DNA Tests May Help Identify “Stronsay Beast”

The Stronsay Beast was a large creature found washed ashore on the island of Stronsay (one of Great Britain’s Orkney Islands) in 1808. It was 55 feet long, but observers believed part of the tail was missing, and that a live specimen would have been even longer.

Here’s a list of the specimen’s unusual traits described by witnesses (from Wikipedia):

• The Stronsay beast was 55 feet long, as measured by three witnesses (one was a carpenter and the other two were farmers).
• It was 4 feet wide and had a circumference of approximately 10 feet.
• It had three pairs of ‘paws’ or ‘wings’.
• It had skin that was smooth when stroked head to tail and rough when stroked tail to head.
• Its fins were edged with bristles and it had a ‘mane’ of bristles all down its back.
• The bristles glowed in the dark when wet.
• Its stomach contents were red.

Most have since decided that it must have been a basking shark, but the mystery has remained. Until now. According to the BBC:

Geneticist Dr Yvonne Simpson has researched the Stronsay Beast and will reveal her latest discoveries at the Orkney International Science Festival.

Here’s the full article. Not much in the way of details of what sort of data or analysis Simpson will reveal, but stay tuned to ‘QuatchWatch for updates.

• None... Yet.