Beasts of Land

We share the land with countless living animals. Some are familiar; others seem quite bizarre. Creatures from the lands of myth can be both recognizable and strange. Sometimes they appear to have body parts from ordinary animals combined in very unusual ways. Other times they look just like familiar animals — but have extraordinary and magical powers. Download this printable colouring page > CLICK ON AN IMAGE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS BEAST OF LAND Bigfoot Cyclops GriffIn Unicorn VIEW THE BESTIARY >

Debunking certain myths surrounding beasts of land

However fantastical they may seem, many beasts of land have their roots in the natural world. Strange sights can — through misidentification, speculation, fear or exaggeration — inspire tall tales as people seek to make sense of the world around them.

• Bones can help explain quite a few myths about terrestrial monsters, including the giants of Greek mythology. When ancient Greeks unearthed enormous, human-like bones, they thought they had found the remains of giants. Modern scientists, however, say they were likely the remains of mammoths, mastodons and woolly rhinoceros that once roamed the region. The one-eyed Cyclops is associated with the island of Sicily, once home to an ancient species of dwarf elephant whose fossilized skull showed a large, central trunk opening that could have been interpreted as a single eye socket.
  
  
• The fossils of Protoceratops dinosaurs from the Cretaceous period, discovered in the Gobi Desert by Scythian miners many centuries ago, likely inspired stories of griffins. That’s because the unusual dinosaur combined a birdlike beak, four legs and elongated shoulder blades that might suggest wings.
  
  
• Folk tales about ape-men have many possible explanations, but a giant ape called Gigantopithicus did exist in Southeast Asia until about 300,000 years ago. It weighed about 350 kg (770 lbs.) — nearly twice as much as a gorilla!
  
  
• Unicorns may be pure fantasy, but European sailors who centuries ago brought back from the Arctic the tusks of the narwhal, a whale whose single elongated incisor can grow to 3 m (10 feet) in length, and sold them as unicorn horns, certainly lent credence to the myth. So did the Chinese leader of an expedition to Africa in the fifteenth century, when he came back with a live “unicorn” that was actually a giraffe.