10 Mythical CREATURES That Actually Existed

I used to taste your daddy who doesn't love a good story especially ones which involve unbelievable mythological creatures that you wouldn't remotely think are real but as history has proven there is a basis for which these creatures were brought up today we're going to be looking at ten mythical creatures that actually existed number one itself will make you question whether middle-earth was real or not so stay tuned for that one with all that said and done let's begin shall we number ten the direwolf it's a freak it's a direwolf direwolves became lively popular when Game of Thrones hit the mainstream these large wolves are a constant companion of the starts in the show and are shown to be large intelligent and protective they are not however just merely a figment of George RR Martin's imagination they are in fact based on real animals dire wolves live during the Pleistocene between 250,000 to roughly 10,000 years ago unfortunately real dire wolves were not really the size of ponies they were larger than modern wolves though and could weigh as much as 200 pounds almost twice with a very large modern wolf might weigh their skulls are much larger compared to today's modern wolves ironically though their brains are much smaller however if they had bigger brains we probably wouldn't have had amazing fossils of them thousands of dire wolf fossils have been found in the La Brea Tar Pits scientists believe that they were trapped there when they started feeding on the carcasses of other animals trapped in the tar number nine the unicorn perhaps the earliest account of unicorns is by well known Greek historian Satish yes we described a large animal with a horn on its forehead in India it's quite possible that he saw a rhino from a distance and thought it was a horse with a horn on its head but fossils unearthed in Siberia may have proven the existence of this mythical creature called the Siberian unicorn it was 1.8 metres tall over four metres long and weighed more than four tons it was covered in a shaggy coat and earned his nickname from the huge horn that grew out of its forehead yes it doesn't exactly resemble the classic unicorn of lore but so far this is the closer that we can get to a real one they were believed to have died out three hundred and fifty thousand years ago but the discovery of a fossil in Kazakhstan changed all that carbon dating tests revealed the fossil to be only 29 thousand years old this means that the animal roamed the earth 300 of 21,000 years longer than previously thought number 8 the Komodo dragon [Music] believe it or not the Komodo dragon was considered a mythical creature all the way up to 1910 when it was first discovered prior to that rumors were spreading the eight foot long hundred pound prehistoric lizards were living on a remote Indonesian island wanting to prove or disprove the existence of these creatures himself dutch colonial officer lieutenant stein van hands broke put together an expedition to komodo island he was able to catch and kill a six-foot specimen and he sent the carcass as proved to the zoological museum and botanical garden at Bogor java seemingly not satisfied with the discovery american explorer w douglas Burdon decided to put together an expedition himself making up his mind to catch live specimens in the end the expedition was able to pile several dead and to live Komodo dragons on to their steamer and then returned to New York City giving scientists plenty to study and visitors of the Bronx Zoo plenty to see number seven the Bunyip the Bunyip is a little like australia's Loch Ness monster and that it lives in the water and has never been photographed despite the fact that hundreds of people have seen it however the legend might have had actual rational origins the bunyip is an Aboriginal legend according to Australian history the name means a devil or spirit and the creature is said to look like a cross between a crocodile and a horse the granted though accounts do differ bunyips stock and kill human beings and supposedly make an eerie sound like a hollow boom which certainly seems terrifying if you've never been around any shotguns or farm equipment most scientists believe that the Bunyip was derived from an extinct rhino sized marsupial called the dipper Adhan remains of this animal were first found in the region of 1839 it's unlikely that there are any surviving populations of Dipper Don in Australia but they only dine about 20,000 to 40,000 years ago this was long after the arrival of the Aboriginal people this suggests the legends might have come from real-life encounters between humans and these creatures number six the gorilla it's hard to imagine a world without gorillas at least based on today's standards back then tales of large hairy savage man beasts with bad tempers living in the wilds of some faraway place seems too good to be true their legend persevered until 1847 when physician and naturalist Thomas savage managed to obtain gorilla bones including a skull in Liberia prior to the first discovery of the bones the first recorded sighting of a gorilla was made by the Explorer hanno in the 5th century BC another Explorer named Andrew Patel also told tales of human-like monsters visiting his campfire every morning after the humans had left for the day but he also noted that these monsters weren't intelligent enough to put more wood on the campfire so his credibility quickly went up in flames live gorillas went left unseen and untouched for a decade after savages discovery until Explorer Paul du challu hunted like gorillas and sent specimens back to the many societies who were funding his expeditions the subspecies mountain gorillas unbelievably remained a mythological creature for more than half a century more only being discovered in 1902 by German Captain Robert von borange number 5 the basilisk sallie paid the basilisk is a mythical creature born from a toader serpent's egg incubated under a cockerel the terrible offspring that hatches from this egg is a half bird half snake and all evil it is one of the deadliest creatures to Menace the mythological world and it's extremely hostile towards humans you might be familiar with this monster from the Harry Potter book and movie the Chamber of Secrets but the monster shown there is somewhat incomplete and only appears as a giant serpent the basilisk is sometimes described as a giant snake without the cockerels head or wings still its movement is unlike other snakes rather than slithering with its stomach on the ground it curls forward with the front half of its body towering above the earth the monster's most famous weapon has its dreaded gaze the potency of its gaze is discussed in all the myths that relate to them across several different cultures sometimes they are also known to breathe out fire does the description vaguely remind you of something many experts believe that the basilisk is none other than a cobra from its size of the way it stands erect when preparing to strike even the Cobras hood could be mistaken for wings and the fire-breathing part well we all know that certain species of covers have to spit out venom and this venom does cause a burning sensation so there we go the basilisk may be a misunderstood Cobra or maybe it's another undiscovered creature who knows number four the duck-billed platypus can you imagine the rest of the world thinking that you're a hoax but you know for a fact that you're a hundred percent real if you don't consider yourself lucky the duck-billed platypus however had to spend most of its existence mythological hearsay or worse a complete fabrication first discovered in the 18th century was considered by many to be a ridiculous hoax and not without reason this was an age when naturalist were creating all sorts of strange creatures with the help of taxidermy and creative imagination it was first described by English zoologist George Shaw who wrote that it resembled and I quote the beak of a duck engrafted on the head of a quadruped head all the fakery is signed the platypus is remarkable for many reasons not just its peculiar appearance naturalist could not determine whether the creature was a mammal did it lay eggs or give birth to live babies it took another 100 years for scientists to discover the answer to that as it turned out the platypus is one of the very few mammal species to lay eggs and is also poisonous fun number three the Cyclops [Music] in Greek mythology the Cyclops were giant creatures that were unmistakable in their appearance sporting a single eye in the center of each of their heads they were also known for their barbarity afraid of neither men nor gods the most famous Cyclops was Polyphemus which attacked Odysseus in a cave and ate half of his men Odysseus blinded the Cyclops eye running a wooden stake through his single eye van Odysseus and his men escaped by tying themselves to the undersides of sheep this sounds very implausible though pertaining to sheep strong enough to carry the weight of a full-grown man but the existence of Cyclops there might be some truth to that actually for many years there appeared to be solid proof that these one-eyed monsters really existed quite a few huge skulls were found which appeared to have a single eye socket in the middle of their forehead it turns out that the skulls belong to dwarf elephants the eye socket was the central nasal cavity and the opening for the elephant's trunk many dwarf elephants have been found in Cyprus especially in case where the Cyclops were supposed to have lived therefore it's perhaps natural that an elephant skull would have been taken as evidence of a race of giant man-eating creatures with one eye and terrible table manners now it's time for the day's best Pig today we're gonna be taking a look at the creature who is the poster child for mythical creatures that turned out to be real find out what comes up next with number two the Kraken release originating in Nordic folklore the Kraken was said to be a powerful sea monster strong enough to drag an entire ship to the depths by wrapping into gigantic tentacles around the vessel or by swimming in circles around it to create a whirlpool that would drag the ship down it was first written about in an 1180 and there were many accounts of a gigantic tentacled sea monster dragging their ships to their doom the Kraken was said to be able to devour an entire ship's crew in a single mouthful the myths of the Kraken is likely to have arisen after sightings of a species of the giant squid also known by its scientific name the ARCIC youthis ducks which can grow to around 59 feet long or possibly the colossal squid known by its scientific name is meso kina Thetis Hamel Tony which is significantly larger than the giant squid it can grow to unknown lengths very few colossal squids have ever been found intact as they live in the deep waters of the Antarctic for this reason it is proved very difficult to find evidence of how squid attack their prey some recent research does show that they encircle prey with their tentacles before pulling it to them and eating it so you never know I saved the best for last but first I have a quick challenge that takes only 5 seconds 53 if you can either right then subscribe within the next 5 seconds you'll get 10 years of amazing luck just try it it really worked number one hobbits if you are even barely into pop culture you'd know what a hobbit is they're basically miniature humans who have furry feet and don't wear shoes and according to stories have a propensity to save the world from evil pieces of jewelry and also literally eat you out of house and home what you might not know is the fact that actual hobbits did exist but not quite the ones you've gotten used to in 2003 archaeologists on the remains of a 3-foot tall adult female in a cave on an Indonesian island at first there was speculation that the skeleton was a person with micro and sinfully ax a comparison of the skull with modern micro if Alex though seemed to suggest it came from a typical individual there were also other indication that these were the bones of an unknown species such as extremely primitive feet those scientists failed to determine if they were particularly hairy feet which is a disappointment which mythical creature were you 100% sure wasn't real what is now in the comments section down below you want to watch more videos about amazing creatures real or otherwise click on any of the videos you see on your screen as always thank you all for watching and I'll see you all next time later everybody [Music]

Channel: Top 5 Best

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Keywords: Top, Best, education, Getty images, Getty, Getty videos, Mythical creatures, fabled creatures, fables, mystery creatures, scary mythical creatures, scariest creatures, legends, legends and fables, terrifying myths, mythical creatures, scary, creepy, top 10, top 5, list, best, worst, Top 10, MsMojo, Myths, Mythical Creatures, Yuki-onna, Erinyes, Succubi, Medusa, Monsters, Scary, Goddesses, Creatures, Rusalki, Scylla, Dziwozona, Lamia, Harpies, Banshees, Greek Mythology, Japanese Mythology, Irish Mythology

Id: 9NQQKNAwaPk

Length: 12min 12sec (732 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 29 2020