Giant animal (mythology)

A giant animal in mythology is gigantic in the narrated myth, either large for their species or in relation to mankind. They might dwarf a normal person. The term "giant" carries some ambiguity, however in mythology is often one of the mythemes of a story. The narrative may revolve around a real animal or a primordial archetype of a gigantic creature, such as a dragon or the Midgard snake.

List of giant animals in mythology

Some giant animals are legends from mythology; or are so rare, that they have been seen only by a few people, and are known only through folklore or mythology.

upernatural giant animals

* Dragons
* Griffin
* Behemoth
* Genbu
* Phoenix
* Roc
* Cerberus
* Onikuma
* Baku
* Chimera
* Cockatrice
* Nemean Lion
* Pegasus
* Peuchen
* Grendel
* Gyūki

* Byakko
* Seiryu
* Unicorn
* Questing Beast
* Suzaku
* Sea monsters
**Lernaean Hydra
** Timingila
** Yacumama
** Bake-kujira
** Isonade
* Sea serpents
** Leviathan
** Midgard snake
** Ayakashi
* Thunderbird
* Ziz

=Cryptozoological giants=

* Lusca, "Octopus giganteus", a kind of giant octopus, (not to be confused with the North Pacific Giant Octopus etc. genus "Enteroctopus", confirmed species [http://marine.alaskapacific.edu/octopus/] , which grow to about thirty feet in length), supposedly live off Bermuda and in blue holes, and which grow over convert|75|ft|m|sing=on long, and are B-movie staples. They are often considered to be the origin of globsters, and in some cases may be misidentified squid. [http://www.geocities.com/capedrevenger/giantoctopus.html]
* Lake monsters, such as Nessie, Champ, and the Ogopogo
* Big mystery cats (like the Beast of Bodmin)
* The Kraken, giant octopus.
* Bunyip, a mythical Australian animal
* Giant Wolf
* Bigfoot, alleged to be the largest living primate, up to convert|9|ft|m tall.
* Yeti, abominable snowman
* Giglioli's Whale, unidentifiable whale
* Sewer alligator
* Fenghuang a Chinese legendary bird

ee also

*Giant (mythology)
*Megafauna

External links

* [http://www.newanimal.org/giant-animals.htm Gigantic Animals in Cryptozoology]

References

Wood, Animal Facts and Feats, Third Edition, ISBN 0-85112-235-3