Montauk Monster All Talk

This is the 'Montauk Monster', which allegedly washed up onto the shore in Long Island's East Hamptons. The finding was initially published on July 23 in The Independent. This color photo popped up online last week through Gawker.com. Immediately questions arose as to what this creature actually was. Since then, the story has hit the media full force, including a mention on CNN and Fox News.

Jeff Corwin, wildlife expert from 'Animal Planet', has a simple theory. He claims that it's a raccoon with its muzzle partly rotted away, explaining the beak-like snout. With enough erosion, the canine teeth could easily resemble a beak like structure.

William Wise, director of Stony Brook University's Living Marine Resources Institute, disagreed after consulting with fellow biologists. He isn't sure what it is, but he has ruled out some options:

• raccoon - the legs are too long in proportion to the body
• sea turtle - they don't have teeth
• rodent - rodents have two large, curved incisor teeth in front of their mouths
  

He mentioned that the general body shape looks like that of a dog, but that the "prominent eye ridge and feet" don't match. This lead him to his best guess, crediting the monster to "A talented someone who got very creative with latex".

All of this is based on photograph analysis, because the actual body has yet to land in the laps of scientists. The photographer, 26 year old Jenna Hewitt, explained its current whereabouts stating that, "A guy took it and put it in the woods in his backyard; he has a big backyard." She wouldn't say who, and wouldn't say where. Sounds fishy?

Here's the other picture that was taken. I'm on the raccoon train...