At the end of the 19th century Scientific American recorded the following remarkable events: "The Brazilian Minister at La Paz, Bolivia, had remitted to the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Rio photographs of drawings of an extraordinary saurian killed on the Beni after receiving thirty-six balls. By order of the President of Bolivia the dried body, which had been preserved in Asuncion, was sent to La Paz." The "monster" was reported to be twelve meters long (39 ft) from snout to point of the tail, which latter was flattened. It’s head resemblance the head of a dog and its legs were short, ending with formidable claws. The legs and abdomen sported a kind of scale armor, and all the back is protected by a still thicker and double cuirass, starting from behind the ears of the anterior head, and continuing to the tail. The neck is long, and the belly large and almost dragging on the ground."( "A Bolivian Saurian," Scientific American, 49:3, 1883.) One of the odd things about this report is that the saurian creature had multiple heads. It is not difficult to find examples of snakes and even turtles surviving today with multiple heads. Not long ago a two-headed lizard-like reptile with a long neck and tail was discovered fossilized in China. The specimen comes from Cretaceous rocks in the Yixian Formation in the northeast. Perhaps creatures like these gave rise to the legends of two-headed dragons. This news comes at the same time that the birth of a two-headed bearded dragon lizard in California has made national news.
"In 1907 Lieutenant-Colonel Percy Fawcett of the British Army was sent to mark the boundaries between Brazil and Peru. He was an officer in the Royal Engineers and was well known as a meticulous recorder of facts. In the Beni Swamps of Madre de Dios Colonel P. H. Fawcett saw an animal he believed to be Diplodocus... The Diplodocus story is confirmed by many of the tribes east of the Ucayali, a region covered by Clark." (Clark, Leonard, E., The Rivers Ran East, 2001, p. xvi.) The drawing to the right is by Colonel Fawcett’s son, Brian. (World Explored Magazine, Vol. 1 No. 6, p. 62.) The intrepid explorer also picked up reports of huge monsters inhabiting the swamps near the Madidi River in Bolivia. "There are snakes and insects unknown to scientists, and in the forests of the Madidi some mysterious and enormous beast has frequently been disturbed in the swamps--possibly a primeval monster like those reported in other parts of the continent. Certainly tracks have been found belonging to no known animal--huge tracks, far greater than could have been made by any species we know." (Exploration Fawcett, 1953, pp. 220-221.)
In later years, a few occasional reports concerning the "Madidi monster" would reach the west. Modern-day explorer Leonard Clark picked up stories of Indians seeing long-necked animals that browsed on the vegetation and attacked canoes that approached them. "Speaking of reptiles, old boy, Colonel Fawcett reached the eastern edge of Madre de Dios, out where you are going. It is a country of swamps apparently. One day while running his dugouts through it, he saw a great reptilian head rise out of the jungle, but before he could shoot, the head was lowered. From the noise the beast made getting away, he took it to be some sort of dinosaur. His Indians revolted and it was necessary to return to Mato Grosso. When I smiled, he presently added, ‘Don’t be too sure they don’t exist - we hear a great many stories from the Indians here!’" (Clark, Leonard, The Rivers Ran East, 2001, p. 41.)
In 2005, Genesis Park staff mounted an exploratory trip up Amazon tributaries along the border of Brazil & Bolivia. Villagers and indigenous communities were contacted from the Rio Madre De Dios, up the Rio Beni and towards the Rio Madidi. Very little knowledge of any long-necked reptilian creature was uncovered, but what reports were received matched the information obtained about the mokele-mbembe from the expeditions into Africa. A strange dinosaur-like image has been found adorning a Peruvian water bottle that dates from 200AD (right).
It is quite likely that some of the large sauropod dinosaur species (like Diplodocus and Apatosaurus) were merely variations of the same created kind. Similarly, despite the different names from Africa to South America, the general description of supposed living dinosaurs remains the same: about 30 ft in length with a long neck, snake-like head and long, flexible tail. Apparently these dinosaurs are similar in form to their counterparts in the fossil record. Indeed, the creation model would predict that they could not evolve into a different kind of animal. In fact, living fossils are often smaller (and arguably less "fit") than their preserved ancestors, again conforming to the creation model.
In conclusion to the question - Is there a dinosaur living in the Amazon Jungle?
Well if there is it is certainly no Diplodocus as it would have been seen by now. The Amazon is far more habitated now than when Fawcett was roaming through its depths. Although there are still less visited, remote and hard to access areas of the jungle, the chance that a dinosaur as big as a Diplodocus is still alive and living there unseen, is almost impossible.
Though in all likelihood there still remains as yet unkown insects, and possibly some larger creatures to be discovered, they would have to be small mammels at best to have remained undetected for so long.
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