Chinese scientists search for ‘lake monsters’
BEIJING—Chinese scientists will launch an expedition next month to search for fabled “lake monsters” in northwest China’s Xinjiang region, state media said Saturday.
For hundreds of years there have been rumors in Xinjiang’s Altay Prefecture that mysterious monsters live in the prefecture’s Kanasi Lake, devouring livestock, the Xinhua news agency said.
As horses, cattle or sheep went missing near the lake every year, the legend grew.
In 1985, teachers and students from the Xinjiang University Department of Biology discovered that dozens of huge red fish, each 10 to 15 meters (33 to 49.5 feet) long and weighing more than four tons, lived in the lake.
A large-scale scientific exploration on the “lake monsters” of Kanasi, the deepest alpine lake in China, was made in 1987.
As a result of the two-year exploration, scientists discovered a school of some 30 to 40 big fish, each three to four meters long.
They concluded that the fish, a species of Taimen—a mighty salmonid that grows to monstrous proportions—were the “monsters” making mischief in the lake, Xinhua said.
But researchers still do not know how many Taimen are living in the lake or how long they have been there, how big the largest one is and whether the livestock that have gone missing for hundreds of years were really devoured by the fish.
The exploration, scheduled to last 10 days, will be made jointly by a Chinese scientific exploration team, the underwater photography team of the Chinese Underwater Association and the environmental and tourism administrative bureau of Kanasi.
Some media, including the state-run China Central Television Station, will also participate in the exploration.
Kanasi Lake is located at the center of the Kanasi nature reserve, the only Chinese reserve located at the bordering region of China, Mongolia, Kazakhstan and Russia.
The lake monster legends have helped the Kanasi area attract increasing numbers of visitors, Xinhua said.
By August 1, Kanasi had seen some 183,000 visitors both from home and abroad—63 percent more than the same period last year. The area has earned 140 million yuan ($16.9 million) from tourism, according to Xinhua.
http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2004/aug/23/yehey/top_stories/20040823top8.html
Tags: China, RTW Trip
JohnCin
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