Ningen: Subantartic Human? Part II

 The last time I covered this particular topic, it caused some confusion on how we should think about what kind of species are these. 

Part II: Pop Culture Interference

    It is never a doubt, when speaking about mysteries, it would involve the interference of pop media. Be it videos from Youtube or blurry pictures on websites; we can't deny its existence especially on the internet. Let's just jump into it.

2007.

A magazine that is dedicated to the paranormal side (Mu Magazine), published an article about a mysterious creature that is caught on the Google Earth software (refer to picture above). The picture shows a humanoid-like creature with two limbs (ala hands-like), white in colour that was swimming on the coast of Namibia (way off Japan, near Southern Africa). This sparks furthermore conversation as people would try to relate the picture to the Crew of Soya-maru incident that was doing whaling, way back in 1958; the incident that sparks all theories.

Belief vs Scepticism.

We can truly argue about the existence of this thing. Which would divide the society; those who believe and those who don't. Around 2010, tons of reports and pictures show up on the internet especially on video platforms (such as Youtube). Tons of low-res pictures were submitted as a supportive source regarding this Ningen. Authors and websites made their fair share of click baits, writing articles and online edition articles. Despite criticism, one author expressed his Mulder side, stating that:

      Ningen sightings seem to occur most frequently at night, making them all the more difficult to photograph. In still images, the sea cryptids mostly just look like ice, though it is said that their smooth, human-like skin can be seen when the photographs are enlarged. In any case, no convincing photographs have been made public either because they do not exist or because, as some argue, the government does not want to invite undue scrutiny and tarnish the scientific reputation of the whale research program. 

(Jong, K. 2018, ‘The Ningen; Japanese Mermaid or Arctic Cryptid?’, Deepweb, Archives: https://www.facebook.com/DeepWebArchivesOfficial/videos/the:ningen:japanese: mermaid:or:arctic: cryptid/198022824134689/)

Though the link for the article is down, we can sure that some people are skeptical on it. Another author, Nadel, also wrote:

        So what is the Ningen? Well, it could be practically anything. Personally, I tend to fall on the side of it being a natural evolution of old folklore being adapted to modern times.

(Nadel, D (2018) ‘Ningen: Monster of1 the Antarctic’, World, Nomads: https://exemplore.com/cryptids/Ningen:Monster:of:the:Antarctic)

Facts (or one could say, information to the myth):

1. Ningen in Japanese means 'human'.
2. Ningen are told to have eyes, mouth, and limbs.

3. They live in a remote region.

4. Rumored to be up to 90 feet long. 

5. Appear at the night. Well, mostly.

6. White in color, similar to ice.

Misinterpretation

Needless to say, a human witness is not reliable. Sure, they can testify, but people can make mistakes. Humans, after all. Although witnesses can often be very confident that their memory is accurate when identifying a suspect and this case, an unseen creature of the sea, the malleable nature of human memory and visual perception makes eyewitness testimony one of the most unreliable forms of evidence. Here are some that could be the justifications of Ningen:

1. Misidentified whales, sharks, and squids.

2. A new species of giant manta ray

3.An aquatic sloth, perhaps an evolutionary descendant of Thalassocnus.

4.A misidentified Iceberg

5.An undiscovered subspecies of beluga

6.An evolutionary relative of humans. However, this is unlikely due to their size. Although, their size could've been changed through evolution.

7.A species of aquatic or semi-aquatic animal, likely descendant/evolved from the large-sized carnivore animals such as leopards, seals, or killer whales, that is evolved into a more noticeable humanoid shape due to convergent evolution.

8.A species of heavily evolved animal that is related to Cryolophosaurus or Koolasuchus.

9.Descendant species of Aquilolamna milarcae (a recently discovered species of shark, convergently evolved to a manta ray-esque form, that could resemble a quasi humanoid entity underwater)

10.Photomanipulation (edited photos and such)

Thalassocnus

Beluga Whale

Cryolophosaurus

Koolasuchus