Think of it. Humans may once again stand in the presence of a magnificent creature that has been extinct for tens of thousands of years. According to some cryptozoologists, however, some modern humans have set eyes on even more incredible animals with a far more ancient lineage – dinosaurs.
Ever since dinosaur fossils have been recognized for what they are (this has been so for only about 150 years), fantasy writers have enjoyed the possibility that humans could meet these incredible monsters face to face. In The Lost World, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle envisioned adventurers finding surviving species of dinosaurs in unexplored areas of jungle. And more recently in Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton detailed how dinosaurs could be recreated through cloning, with strands of their DNA extracted from dino-blood-filled mosquitoes encased in amber.
Crichton’s vision may take a step toward reality when and if the cloning experiment with the mammoth begins. And some say Doyle’s story might not be entirely fantasy. Living dinosaurs, they claim, have recently been seen, heard and possibly even killed in nearly inaccessible parts of the African Congo.
Next page > Tales from the Jungle
