Legendary Giant Creatures Around the World—Real or Myth?
Every culture has legends about strange creatures or monsters and this is understandable—when we witness a new, previously unseen phenomenon, we try to come up with a reason behind its existence, for the known is always a little less frightening.
Let’s figure out whether these legendary creatures from around the world were real or completely made up.
1. European Dragons
You’ve probably heard of dragons before, right? You know, the classic European ones with leathery wings that eat virgins for breakfast and breathe fire? Thematically, dragons symbolize the test that must be passed to get the “goal.” Among other things and tropes, they’re also associated with immortality, which can be obtained by eating the heart of the dragon. But that’s all myths and legends.
In reality, stories about dragons most likely originated from fossil remains of big lizards, aka dinosaurs, that people found and mistook for “dragons.” But was there a creature that could pass for a dragon? For example, Megalania was the largest of the land lizards to ever walk the earth. It lived during the Pleistocene era in the grassy savannas and sparse forests of Australia, where it hunted mammals. Megalania definitely didn’t survive till the Dark Ages, but seeing as it was close to a 9-meter-long lizard weighing up to 2 tons, you can see how its fossils could be mistaken for a dragon.
2. Hydra
In ancient Greek mythology, the Lernaean Hydra was a snake-like, multi-headed monster that terrorized the locals until Hercules defeated it. It was not only its appearance that was horrifying but also its perceived invincibility, with its heads regrowing and even multiplying.
The legendary beast could be based on a less fantastic but quite remarkable natural phenomenon called polycephaly. Polycephalic snakes, like other animals with this mutation, are very rare, but once you see one or two, they stick to you. Considering that tissue regeneration in reptiles is pretty common, it makes sense that a legend of a Hydra was created.
