mythic creatures
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Based on the popular American Museum of Natural History traveling exhibition Mythic Creatures: Dragons, Unicorns & Mermaids, curated by Dr. Mark A. Norell, this stunning volume explores an array of mythological creatures—and the real animals that inspired them. Glowing photos showcase rare objects from around the world, models of mythical beasts, and fossils of actual extinct animals such as the six-foot-tall primate called Gigantopithecus and Aepyornis, a bird that stood over nine feet tall. Also included are maps, drawings, and ephemera from the Middle Ages to modern times, all capturing the origins of legendary animals that continue to thrill, terrify, and enchant us.TRANSCRIPT
WATERCreatures of the Deep
Water beckons us. It is soothing and seductive, but its also
capable of unleashing deadly force. The mythic creatures that
inhabit the depths give form to waters essential mysteries.
They arouse feelings of curiosity, hope . . . and bottomless
fear. Like water itself, these creatures can be beautiful and
enticing. But will they share their life-giving bounty? Or
lure us to destruction?
MAP OF ICELAND Several sea monsters cavort in the waters
off Iceland in this 1585 map titled Islandia, drawn by noted
sixteenth-century Flemish cartographer Abraham Ortelius
after a map given to him by a Danish historian, Andreas
Velleius (Vedel). Shown in the lower left are vaccae marinae,
the Latin name for sea cows, animals with a horses head
and a fishs tail. In Greek they are known as hippocampus.
PART 1
SEA MONSTERS
ZEE MONSTER (Opposite)
Sea monsters attack a ship
in this engraving by Dutch
printmaker Adriaen Collaert,
c. 159498.
WHY DO PEOPLE SEE SEA MONSTERS? The open ocean can be a terrifying
place. Miles from shore on storm-tossed seas, with nothing but water in all
directionsincluding straight downa sailor or fisherman cannot help but wonder
what lurks in the depths. When the oceans were still unexplored, these fears often
took the form of imaginary monsters.
Many sea monsters include features of living animals. A large tentacle becomes
part of a monstrous sea serpent or many-armed krakenthe eye sees a fragment,
the mind fills in the rest. A blend of tall tales, mistaken identity, and resonant
cultural symbols, stories of sea monsters often reveal more about the minds of the
imaginers than they do about the natural world.
Chapter 1
Below the thunders of the upper deepFar, far beneath in the abysmal sea
His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleepThe Kraken sleepeth . . .
There hath he lain for ages and will lie . . . Until the latter fire shall heat the deep;Then once by man and angels to be seen,
In roaring he shall rise and on the surface die.
Alfred, Lord Tennyson, British poet (180992)
6 MYTHIC CREATURES
Many-Armed MonsterKrakenThe mythical kraken may be the largest sea monster ever imagined. Some stories
describe it as more than 2.5 kilometers (1.5 miles) around with arms as thick and
long as ship masts. Perhaps based on sightings of giant squid tentacles, this multi-
armed monster rarely attacked humans, preferring to stay in deep water where it
feasted on fish. The chief dangers came from being too close when it surfacedor
too close when it sank, as a boat could be sucked down in the whirlpool created
when it submerged.
A MODEL OF THE
MYTHIC KRAKEN (Left)
Hundreds of years ago,
European sailors told of
a sea monster called the
kraken that could toss
ships into the air with its
many long arms. Today,
we know sea monsters
arent realbut a living sea
animal, the giant squid,
has ten arms and can grow
longer than a school bus.
LE POULE COLOSSAL
(Opposite) A drawing by
French naturalist Pierre
Dnys de Montfort, 1801,
of a giant octopus-like
creature attacking a ship off
the coast of Angola.
The largest eyes of any living creature: each eye can be as large as a human head
Sharp, parrotlike beaks provided the first hard proof of their existence. In 1853, a giant squid washed ashore in Denmark and was cut up for bait, but its beak was saved, leading to recognition of the genus Architeuthis in 1857.
A deep-ocean creature rarely seen near the surface; most sightings are of dying squids or corpses that wash up on shore.
Their suckers can leave scars on whales.
Kraken Facts
6 MYTHIC CREATURES
Many-Armed MonsterKrakenThe mythical kraken may be the largest sea monster ever imagined. Some stories
describe it as more than 2.5 kilometers (1.5 miles) around with arms as thick and
long as ship masts. Perhaps based on sightings of giant squid tentacles, this multi-
armed monster rarely attacked humans, preferring to stay in deep water where it
feasted on fish. The chief dangers came from being too close when it surfacedor
too close when it sank, as a boat could be sucked down in the whirlpool created
when it submerged.
A MODEL OF THE
MYTHIC KRAKEN (Left)
Hundreds of years ago,
European sailors told of
a sea monster called the
kraken that could toss
ships into the air with its
many long arms. Today,
we know sea monsters
arent realbut a living sea
animal, the giant squid,
has ten arms and can grow
longer than a school bus.
LE POULE COLOSSAL
(Opposite) A drawing by
French naturalist Pierre
Dnys de Montfort, 1801,
of a giant octopus-like
creature attacking a ship off
the coast of Angola.
The largest eyes of any living creature: each eye can be as large as a human head
Sharp, parrotlike beaks provided the first hard proof of their existence. In 1853, a giant squid washed ashore in Denmark and was cut up for bait, but its beak was saved, leading to recognition of the genus Architeuthis in 1857.
A deep-ocean creature rarely seen near the surface; most sightings are of dying squids or corpses that wash up on shore.
Their suckers can leave scars on whales.
Kraken Facts
SEA MonSTERS 7
8 MYTHIC CREATURES
Giant Squid Five hundred years ago, sailors in northern Europe told of an amazing creature: a
monster bigger than a man with numerous long, snakelike arms covered in suckers
for grabbing prey. Evidence for this so-called devilfish included bits of giant
tentacles found in whale stomachs and vicious battle scars left on the skin of whales
by its suckers and claws. Eventually, in the 1850s, scientists recognized the devilfish
as an authentic animalthe giant squid.
In 1873, fishermen presented a squid armsupposedly hacked off the animal
when it attacked the mens boatto the Reverend Moses Harvey, a prominent
Canadian naturalist. Harvey wrote about the 5.8-meter (19-foot) long arm:
I was now the possessor of one of the rarest curiosities in the whole animal kingdomthe veritable tentacle of the hitherto mythical devilfish, about whose existence naturalists had been disputing for centuries. I knew that I held in my hand the key of a great mystery, and that a new chapter would now be added to Natural History.
GIANT SQUID TENTACLE This jar contains a 2-meter (6-
foot) section of a tentacle from a giant squid (Architeuthis
kirkii). The complete specimen was caught by fishermen
near New Zealand in 1997 and shipped frozen in ice to the
American Museum of Natural History in New York. The
entire animal measured 7.5 meters (25 feet), which is not
even big by giant squid standards: some can grow to 20
meters (about 70 feet).
The largest eyes of any living creature: each eye can be as large as a human head
Sharp, parrotlike beaks provided the first hard proof of their existence. In 1853, a giant squid washed ashore in Denmark and was cut up for bait, but its beak was saved, leading to recognition of the genus Architeuthis in 1857.
A deep-ocean creature rarely seen near the surface; most sightings are of dying squids or corpses that wash up on shore.
Their suckers can leave scars on whales.
The largest eyes of any living creature: each eye can be as large as a human head
Sharp, parrotlike beaks provided the first hard proof of their existence. In 1853, a giant squid washed ashore in Denmark and was cut up for bait, but its beak was saved, leading to recognition of the genus Architeuthis in 1857.
A deep-ocean creature rarely seen near the surface; most sightings are of dying squids or corpses that wash up on shore.
Their suckers can leave scars on whales.
Giant Squid Facts
8 MYTHIC CREATURES
Giant Squid Five hundred years ago, sailors in northern Europe told of an amazing creature: a
monster bigger than a man with numerous long, snakelike arms covered in suckers
for grabbing prey. Evidence for this so-called devilfish included bits of giant
tentacles found in whale stomachs and vicious battle scars left on the skin of whales
by its suckers and claws. Eventually, in the 1850s, scientists recognized the devilfish
as an authentic animalthe giant squid.
In 1873, fishermen presented a squid armsupposedly hacked off the animal
when it attacked the mens boatto the Reverend Moses Harvey, a prominent
Canadian naturalist. Harvey wrote about the 5.8-meter (19-foot) long arm:
I was now the possessor of one of the rarest curiosities in the whole animal kingdomthe veritable tentacle of the hitherto mythical devilfish, about whose existence naturalists had been disputing for centuries. I knew that I held in my hand the key of a great mystery, and that a new chapter would now be added to Natural History.
GIANT SQUID TENTACLE This jar contains a 2-meter (6-
foot) section of a tentacle from a giant squid (Architeuthis
kirkii). The complete specimen was caught by fishermen
near New Zealand in 1997 and shipped frozen in ice to the
American Museum of Natural History in New York. The
entire animal measured 7.5 meters (25 feet), which is no