What do you get when you cross ...

April 20, 2012 2:34 PM

"Mythical Creatures" by Jim Unwin and Dylan Carline.

* Manticore (Human + Lion)
* Griffin (Lion + Eagle)
* Echidna (Human + Snake)
* Cockatrice (Snake + Eagle)
* Harpy (Human + Eagle)
* Pegasus (Horse + Eagle)
* Centaur (Human + Horse)
* Unicorn (Horse + Narwhal)
* Mermaid (Human + Narwhal)
* Camahueto (Bull + Narwhal)
* Minotaur (bonus video) (Human + Bull)
* Mermahuataur (Human + Bull + Narwhal)
* Cynocephalus (Human + Dog)
* Orthrus (Dog + Dog)
* Cerberus (Dog + Dog + Dog)

posted by mrgrimm (16 comments total)

Today I learned that not only are mermaids apparently based on Narwhals (!) but more incredibly, there is an actual magazine devoted especially to mermaids called..."MERMAIDS and mythology magazine"

what is this I don't even
posted by Doleful Creature at 2:40 PM on April 20, 2012

I am 100% in favor of complicated Venn diagrams, especially of the mythological variety.

Also I had no idea that a Mermahuataur was a thing, but now that I do know I'm going to spend way too much time trying to figure out how that would even work.
posted by clavier at 2:41 PM on April 20, 2012

clavier: Also I had no idea that a Mermahuataur was a thing, but now that I do know I'm going to spend way too much time trying to figure out how that would even work.

The mermahuataur is a mythological creature created by graphic designer Jim Unwin and writer Dylan Carline.

It first appeared in their Euler diagram of mythical creatures that achieved significant popularity as an internet meme and in 2009 appeared in print in London's Metro newspaper.

For visualizations, start here and visit the links within.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:43 PM on April 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

Doesn't dog+dog just result in another, slightly different dog?
posted by GenjiandProust at 2:45 PM on April 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

Yes. This dog has two heads, slightly different from other dogs.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:49 PM on April 20, 2012 [4 favorites]

Thanks for the links filthy light thief! I will be giggling inexplicably at those visualizations for a while.
posted by clavier at 2:54 PM on April 20, 2012

No pegacorn?
posted by jabberjaw at 2:59 PM on April 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

Nearly half of these have been on My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.
posted by JHarris at 3:02 PM on April 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

They forgot sphinx! (lion, eagle, human). Which is weird because they remembered stuff I hadn't heard of before (e.g., the mythological Echidna).

Also I am pretty sure the cockatrice is part chicken, not part eagle.
posted by aubilenon at 3:25 PM on April 20, 2012 [2 favorites]

Yes. This dog has two heads, slightly different from other dogs.

Hmm. I think you got your "slightly" in my "substantially," there, filthy light thief
posted by GenjiandProust at 3:37 PM on April 20, 2012 [2 favorites]

Yeah, it is weird they left out Sphinx. It would have been pretty easy to include.

I am 100% in favor of complicated Venn diagrams

FLT already noted it indirectly, but technically it is a Euler Diagram.
posted by mrgrimm at 3:57 PM on April 20, 2012

omg
posted by Glinn at 7:16 PM on April 20, 2012

Misread the original post, but now I'm totally wondering what mythical creatures from Jim Unger would look like.
posted by Shepherd at 7:46 PM on April 20, 2012

Basic research please? Besides the missing sphinx and the cockatrice cock-up, a manticore has the tail of a scorpion, or alternately a dragon. If they'd thrown in the snake it would have been closer. It also would have been dead easy to throw in a goat between the lion and the snake, and get a chimera. Technically you might be able to get away with squishing things around enough to get a hippogriff, but that'd be pretty ugly, and anyway that's sort of outside the realm of mythology and veering into 16th century fanfic.
posted by darksasami at 8:39 PM on April 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

The sphinx (body of a lion, head of a woman, wings of an eagle) should be where the manticore is; the manticore itself should overlap with the snake, as darksasami points out.
posted by Joe in Australia at 4:38 AM on April 21, 2012

No Welfare Queen? No Kinder, Gentler Conservative?
posted by Kirth Gerson at 5:28 AM on April 21, 2012 [2 favorites]