When we see in legends and myths the mention of representatives of outlandish peoples, it seems to us that this is a fruit of folk fantasy. But in any invention there is a grain of truth - and this is evidenced by the really existing or existing in the past 4 mythical creatures. Where to look for them, what are they and why scientists still do not write monographs telling the whole world about the grandiose discovery?
Now skeptics will say that only photographs or videos on which they are captured can be considered as irrefutable proof of the existence of mythical characters. And there is such evidence. It's just that in the pictures you will not see mermaids or kraken at all, but creatures that are well known to science. And frightened people endowed them with fabulous properties.
Mermaids
A mermaid is a creature that resembles both a person and a fish at the same time. In past centuries, sailors, who inspiredly talked about meetings with mermaids, gathered dozens of listeners around them, who then, in turn, retold these tales to friends and acquaintances.
It is said that Christopher Columbus himself encountered mermaids during his voyage to India, which ended up being America. And he even left written memoirs about mermaids, which for some reason had male faces.
Already in our time, scientists have suggested that in ancient times dugongs and sea cows that are now exterminated could be called mermaids. These marine mammals belonged to the same family.
Dugongs are characterized by:
- large sizes - they can weigh up to 600 kg, and reach 4 m in length;
- a head on a short neck, which from afar under dim lighting, for example, at dusk, can be mistaken for a human;
- tail, like a whale, that is, it is quite similar to a mermaid.
Dugongs graze in shallow lagoons, feed on algae and crabs and pose no danger to humans. In some resorts, tourists are even offered to swim between the dugongs grazing at the bottom.
Kraken
There are terrible legends about the ocean and its deep-sea inhabitants. One of them tells about the horror of all sailors - the kraken. This is a monster that attacks ships, pulls them under the water and destroys all living things on them.
The kraken resembles a huge octopus that deftly wields tentacles: they braid the masts and hull of the ship. Sometimes this giant octopus simply circles around the sailboat, creating a death crater.
It is quite possible that a giant squid was called a kraken - an architeutis, which grows up to 8 m, lives at great depths and makes a tremendous impression on an unprepared viewer.
Aristotle mentioned giant squids, but scientists first saw this creature only in the middle of the 19th century. The remains of the architeutis were discovered on the seashore in Norway, and since then the scientific world has come to believe in the existence of the Kraken.
In 2004, zoologists were able to photograph a giant squid in the sea off Tokyo at a depth of 900 meters. The squid behaved aggressively and was extremely dissatisfied with the fact that the scientists used the flash to shoot.
There is no reliable information that the squid can attack the ship. Sperm whales are considered their main enemies underwater. Usually squids do not engage in a fight with a stronger and more agile sperm whale, but prefer to retreat. But sometimes they have to defend themselves, and then the sperm whale gets serious wounds.
Dragons
Only the lazy one has not heard about dragons. The image of large creatures with long tails and huge wings who love virgins and gold is replicated in numerous fantasy novels and films.
Dragons came to modern literature from myths and fairy tales. If you read the legends of different countries, then you will surely notice that the dragons in them have their own special look. For example, the Russian Serpent Gorynych will outwardly differ from the snake-like Chinese dragons.
These differences in the narratives are very simple to explain. Simple peasants talked about dragons, who found the fossilized remains of strange creatures that seemed to exist in reality, but so long ago that people no longer remember those times. What skeletons were found - they talked about such dragons in those places.
You guessed it that mythological dragons are ordinary dinosaurs.
Pawakai
We know about the man-eating pawakai bird with a huge wingspan from the myths of the aborigines of New Zealand - the Maori. The name "pouakai" can be translated as "old glutton". For a long time, no one believed in the Maori stories, and only in 1871 one employee of the Canterbury Museum in Christchurch accidentally found out that the giant bird was not an invention of frightened aborigines.
The bird is officially called the Haast eagle. This is a predator, which weighed about 14 kg, ate other birds and did not disdain human children. Its wingspan made it possible to lift a child into the sky and drag it to its nest.
The end of the era of the Haast eagles came when the Maorians landed on the shores of the islands of New Zealand.
