Fantastic Beasts in Ancient Mythology

Myth is the wonderful explanation that forms in our brain about real facts that vividly stimulate memory and imagination, thus influencing our reality by intimately altering our concept of verification and the response to causality...

Adolph E. Jensen once said, "Myth is the anticipation of science." It is in the encounter between myth and legend that, through divine, human, or other intervention, mythology is formed.

That's why, throughout history, various mythological animals have emerged. From antiquity, we remember two horses (or pseudo-horses): the Unicorn (a one-horned horse) and Pegasus (a winged horse). But clearly, these weren't the only ones.

Ancient mythology is rich in these types of animals. We have, for example, the Griffin (half eagle, half lion), Cerberus (a three-headed dog), the Phoenix (a bird reborn from its own ashes), the Sphinx (a lion with the head of a falcon), and a multitude of other animals, limited only by human imagination.

One thing is certain. Perhaps due to greater current knowledge, or due to the fall of the "false Gods," no one, or almost no one, believes that they were, or are, real animals, relegating them to our imagination.

But what if, in reality, they were actually real? In the imagination of modern man, perhaps disbelieving the accounts of antiquity, a new species of mythological animals emerged. However, due to the advancement of science, attempts were made to give them a scientific basis, making them a real possibility and not just something born of our imagination or mythology.

Throughout modern times, there have been numerous sightings of four-legged aquatic, aerial, and terrestrial animals, or hominids, previously unknown to science. These animals have come to be described as Cryptids—creatures whose existence is suggested but for which there is no scientific evidence to prove their existence.

These animals are the modern version of mythological animals from antiquity and fall under the study of Cryptozoology, the science that studies species of legendary, mythological, hypothetical or sighted animals by few people, as well as the study of occurrences of presumably extinct animals.

Many of these animals are already part of our imagination and are known by the vast majority of people today.

The ones that stand out are Bigfoot or Sasquatch, perhaps better known by its English name, Bigfoot, and which is a species of great ape that lives in the wild and remote regions of the United States of America and Canada that, according to cryptozoologists, is related to the Yeti, also known as the “Abominable Snowman” who lives in the high icy mountains of Tibet.

In South America, we have the equally famous Chupacabra, a species of "vampire" that systematically attacks rural animals. And in Europe, more precisely in the United Kingdom, or to be more precise, Scotland, we have what is probably the most famous and well-known of all: the Loch Ness Monster, also known affectionately as Nessie.

But these animals don't just exist on land or in lakes; they are also found in the seas, and speaking of seas, we couldn't fail to mention the famous Kraken, a giant cephalopod that, with its tentacles, pulls boats into the depths of the sea.

I would like to point out, however, that there are many more of these fantastic animals around the world. However, the reports that reach researchers are sparse and do not merit further investigation, remaining archived as mere curiosity.

In short, across every continent on this planet, we have descriptions and sightings of these fantastic animals. But what about Africa? Well... Africa is another story...

So let’s talk about the animals that give this short essay its title…

Africa is a continent apart, while in the rest of the world, "Fantastic Beasts" are mostly used to seek local publicity or individual promotion, in Africa, reports of these animals go unnoticed by the general public.

The main reason is that, although the local inhabitants believe that they actually exist, the people of these African regions do not like to talk about them to "foreigners", making them a little-known African jewel.

It is not known for sure how many of these animals exist in Africa, as their existence reached the Western world through reports from some hunters or stories passed down through the grapevine and poorly understood by foreigners.

But the known reality is fabulous. Considering only the known fantastic African animals investigated by science, Africa is the continent with the highest concentration of investigated cryptids in the world.

To be more precise, while on other continents three or four Cryptids are known to have been studied by science, in Africa so many have been, or are being, investigated that I will only mention the 10 best known.

The African Singularity: The Unknown Jewels

While monsters like Bigfoot and the Loch Ness monster have become global phenomena, African cryptids remain shrouded in secrecy. This invisibility is no accident—it's the result of a complex cultural and ecological web:

• The Culture of Silence: Many African communities avoid discussing these creatures with outsiders, not for fear of ridicule, but out of sacred respect. As one Maasai elder confided: “Some spirits should not be named; they belong only to the earth.This pact of silence protects both the creatures and the local spiritual balance.
• Unique Biodiversity: Africa is home to such vast and unexplored ecosystems (the Congo forests, the Okavango Delta, the Namibian deserts) that scientists estimate that 40 percent of the continent's species have not even been cataloged. When tribes describe "horned reptiles" or "felines bigger than lions”, may be referring to real animals – not yet discovered by Western science.
• The Modern Paradox: In an age of satellites and DNA, Africa retains regions where digital maps show only green patches. Explorer Roy Mackall summed it up: "In Congo, GPS fails and local knowledge becomes the only compass. And that compass points to monsters.".

Although hundreds of creatures populate tribal legends, only 10 have achieved the status of "investigated by science." This is the main point of this modern bestiary—each will be revealed in the following sections of the article:

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