The Ancient Egyptians were familiar with the okapi, a strange creature from the forest of Africa. It looked like a mix between a zebra and a horse. In the 19th century, the famous British journalist and explorer Henry Stanley described the same animal. But was it all a myth? An English politician in central Africa, Henry Johnston, was very interested in Stanley's description. He decided to find the animal. It was not easy, but in 1901 Johnston finally managed to get a complete okapi skin. He sent it to London and the scientists there were amazed. Later, they realised that the okapi is not a type of zebra – in fact, it is a relative of a giraffe.
About 2,500 years ago, an Ancient Greek explorer called Hanno travelled to Africa. On one island near the coast, there was a group of strange people with black hair on their faces and bodies. He asked the local people for information about them: they were 'gorillae', they answered. These 'people' were violent, bad-tempered and very strong. And for hundreds of years, there were similar stories about strange creatures – half human and half animal – in the forest of Africa. The first scientific description of gorillas only appeared in the 19th century. And mountain gorillas were a complete mystery until a German soldier discovered them in 1902!
During the First World War (1914-18) a pilot crashed into the sea near Indonesia. Luckily, he could swim well. He reached one of the smaller islands. He was safe! Or was he? On the island, he discovered a horrible monster. It looked like a dragon: it was very big with short legs and a long tongue. It attacked and killed large animals for food. The pilot survived and later he described the monster to his friends. They laughed at him! But in fact, the animal was real: it was a Komodo dragon, the largest lizard in the world. In 1927, London Zoo opened its new Reptile House and it included the first pair of Komodo dragons in Europe.
Hundreds of years ago, travellers shared stories about strange animals from other parts of the world. But in most people's opinion, these stories were just myths: the animals were not real. However, in a few cases, they were wrong – the animals were real. And hundreds of years later, people proved it!
In Ancient Greek times, there were stories about huge sea monsters with very long arms. Similar stories appeared in the Middle Ages. These monsters lives in very deep water, but sometimes they attacked sailors. However, were these creatures real or were they a myth? For hundreds of years, scientists were not sure. But that changed in 1873. A giant squid attacked a small boat near the east coast of North America. The fishermen in the boat used an axe to cut off two of the giant squid's arms. They were six metres long! They showed the arms to the scientists at a local museum. The scientists were amazed! Today, everyone knows that giant squid are real, but people very rarely see them. In fact, only one video exists of a giant squid in its natural habitat.
