THE Loch Ness Monster is not real — but aliens might exist, a top Oxford boffin reckons.

Professor Tim Coulson urged monster hunters to find another hobby after claiming Nessie, Yeti and Bigfoot are “pure fantasy”.

The leading biologist said the lack of skeletons and credible pictures are enough to prove that the creatures are not real and never were.

He said for a dinosaur to have survived in Loch Ness, there would need to be a breeding population of hundreds of individuals living there for 66 million years.

But the Oxford University professor said it is “much too early to rule out aliens.”

Tourists flock to Loch Ness to catch a glimpse of the monster every year, bringing £30million to the Inverness region.

But Prof Coulson poured cold water on Nessie and other mythical animals.

He said: “I would dearly love for Bigfoot, Yeti, the Loch Ness Monster and ­others to exist, but scientific evidence says otherwise.

“The likelihood of such beasts living undetected in forests, mountains and lakes, in great numbers, for thousands of years without leaving a single skeleton, fossil, bone or skin sample is hard enough to swallow.

“But when we also consider the biological factors that determine their survival, the likelihood reduces to where it becomes pure fantasy and fun figments of our imagination.”

Prof Coulson told The European newspaper: “Unlike the forests where Bigfoot is said to live, we have only explored a minuscule corner of places where aliens may be.

“As we’ve only explored a fraction of our neighbourhood, it is much too early to rule out the existence of aliens, be they bacteria-like organisms or little green beasts with oversized heads.”