A snippet in the Berlingske Tidene a Danish Newspaper, reawakened all the nasty memento's of our species' dismal record in the treatment of animals in general. Local West African tribal people have claimed to have seen a ten meter herbivorous lizard they call mokele mbembe.
A British zoologist has concluded that if the crocodile could survive, then why not the dinosaur. As usual in the great pioneering spirit of his ancestors, he is off to delve in the deepest and darkest furrows of the not so mysterious Africa.
However far from reality the existence of this animal may sound, the inescapable fact is that human behaviour is not a product of altruism but an intense fight for domination, as we no longer have to forage for dinner. The poor animal in question has never had any choice and we are now to decide its precarious future.
An Arab multi-millionaire decides that his son deserves a dinosaur of his own.
An African megalomaniac trades dinosaurs for guns.
A cocaine billionaire considers his part of the jungle as the ideal hunting grounds for his cronies.
A Chinese folk healer may consider that consuming parts of this relative of the dragon may imbibe youthful vigour.
The opportunities are endless for the exploiters, and the measure of control limited to the powers that be.
In our endless curiosity and insatiable appetite for entertainment, the imprisonment of this animal is inevitable. Our intrepid Livingstone if successful will be showered and bedecked in accolades by his peers. The frightening scene conjured in my mind was of an English gentleman's club being entertained by a guest speaker in his dotage. The reticent animal languishing in an artificial environment of course, whilst the esteemed members guffaw at the antics of a bygone era.
Developing nations starved by the lack of education and cash dollars have no recourse but to exploit any and every resource in their struggle for emergence in the new millennium. We, the rich, are the only luxury animals that consider zoos and similar institutions as an educative tool for our coming generations. The poor that survive 'hand to mouth' have to and will consider this huge herbivore a threat to their cash crops as the already limited resources will have to be diverted to the harboring and protection of this great ponderous beast.
Hidden and unperturbed for eons we now impose on it our own omnivorous will to survive, and not the crocodiles carnivorous tenacity. However generous the motives of the select few may be will this species be doomed to genetic revival like the Tasmanian tiger? Or will we simply transplant it to Australia like the African rhinoceros? And will the only surviving wild members of its species forage in the jungles of the Northern Territory, isolated and protected in its evolution? How Darwinian in thought. How empire like in solution.
