The new photos appeared to show a slimmer Loch Ness monster, prompting fervent speculation that the living dinosaur could have been pregnant.

Instead of the usual fleeting glimpse afforded her followers, Nessie stayed above the surface long enough for retired printer Roy Johnston to take at least four photographs showing the suspiciously snake-like Nessie arching out of the water and returning to it with a splash. The new photographs, printed in yesterday’s Daily Mail, prompted an immediate debate as to whether they are genuine.

Johnston, 63, said he and his wife, Janet, had been nearing the end of a Highlands driving holiday two weeks ago when he decided to stop in a lay-by near the loch.

He made his way to the loch’s edge at around 9am and had been standing there only a few minutes before the "creature" emerged.

"I thought I was going mad," he said. "The first thought that sprang into my mind was, ‘That’s an elephant.’ I know it sounds silly but it looked like a trunk. It was the same length and width.

"I wondered if the creature was a conger eel, but it was way too big for that. It was about seven or eight feet out of the water and it was obvious that there was more of it underneath the surface."

The sighting has delighted tourism businesses in the area. Malaina Krott-Thiarry, a worker at a tourist information centre close to the loch, said: "I have no idea what to make of these pictures, but I think they’re good news for the area. This might lead to a boost for business later this year or next year."

Lawrence Sear, the managing editor of the Daily Mail, said there was absolutely no sign the photographs had been doctored.

"We collected the negatives from Mr Johnston and they were absolutely genuine. They have not been manipulated at any stage," he said.

"Who knows whether the images are of the Loch Ness monster or not? All we can say is that those pictures are genuine and have not been doctored."

But Scotland on Sunday’s picture editor, Kayt Turner, said there was room for doubt.

The Daily Mail published a sequence of pictures to represent the object emerging from the water and then submerging.

But the third picture in the sequence, representing the splash of water, was appreciably lighter in colour than the previous two images.

Turner said: "Those pictures were not taken in sequence."

A picture editor for 15 years, she added: "Anyone with a spare £500 can get the equipment needed to digitally manipulate this kind of image, using a simple software package such as Photoshop. All you need is a scanner and a computer.

"Looking at this image it is impossible to tell if there has been any manipulation. It would be very simple to take a picture of an object and place it in the loch.

"The only way you could be sure they are genuine would be to see the original negatives."

The pictures have started a squabble between the Daily Mail and the News of the World. The latter is expected to pour cold water over the sighting, as it has signed up a Nessie expert to analyse the pictures.

The expert, Adrian Shine, who has spent 20 years in a scientific quest for Nessie, was barred from talking to Scotland on Sunday but a friend said: "We’re all very sceptical."

Mystery Whale Washes Ashore
• Story originally published by •
One News, TVNZ / New Zealand

It is a post mortem which could re-write the textbooks.

"As far as large mammals go they're the great mystery whales, or great mystery beasts if you like," says Anton van Helden, Marine Mammals Manager at Te Papa.

New Zealand waters are one of the only places on the planet where these whales are known to live. But scientists say they have never been photographed in the wild and they remain a mystery.

The young whale is 2.9 metres long, and would have grown to more than six metres.

Although the scientists are delighted to have the rare specimen, they are saddened by the death of such a rare mammal.

They say it looks like the young whale has been hit on the head by a boat propellor, which sliced into its jaw.

"People should be maybe a bit more aware of the speed they're travelling at when they're in areas where there are dolphins, and not to approach whales and dolphins too closely in case there are animals in the water they can't see," says Dr Padraig Duignan of Massey University.

Unlike other whales which travel in quite large pods, the strap-tooth has never been seen in groups - in fact it is only seen when it washes up on a beach.

The scientists say that once they complete their examination, their findings are expected to be published world-wide.

Photo Proves Jaguars In Arizona
• Story originally published by:
azcentral.com / AZ - Feb 06.02

TUCSON [AP] - A jaguar was photographed by a motion-activated camera set out in southern Arizona to monitor potential jaguar corridors near the U.S.-Mexico border.

The photo shot in early December gave state game officials new evidence that jaguars, the biggest cats in the Western Hemisphere, visit the southern part of the state and may even live there.

It is great to know that jaguars are roaming our borderlands, at least occasionally," said Brad Van Pelt of the Arizona Game and Fish Department. We will continue to monitor the area to see if the animal is a transient or attempting to establish a territory."

Jaguars were last documented in Arizona in 1996 in the Baboquivari Mountains west of Tucson and in the Peloncillo Mountains, along the New Mexico state line near San Simon, Ariz.

Biologists believe the two 1996 photos and the one shot in December captured three separate cats.

The game department isn't revealing the location of the latest sighting to protect the big cat, which is a young male weighing around 175 pounds.

A team of biologists hopes more photos will help pinpoint the jaguar's location. Officials would like to capture one, attach a collar with a radio transmitter, then return it to the wild and monitor its movement.

Arizona is believed to be at the northern end of the jaguar's historic range, which once covered nearly all of Latin America. The closest known population to Arizona now is 135 miles south of Tucson, deep in the Sierra Madre of Mexico, according to game officials.

Conservation groups that want to see the jaguar repopulate the American Southwest were delighted by the new photographic evidence.

The fact that jaguars are still making it as individuals back to their old habitat means there's hope for eventual recovery," said Michael Robinson of the Center for Biological Diversity's Silver City, N.M., office.

Robinson said his group's first priority is to stabilize the remaining jaguar populations in Mexico - which are threatened by habitat loss ‹ and to assess what land on both sides of the border is suitable for jaguars.

We're not pushing reintroduction at this time," Robinson said, but everything should be on the table."

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