weird-creatures/140328/16 "2002-12-04T11:28:31Z")
Those would be sperm whales I believe. I saw a nature show where scientists tried to get pictures of giant squids by attaching a camera to a sperm whale. Much easier said than done, but they managed it. Of course there weren’t any squids, giant or otherwise, waiting for the paparazzi. ---
**Author:** ![effac3d](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b487fb/32.png) [@effac3d](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/effac3d)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-squid-and-other-weird-creatures/140328/17 "2002-12-04T13:24:31Z")
Does anyone remember a small news item a few months back about a strange “bloop” noise recorded by under water microphones? As i remember some marine experts determined that it was probably biological in nature,but had no idea what animal could be making it. ---
**Author:** ![partly\_warmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc8723/32.png) [@partly\_warmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/partly_warmer)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-squid-and-other-weird-creatures/140328/18 "2002-12-04T13:30:42Z")
Excellent, Motag. Blessings on your head. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-squid-and-other-weird-creatures/140328/19 "2002-12-04T15:29:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jovan \* > \*\*Those would be sperm whales I believe. I saw a nature show where scientists tried to get pictures of giant squids by attaching a camera to a sperm whale. Much easier said than done, but they managed it. Of course there weren’t any squids, giant or otherwise, waiting for the paparazzi. \*\* I can’t imagine getting a camera attached to a Sperm Whale…must have shot the whale with a hook with the camera attached (nice). Sperm Whales seem to be among the more belligerent of sea mammals and I wouldn’t want to piss one off. I have seen photos of Sperm Whales with scarring on their skin that the scientist speculated came from a giant squid grappling with the whale. If that was true then that squid must have been impressive (the scars ran far back from the head and were of a fairly decent size). ---
**Author:** ![chukhung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e79b87/32.png) [@chukhung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chukhung)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-squid-and-other-weird-creatures/140328/20 "2002-12-04T16:39:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Whack-a-Mole \* > **I can’t imagine getting a camera attached to a Sperm Whale…must have shot the whale with a hook with the camera attached (nice)** There is more information about attaching cameras to whales at this site: [http://whale.wheelock.edu/archives/ask01/0297.html](http://whale.wheelock.edu/archives/ask01/0297.html) > [@](#): > > CritterCam is a video camera and recording deck housed in a metal cylinder with a dome viewing port in front and flotation in the back. There is also a hydrophone (underwater microphone) and VHF transmitter (to help find the thing) in the package. It is attached to the whale with a dinner plate-sized suction cup deployed with a long pole from a small boat. No hooks involved, apparently. If suction cups work for giant squid, I suppose it’s not surprising they’d work for attaching cameras as well. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-squid-and-other-weird-creatures/140328.md?page=2)