Unlikely tail of the rather excited whale

A SEA monster that was spotted off the coast of Greenland in the 18th century may have been an excited whale, historians revealed today.

Researchers at St Andrews University examined four accounts of the "most dreadful" serpent-like monster - sighted in 1734 - and tried to link it with known animals in the North Atlantic.

But the team of experts now believe the seafarers actually spotted one of the last remaining Atlantic grey whales - and caught it in an excited state.

Research chief Charles Paxton said: "We think they saw a whale which was for some reason feeling very happy. It reared out of the water, fell on to its back and they saw this thing that they assumed was a tail." But he added: "You wouldn’t expect to see a whale in this state on his own."