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Aqualognews NUMBER 94 29
Mokele-Mbembe -
the monster from the Congo
In 1913 there was a German expedition to
Lausnitz in the Congo under the
leadership of Captain von Stein, in order
to perform cartographic and geological
research there. In his official report to the
German government, von Stein wrote
about a monster that wrought terror and
dread among the people in large parts of
the Congo basin and the regions around
the lower Ubangi, the Sanga, and
Ikelemba in Cameroon. The natives all
portrayed this creature in the same way,
independently of one another. Here an
extract from von Stein’s report (translated
from German):
“The creature is gray-brown with a
smooth skin and is the size of an
elephant, or at least a hippo. It possesses a
Female Polypterus mokelembembe. Photos: Frank Schäfer
mokelembembe is somewhat more
demanding than other members of its
genus when it comes to water
chemistry. The species prefers soft,
slightly acid water, stained slightly
brown by vegetable material. These
water parameters are particularly
desirable during the acclimatization
period. Being forest-dwellers, these
bichirs do not like either bright lighting
or excessively high temperatures – 22-
24 °C is just right.
Like all bichirs Polypterus
very long and flexible neck and
purportedly only one tooth, which is,
however, very long. Some natives state
that it isn’t a tooth but a horn. The tail is
long and muscular like that of a crocodile.
It is thought to be dangerous to approach
this monster in boats, as it overturns them
and kills the people, but doesn’t eat them.
The Mokele-Mbembe lives in underwater
caves in steep banks. By day it crawls onto
the bank to search for food. The creature
is a plant-eater. I was shown its favorite
food - a liana with large white flowers,
milky sap, and fruits similar to apples. By
the Sombo River I saw a path which the
creature supposedly used to reach the
lake in order to search for food; the plants
mentioned above grew close to this path.
However, the path was so heavily used by
elephants, hippos, and other animals that
there was no possibility of investigating
the individual tracks.”
mokelembembe is an air-breather. Even
in oxygen-rich water they rise to the
water’s surface from time to time to take
in air. These fishes don’t like strong
currents.
As already mentioned they will take
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mainly coarser frozen foods , but once
acclimatized most specimens will also
readily accept strong-smelling granulates.