6 MYTHICAL CREATURES THAT ARE BASED ON REAL ANIMALS
Published By Moushumi Mahanta | 13 Jan, 2025
Ancient folklore mentions mythical creatures, often filled with bizarre traits that make them hard to believe. Let's explore whether these mythical beings ever existed.
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Here Are 6 Mythical Creatures That Are Based on Real Animals:
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Mermaids
Often referred to in the sailor folklore, were even reported by Christopher Columbus, who claimed to have seen three with masculine faces. These creatures, however, were manatees and their close relatives, dugongs.
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Kraken
Legends mentioned the massive, octopus-like creature that would sink ships with its powerful arms. The creature sailors feared was the giant squid, the transition from myth to reality occurred in 1853 when the remains of a giant squid were found on a shore in Denmark.
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Dragons
Dragons are among the most widespread mythical creatures, with various depictions across cultures. In reality, these creatures were dinosaurs, not dragons. The people who discovered dinosaur fossils in ancient China imagined the creature as powerful, fire-breathing beings.
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Pouakai
A giant flying bird known as the Pouakai was prevalent in Maori folklore, and was said to carry humans away for consumption. Taxidermist Frederick Richardson Fuller discovered in 1871 that the bird was real and was a Haast eagle who could possibly hunt us as well.
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Roc
Sailors of old believed the roc lived on an island near Africa. In reality, the creature they described is likely the massive bird called the Aepyornis, or elephant bird as they could lift an elephant into the air. However, these birds went extinct in the 1500s.
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Unicorn
A mythical horse with a single horn on its forehead was not a horse, but rather rhinoceroses, specifically the extinct Siberian unicorn, had four legs and a prominent horn in the centre of its head, which may have inspired the unicorn myth.