Mythical creatures

[Kailrik]

Ok, here is another one, Giant eagles. Otherwise known as the Thunderbird, Roc, and in New Zealand as Pouakai, Hokioi or Hakawai. These birds are considered to be myth however many cultures around the world have tales of giant birds of prey that can carry a man away or even some bigger animals. Recently they found fossils in New Zealand of the species there(Haast's eagle), they are believed to have gone extinct between 500-700 years ago. Since there are myths on every continent of birds of large birds of prey and fossils have been found in New Zealand, does this mean the Thunderbird or Roc (which were big enough to carry off bison and water buffalo) existed?

That one there is almost as interesting to me as dragons. A being that is so massive it dwarfs all mountains and so powerful it shoots lightning from its eyes. If a very large bird of prey existed, and ancient humans heard its cry and saw its shadows during a storm or such, I could see them getting a Thunderbird. I don't believe it exists anywhere near the power and size of a Roc, but they might have seen it up high or really low and thought it bigger than actual size.

[abracax]

In the 13th century, Marco Polo (as quoted in Attenborough (1961: 32) stated "It was for all the world like an eagle, but one indeed of enormous size; so big in fact that its quills were twelve paces long and thick in proportion. And it is so strong that it will seize an elephant in its talons and carry him high into the air and drop him so that he is smashed to pieces; having so killed him, the bird swoops down on him and eats him at leisure".

[Lord Arumen]

Fixed my post abra. Your right, it was asian also.

[Darkbrady]

As I've heard many times, legends and folklore all have a dash of truth in them.. If we could successfully analyze what the truth and false is of these legends and folklore, there would be much more knowledge about the past.

Thas exactly what I'm sayin'.

The myth of flyin' dragons did have a dash of truth...that truth can be easily and logical drawn back to your standard Komodo Dragon.

Unicorns can be easily derived from Horses.

Rocs, Thunderbirds based on eagles.

The dash of truth is the real thing that they are/were based on at the time; a lot of them can be quickly and logically drawn to a certain thing, but others are harder. Again; Chimera. There's no way that one day a short-sighted uy saw a lion, horse, snake and komodo all standin' next to each other movin' in seamless motion towards him. Where do the ones like that come from?

[Lord Arumen]

It is a creature of nightmares. All the things in a Chimera were dangerous and frightening (even the goat).

[Darkbrady]

It is a creature of nightmares. All the things in a Chimera were dangerous and frightening (even the goat).

But who thought it up? Where was the initial myth derived from?

Again..chinese dragons are based on Komodos.

Unicorns are based on horses.

Rocs are based on Eagles.

Where did the Chimera come from initially?

[abracax]

Fixed my post abra. Your right, it was asian also.

No big deal, I meant birds of prey but I kept saying eagle lol

Thas exactly what I'm sayin'.

The myth of flyin' dragons did have a dash of truth...that truth can be easily and logical drawn back to your standard Komodo Dragon.

Unicorns can be easily derived from Horses.

Rocs, Thunderbirds based on eagles.

The dash of truth is the real thing that they are/were based on at the time; a lot of them can be quickly and logically drawn to a certain thing, but others are harder. Again; Chimera. There's no way that one day a short-sighted uy saw a lion, horse, snake and komodo all standin' next to each other movin' in seamless motion towards him. Where do the ones like that come from?

Chimera is a tough one, however think of this. Ancient cultures had a great deal of knowledge we are only now learning again. The babylon battery, brain surgery with a high success rate(Egypt), steam engines(Greece) and many other things.

Is it possible that somehow at some point there could have been knowledge of genetics and someone created a monster? After all, we really have no clue what a great deal of the lost knowledge was, we just assume that ancient cultures were primitive.

[gottibabe1]

I did some quick research on the Giant eagle and to me it just seems like an exaggerated version of a eagle or bald eagle. or maybe a it could have been just that 1 eagle that was extremely large due to mutated genes.

[CandleLite]

i'll probably be late on this too.
Chimera are i think an explanation myth. they belong to myths that explane things. why there is sea foam (said story) or what ever. they often symbloiaze great threats that come ontop of one another. fighting one battle is hard enough but to fight more then one at once... then try and boil it down into an intresting story to tell.
i love talking in metaphore so if i had sevral things going on in my life it would be very easy to conglomerate them together into one mythacal thing to fight, makeing my feeling of paril as great as it was apparent to my listeners

[Kalent]

But who thought it up? Where was the initial myth derived from?

Again..chinese dragons are based on Komodos.

Unicorns are based on horses.

Rocs are based on Eagles.

Where did the Chimera come from initially?

I'm stumped personally.