Dolphin Photo
Posted by: Loren Coleman on November 6th, 2006
Here’s the photo of the dolphin that goes with the story previously noted here of the dolphin with "extra legs," actually fins, apparently.
AP
This photo, released by the Taiji Whale Museum, highlights the extra set of fins. The tail is being held by a diver whose hand is visible at upper right.
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
Looks like they were added on to me.
It may look that way, but CNN did a spot on it. THEY’RE REAL ALRIGHT
Its on foxnews dude. I wonder what they blurred out in that spot.
The spot may well be a drop of water on the camera lens
I’m not sure whether the extra fins would be considered vestigial limbs or not, but it’s not unusual for that kind of thing to happen in nature. I raise chickens, and I had two chicks in the past year have an extra claw on the wing like a bat, right above the alula. I have the photos to prove it, although no one on the poultry forum I go to had ever seen it before.
EQB
I have two things to say, first, this web site is called crypto-mundo, NOT SKEPT-AMUNDO. Every time a pic of something is shown here, the first thing people do is RIP IT APART. Oh, looks fake, staged, etc. I’m sure there’s a site somewhere that just loves to do this, go there, you’ll be in good company.
Finally, I get to talk about this. For a long time I’ve heard science say that all marine mammals started on land, then went in to the water. Who’s to say they didn’t start in the water, I mean why can’t they be evolving to come OUT of the water. I just recently have seen some video (and NO it wasn’t faked) that show a group of dolphin (4)working together to rush a beach, in doing this they would push a small school of fish up onto the beach, then as they lay there, they would scoop up the fish. When the fish were gone, they would scoot back into the water. An extra set of pectoral fins would definitely help this hunting/feeding technique.
All of the fossil evidence points to them evolving from a land based animal to an aquatic one. There is nothing whatsoever that points to them evolving to come out of the water. Scientists are not just making this up. This is not just a pet theory, it is well documented fact with hard data to back it up.
Also, I don’t believe the posters on this site to be overly skeptical. A true skeptic, I feel, is someone who outright and flatly denies the existence of any of these cryptids, despite any evidence there might be to the contrary. There are also the true believers who adamantly stick to their belief in a cryptid no matter what evidence there is perhaps against its existence. I feel most posters here fall somewhere in between. I feel the people here are very open minded. This is also not “buy everything you hear hook, line, and sinker-amundo” either. A healthy dose of skepticism is crucial when approaching this topic. Just because the posters here don’t buy into every dodgy photo, story, or piece of hogwash that comes along doesn’t mean they are hard core skeptics. If I see a fake looking photo or here a suspicious story full of holes and question its veracity, does that make me a skeptic? I don’t believe it does. If I see something, a photo,say, and find problems with it or inconsistencies, am I ripping it apart? No. I think the posters here are intelligent, open minded, and don’t like to made fools of. They are questioning what they see, not blindly believing everything that comes along and that is a good thing. That is why I consider this to be one of the best cryptozoology sites. Oh, and for the record, this is a real photo.
It’s interesting to wonder if this is a useful mutation. Are the disadvantages of this extra set of fins (more flesh to feed, more drag) offset by possible advantages like incrased maneuverability? Presumably not, since marine mammals in general have evolved in the other direction, but it’s interesting that sharks and icthyosaurs like having those extra fins.