Mythic Creatures: Dragons, Unicorns & Mermaids

Mythic Creatures | Dragons, Unicorns & Mermaids

An Enormous Egg
The largest eggs known to science are found on the island of Madagascar. In 1864, W. Winwood Reade wrote, "The existence of the Roc of Marco Polo and The Arabian Nights is now proved by the discovery of an immense egg in a semi-fossil state in Madagascar." In fact, the eggs belong to the extinct Aepyornis, not the Roc.

An Extinct Eagle
Aepyornis is not the only giant bird to give rise to legends. The Maori people have long told of a giant eagle that once lived in New Zealand. Evidence such as bones and talons (right) have proved the giant bird, now called Haast's eagle, was more than a myth. And unlike Aepyornis, it could fly. It had a wingspan of nearly three meters (10 feet) and preyed on moas, large flightless birds related to ostriches. Haast's eagle (Harpagornis moorei) lived until about AD 1500-recent enough to possibly have been encountered by Maori ancestors.

The Roc

	To feed, "it will seize an elephant in its talons and carry him high into the air, and drop him so that he is smashed to pieces." —Marco Polo (1254-1324)
	In The Arabian Nights, Sindbad finds a white dome-shaped building with no doors—the dome is a Roc's egg, and the entire island its nest.
	Legs as thick as tree trunks: Trapped in the Roc's island nest, Sindbad ties himself to the Roc's leg to escape.

Intertwined Tales
The Roc is more than a misidentified Aepyornis. Stories of the Roc are based on the Garuda, a birdlike creature found in Hindu stories dating back thousands of years, in which Garudas prey on giant snakes and elephants. The Roc is also said to eat both snakes and elephants, suggesting the stories share a common origin.

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