Mythical and Legendary Hybrids
Ancient folktales often contain mythological creatures, sometimes these are described as hybrids (e.g., Hippogriff as the offspring of a griffin and a horse, and the Minotaur which is the offspring of Pasiphaë and a white bull). More often they are kind of chimera, i.e., a composite of the physical attributes of two or more kinds of animals, mythical beasts, and often humans, with no suggestion that they are the result of interbreeding, e.g., Harpies, mermaids, and centaurs.
Read more about this topic: Hybridisation In Birds
Famous quotes containing the words mythical and/or legendary:
“For people who have no critical acumen, a state is a mythical entity, for those who think critically it is a rational fiction, created by man in order to facilitate human coexistence.”
—Friedrich Dürrenmatt (1921–1990)
“All legendary obstacles lay between
Us, the long imaginary plain,
The monstrous ruck of mountains”
—John Montague (b. 1929)