MagiStream

The way I see it, it's not so much whether they do exist or not, than if people believe in them. Hokey, I know.

But the point I'm getting at here is that many of them were part of a religious belief system. Like, and I use this as an example because it's familiar, not because I'm ignoring other religions, how people say the existence of God can't be proven. You either believe or you don't.
I see it the same way with most mythical creatures. One can't prove or disprove that they exist, just as one can't prove or disprove that gods exist.
However there's also my wacko theory that they're all hiding in an alternate universe based at the center of the Bermuda Triangle. But I won't get into that.

However, I do take it with a grain of salt. Some of these things that seem to be natural, dragons in this argument, are quite simply impossible in our natural world. If you look at the muscle structure of a lizard, there's nowhere you could fit in the necessary muscles for flight. Quite simply, they can't have wings. So either we imagine dragons wrong, or the bat-wing-lizards we see when we hear any draconian term are impossible.

One must also take into account the limited range of human sense.
We can't hear as well as other animals (because, yes, humans, in their most basic form, are really just sophisticated animals. Don't get on my back about that, that's not the point), we can't see as well as other animals, we can't smell or taste or feel as well as other animals. To put it plainly, we are the weakest species in terms of what nature has given us physically. Our brains are the only thing that have allowed us to become so advanced.
However, those same brains can also be one's worst enemy.
Scientists are creating an "invisibility cloak" for humans which makes them difficult or impossible to see by redirecting the light as it hits them. So why couldn't mythical creatures have developed a similar, more evolved attribute as a defense mechanism? Chameleons change color, who's to say unicorns can't turn invisible?

All that said, I believe that it's really a matter of real-until-disproved. Mythical creatures could have been around longer than humans, evolved faster, adapted more, and been able to avoid our notice, for the large part. On the other hand, they could just be the imaginings of a terrified and superstitious people.
There's just no way to know until I bump into a phouka.

Well,as much as I hate to say it,I don't think mermaids are possible.I mean,I don't think it's possible for a human and fish to breed and get exactly THAT result.

Ellie4740 wrote:Well,as much as I hate to say it,I don't think mermaids are possible.I mean,I don't think it's possible for a human and fish to breed and get exactly THAT result.

They didn't necessarily have to breed. Genetics could have simply worked out that it seemed that way. Beavers and ducks cannot physically breed, and yet platypi share traits of both.
I do highly doubt, though, that any creature could evolve to look like a woman with a fish tail. Maybe like in the Harry Potter movies, where they were just fishy people, but I doubt that nature would allow for two separate and distinct halves of a creature that had such different characteristics.

Ellie4740 wrote:Well,as much as I hate to say it,I don't think mermaids are possible.I mean,I don't think it's possible for a human and fish to breed and get exactly THAT result.

Human males and manatee females could mate, just not produce offspring - unless something really "fishy" was going on. After all, the dugong's lady parts are the most similar (compared to any other mammal) to human lady parts.

missawesome7337 wrote:However, I do take it with a grain of salt. Some of these things that seem to be natural, dragons in this argument, are quite simply impossible in our natural world. If you look at the muscle structure of a lizard, there's nowhere you could fit in the necessary muscles for flight. Quite simply, they can't have wings. So either we imagine dragons wrong, or the bat-wing-lizards we see when we hear any draconian term are impossible.

One must also take into account the limited range of human sense.
We can't hear as well as other animals (because, yes, humans, in their most basic form, are really just sophisticated animals. Don't get on my back about that, that's not the point), we can't see as well as other animals, we can't smell or taste or feel as well as other animals. To put it plainly, we are the weakest species in terms of what nature has given us physically. Our brains are the only thing that have allowed us to become so advanced.
However, those same brains can also be one's worst enemy.
Scientists are creating an "invisibility cloak" for humans which makes them difficult or impossible to see by redirecting the light as it hits them. So why couldn't mythical creatures have developed a similar, more evolved attribute as a defense mechanism? Chameleons change color, who's to say unicorns can't turn invisible?

All that said, I believe that it's really a matter of real-until-disproved. Mythical creatures could have been around longer than humans, evolved faster, adapted more, and been able to avoid our notice, for the large part. On the other hand, they could just be the imaginings of a terrified and superstitious people.
There's just no way to know until I bump into a phouka.

A lot of parts of Awesome's argument I agree with. We are a relatively young evolved species, so there could be much more out there than our brains are able to perceive. If you also believe in alternative or parallel universes, that opens a whole can of worms into other species and the potential of having a space time rift to be able to see them.

Overall, I'm in the category of "I wish they were real, but I can't say they are for sure until I see some proof." I also believe that it's possible for things like dragons to exist, but maybe not in the anatomical sense that we have drawn them as. Maybe they aren't the bulky lizards we imagine, but a dinosaur like species partially evolved from pterodactyls and such that just ended up getting bigger and looking more "dragon" like. Or perhaps the dragons we imagine are real, but only on planets that have a much higher oxygen content. *shrugs* I don't know in the end and most people don't, and perhaps we never will know for sure, but it's fun to imagine in the meantime

I have to admit that most of these ideas could be relativily true. but i personaly think that we can not see these creatures, not becuase of a evolutionary trait but, becuase god decided that some creatures are meant to be wild not in a zoo for all to see.

I think that some of them exist, but

A. They're tales of real, living creatures or phenomena that got twisted a bit
B. Many didn't exist at all, or
C. They're real, unknown, living or dead species.

Examples:

A. A herd of scmitar horned oryx, or a single one viewed side-on, could have their long horns mistaken for one each, possibly on the front of the head. A baryonyx claw could be mistaken for a massive fang from a monster. An island coming from the depths (this has been seen before) could be mistaken for the Leviathan making the oceans boil.
B. Most things biomechanically impossible.
C. The okapi or gorilla.

Speaking for myself, I feel that some of it was real and some of it is currently real. I in my own theory think that dragons existed in more mideval times because of all the 'myths'. I mean, how does somebody really come up with something like that and then it catch on in such a wide range? I have seen pleanty of cool made up animals by me and my friend and other anonymous people but I have never seen one that has caught on.

It is apparently said that the lock ness monster was priven to have been made up by a scientist long ago but again because of the popularity I do not think it is fake. I just believe in these creatures.
Now, I do not believe in all of them. I do not believe in vampires, werewolves, trolls, fairies, or anything human based just...well...just because I don't.

Eclaire wrote:

Ellie4740 wrote:Well,as much as I hate to say it,I don't think mermaids are possible.I mean,I don't think it's possible for a human and fish to breed and get exactly THAT result.

Human males and manatee females could mate, just not produce offspring - unless something really "fishy" was going on. After all, the dugong's lady parts are the most similar (compared to any other mammal) to human lady parts.

*leaving the fish I was eating* thanks guys. now I will dream about fishy swimming in my body and wake up as a mermaid

I belive the muthical creatures have been real and probably can be still alive, frozen in the ice... waiting on the apocalypse to bring them back to life and destory the humans so they can take over >3

nanotyranus wrote:B. Most things biomechanically impossible.

I hate when people do that, say that something so simple is impossible. Alot of things were thought impossible but just look at us now. Like somebody above said we are a young species so really there is alot we do not know. They aren't biochemically impossible, or impossible in any way. Sure they might not exist but they are not impossible. I guess this is your opiion though.