Sea monster or whale exhibitionist? You be the judge!

(Via the Guardian)

In 1741, a Danish-Norwegian missionary named Hans Egede published what became a famous account of "a most dreadful monster" that appeared off the coast of Greenland. "The case is interesting," the modern scientists write, "in that Egede had drawn and described a number of large northern whale species in his book, so he obviously felt the 'dreadful' monster was something different."

...

Egede's animal had a serpent-like tail that appeared out of the water when the rest of the beast had disappeared. But rather than a tail, Paxton et al say, this was most likely a penis. They present photographs of well-endowed male whales, and also a drawing from Egede's book, in which we see the sea monster's serpent-like tail. The latter is remarkably similar to what we see in the photographs.

I've heard some people lament that science kills our sense of child-like wonder by dispelling our myths and fairy tales. What we must remember is that whenever science closes a door to myth it also opens a window to hilarity.

"Thar he blows!"