An Instinct for Dragons - Wikipedia
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TIL that in the work, An Instinct for Dragons, an anthropologist argues that the universality of dragons across human societies is due to evolutionary reasons, with common primate predators being merged into a hybrid monster.

  • @[email protected]English
    5•5 months ago

    They’re big and scary enough today, and in the past they were even bigger and scarier.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haast's_eagle

    Relationship with humans

    Some believe that these birds are described in many legends of the Māori mythology, under the names pouākai, Hakawai (or Hōkioi in the North Island).[52][53] According to an account given to Sir George Grey—an early governor of New Zealand—Hōkioi were huge black-and-white birds with yellow-green tinged wings and a red crest. In Māori mythology, Pouākai would prey and kill humans along with moa,[54][55][56] which scientists believe could have been possible if the name relates to the eagle, given the massive size and strength of the bird.[52][57] However, it has also been argued that the “hakawai” and “hōkioi” legends refer to the Austral snipe—in particular the extinct South Island species.[58]

    For context, Haast’s eagle was about twice the size of today’s Harpy eagle, which itself looks like it came out of a nightmare. See photos at https://www.demilked.com/giant-bird-harpy-eagle/

    • @BourffEnglish
      4•4 months ago

      It was endemic to New Zealand, which was first inhabitated much too late for this bird to become the common trope that dragons have been in many cultures.