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Let’s Make a Gryphon
For a while now, we’ve been discussing how various scientific principles tie into things like anatomy and ecology. And unless you’re new here, you’ve probably seen me throwing out suggestions for how to tie those topics into some of the classic fantastical beasts. I think by this point, we’ve discussed enough basics that we can…
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Hybrid Monsters: Chimeras in Taxonomy
In the days before evolutionary theory and modern taxonomy, people were already describing species and their relationships. This helped with identifying and grouping useful or dangerous plants and animals. Early taxonomy was largely focused on broad observations. Scholars often placed species into groups like trees, fish and even invertebrates. But these scholars were still figuring…