The Congo River Basin’s Dinosaur-like Mokele-mbembe, explained

For centuries, at least, the indigenous Bantu peoples of Central, East, and Southern Africa have traded tales of a lumbering creature living in the Congo River Basin. The alleged dinosaur-like creature was dubbed mokele-mbembe, a name which translates loosely to “one who stops the flow of rivers,” in the Lingala language.

Over the last century, sightings have declined and belief in mokele-mbembe has largely slid into the purview of cryptozoological enthusiasts. A number of expeditions have been carried out, none of which have uncovered any reliable evidence, but that hasn’t stopped the legend from surviving. In fact, sightings of mokele-mbembe are on the rise!

What is mokele-mbembe, the dinosaur allegedly hiding out in the Congo River Basin?

In the recently released trailer for Universal’s upcoming Cretaceous Era revival, Jurassic World Rebirth, a group of adrenaline-soaked researchers and mercenaries return to a world of dinosaurs. They’re searching for biological compounds needed for important medical breakthroughs. The search takes them to an island, and the research facility which created the dinosaurs for the original park. Their goal is to get in, gather DNA from three specific dinosaur species, and get out alive. Of course, when things get Jurassic, it’s never that easy.

There’s no dinosaur island in the real world, but people living and working in and around Odzala-Kokoua National Park have reported sightings of their own dinosaur menace. Those sightings are on the rise, lifting the creature out of historical legend and into the present, whether it’s real or not. And to be clear, it probably isn’t. Instead, the increase in sightings is probably due to continued deforestation and increased interactions between humans and other (non-cryptozoological) large animals.

“In bigger settlements where habitats are being pushed into and people aren’t used to seeing large animals, they’re suddenly encountering them all the time,” Czech conservationist Laura Vlachova, told National Geographic. “It’s these people who tell me they’ve seen mokele-mbembe. I think what it really shows is how folklore is starting to reflect the reality of a shrinking ecosystem.”

What does mokele-mbembe look like (again, allegedly)?

The legend of mokele-mbembe originates from the mythology of the Bantu peoples, a group of approximately 400 distinct ethnic groups concentrated toward the bottom half of the African continent. For centuries, these groups have told stories of a water-dwelling dinosaur-like creature living in the Congo River Basin.

The creature first came to the attention of the wider world in the early 20th Century, when Captain Ludwig Freiherr von Stein zu Lausnitz was tasked with surveying German colonies in what is now Cameroon. He came back with stories and a description of the famed creature.

According to his description, the creature is brownish-gray, smooth-skinned, and about the size of an elephant. It’s said to have a long, flexible neck like a sauropod or plesiosaur, and a single long tooth or horn. It may or may not have a long, muscular tail, depending on who’s telling the story, and it’s known for capsizing boats, killing the crews, but not eating the bodies. It’s worth noting that, while mokele-mbembe has existed in the cultural consciousness for hundreds of years, interpreting the creature as a dinosaur is relatively recent. It’s also worth noting that stories of living African dinosaurs may have been reinforced by colonialist and racist ideas of the continent as being stuck in the past or less evolved, a so-called lost world waiting for westerners to tame.

If mokele-mbembe isn’t a dinosaur, what is it?

In the world of dinosaur-like cryptids, mokele-mbembe has plenty of company. The alleged survivors of the end-Cretaceous extinction (there are none, save for birds) include the famed Loch Ness Monster and the Kasai Rex, just to name a few.

The creature affectionately known as Nessie is said to inhabit its namesake Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands. Those stories date back to at least the 7th Century, and, in the modern age, the creature is described as a long-necked plesiosaur, an extinct relative of the dinosaurs. The Kasai Rex, meanwhile, is described as a 14-foot reptile said to inhabit the same area as mokele-mbembe. In 1932, a Swedish plantation owner claimed to have witnessed the creature dining on rhinos or elephants. He even snapped a photo, which was later proved to be fake.

For a while, during the 20th Century, mokele-mbembe became the target of cryptid hunters and creationists, with a poorly thought-out plan to disprove evolution. They, like other people before and since, didn’t find any reliable evidence for the creature.

It’s been suggested that the legend of mokele-mbembe grew from sightings of the Black Rhino, which used to live in the region. Probably, the creature emerged from sightings of multiple large mammals including rhinos, hippos, and elephants. Its description as large, lumbering, and gray-skinned could refer to any of those animals, and its long neck could be explained by seeing elephant trunks moving through the tree line. Stories of capsized boats and dead (but not eaten) crew members can be easily explained by anyone who’s ever seen an angry hippopotamus.

As habitats shrink in the Congo River Basin, encounters with these large creatures (and opportunities for fanciful misidentifications) are growing. The fact that sightings of mokele-mbembe are increasing may be evidence not of the creature’s existence, but of the growing negative impact humans are having on the planet.

Finding a dinosaur in the Congo River Basin might not be possible, but you can see them in Jurassic World Rebirth, hitting theaters everywhere July 2.