# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-squid-and-other-weird-creatures/140328/21 "2002-12-04T17:55:40Z")
150 years ago, the Gorilla was a widely rumored, but never seen land creature. [Doc Savage’s discovery](http://www.museum.vic.gov.au/history/gorillas.html) of the beasts in 1856, and his subsequent return with specimens fueled a decades long debate. If you can find a copy, the book [Sea and Land:](http://www.bookfinder.com/search/?ac=sl&st=sl&qi=GgVmPgdDh4LPJrGHxNN1naOGtT0_2663454534_2:84:111) the Wonderful and Curious Things of Nature Existing Before and Since the Deluge Natural History of the Sea gives a nice account of the uproar. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-squid-and-other-weird-creatures/140328/22 "2002-12-04T17:58:35Z")
Oops, an extra phrase slipped in there. The correct title is: Sea and Land: the Wonderful and Curious Things of Nature Existing Before and Since the Deluge As you might guess from the title, the book also contains descriptions of many other rare or fantastic beasts. ---
**Author:** ![Beadalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-squid-and-other-weird-creatures/140328/23 "2002-12-04T17:58:56Z")
**bbeaty** , I’ve got that book at home! It’s excellent. I’ve got a fascination for giant squid, and that book taught me much more about them than all the TV shows I caught on the subject. **Speaker for he Dead** , from [this site](http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/architeuthis/a._dux%24narrative.html): > [@](#): > > The Architeuthidae are the largest known cephalopods, the largest known mollusks and probably the largest invertebrates ever known to exist in the oceans. Architeuthidae have been recorded as long as 60 feet in total length, most of the specimens that have been found are really in the 35-45 foot range. There are still many which range from about 20 to 30 feet in length. The total length includes the body, the head, the arms, and the two long feeding tentacles. These feeding tentacles are much longer than the rest of the body. The heaviest animals weigh about a ton, but most of the time they are a thousand pounds or less. And for more on weird animals which may or may not exist, here’s a great site for cryptozoology: [http://www.cryptozoology.com/](http://www.cryptozoology.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Beadalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-squid-and-other-weird-creatures/140328/24 "2002-12-04T18:12:55Z")
[Here’s an article](http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/science/06/13/bloop/index.html) about the “bloop” creature, **effac3d**. And if anyone’s curious, [here’s another article](http://www.npr.org/programs/atc/features/2001/dec/squid/011220.squid.html) (plus some extras) about the newest species of (possibly giant) squid mentioned by **bbeaty**. ---
**Author:** ![Slugworth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4bbf92/32.png) [@Slugworth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slugworth)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-squid-and-other-weird-creatures/140328/25 "2002-12-04T20:56:50Z")
Everytime this kind of thread comes up, I have to ask. Did anyone else hear a couple years back about the discovery of a deer/antelope type creature that had primitive gills? I saw a blurb about it, and never really thought to follow it up until later, when I’d forgotten all the details that’d actually help me find info. ---
**Author:** ![ataraxy22](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ataraxy22/32/307_2.png) [@ataraxy22](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ataraxy22)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-squid-and-other-weird-creatures/140328/26 "2002-12-04T21:58:23Z")
A whole new _order_ of insects was discovered this year: [mantophasmatodea](http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/course/ent425/compendium/mantophas.html). First time this has happened in over 85 years. ---
**Author:** ![DreadCthulhu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/db5fbb/32.png) [@DreadCthulhu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DreadCthulhu)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-squid-and-other-weird-creatures/140328/27 "2002-12-04T22:25:08Z")
About the ‘bloop’ “IA! IA! CTHULHU FHTAGN! PH’NGLUI MGLW’NAFH CTHULHU R’LYEH WGAH’NNAGL FHTAGN!” Heh heh heh ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-squid-and-other-weird-creatures/140328/28 "2002-12-04T22:53:19Z")
Hope this isn’t a hijack, but I ended up spending 2 hours reading all about Giant Squid, c/c of this thread, and was fascinated by repeated references to a WWII incident in which a GS pulled a sailor off a lifeboat and presumably ate him. I saw it referenced a dozen times, but never with details re: when and where, what ship, etc. Any clues, or is this just a Sea Story? While I’m at it anybody have a good site with details about the Tibetan Blue Bear? All I learned from looking aroun is that it’s not the Yeti. ---
**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, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-squid-and-other-weird-creatures/140328/29 "2002-12-04T23:15:51Z")
[Bfurt\*\*, this site seems to describe the incident you described about a WWII giant squid attack on men. There aren’t any citations provided. [http://nm.essortment.com/squidgiantlarg\_rehq.htm](http://nm.essortment.com/squidgiantlarg_rehq.htm) On the same giant calamari subject, a lot of effort was put into this recent (NASA/Smithsonian?) exhibition’s web site. Good eye candy, and presumably well researched and trustable: [http://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/squid.html](http://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/squid.html) ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-squid-and-other-weird-creatures/140328/30 "2002-12-04T23:28:22Z")
yes, this is the story: > [@](#): > > During World War 2, a giant squid attacked sailors. Their ship sank, and they drifted in the sea in a small lifeboat, hoping for rescue. In the middle of the night, a huge tentacle came over the side and grabbed a sailor. His friends pulled it off before it dragged him over the side of the lifeboat, but the suckers of the gigantic tentacle put circular wounds on the sailor’s chest. The giant squid stalked them all night long, and sadly, pulled another sailor overboard and ate him. But there are never any details. I’m thinking UL. ---
**Author:** ![slipster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@slipster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slipster)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2002, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-squid-and-other-weird-creatures/140328/31 "2002-12-05T23:26:40Z")
This probably doesn’t count for much, but the way I heard it as a kid, a number of sailors were adrift on a raft for days. One morning they awoke to find that one of their number was missing. The same thing happened the next morning. Eventually there was one sailor left, and he awoke one night to find a huge squid tentacle draped over the raft. It sounds like an urban legend to me, but I’ve always liked it anyway. In several books on scientific anomalies, historical mysteries, etc., I have seen a photo taken by a South American explorer in the 1920s or 30s. It shows what appears to be an otherwise unknown species of ape propped up in a sitting position on a metal container. It looked sort of like a chimpanzee, only taller and sort of scrawny. I’m guessing that the thing was supposed to be between four and five feet in height. Skeptics have offered that it was probably just an unattractive specimin of a well-documented variety of monkey shot so that its tail was out of sight. If so, the explorer lied about its size, although he claimed that its dimensions could be judged by looking at the object on which it was seated. As stated above, I’ve seen the photo in several books. I recall one was published in connection with a British television series, Arthur C. Clarke’s Mysterious World. Just now, though, I can’t find a place on the Net where it can be seen. ---
**Author:** ![Gunslinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gunslinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gunslinger)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2002, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-squid-and-other-weird-creatures/140328/32 "2002-12-05T23:54:03Z")
**Slipster** : That’d be [De Loy’s ape](http://www.n2.net/prey/bigfoot/hominids/drfrancois.htm). Man, that picture freaks me out. Scary monkey. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-squid-and-other-weird-creatures/140328/33 "2002-12-06T19:35:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Gunslinger \* > \*\ ***Slipster** : That’d be [De Loy’s ape](http://www.n2.net/prey/bigfoot/hominids/drfrancois.htm). Man, that picture freaks me out. Scary monkey. \*\* Sure looks like a spider monkey to me. Most notable is the absence of thumbs, which a spider monkey lacks. ---
**Author:** ![Engywook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bc8723/32.png) [@Engywook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Engywook)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-squid-and-other-weird-creatures/140328/34 "2002-12-06T19:49:36Z")
Another deep sea creature that I know of has a whimsical talent for avoiding cameras. This would be the Pacific viperfish (_Chauliodus Sloanii_). You’d recognize him if you saw him… long, long teeth; rather snake-like body. Every now and then they get dragged up in nets… I had a biology professor who claimed to have been bitten by one(!). But I remember reading that every attempt to photograph one in its natural habitat (about a thousand feet below the surface) has failed. ---
**Author:** ![Beadalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-squid-and-other-weird-creatures/140328/35 "2002-12-06T20:13:53Z")
Hey, has anyone heard anything more about the giant bird (eagle?) sighted around Alaska a couple months ago? I saw two news stories about it, and nothing more. From what I remember, it was seen by some witnesses on the ground and one pilot from above. Anyone? Anyone? ---
**Author:** ![Beadalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-squid-and-other-weird-creatures/140328/36 "2002-12-06T20:22:41Z")
Ah, the Pacific Viperfish. [Look at that bad boy](http://www.mbayaq.org/efc/living_species/default.asp?hOri=0&hab=9&inhab=185). ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-squid-and-other-weird-creatures/140328/37 "2002-12-06T21:45:23Z")
[…looking around curiously… …walking away much relieved…] ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-squid-and-other-weird-creatures/140328/38 "2002-12-06T22:07:24Z")
Coelacanths are the coolest animals ever. As anyone who read my livejournal is well-aware. No one has yet been successful in keeping one alive out of the ocean for an extended period of time, and filmmakers were unable to record one swimming until just a few years ago. They really are very mysterious. For more information, read Samantha Weinberg’s excellent _A Fish Caught In Time_. ---
**Author:** ![andymurph64](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e57/32.png) [@andymurph64](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andymurph64)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-squid-and-other-weird-creatures/140328/39 "2002-12-06T22:49:02Z")
I thought ‘they’ (you know - them) were pretty sure that some sort of marsupial ‘tiger’ existed in Australia. Not sure but very plausible even though one hasn’t been verified yet. ---
**Author:** ![Ficer67](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c57346/32.png) [@Ficer67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ficer67)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-squid-and-other-weird-creatures/140328/40 "2002-12-06T22:58:18Z")
What about flying reindeer that have been seen only by santa clause. Their bodies have been found lying around iceland and canada for years, but no-one has ever seen them flying [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-squid-and-other-weird-creatures/140328.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-squid-and-other-weird-creatures/140328.md?page=3)