Giant critters

I think it's an interesting commentary on human nature that despite the absolutely incredible diversity of life (see squid photos here and here) we still want to believe in a variety of fabulous creatures that do not exist (yeti's, bigfoot, sasquatch, etc). For a while there was a brief craze of picture postcards, featuring large creatures - usually out west (see chicken below and rabbit to left). I presume this also reflected a desire to con the rubes back east.

So I was a little hesitant when I heard tale of a giant fish (hmm, I think I saw that movie) and the link was to Cryptomundo - an entertaining website that specializes in 'crytptozoology' or the study of hidden animals(like the aforementioned bigfoot). Here's the photo of an allegedly 85 lb Chinook salmon. Yeah right. Except in this case the story appears to be true. I could pretend this is relevant to class because the Chinook salmon are listed under the state and federal endangered species acts but really I was reminded of this picture by Katherine's giant chicken picture.