Comments on: do you think any of the mystcal creatures that are often portrayed in fairytails are real (you know like fairies,

By: tomhartley

tomhartley — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 11:59:15 +0000

Maybe a remote memory of Neanderthal Man (which did live along side modern humans and even interbred with us) survives in the idea of trolls, or other “human like” mythical “creatures”.

By: tomhartley

tomhartley — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 11:57:06 +0000

No, but I sometimes wonder whether some of these myths might have there basis in some biological reality. For example, dragons sound rather a lot like dinosaurs. Dinosaurs are thought to have died out many millions of years ago, and would not have been around at the same time as people. But of course some reptiles from that period (such as crocodiles) did survive, and it seems just about conceivable that other more dragon-like creatures did survive to live alongside humans. Or perhaps ancient humans saw dinosaur fossils and tried to make sense of them.

I am pretty open-minded (some would say credulous) and I can well believe there might be creatures around somewhere on the Earth (or in the past) that we don’t yet know about that might have given rise to the myth of the Yeti, maybe even the Loch Ness Monster. I wouldn’t believe in them until I saw some very convincing evidence, though.

By: steveroser

steveroser — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 11:46:41 +0000

Its odd that some things come up again and again in lots of different cultures (like witches and fairies) but no, I can’t think of any mythical creatures that aren’t – well -myths.

By: mariekenavin

mariekenavin — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 11:04:04 +0000

Hey Tara, it was be awesome if they were but I don’t think so

However I think there are creatures under the sea that we can’t even imagine.

By: stephencurry

stephencurry — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 09:45:04 +0000

Hi Tara - not really, though I think that some of the mystical creatures may be inspired or based on real creatures. For example, the dragon may be based on giant lizards that people came across hundreds of years ago (before the species was identified). The komodo dragon is a real creature and is actually called a dragon!