The existence of Scotland’s legendary Loch Ness Monster has been hotly-debated for nearly a century.
Affectionately referred to as Nessie, the large marine creature is said to inhabit the freshwater loch south of Inverness.
Now the mystery may have been finally been solved – by none other than Prince William.
The Prince of Wales today visited Earthshot Prize finalist, Nature Metrics, at their Surrey HQ, where he was shown the Nature Intelligence Platform.
This tool is able to identify individual species from small samples of soil, sediment, water, or air.
During a demonstration of the technology, the Prince of Wales asked one of the researchers the million dollar question: ‘Does this mean you could find the Loch Ness Monster?’
Unfortunately, the researcher poured cold water on any hopes that the monster is real.
‘It might just be a very big eel,’ she said.
During his visit, the Prince of Wales was shown Nature Metrics’ eDNA Surveying Tool.
‘All living things leave traces of their DNA in the environment (eDNA),’ the company explains on its website.
‘We use this to identify individual species from small samples of soil, sediment, water and air.’
The demonstration sparked Prince William to ask the ‘question that everyone is going to want to know’ – does this mean we could find the Loch Ness Monster?
In response, the researcher said: ‘Do you know what, people have tried.
‘People came from New Zealand to try that. They took about 500 eDNA samples in Loch Ness.
‘They said they found eels, and it might just be a very big eel, but that felt like it was clutching at straws a bit!
‘All they needed to find was one bit of unidentified reptile DNA and they could have had a story.’
The Loch Ness monster isn’t the only mythical creature that Nature Metrics has been asked to help find.
‘We’ve been asked to try and find the Yeti and Bigfoot – all sorts,’ the researcher added.
The revelation comes shortly after naturalist Adrian Shine said people spotting ‘long-necked’ creatures on Loch Ness were actually misidentifying waterbirds in calm conditions.
While mysterious humps or loops in the water were really just boat wakes, he said, which are the ‘largest cause of monster sightings’.
He added that the Nessie of popular imagination was simply the classic sea serpent depicted on old maps in a new inland setting.
Mr Shine, a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and founder of the Loch Ness Project, says he is a ‘sympathetic sceptic’ when it comes to the monster.
But he offered few comforts to those who believe Nessie is real.
He said: ‘Boat wakes are probably the number one cause of monsters sightings, and waterbirds are the long-necked ones.’
‘Of course there are long-necked creatures on Loch Ness – we call them swans.
‘And in calm conditions you can lose your ability to judge distance, and if you can’t judge distance, you can’t judge size.’
What IS the Loch Ness Monster?
Rumours of a strange creature living in the waters of Loch Ness have abounded over the decades, yet scant evidence has been found to back up these claims.
One of the first sightings, believed to have fuelled modern Nessie fever, came in May 2, 1933.
On this date the Inverness Courier carried a story about a local couple who claim to have seen ‘an enormous animal rolling and plunging on the surface’.
Another famous claimed sighting is a photograph taken in 1934 by Colonel Robert Kenneth Wilson.
It was later exposed as a hoax by one of the participants, Chris Spurling, who, on his deathbed, revealed that the pictures were staged.
Other sightings James Gray’s picture from 2001 when he and friend Peter Levings were out fishing on the Loch, while namesake Hugh Gray’s blurred photo of what appears to be a large sea creature was published in the Daily Express in 1933.
The first reported sighting of the monster is said to have been made in AD565 by the Irish missionary St Columba when he came across a giant beast in the River Ness.
But no one has ever come up with a satisfactory explanation for the sightings – although in 2019, ‘Nessie expert’ Steve Feltham, who has spent 24 years watching the Loch, said he thought it was actually a giant Wels Catfish, native to waters near the Baltic and Caspian seas in Europe.
An online register lists more than 1,000 total Nessie sightings, created by Mr Campbell, the man behind the Official Loch Ness Monster Fan Club and is available at www.lochnesssightings.com.
So what could explain these mysterious sightings?
Many Nessie witnesses have mentioned large, crocodile-like scutes sitting atop the spine of the creature, leading some to believe an escaped amphibian may be to blame.
Native fish sturgeons can also weigh several hundred pounds and have ridged backs, which make them look almost reptilian.
Some believe Nessie is a long-necked plesiosaur – like an elasmosaur – that survived somehow when all the other dinosaurs were wiped out.
Others say the sightings are down to Scottish pines dying and flopping into the loch, before quickly becoming water-logged and sinking.
While submerged, botanical chemicals start trapping tiny bubbles of air.
Eventually, enough of these are gathered to propel the log upward as deep pressures begin altering its shape, giving the appearance of an animal coming up for air.
