Mythozoology. History and Biology of Mythical Animals

The first evidence of the existence of mythical animals dates back to the Upper Paleolithic era - it was at this time that people began to draw them on the walls of caves. Stories about them have been preserved in epic tales. Ancient authors wrote about fantastic creatures, which were encountered by travelers and pilgrims during their journeys. In the Middle Ages, heraldists eagerly depicted them and writers described them in their bestiaries. Then interest in mythical animals waned, and people encountered them less frequently - only sailors sometimes saw them emerging from the depths of the sea. But the 20th century unexpectedly rekindled the fascination with fantastic beings, for which biologists invented a special term, mythozoology. The book by two cultural scholars working under the common pseudonym Oleg Ivik tells about mythozoology - ancient and modern, their relationships with humans, and the history of their study.