Dem bones

The "Mythic Creatures: Dragons, Unicorns & Mermaids" temporary exhibition at the National Maritime Museum covers many more imaginary beasts besides, but the recurring message is that their origins (as ideas) lie in our ancestors misinterpreting the bones of unfamiliar or prehistoric species. For example, stories of the one-eyed giants known as cyclopes are believed to have been inspired by the fossilised skulls of mammoths that once roamed parts of Greece/Italy - the trunk cavities being incorrectly identified as huge eye sockets. And so on. The narwhal tusk's connected to the unicorn horn, the Gigantopithecus is connected to the yeti fable...