Champ, legend, myth, or reality?

Lake Champlain is a narrow 125 mile lake touching Canada, running through New York and Vermont. It has a few unique characteristics. It is deep, having portions of the lake estimated at four hundred feet deep. The lake as we know it formed around eight to ten thousand years ago. Before that it was an inland portion of the Atlantic Ocean. While fairly unique in it's characteristics, it isn't completely alone. Many of it's strange characteristics are shared by Loch Ness of Scotland.

For over a hundred years research has been done at Loch Ness in Scotland in search of the Loch Ness Monster many call "Nessie". It is however a more recent development that researchers have started looking into claims of a similar creature in Lake Champlain.

The Champ story really starts long ago. Historically three native American tribes lived along Lake Champlain, the Algonoquin, the Abnaki, and the Iroquios. Each of these tribes had myths, and stories about a large water or lake serpent that lived in Lake Champlain. The story continues on with sitings and stories of people through the years. The first real good report that is known to have occurred happened in July of 1819. These sitings have continued on to modern day times.

The famous picture of "Champ" was supposedly taken in 1977 by Sandra Mansi. It has been analyzed several times in the past thirty years, by several scientists and other reputable people. Some feel that it is the real deal, and as with many cryptozoological images there are many who believe that it is indeed a hoax.

Either way, no definitive evidence of a Champ has every been brought forth. It is usually being described as dark in color, with a snake like head and neck, most do not see it's full body, and some describe it as having horns or ears upon it's head and or a main of fringe. It is believed that Champ is 15 to 30 years. Some, such as Joseph W. Zarzynski researcher and author, believe that some of the varied descriptions may be due to different genders or ages of the beast.

Supposing Champ is real the question comes down to, "What is he?" There are a few answers that many feel are possible solutions to this mystery. Many believe that the best answer to this question is a Plesiosaur. Plesiosaurs are believed to have been extinct for sixty or seventy million years. They had long necks, small roundish snake like heads, long tails, and roundish bodies with four flipper like limbs. Plesiosaurs often grew up to sixty feet long. The would account for many of the accounts seeing a snake like being as well as for the Native Americans beliefs in a giant water serpent. The body is often underwater leaving the head, neck and sometimes tail to be seen by viewers.

A second view is that Champ is a Zeuglodon which are believed to have become extinct about twenty million years ago. This animal is a primitive snakelike whale with an elongated body and two flippers for propelled movement.

The final suggestion is that Champ is related to the sea lion with an elongated neck.

No matter which of these suggestions is to be true, Champ would have had to have made adaptations in order to survive in Lake Champlain.

One truly amazing thing to me was that there have been Champ sitings on land. Though many believe that it doesn't happen long, they do believe that Champ leaves the waters of the lake for a vacation on land. There have also been reports of Champs being seen in groups of up to five.

Could there really be a colony of not yet proven to exist creatures living in Lake Champlain?