Hello, and welcome to my blog. Let me tell you a bit about me. I’m Emma, I live in Scotland and I am starting my new journey in writing, proofreading and editing. I’m here to showcase my work, connect with like-minded people and establish myself as a freelancer.
You can find my profile, my CV and what I offer in the menu above. I’m always happy to hear from anyone who is interested in working with me. I have enjoyed writing and reading all my life.
I do also run an online craft shop and website where I sell handmade items, patterns and provide free tutorials on my crafting blog. If you’re interested you can find the site here, and the blog here.
About My Background
So, a little bit about my background. I had always wanted to be a vet, since I learned what a vet was and what they did. I’ve always loved animals and found them interesting. I worked hard to achieve this goal and succeeded, graduating as a qualified vet from the University of Glasgow in 2009. I began working in Yorkshire, before returning to Scotland to work.
Unfortunately, life had other plans for me. I developed some health problems which made working as a vet increasingly difficult for me. It is quite a physically demanding job, even if you’re not dealing with cattle and horses! I had known for a while that I would have to consider alternative career options. So I looked to another of my favourite things: reading and writing.
Reading and Writing
I was an avid reader as a child, I think I have read every single book Roald Dahl ever wrote. I had a huge collection of classic children’s novels and read a lot of them. As I got older, I even started reading some of my dad’s horror books. I got into fantasy as an adult, reading the Game of Thrones series, and various others. The ‘His Dark Materials’ trilogy by Phillip Pullman is my favourite of all time.
I also got into writing as an adult, during my time at university. I always knew I wanted to write a book. At least one, anyway. I got into video games and particularly enjoy fantasy RPG games. Dragon Age will always be a favourite, and what I enjoyed most about it was the characters, the lore, exploring and learning about this strange world. So, I found another fandom to write in. This has led me to having a handful of original characters who have shown up in various guises over the years. A couple of them are now featured in my current work in progress, having refined them into their own entities.
What to expect from this blog?
On this blog I will be writing about my own work, sharing some snippets and perhaps even some short scenes as I continue to explore and develop my characters and the world they are living in. I will also be talking about the technical side of writing, how proofreading and editing works and how to improve your own writing. So there will be something for everyone!
I’ll leave it here for now, but keep an eye out for updates over the coming weeks. You can also find me on various social media platforms where I will be posting shorter pieces of content and chatting about things I’m doing. Links are below.
The cat-sìth (pronounced ‘cat-shee’) comes from Celtic mythology. It is the legendary spectral cat that haunts the Scottish Highlands. The cat-sìth resembles a large black cat with a white spot on its chest. When no-one is watching, it is capable of walking on its hindlimbs.
It is most common in Scottish folklore but it does feature in Irish folklore as well. They are attributed to the fairies. However, some stories speak of it as a witch that could transform into a cat nine times. This might be the source of the ‘cats have nine lives’ that most people have heard. After the ninth transformation, the witch would remain a cat for the rest of her days.
They might have been inspired directly by the Scottish Wildcat Felis silvestris. Wildcats are very similar to domestic cats but tend to be larger with bigger heads and thicker tails. They are typically brown tabby in appearance. However, melanistic specimens exist, like black jaguars.
There is also a hybrid species known as the Kellas cat. They are hybrids between wildcats and domestic cats Felis catus. Cross breeding with domestic cats is one of the reasons that wildcats have become endangered as bloodlines get diluted. There is a population of hybrids and they are larger than domestic cats. One was snared in 1984 and was found to be a hybrid. But tales of a cryptid large black cat still persist in the UK.
Common belief around these creatures was that they would steal the souls of the recently deceased before they crossed over. They did this by walking over the person’s body. It was traditional for bodies to be kept in the home or a barn so people could pay their respects, until morgues were available.
To prevent the person’s soul being stolen, people would hold a vigil, the Late Wake. They would attempt to distract the cat-sith with music, dancing, games or even catnip. They would avoid a fire nearby as the heat would attract the cat-sith. Makes sense, cats will always be cats.
Samhain is a festival on the 1st of November to mark the end of harvest and the beginning of autumn. Celebrations begin on the 31st of October and it was believed that the boundary between this world and the other world blurred so contact with the fairies was more likely.
A common custom at this time was to leave a saucer of milk out for the cat-sìth and you would get good luck for the year. If you didn’t do this, the cat-sìth would dry up the milk of your cows. As with many of these myths, they can be good or bad, depending on how you deal with them. So be careful.
Once I completed my scene by scene breakdown, including a timeline for all the important events prior to and during the story, it was time to start working on the manuscript again. I chose to rewrite it from scratch, using the previous draft as a reference.
I had a few reasons for this. The first being that if I just changed every sentence with tracked changes on, it would end up a confusing red mess and my brain just wouldn’t cope with that. I wanted to work on a fresh canvas, so I wasn’t painting over the previous brushstrokes.
Some authors like to write whatever scene comes to mind and can write a story out of order. I am not one of those authors, it breaks my brain too much and I get myself confused. I prefer writing in chronological order. Of course, having a timeline mapped out helps with that.
Did I rewrite every word? More or less, but there were sections I liked enough to copy them and edit. Snappy bits of dialogue and descriptions I liked. I think it helped, taking a break after finishing the first draft before starting this process. It keeps things fresh and it’s easier to evaluate what I wrote before.
The other reason is that it’s easier for me to track my progress. Seeing the wordcount climb with each new scene written helped keep me on track. As well as keeping up with my numbers for ZAPWHAMPOW! Much of this work took place during the challenge cycle of my writing group.
What I’ve Learned About My Writing
I have learned that I tend to underwrite more than overwrite. This surprised me as just like Shaine, I tend to overexplain things in person. I suspect it is partly because I learned to be concise in my writing. Written assignments at school and university generally had upper word counts, and as a vet, getting enough time to write notes was a challenge so I had to be concise and precise.
Fiction is a different thing. Sure, there are accepted word count limits for books, and the bigger the book the more expensive printing costs are. But I have more wiggle room and I can take the time to stop and smell the flowers. So in this draft I put more effort into ensuring there was enough description and detail.
These details do matter. Setting the scene helps set the mood, foreshadow what’s going to happen, indicate how characters are feeling and simply transporting the reader into the world I’ve created. You’re seeing my world through the eyes of three very different people, with a common goal.
Of course, this is only draft two and there’s a long way to go, but I wanted to fill in some of the gaps I noticed in my first readthrough. Along with ensuring the events of the story make sense and sit where they are supposed to be.
As you’ll see next week, draft three involved some major changes. Such as adding that third point of view character. Aidan wasn’t content with being a major character, he is the one who experienced an immediate emotional wound during the plot. So I realised I needed more from his perspective and he needed further development.
Integument is a word that many people don’t know. It comes from Latin for integumentum – a covering. So the integumentary system of an animal is skin and related structures like hair, feathers, horns or claws.
It’s an organ system, believe it or not, and it has many roles. It acts as a physical barrier to protect your insides from the outside. It helps regulate water, temperature, excretion of waste and senses of pain, pressure, touch and temperature.
There are specialised structures in different species. Hair, feathers, horns, claws and shells are all part of the same system and the one thing that they have in common is a protein called keratin. I bet you’ve heard of that one.
Keratin is a strong fibrous protein that creates filaments. It doesn’t easily dissolve in water or organic solvents, otherwise bathing would be impossible. The toughest layers of skin and nails is created through cornification – where keratin is produced and the cells are filled with it, losing their nuclei and organelles.
Keratin is combined with collagen and elastin to give it strength and flexibility. It’s amazing stuff, really. Birds and reptiles have even tougher skin layers made up of keratin called beta-keratins, that make up their feathers, beaks, claws and scales.
Even things like the horn of a rhinoceros are made of keratin. So it can serve purposes like defence and the ability to climb, run, swim and fly. So let’s see what the outside does and why it matters.
Fur/Hair
Almost all mammals grow hair or fur. It can be waterproof and the pigmentation provides camouflage but its main role is temperature regulation. There are different types of hair with different purposes.
Most fur coats have two kinds, guard hairs that are good at keeping water reaching the skin and the undercoat that acts like an insulating blanket. See huskies and wolves.
Wool is a thick, soft coat that often curls like sheep. Spines are a very stiff guard hair type that is used for protection like we see in porcupines and hedgehogs. They are very sharp.
Specialist Hairs
My cat Echo showing her whiskers.
One of the most interesting hair types is vibrissae. Most people know these as whiskers like what Miss Echo has on her face, eyebrows and behind her wrists. These are sensory hairs that give information about the environment and help in navigating through small spaces or darkness. Each whisker is connected to a nerve ending, which is why we don’t generally like cutting the whiskers.
Hair grows in a cycle and often it reaches a certain length then falls out. A certain amount of hair falling out is normal for most species and the hairs are usually replaced. This cycle is managed hormonally by the thyroid hormones and sex hormones especially. For some animals there is a seasonal component where the coat changes, like many arctic animals change from grey or brown to white in the winter.
Not all mammals have hair, or much hair. Naked mole-rats are weird little guys and they are naked, hence the name. They do have whiskers though. Elephants and rhinos are also hairless. Some mammals are born hairless and it grows in as they develop, while others are born haired. Humans of course typically have hair on their heads and a fine downy hair on the rest of the body. At puberty, hair grows in new places like the underarms and pubic region, as secondary sexual characteristics and this is driven by increased levels of the sex hormones.
Nails and Claws
Nails and claws are specialised keratin structures at the end of toes and fingers. True claws and nails grow from the very last bone in the digit. Claws are curved and hooked, while nails are flat like in humans.
Many predatory animals have retractable claws, particularly cats. This means they can hide the claws inside their paws and extend them for use. Their claws are used for traction and to help hold onto prey.
Nails that are big enough to bear weight on are hooves. Ungulates like horses, cows, sheep etc have these. They are still made of keratin but can be very tough. They keep growing and need regular trimming in domesticated ungulates.
Most reptiles have claws on their feet and they can be very sharp and strong. Snakes generally do not, as they lack limbs, but some of the ‘older’ boids in evolutionary terms possess single claws on either side of the vent scale as remnants of their lost limbs. Because snakes evolved to have limbs then evolved to lose them. Boa constrictors are a great example and they have these ‘spurs’ as well as little bits of vestigial pelvis bones.
Birds also have claws and use them for grip. In birds of prey, they are called talons and are their primary method of hunting. They need to use the talons to catch their prey. If you have to handle a bird of prey safely, you need to get control of the feet as they will do much more damage with their talons than with their beaks.
Scales
Reptilian skin is a bit more complicated. They are covered in scales or scutes with different shapes and sizes. Their skin is a lot tougher than mammalian skin and the patterns and shapes vary significantly by species.
Lizard scales might have modifications like spikes or ridges on them for defense. A single species can have different kinds of scales on different parts of their body. Like iguanas.
Turtwig – my Hermanns tortoise.
Snakes are entirely covered in scales and they use them for movement as well. They lack eyelids and the eyes are covered with a transparent scale called a ‘spectacle’ which goes cloudy when they shed. Reptiles periodically shed their skin. Snakes do it in one piece, while lizards tend to flake off in bits.
Chelonians like tortoises and turtles have scutes, thicker pieces of armor plating. Crocodilians also have these and you can see similar things on bird’s feet. These plates really do act like armour, but it is important to note that tortoises can feel you touching their shell, it’s not dead tissue and it’s not detachable.
To Be continued
Next week we’ll continue in this topic by looking at more specialised features including feathers, horns and antlers and how they function. After that, we’ll be looking at skin wound and healing.
For this Mythology Monday, we’re going to talk about Kelpies. They are a mythical water spirit found in lochs in Scotland. They are shape shifters that look like horses but can become human. Kelpies are the dangerous kind of mythological creature, so be careful.
Etymology and Origin
The origin of the word is unclear but it could be from the Gaelic word ‘calpa’ or ‘cailpeach’ which means heifer or colt – words used to describe livestock. A heifer is a young cow, usually up until after she has her first calving. A colt is a young male horse aged 2-4 years.
The first recorded use for a mythological creature appears in an ode by William Collins before 1759, where it was spelled ‘kaelpie’.
Kelpie stories are associated with the majority of significant bodies of water in Scotland, especially Loch ness. The stories are, like many folklore and myths, warning children to stay away from dangers water and warning young women to be wary of handsome strangers.
What are Kelpies Like?
The common description of a kelpie is a stunning black horse. They inhabit the deep pools of rivers and streams, preying on any humans it encounters. Their hooves are reversed compared to normal horses, similar to the nykur of Iceland.
Local variations exist. In Aberdeenshire, kelpies are portrayed as having a mane of serpents, a bit like Medusa. The resident kelpie in the River Spey is white and entices victims onto its back by singing. A bit like siren song.
A similar creature known as each-uisge – literally ‘water horse’ is believed to be the creatures that live in lochs while kelpies live in rivers. The each-uisge is far more vicious.
Tales of the Kelpies
Most of the stories around kelpies involve them taking their victims into the water, eating them and leaving the entrails at the water’s edge. As an equine, a kelpie can extend its back to carry many riders down to the depths.
A common theme in the stories involves several children climbing onto the kelpies back, with one child remaining on the shore. The child pets the horse and his hand sticks to it. Some stories involve him cutting off his hand to get free and survive while the other children are taken and drowned. Several versions of these tales exist, in Glen Keltney in Perthshire, Thurso in Caithness and Sunart in the Highlands.
Kelpies could mate with horses and the offspring were impossible to drown and had shorter than normal ears.
Kelpies can shapeshift and appear to be human. They could be identified by having water weeds in their hair. Many tales describe a kelpie appearing as an old man and potentially attacking people in that form.
Barra’s Kelpie Story
There is a tale from Barra, an island in the Outer Hebrides, where a kelpie becomes a handsome young man to woo a young woman. She recognises him as a kelpie and removes his silver necklace (acts as a bridle) while he sleeps so he reverts to his equine form. She puts him to work on her father’s farm for a year.
The tale does have a happy ending. She rides the kelpie to a wise man for advice. He tells her to return the silver necklace and decides he wants to be a mortal man while she agrees she would be his wife if he was a man. They get married, and presumably live happily ever after. Cute.
In most stories about kelpies, they are male but there are a few tales featuring female ones. When Christianity came along in the 6th century, kelpies were associated with Satan due to their hooves, similar to the Greek god Pan.
Robert Burns refers to this in ‘Address to the Devil’ from 1786:
“When thowes dissolve the snawy hoord An’ float the jinglin icy boord Then, water-kelpies haunt the foord By your direction An’ nighted trav’llers are allur’d To their destruction.”
It was believed that when a kelpie appeared as a horse with no tack, a halter stamped with the sign of a cross could capture it. The kelpie could then be put to work.
The Laird of Morphie
A story exists about the Laird(Lord) of Morhpie using a kelpie to carry stones to build his castle. He released the creature once the job was done and it cursed him in revenge.
“Sair back and sair banes/ Drivin’ the Laird o’ Morphies’s stanes,/ The Laird o’ Morphie’ll never thrive/ As lang’s the kelpy is alive”
Meaning that as punishment for the pain the kelpie endured, the Lord of Morphie wouldn’t survive. This is believed to have resulted in the extinction of his family.
Capturing and Killing a Kelpie
Kelpies might appear with full tack, a bridle and saddle, but if someone mounted them they would run off and drown the person. It was believed you could exorcise a kelpie by removing its bridle. The bridle could have magical properties and transform someone into a horse or pony.
Like many other mythological creatures, certain metals can harm them. They can be killed with a silver bullet, like a werewolf. There’s also a story of a blacksmith killing a kelpie that was scaring his family by stabbing it with two heated iron spears.
Some people believed the Loch Ness monster to be a kelpie and tales of monsters associated with Loch Ness and the River Ness have been around since the 6th century. See my previous article on the beloved Nessie for more details.
The equine aspect of this myth could have roots in horse sacrifices from ancient Scandinavia, according to Derek Gath Whitley.
Many stories of dangerous water spirits exist to keep children away from dangerous water. Many of Scotland’s lochs are dangerous to swim in with hidden currents and drop offs. Shape-shifters posing as handsome men were used to warn young women to be wary. Often these kinds of stories are used as moral lessons, so the creatures only harmed you if you did something wrong.
If you visit Falkirk, you can see the Kelpies at The Helix park. Andy Scott designed the sculptures and the project was completed in October 2013. You can see them from the M9 motorway and they form a gateway of the Forth and Clyde Canal, which meets the River Carron. The Kelpies are 30m tall and at night they are lit up, making for a stunning view.
The project represents the horses that worked in Scottish industry and economy. The Falkirk area has a long history of mining and foundries. It has quite a fascinating history in general. I used to work in Falkirk and I recently visited Callendar House with a friend and learned a lot about it. If you are in the area, I highly recommend visiting the Kelpies for yourself.
Steven Straiton, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
Welcome back to Fixing Friday. This week is ‘Scene by Scene’ where I go through my notes after reading the first draft and plot out the scenes and what needs changing. At this stage, I’m focusing on the ‘big picture’ stuff. The overall story structure and if everything was in the right place. It did feel like it was missing something.
A New Outline
Before I touched the manuscript again, I worked through a revised outline. I’m what is known as a ‘plantser.’ This means I usually start a writing project with a vague idea and just plough ahead and write, discovering the story as I go. Although I don’t always complete a draft this way. I then go on to create an outline from what I have, to figure out how to get to the ending.
I use the Three Act structure for this story, which is one of the most common story structures, although there are plenty of options. So I took my notes from my first read through and used the plotting tool on Lore Forge to fit all the story events into this structure.
It’s important to have a combination of action and reaction moments. Not every scene has to be high drama and excitement, there has to be space for characters to take a breath and react to their situation. It also gives your readers a moment before moving onto the next thing.
Creating The Outline
So what do I include in this? A few things. I’m learning as I go on this, so my process has improved since this early stage. But here’s the details I included in my revised outline, scene by scene. I created an entire date system for my world and part of the outline included a timeline with dates for each scene.
What happens in the scene? This is probably an obvious one but it is essential.
When it happens in the story. I add the date.
What the scene’s purpose is. Is it character development, discovering new information, a significant event in the plot? There is one chapter where one of the characters makes an important discovery that will lead them to what they need, but it won’t pay off for a long time.
Off the back of the last point, noting if something is significant for a character. Like one of them being forced to confront something from their past, or how they feel about a decision they made.
Scenes should always do more than one thing and worldbuilding is a part of that. I do my best to avoid info-dumping too much, so I try to sprinkle world details throughout and show them through events in the story.
Sub-plots and secondary storylines and how each scene interacts with them.
It’s a lot of detail, but the first draft is only the skeleton. This is where we dig into the meat of the story and flesh it out. I know that’s a bit of a creepy metaphor but it’s accurate.
Next Steps
I examine the outline for consistency and decide if it’s in the right order. Are events following on from each other in a logical way, while escalating the tension? Are there scenes that are not pulling their weight? In which case they either need to be improved or removed.
Cutting scenes is difficult. You wrote them for a reason, but sometimes they are just not doing enough to be there. I hate deleting things permanently, even if I’m ‘killing my darlings’ so I keep old versions of the documents just in case. It needs to happen, though.
After that, I felt ready to start writing the next draft. I chose to rewrite from scratch, using the first draft as a reference. I did occasionally copy over some bits from the original draft but most of it was rewritten. It still felt like it was missing something and I realised that one of the major characters was too involved to not be a main character. That meant I needed to upgrade him and give him his own story arc. I’ll get into more details on that next week.
Outlines are great to have but it’s important to remember that they are not etched in stone. If your outline is not fitting where the draft is going, then it can easily be changed. It’s all a part of the process.
Next week, we’ll be going into how I wrote draft two, upgraded a character to a main character and fleshed out his backstory. So I hope you’ll join me for that.
Camouflage is a big deal in the natural world. It’s employed by both predators and prey species for a variety of reasons. They employ many techniques to mask their presence to hide from other animals. So if you’ve ever wondered why zebras have stripes or how a chameleon can change colour, you’re in the right place. Let’s get into it!
Some Definitions
Crypsis: the ability of an organism to avoid observation or detection.
Disruptive colouration: a form of camouflage that works by breaking up the outlines with a strongly contrasting pattern. Military camouflage uses this.
Countershading: where the colouration is darker on top and lighter on the underside, which counters the effect of light coming from above on a 3D object, making it harder to detect.
Counterillumination: a related mechanism that uses illumination to match the brightness of a background, often employed by marine organisms like squid that have bioluminescence.
Mimicry: some animals have evolved to look like other things in order to hide from prey or predators, especially common in insects.
Background matching is what it sounds like, animals that have colouration and patterns that match the background of their natural environment. So animals that live in the desert are coloured in sand, buff, ochre and brownish grey colours. Lions, gerbils, fennec foxes and desert reptiles like skinks or horned vipers are great examples.
Disruptive Colouration
This method uses strongly contrasting, non-repeating markings to break up the outline of the animal to help it blend in. This is the same principle behind military camouflage, which uses irregular patches of contrasting colours to hide their presence, matched to the environment they are in.
Leopards use it to hide from prey while many prey species use it to hide from predators. So let’s play a little game, shall we? The image below is a ptarmigan and its chicks that are hiding in plain sight. Can you count how many chicks are in this photograph? (I’ll put the answer at the end!)
They’re very well hidden, aren’t they? It is incredibly effective. These features evolve due to natural selection. Animals that can evade predators better as babies will have a better chance to survive and pass on those traits to their own offspring.
This image demonstrates how countershading works. It’s a method that reduces the animal’s shadow and makes it look flatter. The light hitting a darker part will create the flat colour and we see this in gazelles, sharkes and dolphins among others. This is known as Thayer’s Law and he created the next image.
Thayer painted two model birds. The one the left is painted in the same colours as the background. The one on the right is there, I promise. You can make out an impression of the circular wire base to the right of the visible model, if you look closely. This model bird is counter shaded and makes it almost entirely invisible.
Abbot Thayer, Public domain, via Wikimedia CommonsA horned lizard flattening itself – Public Domain
Animals use other measures to eliminate their shadows. Horned lizards can flatten their bodies and their sides thin to an edge to blend in and avoid creating shadows at all. The horned lizards are found in North America. Bearded dragons also have this capability and they come from Australia. It’s obviously an effective technique for two species that have evolved so far apart.
Crypsis
This is a catch-all term for organisms that have methods of avoiding detection from other animals, such as camouflage, nocturnal living, underground living and mimicry. Concealment involves visual, olfactory or auditory concealment, or a combination of them.
A pair of Sponge Decorator Crabs (Hyastenus elatus) grappling. Pipeline, Port Stephens, NSW Richard Ling, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Decorator crabs collect items from the local area and add them to their carapace (shell) in order to blend in.
Olfactory concealment involves hiding scents to avoid detection by prey or predators, or even trick other species. The large blue butterfly caterpillar can mimic ants to trick them into feeding the caterpillar. Puff adders make use of this type of crypsis as well.
The reason most mammals lick their new-borns clean and eat the placenta is to mask the scenes. The idea is to make it less obvious that there are new-born animals around. So if anyone tells you that they eat the placenta for nutrients, that’s not quite correct. It has nutrients in it, of course, but it’s not essential. Humans have no natural predators so you do not have to eat your own baby’s placenta, unless you really want to.
Can you see the mantis in this image? It is on top of the flowers closes to the camera. Stick insects, flower mantises like the orchid mantis, and even cuckoos employ mimicry.
Cuckoos lay their eggs in the nests of other, smaller bird species. The egg looks similar so it won’t be rejected by the nest owner. Then the chick hatches and kicks out the other babies from the nest, so only it survives and is fed by the parent. Cuckoos are the real deadbeats of nature.
Motion Dazzle
Most of the camouflage methods we’ve discussed are broken by movement. Bold, contrasting markings help them hide by making it difficult to estimate their speed and direction when they move. The stripy horses, zebras, use this. They are striking to see as an individual but with an entire herd huddled together, it’s incredibly difficult to pick out one prison pony from the crowd. You have to really focus your eyes, even when they are moving. Nature invented optical illusions first.
Colour Changing
Panther Chameleon – Sapporo Maruyama Zoo (Public Domain)
Some animals can change colour. They have specialised chromatophore cells in their skin that can alter the wavelength of light they absorb, which creates the change in colour. This might be used to blend in to the environment, a trick octopuses use a lot.
However, it can also be a form of signalling and communication. Meet nature’s mood ring: the chameleon. They usually change colour to show their mood. The change is very quick, before your eyes.
There are some mammals that change colour but it’s far slower and generally seasonal. Arctic animals are brown or grey in the summer but they turn white in winter, via a seasonal moult that responds to changing temperatures and daylengths. Arctic foxes, arctic hares and stoats are great examples.
Hiding
Many animals burrow or hide their nests in remote spots. Maybe even using objects around them to disguise it’s presence. They might be more active at night when it’s easier to hide. Or they can disguise themselves underwater to ambush prey like alligators and crocodiles do. That’s why they don’t tend to chase you, they lunge at prey as it stops next to the water. If they miss, they give up quickly and wait for the next possible lunch to come along.
Just to give ostriches some credit here. The whole ‘burying their head in the sand’ thing is not an indication that they’re so stupid they think they’re invisible when they do this. Yes, their brains are smaller than their eyeballs but they’re not that stupid. They dig in the sand to build their nests for their gigantic eggs.
Ostriches don’t need to hide. They can run up to 45mph/72kmph. Even better, they can sustain 30mph/48kmph for a long time. They are faster than lions and they are faster than Usain Bolt. Why hide when you can run faster than basically anything else? Except maybe cheetahs. So let’s stop laughing at ostriches because they don’t deserve it.
Aposematism – The Opposite of Camouflage
Now for something completely different. Aposematism is the opposite of camouflage. There are some creatures that want you to see them. They want you to know they are there. And they want you to leave them the heck alone!
Aposematism is defined by bold, bright colouration to serve as a warning. It means ‘I am dangerous. Go away. Get lost. I will destroy you.’ It is a warning you absolutely need to take seriously. In most cases.
The danger could be a number of things. They might be poisonous – you die if you eat them. They might be venomous – you die if they bite or sting you. Or they might taste bad. Or they might just be very aggressive and want to give you a fair warning in rainbow hues. It’s nature’s way of saying FAFO. You shouldn’t want to find out.
See wasps, poison dart frogs and nature’s own most fearless animal. The honey badger. Yes, really, this large mustelid will destroy you with prejudice. It is found across Africa, Southwest Asia and the Indian subcontinent. They are so feared that the people of Somalia believe one bite will make a man infertile! I’m sure the honey badger wants to make sure you know this is true, as well.
The colours involved are often yellow, red and black in high contrast patterns but there’s a whole rainbow of danger out there. Here’s one of my favourite examples, the blue-ringed octopus. One of the deadliest sea creatures out there. He’s just a little guy but do not touch! No matter how small and cute it is. Blue means death. Like an old PC.
I know the name’s not the most creative but it’s accurate and that makes it easily identifiable. Blue rings on an octopus means potential death. If in doubt, no matter how small, cute or colourful, just leave them be. Or call in an expert if there’s immediate danger.
Another example is the milk snake and the coral snake. These snake species can resemble each other very closely. One is venomous and the other isn’t. Coral snake venom is rarely deadly to humans but it’s still useful to learn the difference if you live where they live.
This is the milk snake. The yellow bands are surrounded by black bands, with the red ones in between them.
The next image is of a coral snake, and this is the venomous version. It also has red, yellow and black bands but the pattern is different. However, I would always advise caution if you cannot confidently identify a snake species and leave them alone. Snakes rarely attack unprovoked.
A Coral Snake – Public Domain
Copying the Aposematism
Some species have caught on to the aposematism and use it to their advantage. They mimic similar species that have aposematism to share in the ‘back off’ message even though they are actually harmless. The hoverfly mimics wasps to deceive potential predators and be left alone. This is what’s known as Batesian mimicry.
There is also Müllerian (note the u should have an umlaut) mimicry where harmful species have evolved to resemble each other. Many bee and wasp species do this and it is honest because both of them can sting. The yellow and black striping is common to many bee and wasp species. Batesian mimicry is deceptive, in contrast.
Evolution of Camouflage
It’s all pretty amazing stuff. Animals evolve in response to environmental pressures, in order to keep surviving. Many of these traits came about as random chance, mutations that were beneficial to survival. That allowed them to be genetically passed down and eventually shaped the species’ appearance or behaviour. Remember that evolution is a very slow process. It takes many, many generations to happen.
It’s faster in simpler organisms like bacteria, because their reproductive generation takes hours. They’re single cells, mitosis is fast. Bacterial growth is exponential, their numbers double at regular intervals, depending on the kind of bacteria but it’s a matter of minutes. If you get a swab done for bacteria, entire colonies can grow within 24 hours on a petri dish. A colony is millions of bacteria.
Larger organisms produce a new generation more slowly. In humans it’s around twenty years, give or take. So my grandmother is part of the Silent Generation (1928-1945ish), my parents are Boomers (1946-1964ish) and I’m an elder Millennial (1981-1996). That’s not a lot of generations for evolution to occur. It’s about 70 years for three generations to exist. But what will humanity look like in 10,000 years? Will we still have appendices (probably because it turns out they do have a function)? What about in 500,000 years? A million? We’ll not be around to see it, but maybe we can leave our mark on the world for future generations to learn from.
Answer to the Ptarmigan Chick Question
I didn’t forget, don’t worry. There are five chicks hidden in plain sight. Let me show you where they are. I have placed blue circles around the adult ptarmigan and the five chicks so you can see where they are. How many did you find?
Harbor seal on an ice floe: Public Domain from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
I’m continuing my coverage of Scottish Mythology with the Selkies. Selkies are shapeshifters, an entire subgroup of mythological creatures that can change form. Often they have a human or human-like form and can change into something else. The change may be voluntary but it may not be, as is sometimes the case with werewolves.
The name comes from the Scots word for seal. It can be written as ‘silkies,’ ‘sylkies,’ or ‘selchies.’ The Scots language doesn’t have standardised spelling for most words. They are the seal folk and they are associated with the northern isles of Scotland: Shetland and Orkney. They also feature in many Celtic and Norse myths and stories are also told of them in Iceland and Ireland.
What Are Selkies?
Selkies are sometimes conflated with the finfolk and merfolk. In the Gaelic languages they are named as mermaids, most of the time.
Like many mythological creatures, especially in Scotland, they have a duality to their nature. They can be friendly and helpful to humans, but they are also capable of being dangerous or vengeful.
Selkies live as seals in the sea and shed or remove their skin to become human on land. They are depicted as beautiful and seductive in human form. Many stories involve them having romantic or sexual relationships with humans.
Many stories involve coercion or trickery, into marrying a human. Usually the human steals and hides their seal skin so they can’t return to the sea. This leaves them trapped in an unhappy marriage, unless they can find their skin and escape. Here’s an example from Orkney.
Male selkies exist and are handsome and seductive to human women. They tend to look for women who are unhappy with their lives, such as those married to fisherman who are at sea for long periods of time.
Superstitions About Selkies
Unsurprisingly, folk stories like this create superstitions. For example, there is a common belief that killing a seal would result in misfortune. This is why people living on the isles would only kill seals during hard times, if they had no other option.
One tale involves crofters grazing their sheep. It is common on the islands for crofters to have communal grazing for their livestock instead of fenced off fields. One man put seven sheep on the largest holm and killed a seal on his way home.
That night, all of his sheep disappeared, while the other crofter’s animals were safe and unharmed. It suggests that the selkies took the sheep as revenge.
Similar stories of seal shapeshifters are found across the world. A similar creature exists in Swedish legend and the Chinook people of North America have a similar tale of a boy who turns into a seal. Iceland also has a lot of selkie-type stories. If the story includes any offspring of a selkie and a human, the child is born with physical characteristics like webbed fingers.
Origins of Selkie Myths
The likely origin of these myths came from the early days of settlements when health conditions and congenital abnormalities were blamed on fairies or changelings. Before people had scientific explanations for these things, they would be attributed to deities or the supernatural.
The tales of seals removing their skins likely originated with early settlers in Scotland encountering Finnish and Sami women who wore sealskin clothing. They removed it and let it dry, when it got waterlogged. There is also lore that suggests selkies are supernaturally formed from the souls of drowned people.
Selkies have made frequent appearances in films and books. They have seen a resurgence in popularity in the last few years with novels and films featuring them. I love that, as long as the origins of the myths are preserved and respected.
We all know that the first draft just needs to exist while the second draft is to make it all make sense. That’s what the goal was for this. I have a draft zero for this project where I realised the structure was too much for a single stand-alone book, causing me to rush through to the ending. So I had something to base draft one on, after splitting it up and expanding the story.
The entire thing grew from a random scene I wrote several years ago when I was struggling with insomnia. Which happens a lot. I found it again a while later and started vaguely writing scenes here and there. When my health got too bad and I had to stop working, it occurred to me that it might be a good outlet.
Like many authors these days, I spent a lot of time writing fanfic when I was younger. It helped me cope with university, which was intense and stressful. I enjoyed it a lot and I did mess around with some more original stuff back then. I finally decided to try and make a go of it, so I did. And here we are.
After I finished draft one I took a break from it for a few weeks. I worked on book two and world-building details I knew I was going to need. A lot of experienced authors recommend this and I can see why. When you’ve spent hours and hours working on a draft, it’s all in your mind and that makes it harder to see what isn’t working. Taking a break gives your brain space to return with fresh eyes and see where changes are needed.
The First Readthrough
After I came back to it, I spent some time reading through it and making notes. I do my best thinking and planning with a pen and paper as it makes my brain slow down so I can keep up. I picked it apart piece by piece and figured out what needed changed or rearranged.
I also decided exactly what point in the overall story I wanted to end book one. I did come up with a colour coding system with coloured pens and sticky tabs. That didn’t really help me much so I retired it for the next version.
I was still shaping the story at this point and getting to know the characters. Most of the major events were pretty much set in stone but I felt the opening chapters were very slow. At this point, I was still learning how to use story structuring methods. I wanted to ensure that the plot followed a good structure that made sense and I decided to use the Three Act structure as it made the most sense.
New Software
I discovered a brilliant writing software called LoreForge. (Not sponsored, I just love it) It provides a ton of useful things. It has space for you to put characters, locations, cultures, races/species, discoveries and more. It has guidance and profiles to make sure you cover all the bits you need to cover. It also has a plotting tool where you can choose from several established story structure templates or a custom one.
You can also put in chapter and scene summaries, bookmark pages to access in a side-bar to see while writing and colour coded sub-plots. You can edit metadata for each chapter and scene with POV, characters included and link to notes. This software is so flexible and it is free for offline use or you can pay for the premium version that gives more customisation and cloud storage so you can work from multiple devices.
It has been brilliant for helping me put this story together and I will continue to use it. Books can be exported and the default formatting seems to be pretty good. My later edits are done in Word using tracked changes, one feature that LoreForge doesn’t have. But I highly recommend it for authors, especially if you’re writing fantasy/sci-fi and need to corral a lot of world-building details.
Once I had finished my readthrough and figured out the major changes I needed to make, it was time to plan out the next draft. I’ll get into details on that next week. The thing that helped me the most was taking a break from it. I don’t want to rush and put out an inferior book, especially not with my debut.
Just like Goldilocks and the Three Bears taught us, for life to exist things need to be just right. Temperature regulation in animals is essential. Bodily functions and physiological processes require specific temperatures to work properly. Too hot or too cold, and these functions will fail.
Our planet is at the perfect distance from the sun to have temperatures capable of sustaining life. We have liquid water and an oxygen rich atmosphere which only exists because the temperature is perfect, more or less. There is a temperature gradient where it is hottest around the equator and coldest at the poles. Climate change is also creating a shift in the average temperatures.
Living things function due to a whole range of biochemical reactions which need specific temperatures to be effective and efficient. The specific temperatures needed depend on species and the function in question. For example, many mammals have external testicles because sperm generation is more efficient at temperatures a couple of degrees below the normal body temperature.
Ecosystem Adaptations
The various ecosystems in the world are well adapted to their native environment. Species have evolved all kinds of ways to maintain their optimum temperature. That’s why a polar bear couldn’t survive in the Sahara Desert. Climate change is impacting this, as global temperatures rise. We have many species under threat of extinction, if not extinct already.
For other species, the climate shift might be beneficial. A current example is two different species that live in the Atlantic Ocean. The Atlantic Horseshoe Crab is declining in number as the ocean warms. In contrast, Atlantic Blue Crabs are thriving and their numbers are actually increasing.
So what does this mean? One of my goals with these articles is to help fellow writers understand various factors in the natural world. That way when you are including animals in your writing, whether they are real, mythological or original, they can fit into the right ecological niche. Let’s start with some definitions.
Definitions
Thermoregulation: physiological or behavioural methods for regulating the body temperature.
Endotherm: organisms that can generate their own body heat through their metabolism – colloquially referred to as ‘warm-blooded.’
Ectotherm: organisms that rely on external heat sources to keep their body temperature where it should be and regulate it through behaviours – colloquially ‘cold-blooded.’ It can be used interchangeably with poikilotherm but there are distinctions. Ectotherms generally want to stay at a constant temperature and use the environment to maintain it.
Poikilothermic: this is another term used to describe ectothermic organisms. It comes from the Greek word poikilos which means ‘various’ or ‘spotted.’ There is some crossover with ectotherms but poikilotherms are species that seek to vary their temperature dependent on physiological needs. Most reptiles, amphibians and fish fit this category. Mammals that are poikilothermic include the naked mole-rat and sloths.
Hyperthermia: A physiological state where the body temperature is too high from external means like an abnormally high environmental temperature or failure of the body’s cooling mechanisms. Heat stress or heat stroke are clear examples. Hyperthermia is dangerous as many enzyme reactions fail above a certain temperature and it can result in damage, especially to the brain.
Hypothermia: the opposite, the body is too cold and eventually the normal physiology that attempts to maintain core temperature high enough will fail and this leads to physical damage. It is equally serious and potentially fatal.
Fever/Pyrexia: both words mean the same thing. Fever is different from hyperthermia. The body raises its temperature in response to an infection, which can hinder the infectious agents while boosting the function of the immune system. Fever is unpleasant but it doesn’t always need treatment.
How Endotherms Regulate Their Temperatures
The simplest answer is that endotherms generate heat via their metabolism to maintain their body temperature. It does come with an energy cost, but they are less vulnerable to external temperature changes.
They employ mechanisms that help maintain the right temperature. In cold climates shivering and using up brown adipose tissue (brown fat.) Brown fat can be metabolised much faster than white fat. Many new-born mammals have this fat to keep them warm until they have dried off and had their first feed. For hot climates, things like sweating and panting can help keep the body cool. The circulation system can alter blood flow to lose or retain heat as well.
Endotherms are less vulnerable to external temperature fluctuations such as the day and night cycle. Many deserts get very cold at night, despite being very hot in the daytime.
The downside is having a higher metabolic rate and increased energy demands. This requires more food intake. Endotherms can’t last as long in periods of starvation, in general. Some endotherms will bask in the sun and rest a lot to reduce energy demand. This is why cats enjoy snoozing in sunny spots!
Only birds and mammals are true endotherms but there are some species can become endothermic during their reproductive season. Some endotherms will enter temporary hypothermia, a controlled physiological state that can be part of the normal circadian rhythm.
Hibernation
Hibernation is a longer seasonal cycle, usually to survive over winter when food is less available. It involves lowered metabolic rate, low body temp, slowed breathing and heart rate. Some species will eat a lot of food before winter to store the energy as fat. Smaller animals will use food caching, hiding stores of food nearby. Some of them carry a pregnancy through their hibernation period, such as black bears. They give birth shortly before or after they wake up.
The exact changes differ between species but hibernation is a way of surviving harsh winter weather and prevents a period of starvation. Especially since energy is required to maintain body temperature and if food is less available, it would be difficult to maintain the caloric intake required.
Sloths
Sloths are mammals that behave more like ectotherms. Their body temperature fluctuates according to their environment. This means they are capable of starving to death with a full stomach of food. If the temperature drops too low, they can’t digest their food and it can then rot and produce toxins. This can happen in reptiles too.
Polar animals have specialised structures that help them maintain their temperature in cold conditions. Features like insulating fur, waterproof feathers or blubber under their skin help them stay warm.
Penguins have specialised blood vessels that act as heat exchangers where the veins sit next to the arteries where the blood is warmer, so heat is exchanged to warm the blood returning to the heart.
Hot Climates
Animals that are native to hot climates have peripheral blood vessels that allow them to lose heat – elephants have these in their ears. It’s also why fennec foxes have such large ears compared to their body size. Panting is a common way of losing heat as well, especially in canine species. Some species like humans and horses sweat to lose heat with evaporation. Dogs are at risk of hyperthermia because they don’t really sweat, they only have sweat glands on their paw-pads so panting is their main way of losing heat.
Ectothermic species don’t produce much internal heat from their metabolism and so they rely on the environment to keep their body at the right temperature. Reptiles, amphibians and fish are generally all ectotherms. Most insects are too.
Most deep sea aquatic species are adapted for the temperature of where they live, such as in the abyss level of the ocean. Water temperature is stable and constant so they rarely need to do anything.
Reptiles especially keep warm by basking in the sun to raise their temperature or seeking shade to cool down. They also employ reduced metabolism in the cold to maintain their body and minimise energy usage when food is more scarce. Most reptiles do have body fat stores, usually within the coelomic cavity (abdominal cavity in essence) or sometimes in extremities like the tail. Leopard geckos store a lot of fat in their tails, for example.
Due to this, many ectothermic species are slower at night or early in the morning. They need to warm up before going about their day! They tend to be more active in the daytime although nocturnal species exist. Geckos are usually nocturnal and they wait for food to pass by rather than searching for it as this uses less energy.
Ectotherms can last much longer without food because they are capable of slowing down their metabolism when it is cold. However, if they are unable to find a suitable basking spot and heat, they can starve to death even if food is plentiful. They need to warm themselves to digest and metabolise their food – kind of like the sloths we mentioned earlier. Sadly I have seen this happen in captive reptiles – such as a snake whose basking lamp and heating system broke down after it had been fed and the prey began to rot and made the snake sick. Very sad.
This is the reason that reptiles are not found in the polar areas. Many that live in temperate regions will hibernate or ‘brumate’ over winter. Species that live in the equatorial areas like most of Africa, do not hibernate as there’s no need for it. It never gets cold enough.
Antifreeze
There are naturally occurring anti-freeze proteins. Yes, really. Some species of fish, amphibians and reptiles can freeze in the winter and wake up in the spring. They survive with the help of antifreeze proteins that prevent ice crystals forming in the body. These crystals would damage the organs and kill the animal without these proteins. Just like the radiator of a car!
Some plants also have this capability. Many of the cabbage related vegetables can do this like kale, spinach, brussels sprouts. Hellebores, pansies, cornflowers, poppies and lavender produce antifreeze proteins.
Interestingly the sacred lotus, an aquatic plant that grows in ponds and deltas, or in flood plains. It is the national flower of India and has the ability to regulate the temperature of its flowers just like an endothermic animal. This seems to be a way of attracting insect pollinators by promising a cosy environment, I suppose!
Species have adaptations to suit their native environments and make sure they can survive the conditions they live in. This is why introducing non-native species can be difficult and detrimental to the local ecosystem. Animals that live in colder climates will struggle when it is hot, and vice versa. That’s why huskies love being outside in the snow and ice, while a greyhound will hate it and usually require a coat of some kind to go outside in winter. Just like us, we don’t have much body hair to insulate us, which is one reason we wear clothes.
Hyperthermia
This is defined as overheating, where body temperature is elevated above normal. It is due to a failure in thermoregulation or temperature extremes beyond what the body can cope with. This is not the same as a fever, or pyrexia, which we’ll get to.
Hyperthermia is a medical emergency in both humans and animals as it can result in death and significant damage, particularly brain damage. Heat stroke where the body temperature is elevated from excessive heat exposure that overwhelms the body’s temperature regulation. Severe cases will result in blood pressure drops, confusion, dehydration and even seizures. Organ failure and death will result if not attended to.
Heat stroke is very serious, especially in young or elderly people. Dogs are also very vulnerable to it, especially the brachycephalic (flat faced breeds) like bulldogs. They struggle to pant enough to cool down because of their restricted airways and I have seen dogs die from heat stroke, or suffer permanent damage from it. PSA – do not leave dogs, young children or animals in a hot car in summer. Exertion in hot weather is also a risk for both people and animals so avoid long walks, running about or doing anything strenuous when it is excessively hot.
Hypothermia
The opposite – remember your prefixes. Hyper- means too high, while hypo- means too low. Hypothermia occurs when the body temperature drops too low and the body cannot maintain internal heat generation to sustain it. It can be serious and risks death in some cases too.
Mild cases will show confusion and shivering – this is muscle contractions to try and generate some heat. Once hypothermia progresses the shivering stops. Severe cases can result in hallucinations and a risk of death. People will often show paradoxical undressing in severe hypothermia. This is likely due to the blood flow. In cold temperatures, the peripheral vessels (arms and legs) contract to keep blood pressure and heat in the core of the body. They become exhausted and relax, allowing blood to flow and make the person feel warm, so they start stripping off. Which makes the whole thing worse. Very scary.
Hypothermia can be caused by exposure to cold weather, especially cold water immersion like falling through the ice of a frozen lake. Being wet increases heat loss from the skin. There are other factors that can impact temperature regulation. Low body fat, old age and low blood sugar increase the risk of hypothermia. So does alcohol intoxication – it’s not uncommon in winter for people to present with hypothermia after a night out where they have overindulged. Alcohol can make you feel warmer and thus not notice the cold.
It should be noted that the heart rate drops and respiratory rate also slows down. If you’ve watched Grey’s Anatomy, you will have heard the phrase: “They’re not dead until they’re warm and dead.” That is true, as even if there’s no detectable pulse, with aggressive rewarming and medical care, people can be revived. The same applies to some small animals where they can appear to be dead when cold but recover when warm – hamsters are notorious for this one! So you should always attempt to warm them up in case they can recover.
Fever
Finally, fevers are a different thing altogether. The body has it’s internal regulation system that keeps the temperature at a ‘set point’ in endothermic animals. The hypothalamus is responsible for this. In case of infection and an immune response, this set point is increased to raise the body temperature. Fever is thought to improve effectiveness of white blood cells and hinder the reproduction of pathogens like bacteria.
It’s a common symptom of illnesses, particularly infections. This can range from the common cold, where recovery will happen in a few days, and sepsis which is much more serious and requires intensive intervention. It is important to distinguish a fever from hyperthermia, as hyperthermia is much more life threatening.
Treating a fever may not always be necessary or recommended but there isn’t much evidence that treating the fever with antipyretics like paracetamol improves or affects outcomes in sepsis. Fever is uncomfortable and unpleasant to experience but it is rarely life threatening in itself, even if the cause is serious. Rarely young children can experience ‘febrile seizures’. Fever makes you miserable and can affect cognition. It is not the same as hyperthermia, though, and fevers do seem to be beneficial in aiding the body fighting off pathogens.
Regarding animals, normal temperatures vary by species. So the threshold for a fever is different in dogs to chickens. Normal human body temperature is accepted to be around 37°C or 98.6°F. Fever would be above 38°C or 100.4°F. In dogs the normal temperature is between 38.3°C to 39.2°C or 101°F to 102.5°F. Fever is above 39.4°C or 103°F. In chickens normal temperature is 40.6°C to 41.7°C (105°F to 107°F). Anything above 43°C or 110°F is a fever in this species.
The Loch Ness Monster is probably one of Scotland’s most famous cryptids or mythological creatures. Affectionately known as Nessie, she lives in Loch Ness in the Highlands and many people have claimed to see her. Whether you believe she is real or not, she has captured the hearts of many Scottish folk and visitors alike.
The current name is pretty recent. The Courier published an account in 1933 of George Spicer’s alleged sighting, which brought the story to the public. Letters were sent in with different reports of sightings. All of them described a ‘monster fish,’ a ‘sea serpent’ or a ‘dragon.’ Eventually it became known as the Loch Ness Monster. The ‘Nessie’ nickname came about in the 1940’s.
Most depictions of Nessie resemble a plesiosaur, an extinct order of marine reptiles that lived during the Mesozoic era. They were wiped out in the extinction event that ended the Cretaceous period. They lived across the ocean but there were some species that at least partly lived in freshwater environments like lochs.
Loch Ness
Scotland only has one lake, the Lake of Menteith. All other fresh water ‘lakes’ are called lochs, unsurprisingly derived from the Gaelic word for lake. There are a few famous ones, notably Loch Lomond in the west near Dumbarton. And of course Loch Ness. Loch Ness is the second largest loch and one of the deepest in Scotland. It holds twice as much water as all of the lakes in England and Wales combined, by volume. Loch Lomond is larger by surface area but it’s not as deep.
The deepest point of Loch Ness is 230m, 755ft or 126 fathoms, depending on your preferred unit of measurement. So it’s plenty of room for Nessie to be living her best life. The loch is situated in the Highlands, south of Inverness and it connects to the Moray Firth. Urquhart Castle sits on the northwest bank and Fort William sits on the southern bank. I’m sure the photo above is enough to convince you, but I highly recommend visiting if you get the chance. I have and it is a stunning view, as well as a potential chance for you to spot Nessie for yourself!
Sightings of Nessie
Like any good mythological creature or cryptid, there’s always a long history of reports. Odd events and weird sightings that defy explanation, at least with the technology and knowledge of the time. So let’s go back in time and see what we can learn about the earliest reports of the Loch Ness Monster.
The earliest report of a monster near Loch Ness is found in the Life of St. Columba by Adomnán, written in the 7th century AD about the Irish Monk Saint Columba. St. Columba visited the land of the Picts and encountered locals burying a man by the River Ness. They said the man was killed by a water beast while swimming in the river. Columba confronted the beast with a follower and made the sign of the cross, which stopped the creature. It fled in the face of God.
There’s not much evidence of such an event happening and the story was written a century after it supposedly happened. It could also be connected to later sightings of Nessie just because of the location. The story could also have been based on other tales like the kelpies or Irish myths.
In 1871-73 a D. Mackenzie reported seeing an object ‘wriggling and churning up the water,’ that looked like a log or upturned boat. This reported was not published until 1934 when interest in the monster became more popular. In 1888, Alexander Macdonald saw a large animal surfacing from the loch and propelling itself to the shore. He described it as ‘stubby-legged’ and said it looked like a salamander. Salamanders are a kind of amphibian related to newts, but they don’t tend to get big enough to fit the description of ‘monster.’
1933 Reports
The famous article in 1933 was published in the Inverness Courier about the sighting of a large ‘beast’ or ‘whale-like fish’ in the loch. Aldie Mackay reported seeing this creature rolling in the water while she and her husband drove along the A82. The A82 is a long trunk road that starts in Glasgow, travels west to Loch Lomond before turning north and eventually reaching the Highlands. Which is why it’s usually known as Great Western Road.
The article was written by Alex Campbell, the water bailiff for Loch Ness and a part time journalist. Both Aldie Mackay and Alex Campbell have said that there have been local tales of a monster in the loch for a long time.
Later that year, George Spicer and his wife saw an ‘extraordinary form of animal’ cross the road. They describe a creature with a large body, a long narrow neck, and no limbs. It lurched across the loch. And Spicer states it was the closest he’d seen to a dragon or prehistoric animal in his life. He is the first person to describe it as resembling a plesiosaur but his story appears to be fake. It may have been inspired by a long-necked dinosaur rising out of a lake in King Kong, a movie that was very popular in cinemas at the time.
The First Photograph of Nessie
The first photograph that was supposed to be the Loch Ness Monster was taken in November 1933 and it was slightly blurred. Hugh Gray took it while on a walk with his dog, so it is suspected that the photograph is of his dog fetching a stick from the loch. The original negative was lost. In 1963, Maurice Burton got two lantern slides that were made from the original negative and they showed an otter rolling at the surface of the lake.
In January 1934, a vet student named Arthur Grant claimed to have almost hit the creature with his motorcycle at 1am. He described it as a cross between a seal and a plesiosaur. Grant sketched what he saw and showed it to Maurice Burton, a zoologist. He stated it was consistent with an otter.
A Rational Explanation
Many of the photographs and films of Nessie can be explained as sightings of otters, seals, waterfowl or boats. the most famous photograph is the ‘surgeon’s photograph,’ which I included at the beginning of the article. It was printed in the Daily Mail on the 21st of April, 1934. It is often cropped before sharing, which makes it harder to compare the scale of the ‘monster’ compared to the surroundings.
By the 1990s, it is pretty much accepted that the photograph is a hoax. People got caught up in the excitement of the myth and wanted to get in on the attention. A bit like posting conspiracy theories on social media these days. Selling an exclusive story or photograph to a newspaper can be quite lucrative.
Many people have searched for Nessie over the years. Edward Mountain financed an expedition in 1934 but the only film they got showed a seal. The film has been lost.
Sonar readings have been used but have been inconclusive. One was reported in 1954 with a large object keeping pace with the boat but nothing else has been substantiated. Even more recently, in 2007, a recording showed something moving fast in the water. Experts believe it was an otter, seal or water bird.
Modern Searches for Nessie
The Loch Ness Phenomena Investigation Bureau was formed in 1962 to study the loch and identify the creature or find an explanation for the sightings.
Several sonar studies were carried out and some photographs appeared to show large tails or flippers, but the flipper photographs are suspected to have been retouched. Based on this, Sir Peter Scott gave Nessie the scientific name Nessiteras rhombopteryx which is Greek for Ness inhabitant with diamond shaped fin. This could put her on the British register of protected wildlife.
It was pointed out that the name was an anagram for ‘monster hoax by Sir Peter S.’ Another anagram is ‘Yes, both pix are monsters – R.’ So make of that what you will.
In 1987, a study using echo sounding equipment was deployed and there was something of unusual size found. It could be debris at the bottom but some of the pictures showed motion.
In 2018 there was even a DNA survey carried out. No DNA of large fish like sharks, sturgeons or catfish could be found. No otters or seals either but a lot of eel DNA. Eels of unusual size could exist in theory but none have been found. No reptilian DNA was found.
Nessie has found her way into pop-culture, in films and television. One that certainly comes to mind for me is an animated film called Freddie FR07. An animated film released in 1992 as a parody of James Bond, where a prince is turned into a frog by his evil aunt after killing his parents. He joins the French Secret Service and travels to London to stop a villain stealing the UK’s famous landmarks.
He recruits his old friend Nessie to help prevent the theft of Big Ben. It’s wild. I admit I loved this film as a child, I almost wore out the VHS tape. I might have been the only person to like it though. It flopped with a budget of 9.9 million GBP (18 million USD) and a UK box office intake of £390,000. It was the lowest-grossing opening for an animated film at the US box office until the Ten Commandments in 2007. Funnily enough, Ben Kingsley starred in both of these films.
Whether you believe in Nessie or not, it’s a fun myth to think about and she has done a fair bit for Scotland’s tourism industry. She’s an iconic creature alongside haggises and highland coos. Scotland loves it’s mythological creatures, our national animal is the unicorn. And who knows, maybe we will find something in the Loch Ness. Considering we know more about space than we do about what’s at the depths of our waters on earth, you never know.
